Rydal Round

Thursday 27/07/06

Rydal Round fell race - 9miles / 3040feet
21st place - 1hr 40mins 33secs

El Scorchio. Felt hotter running here than in Italy.
Somewhat different to last year's race when I finished in overtrousers, hat and gloves.
The altitude training seemed to have no effect whatsoever as I flagged as soon as the gradient steepened on Nab Scar.
Perhaps not fully recovered from battling round the SkyRace with the shits.
Post race entertainment as usual in the form of wrestling, trail hounds and bofra races.

Dolomites SkyRace

Sunday 23/07/06

Dolomites SkyRace - 22km / 5620 feet
141st place - 2hrs 54mins 21secs

Managed to stuff enough food down me to get round the SkyRace from Canazei to Piz Boe and back.
Weather was perfect, blazing sun throughout the previous week gave way to clouds and a welcome breeze.
We even had a shower in the early afternoon while waiting for the prize giving.
The assembled field of Brits out there was very strong. You'd rarely see that lot assembled for a race back in Blighty.
The men put 6 on the podium of top twenty finishers, Angela Mudge destroyed the ladies record.
(Male only) Results

Dolomites

Cracking week of climbing and via ferrata in the Dolomites staying at Arrabba.
Lots of time spent at altitude with some short runs and stiff walks set us up nicely for the Dolomites SkyRace.
Unfortunately the day before the race I succombed to the gut rot which had been passing around the chalet ;-(

Ingleborough

Saturday 15/08/06

Inglebrorough fell race - 7miles / 1950feet
32nd place - 57mins 45secs

Rocky motorway of a trail, scorching heat, start and finish on a road.Need I go on?
If that is what three peaks is all about, but longer, I think I'll stick to plodding round old London town.
Results

Lord's Seat

Wednesday 12/07/06

Lord's Seat fell race - 5miles / 1400ft
9th place - 39mins 34secs

A number of us were led astray by a Keswick vest on a slight detour before we found Lord's Seat in the mist.
Once back on the right route it turned into an insane dash to regain lost places before the finish.
Getting sandbagged by locals is becoming a recurring theme, we ended up scrambling up Wetherlam following an Ambleside runner at 3 Shires last year.
Results

Penrith MRT training

Sunday 09/07/06

Spent a moist day after Wasdale training with Penrith mountain rescue team at Cathedral quarry, Little Langdale.
We started with some horizontal stretcher lowering

Then picking up a cragfast climber using the "pitador" harness, at least I think that's what it is called.
It's the red thing around Chris' shoulders which is fastened around the casualty like a nappy.

We then did a vertical stretcher lower down the main face of the quarry. Guess who was the casualty?

Wasdale

Saturday 08/07/06

Wasdale fell race - 21miles / 9010feet
14th place - 4hrs 21mins 59secs

1st man was Lloyd Taggart.
1st lady, breaking the 9 year old record was Lloydio's other half, Jackie Lee.

1st team were Borrowdale fell runners with 34 points.
The 4 counters were Andy Schofield, Andrew Davies, Paul Cornforth and Dave Ward.

Saunders

Weekend Sat/Sun 1st/2nd July 06

Saunders Lakeland Mountain Marathon - 'Klets' class
The event started at Grasmere, using the sports field as a base.
The overnight camp was at Stonethwaite.

Overall I finished 17th of 19 finishers (39 entered, 31 started).

Day 1 proved to be a lesson in how not to navigate.
What is a re-entrant anyway?
The route description says 5971 feet of ascent. I actually climbed 11110 feet and descended 11340!

Sunday was a bit of an improvement.
Finished 10th of 20 on day 2, a mere 80 minutes behind the winner, as opposed to the 5 hours and 10 minutes I lost(!) on day one.
I climbed 5680 feet and dropped 5360, the course was supposed to be 4577, so I must have been a bit nearer the mark.

Let's hope the sores and sunburn subside before Wasdale.
You live and learn (not to enter it again).