Where do you start with a weekend like the Lakeland 50 & 100?
It doesn’t matter which race you have entered, the Lakeland community comes together for one special weekend in July to celebrate everything that’s great about friendship, camaraderie, oh and ultra running.
I’m a bit of a newcomer really to Lakeland as it took me several years to get my first entry, such is the popularity of the ballot. It remained a bit of an enigma as its reputation spread of themed checkpoints, a tough course and a presentation to end all presentations. When I did the 50 mile race last year and experienced ‘the weekend’ for the first time, I understood how and why it has one of the best reputations for race experiences, friendliness and well… community you will ever find in the racing calendar.
Pitching camp and race registration was slick, so was back at the tent with several hours to waste on admin faff before the 6pm start for my race, the 105 mile beast. An evening start to a race needs a different daytime strategy to an early morning race. Being mindful of having slept long ago, it’s easy to fall into a busy daytime on your feet when you really should be resting.
However, at Lakeland there are people to see and catch up with and be in the start pen in time to experience the build. There are various traditions that are held sacred for long timers and you have to keep a beady eye open and take everything in to recognise them. The briefing for example has you chatting to the person sat next to you to decide who is finishing and who will DNF! All part of the light-hearted approach but sign posted the fact that just over half the field will cross the finish line so it’s time to focus on yourself. Another tradition is a live rendition of Nessun Dorma in full operatic mode which goes straight into AC/DC’s Thuderstruck – halfway through its lights out and we’re off. It’s an emotional start if you get carried away with the music and then the noise of 1000s of supporters all the way up Lake Road and through the village for the mass start. Emosh!
Though no were near as bad as a UTMB event, the Walna Scar Road was busy in a long line of Lakeland athletes and this continued pretty much all the way to Braithwaite. We finally broke free from procession running in the final mile or so to this CP and was a relief to be honest. For the less experienced it would be reassuring to have other athletes alongside you as this first third of the route does get quite technical in places and one wrong step could easily be race ending. One Irish athlete I was chatting to, Desmond, had a very lucky escape from plummeting down the screes on the descent from Sail Pass.
The route is spectacular though, I felt sorry for those who do not know it as being night-time, they missed out on the mighty mountain and valley vistas of Wasdale, Ennerdale and the never-ending valley up and over Sail Pass. All very magnificent.
The checkpoints are no more than 9.8 miles apart, if you manage to dial-in this fact that you are only ever running for less than ten miles at a time, the route suddenly becomes less scary. A rest, food and hydration top-up every 10 miles, result. It needs to be said, the check points are a magical mix of insanity and refuge. You have to be there and experience them to get the magic. For example, Seathwaite is awash with Irish Leprechauns, Wasdale is the land of Wizard of Oz characters. There is something quite surreal having your water bottles topped up by a bloke dressed as Dorothy at 11.00pm in a cattle shed. All the checkpoint teams deserve a medal as they were all fab and couldn’t do enough for you, they have the right balance of “what can we do to help” and, to quote, “get the f*** out of here back to Coniston”. The golden rule of not being allowed to DNF at a CP unless something is hanging off or you’ve been timed out was the order of the weekend and they save so many athletes’ race with this attitude. Remember GET YOURSELF OUT OF THE CHECKPOINT FIRST, then decide if you can continue.
Fortunately, the hot sunshine was not present like it was for two recent recces as I did suffer in the heat compared to my running mate Jim. I just didn’t have the fitness level to cope with 30 degrees plus temperatures as I plodded around the recces, race weekend was so much cooler and manageable and I surprised myself at how efficient I was moving. Training hadn’t gone to plan this year but yet again, it really underlined how having a strong foundation can hide a multitude of sins as long as you are prepared to adapt and make the right decisions within the race itself. Running with my training partner since Wasdale was always going to give me a boost and we kept each other moving at times as we each had good and not so good spells.
Dalemain CP was a relief, so much so we lingered a little too long but enjoyed the downtime without the race stress. We had both decided that a fun day out was the game plan rather than race times. We probably relaxed too much with an hour and forty-minute CP stop, an hour longer than I had originally planned. I blame the soundtrack in the marquee, it was the best of the weekend!
After seeing my better half in Pooley Bridge, I was dumped for a craft fair in the village when she spotted a sign for it and bid us farewell. An uneventful run into Howtown ended, for me, with a trip and fall as I passed a fellow racer and was very lucky not to do any damage. I managed to brace the fall onto the grass ‘verge’ alongside the dry-stone wall and tipped onto my head. It was not a head collision as such but I saw stars for a few seconds with the motion of falling. My fellow racer was very concerned for me as I walked to compose myself and I thank her for that, she wouldn’t let me leave and made sure I was making sense before I ran off into the Caribbean CP. I was lucky and it shows how one simple slip, trip or foot placement can end everything. Time to refocus.
