I only just managed to complete my sixth and final Lakeland Classic, having arrived on the start line with exactly a minute to go! Fortunately the day improved from then on and I finished this 14 mile/5300 feet race in 2h 59m, 134th of 325 finishers. We started on narrow farm tracks that resembled streams with nasty big rocks waiting to trip you up. I was trying to make up a few places before the 1st climb, but this was difficult as the field was bunching badly at this stage and I was trying to avoid a face plant on the rocks. My lack of a warm-up actually seemed to make me feel better than when I did one, so maybe there’s a lesson there? After that it was steep uphill beside a lovely burn and waterfall up to Stickle Tarn, “power-walking” my way gradually through the field. After a nice short runnable trod round the tarn, we had another short scramble round the side of Pavey Ark. The field was pretty settled by this point and there was a lot of running on boggy terrain to get the legs going after the climb. A few people almost disappeared into the extreme boggy bits, but this at least showed you where not to run, which was nice of them. In this race you don’t get into your stride for long, as we were soon on a contouring climb on narrow trods through Black Crags col before levelling out for a wee bit to Angle Tarn. The previously mild weather had deteriorated a bit by now and was windy and claggy on the ridge ahead. It was up to the “turn-a-round” point of Esk Hause, where we all formed an orderly procession on the narrow runners’ trod that contoured below Esk Pike. We were then up and into the clag and wind at Ore Gap, with me trying to hang on to a couple of Clayton Le Moors runners who looked like they knew the best route over this difficult terrain. We pushed on up and over Bowfell and to Crinkle Crags, where the infamous “bad step” awaited me. It was actually not too bad and I managed to get down this 10ft rock drop by a combination of down climbing it and bum sliding it. Others were not so fortunate it appears as at least one person supposedly took a head first dive down it, ouch! At least by then I was out of the clag and the rough stuff was mostly behind me. All that was left was the short climb up Pike of Blisco, where I put in a bit of effort to catch quite a few runners, knowing that on the long final descent from the summit down to Langdale I would probably lose a few places anyway. This descent is very similar to the Three Shires one and I remembered the route off and then enjoyed a great twisting descent on trods down into the valley, managing to crack the 3 hour barrier, which I was pretty chuffed about (The winning time was 2h 10m, Results here
). Hot pasties and gooey flapjacks were provided at the finish and were most welcome. Definitely a race for those that like it rocky and rough, in total contrast to the Pentlands Skyline on the same weekend, and worth trying out at least once in preference to the Carnethy one. As for me, it rounded off my summer of Lakeland Classics in fine style. I would definitely recommend giving this series a go, even if only to complete at least 3 of the 6 races and get a “placing”, but I had a fantastic time doing all 6. After the Three Shires Race think I was 52nd out of approx 109 who had done at least 3 of the 6 races, but may well have slipped a bit after they add-in Langdale. As for the “Superlong Series, I was 42nd/109 who did all 3. Details here
Duddon - 4h 18m (67th/136) - 20m/6600ft
Ennerdale - 5h 55m 157th/262) - 20m/8000ft
Wasdale - 5h 40m (101st/145) - 22m/9000ft
Borrowdale - 4h 43m (163rd/400) -17m/6500ft
3 Shires - 2h 46m (89th/265) - 12m/4700ft
Langdale - 2h 59m (134th/325) - 14m/5300ft
TOTAL =26h 21m =105m/40,100ft
