As a guest at the presentation meal in October 2023, I was lucky
enough to sit on the ‘power table’ with Natalie Hawkrigg, Josie
Greenhaugh and Angela Wilson. Swapping stories of challenges and
achievements, I was inspired to finally get on with attempting my own
F55 crossing. So just two days before my 57th birthday, I
set off from Pooley Bridge at 5am, with a surprise visit from Joe
Faulkner, to put me in a good mood.
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| Pooley Bridge |
Two became one in
terms of my Leg 1 Support due to illness, but who could be more
competent at this than Matt Neale? I was always concerned about Leg
1, it’s a little too runnable for me and I was worried that I would
go off too fast and ruin my chances later in the day. My big
challenge is always about taking in food and keeping it down and the
more I exert myself early on, the harder this is. Matt, however,
paced it beautifully, as well as carrying virtually all my gear
(except snacks and a water bottle), recorded timings, took a photo,
messaged the team and guided me across the required summits
perfectly. With just a little clag, that quickly cleared, running
conditions were perfect and we arrived, smiling, at Kirskstone 6
minutes up on my 15hr 40 schedule.
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| Stoney Cove Pike |
Jess Palmer was
providing my road and Styhead support, ably assisted by Chris Hare,
and did an excellent job in providing all of the food that I had
carefully specified, knowing full well that this was probably going
to be a completely thankless task. His first job was to provide me
with a soft boiled egg in a soft white bap! Which luckily totally hit
the spot, as it was all downhill from here in terms of food intake. I
decided to use a couple of my saved minutes here for my digestion’s
sake but 6 minutes later set of with my awesome Leg 2 Support, of
Mike Keavney, Tracey Hunter, Stu Clarkson and Claire Stewart, all
from Swaledale Runners, my lovely club in the Yorkshire Dales. This
was the first time three of them had undertaken running support on
the JNLC, which is great from the club’s perspective as it
increases opportunities for others undertaking Lakeland challenges.
As we climbed Red Screes I was feeling good but was a bit nervous
that the sun was now fully up and the day was heating up. I needn’t
have worried though, there was a cool breeze on top and the
temperature was perfect. Mike ably led us across the mountains and
the group company was great, with lots of chatting and laughing. Stu
even played me ‘Running Up That Hill’ by my favourite artist Kate
Bush, to further inspire me! We arrived at Dunmail Raise in good
spirits, but I could already feel that my appetite was waning. I
forced myself to eat a quarter of a sandwich, but found the fresh
orange segments the most appetising.
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| Dunmail Raise |
The hard pull up
Steel Fell at the start of Leg 3 passed quickly enough, with my new
Support crew of Ian Oldham and Jon Beyer. Ian did an excellent job
of navigating the leg, but poor Jon had the equally difficult task of
looking after me as inevitably I started to feel sick. The trudge up
High Raise was probably my lowest point of the entire crossing.
Feeling the need to change something in order to increase my chance
of success, I decided to use my strategy of ‘kill or cure’ by
taking on a gel. It would either make me vomit, or get some calories
in. I am sure the manufacturers have no idea that their products
work like this, but it produced excellent results,(much more pleasant
than sticking my fingers down my throat) and I was able to throw up
as I ran downhill (a skill I am proud to have mastered) . I
instantly felt better and was then able to laugh at Jon’s poor
jokes and listen to him singing as we wended our way across the
mountains to the more challenging ascent of Bowfell. Ian chose an
excellent line up this and we soon found ourselves meeting up with
Phil Hodgson, the Great End descent specialist who had come up to
help. This was my favourite descent, scampering down Phil’s great
lines, feeling confident and arriving at Styhead at 15.37 , 10
minutes up.
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| Great End Descent |
There was quite a crowd waiting for me. Along with my
Leg 4 Support of Neil Bowmer, Tim Grimwood and Caroline Graham, and
the food crew of Jess and Chris, all of the Leg 2 crew had come up to
greet me and share another mountain with me. I think I managed 1/8th
of a sandwich and a cherry tomato and some tea and coke, but was
feeling pretty ropey as I ground my way up Great Gable. Worryingly I
lost 2 minutes to the summit, but an interesting choice of descent
which ended in scree meant I had to concentrate hard and took my mind
of my nausea. However, I knew I couldn’t tackle Kirk Fell strongly
feeling like I did, so once again I resorted to a gel, which once
again instantly made me vomit. Feeling a bit better, I regained my
lost two minutes on the ascent of Kirk Fell and then had an enjoyable
section over Pillar and Scoat Fell, where I was 17 minutes up on
schedule. I most enjoyed listening to my crew chatting to each other
and not needing to talk. At the out and back to Steeple, Tim took a
break, since he had already run the Wasdale Fell race route out to
Styhead before joining my crew on Leg 4, so he was able to take the
obligatory summit photo. My lead haemorrhaged away on the next
mountain, Haycock as I was again feeling very sick and this time I
needed to stop to deal with this. But I also knew that if I just
kept moving, I could complete in my 16 hours, so I just kept plodding
on. Neil led the perfect grassy line on the Haycock descent, and
the sight of Mandy Goth and Ian waiting half way up Seatallan really
lifted my spirits.
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| Seatallan |
I closely followed Mandy’s ankles up Seatallan,
then she led us on a great line off it and up to Middle Fell. Sadly
I was once again feeling sick, which was frustrating because my legs
were feeling pretty good. My planned glorious run-in to Greendale
Bridge therefore became a walk, I touched the bridge, turned off my
watch, acknowledged my lovely friends then went round the corner for
a final spew! I completed my Joss Naylor Lakeland Challenge in 15.39,
(one minute ahead of schedule!) surrounded by my friends after a
fabulous day in the hills, just as Joss suggested. Thank you to my
wonderful support team, all of whom were chosen for both their
mountain skills and being people I wanted to spend time with.
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| Greendale Bridge |
Of course, this
occurred 6 days before sadly Joss Naylor passed away, leaving family,
friends and the fell running community bereft. I only met him a few
times, later in his life but he seemed to be so supportive to runners
of all abilities. It has been an honour to be one of the last people
to complete the challenge in his lifetime and I hope it is a
challenge that will inspire many others in the future.
£100 donated to
my usual charity, the Meningitis Research Foundation, in memory of my
nephew Ethan Jon
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