Fusedale was, well Fusedale. Beautiful, steep and deceptive. I had convinced myself we were topping out after the first steep climb only to see how it continued for another steep mile before hitting High Kop, the highest point on the course. It was probably the only moment of the entire weekend I cursed the course – fleeting, forgivable and natural. Peaks and troughs. Sorry, I lie. Mardale! That path alongside Haweswater is by far the worst path in the whole of the Lake District in the summer months. Three miles where you cannot see the rocky path because of the overgrowing ferns and the amount of toe and knee bashing it causes is not welcomed at 71 miles into the route. Spardale, sorry CP10 Mardale was an oasis by the time you have cursed and swore your way up the valley, give me the immediate 330 vertical metre climb of the mighty Gatescarth Pass anytime over that slog by the reservoir.
The following 14 miles into Ambleside was uneventful. I was determined that Garburn Pass would not see the same tantrum I had last Summer (on the 50). I hated that Pass last year with a passion, but I was not prepared to let it affect me this year in the same way, I knew it would be a slog but what a difference mindset plays. I breezed up it. So much so that as it opened out on the hillside above Kentmere I spotted a headtorch high up the hill of a fellow racer which pointed out the length and height gain the pass afforded. It seemed in no time at all we reached the same spot and I was still in a good mood! Wow. Mindset is everything.
It was dark as we headed up Garburn and the rain started on the descent into Troutbeck, just light rain, nothing dramatic. At Ambleside we both had some hot food and a 10 minute snooze before back out into the same rain for the final 15 miles or so. Another section I struggled with last year was the route through Loughrigg to Elterwater, but again I was having a ball. I was genuinely enjoying myself, it is what I aim for in the coaching of my athletes – we are supposed to enjoy this sport, its hardship, its spoils and challenges and I genuinely hoped that my two athletes in the race were having as much fun as I was. Tired, yes, looking forward to the finish line, yes, looking forward to the final Tilberthwaite challenge, absolutely.
Chapel Stile was another great CP, very attentive with tasty stew and endless cups of tea. However, the cold with stopping and the lure of the finish line forced us out within 20 minutes and we yomped through Langdale and made short work of the climb up to Blea Tarn. The final section to the Compulsory CP turning in little Langdale was gnarly as the rocks by now were slippy and fatigue was not helping, at least we had the light back in our second dawn of the race.
If I had forgotten one part of the route it was the climb out of Little Langdale and into High Tilberthwaite. I had a road in my mind from the cottage at Bridge End to take us to the CP, but that didn’t materialize for another 2 miles or so. No biggy I mused.
Walking into the final CP of Tilberthwaite at 5:40am I was suddenly dog tired, eyes drooping, wanting to sleep badly. It came on literally inside the final 100metres to the CP. It was weird. I ordered a strong black coffee and a toastie. Sadly, the toasties were not available as the team were busy fighting the now gale force wind and close to torrential rain. Having their marquee vanish in the wind hadn’t helped their cause either, troopers to the end they were.
With black coffee playing its part, Nessum Dorma now made perfect sense – “No one must sleep”, not now, we have a finish to smash. Having duly paid the £1 toll, we ascended Jacob’s Ladder and the final ascent of the race over the stunning Tilberthwaite Fells. Jim and I were still together and working well as we overtook many of the back markers on the 50 race and several 100 athletes. We felt great in the wind and the rain and didn’t stop over the final summit or on the loose rocky descent down to the Miners Bridge where we had passed some 36 hours and 50 mins earlier.
We both ran the final section of road into the village of Coniston and down Lake Road to the finish, completely ignoring my wife who was busy filming and shouting in the rain – not on purpose my dear, honest. I love the Lakeland finish, I won’t spoil it for you if you don’t know, but enter the race and you will see what I mean.
Pictures, hugs of congrats all round and a collapse into a chair were all welcomed. Job done. Objective met.
Funny how both Jim and myself said that we didn’t need to come back again after the Mardale section, but already I could sense in both of us a change of attitude. Lakeland is special for so many reasons and it will also be Jim’s “slate year” next time and we both can’t miss out on that celebration.
Oh, one last thing, please DO NOT miss the presentation on the Sunday. No excuse is big enough to miss out on what is probably the presentation to end all presentations. Again, you have to experience it to fully appreciate it. I can tell you how positive, emotional, supercharged, funny, uplifting, etc etc it is, but until you are there in person… well I’ll leave that one with you.
If you are looking to enter this iconic race, I would be happy to chat about a coaching schedule if you are lucky enough to get a ballot entry. It’s a race that should be on everyone’s bucket list and I am truly thankful that I have the opportunity to stand on the start line in such an uplifting community of people. Will I be there next year? Not as an athlete, another race beckons, but will definitely volunteer in some capacity and hopefully have an athlete or two to keep my beady eye on.
Congratulations must go to Alex and Jim for both achieving their race objectives. Alex secured his 15hr target on the 50 and Jim his 4th 100 completion.
SEE.WHATS.POSSIBLE.
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Photo Credit: No Limits Photography & Lakeland 50 & 100
