Borrowdaled.

Good morning folks

I trust you are in fine form.
Two blogs within a week! What is happening? Some kind of record.
Off work, free morning, thought I’d scribble a short one!

The big recent focus was the Borrowdale Fell Race.
Not the longest, nor the hardest race in the calendar, but long enough and hard enough to keep you on your toes and with a rich 49 year long history in which local legend Billy Bland still holds the record 2:34:38 (back in 1981), which I personally couldn’t do in a taxi.
Billy Bland won it 9 times, Simon Booth 11 times and Ricky Lightfoot 8 times.
It is a race locals want to win and local Brennan Townshend has won the last 2, so watch this space!

***The winner, Brennan Townshend, (Photo: Steve Wilson. https://www.granddayoutphotography.co.uk/***

17 miles including 6500 feet of ascent (27km, 2000m, in new money), starting and finishing at Rosthwaite, visiting Bessyboot, Esk Hause, Scafell Pike, Styhead stretcher box, Great Gable, Honister Pass, Dale Head and down to the finish.
Shorter than Ennerdale (heatwave, goosed), less climbing than Wasdale (completely destroyed) but during a period when everything seemed tpo be coming together nicely. I was really looking forward to it.

I last ran it in 2002 on my 30th birthday, when I was given number 30.

Last Thursday I was 51 and (without prompting) I was given number 51, what are the chances?!

There used to be an infamously good party afterwards called the Borrowdale Bash, held in a marquee in the finish field, but alas it is no more.
Last time I ran it, I set off at world record pace and blew up really early on, crawling round and then drowning myself in beer at the Bash, making a teeny-tiny walk up to (very) nearby Watendlath Tarn the next day feel like the north face of K2. The good old days!

The forecast (the Met Office sticking a wet finger in the air) was a mixed bag for the day. Wet, windy, clag, not too hot/cold, the ambiguous pattern of this not-so-tropical British summer so far.

Race day

Superkeen, I was up and off and parked up before 9am and chewed the fat with my old Morley mate Charlie, who also runs for Pudsey & Bramley, who I hadn’t seen in 10yrs+
He had a plan to take it “steady” until Great Gable then go for it.
My plan was to hang on to Charlie until Great Gable, then hang on until the finish! Training had been good, I had no major injuries and had my racing head on.

And they’re OFF!

I personally hate big races, especially the start. If everyone was in the exact position/order where they would finish, it wouldn’t be a problem, but that would be dull. Some poor sod fell over in the middle of the scrum, on the road, about 5 seconds after the start. There is always a lot of jostling and with a big bottleneck very close to the start people were keen to get going.

There are generally 5 different types of terrain to deal with in fell races:

Road: Very little of this, maybe a bit at the start/finish, but generally rare. Made of tarmac, this is smooth and hard. Not good to fall on.

Grass: Green stuff, normally plenty of this. Can be soft, hard, grippy or slippy. If you are going to fall, try to fall on this stuff.

“Technical”: Normally rocky and demanding full attention, rock hopping from boulder to boulder. Do NOT fall here. (Photo taken on this route, but not in the race. You can just see the queue of punters on top of Scafell Pike).
If wet/icy, spiciness levels go up by 100 points.

Mixed: A combo of rock and grass. This is tricky terrain as it is always at a stage in the race when one is cream-crackered. You need to pick your feet up as otherwise it WILL trip you up. If you do have to fall here, try to avoid the rocks.

“Lakeland gravel”: Normally found at the start (when you are giddy and just want to get going), or at the end, (when your legs don’t work). When I say gravel, I mean bowling bowl sized rocks, normally round (like you’d find in a fast flowing river) and slippier than ice covered in vaseline if even slightly wet.
Potential for tripping/stubbing your toe is HUGE, especially if you don’t pick your feet up.
If you fall here, you’re going to have problems.

If you are good, you can float and fly across any of the abpve.
If you are a clumsy oaf, like me, falls are just par for the course, it is where/how you fall that determines your destiny!

Borrowdale has a long along-the-valley start before a steep climb to Bessyboot, with a lot of contouring and good or bottomless bog until Esk Hause where it gets technical, an insane scree-surfing descent to the Corridor Route, mixed running to Styhead, then labouriously placed steps (thank you volunteers for what must have been back breaking graft) up Great Gable, then mixed/technical going all the way to Dale Head and then some slate (slippery if it has rained in the last week with zero friction) to the valley and then Lakeland gravel to the finish. Piece of cake!

Falls happen when you least expect them. If you expected it, you would be ready and put your arms out. If you are quick witted, with your very next step (opposite leg) you can save things, but if your next step doesn’t expect it

So, I was trotting along, chatting to Charlie and John and just settling into the race when at about 2 miles in, a guy in front suddenly stopped, then I suddenly tripped with my right foot and my left foot then suddenly slid sideways and I fell with all my weight onto a boulder with my ribs.

You always do that “Nothing’s happenedhere, move along” jumping up movement, but I had gne down with a bump, winded myself and shouted out like a baby, so it was noticed!

But, it was only 2 miles in and way too early to bale, I hadn’t banged my head, so kept on going, just gradually getting stiffer and stiffer in my upper body, to the point where I was probably running lopsided to compensate.

The drop off from Scafell Pike is ridiculously steep, loose and good fun, you just have to get your centre of gravity low and let go, but then a lass in front of the pack I was in suddenly stopped and my centre of gravity was too high and I had one of those heart stopping moments when you think “Sugar! I am going head first here” and then you recover it, phew!

I lost Charlie here and he powered on, my legs felt great and full of running, but my top half just wasn’t working.

Great Gable was very familiar, as I had been up it 3 times in teh last 4 weeks and race photographer, Steve Wilson was placed well to catch runners in various states of suffering.

***Photo: Steve Wilson. https://www.granddayoutphotography.co.uk/***

Off Gable, I took a crap line (too far right) but it was clagged in by then and then to Honister I went to far left and then off Dale Head, too far right.
“Lines” are what you learn in recces/previous races. Races often don’t just follow paths and aren’t marked in any way. In addition GPS devices are not allowed, so there is a certain skill to it, but top runners do sometimes make monumental cock-ups, ending up in the wrong valleys, so it happens to the best of us!

Down to the finish in the rain and into the village hall for endless cups of tea and cheese and jam sarnies (surprisingly delicious) and a post race dissection chinwag with other runners, then the prize giving (of which I was not part of!)

I took a rambling route back home, stopping in several laybys for a cuppa and a groan. It turned into a glorious evening, the start of summer part II even?

To nicely summarise the above mumbo-jumbo in a brilliantly made 13 minute video, here is the LAKELAND TRAIL RUNNER. (My very awkward running style can be contribute (and hopefully not attributed) to my earlier tumble, I hope!

Getting home late, I went to bed and experienced a new level of pain getting into bed and of course, needing the toilet (again) 30 seconds later, getting out of bed was equally as painful!

Was no better first thing Sunday, so went to Kendal Hospital for an X-ray and as I arrived an hour before it opened, I was first in the queue. The NHS get a lot of flak, but every single person I saw was amazing.
Verdict: Nothing broken, suck it up you big baby!

Raider’s round-up

I try to watch my beloved rugby team whenever I can and as I was close, went down to Craven Park, breaking my neck to get in the ground before 2pm for the pie voucher (“No, we don’t do them anymore”).

Playing against an in-form London Broncos side, with an injury/suspension depleted side, we got off to a bad start and never got going ending up in a 26:6 defeat.

On the plus side, the sun shone.
On the minus side, I forgot where I had parked, in my pre-match pie chase, so spent 30 minutes wandering around Barrow.

It will now take a miracle not to be demoted

Leaving Las Kendal…

I had planned more running, a few Wainwrights and an exploratory look at the”Abraham’s Tea Round” route, but as walking and breathing were difficult, I headed home, leaving my hometown in an amazing cloud inversion, conditions which always happen when there is nowhere to stop to take a photo and parking on the side of the A6 was a bit risky!

Tight lines!

Had a very steady days fishing at nearby Highfield pond, nothing of note apart from catching this slippery fellow!

30 years ago, eels were ten-a-penny, nowadays they are quite rare.
I had forgotten whant slimy buggers they are as they wrap themselves around your arm and cover you in stinky mucus!