Race
Reports 2007
Anniversary
Waltz April 21st
2007
Report
from Roger Taylor. Edited by Robyn. Photos courtesy of Borrowdale & Robyn.
More pictures from Robyn + link to results etc.
Roger, Robyn and Matt left Preston in
early morning sunshine to join Pete and Jim, who had camped over the night
before, at Stair village for the Anniversary Waltz – a now classic Lakeland
race over the beautiful 11.5 mile Newlands Horseshoe route, with 3600ft of
ascent taking in: Robinson, Hindscarth, Dale Head, High Spy and Catbells.
On approaching Keswick the tops of Blencathra and Skiddaw were obscured by
ominous looking grey clouds from about 2000ft upwards, despite the glorious
weather down below. A worrying sign for Roger who, due to his inept navigational
skills, ended up in Buttermere the previous year when the route was shrouded in
mist.
However, by the time we had registered the conditions were perfect. A lovely
sunny day, with the tops all clear and a very light cool breeze, dictating the
dress code of shorts, vest and plenty of sunscreen. In an unusual display of
sense, Robyn opted not to run in order to rest her sprained ankle.
The
Relaxed Scrum
After being shepherded to the far corner of a field, the starter told the 300
poised athletes, “1 minute to go”, causing the scrum to relax from their
coiled spring like starting positions, whereupon someone shouted “Go!” and
we set off at a furious pace up the gentle gradient of the rough field towards a
gate in the corner.
Left to right. Jim &
Pete, Roger, Matt. Set off like uncoiled springs.
The pace picked up even more, once out of the gate onto the tarmac lane, winding
its way up to a footpath which cuts across to the church at Little Town. The
crossing of the almost dried out Gill en-route is reminiscent of wildebeest
slithering down the steep shale and trying to scramble over each other to get up
the other side.
Once at the church it is back onto tarmac for a gruelling run up to the footpath
which follows the line of Scope Beck to the foot of Robinson. The pace at the
start had got the better of Roger by this stage and Matt casually cruised past
on the road.
The relief at getting off the road and onto the gentle gradient of soft fell on
the way to Robinson is short lived as the near vertical scramble up Robinson
begins. The gradient is so steep it requires both hands and feet to stay
attached and it turns to a rocky scramble near the top. “S’not fell race
‘til’ve sheep **** under yon nails”, yells a V60 as he storms past me –
well, this was definitely a fell race!
A fast descent over uneven fell from
Robinson summit takes you to the pull up Hindscarth on a runable path; turning
round the summit cairn to double back towards Dale Head down a hard rocky path.
The climb soon begins again, eventually cutting through the crags to attain the
summit at Dale Head. The rough, steep drop from Dale Head summit to Dale Head
tarn comes as something of a surprise. Apparently there is both a rocky path to
the left or a grassy slope to the right, however relying on my crack navigation
I (Roger) managed a slow descent over steep rough crags between the two!
Time for some energy drink input now to get me up the steep climb to High Spy,
across the boggy lower slopes then finally onto the rocky summit. At this point
the pace really starts to pick up again for the dash across Maiden Moor – I
spot the V60 who passed me over an hour ago and decide to try to catch him. This
proves to be harder than I imagined, but following in his footsteps proves to be
a godsend, as he seems to know every little twist and turn to save just a few
feet here and there and we pass quite a few runners travelling a greater pace.
Matt flies by the slow
to click photographer on Catbells
Roger, dribbling a bit,
wobbles up Catbells.
Pete descends Catbells.
The on the ball, click
me quick photographer, captures the moments with great skill.
By the time I get to the final climb up Catbells, Robyn appears and tries to
have a chat, then delights in running up and down past me asking why I’m not
running very fast! I barely have the energy to grunt, so just dribble a bit and
manage to wobble past a couple of runners by the summit of Catbells just to try
and get away from her. (HEY!
I heard that, no tea for you tonight!!)
It’s then a tricky initial descent over the rocky top to pick up a very fast,
flat out downhill sprint through the bracken back to the finish in Stair
village.
I was so delighted to be back in the field that I ran straight from the gate to
the finish tent, missing the carefully taped route around the field to the
finish. As I finished, an official awarded me a spot prize of a pair of Ron Hill
socks for such blatant cheating!
Jim at
finish
Plus the totally relaxed scrum at the finish
Matt had already been in for a while and looked ready for another lap. A short
while later a streak of blue shot across the field at astonishing speed. This
was Pete finishing with his usual enthusiasm, having just achieved an impressive
3min48s mile down Catbells. He was followed home by Jim, who used his final
ounce of energy on approaching the finish to give a huge smile to Robyn for the
camera, causing a disastrous cramping in his leg, resulting in him collapsing in
a heap across the finishing line.
A fantastic race in near perfect conditions was celebrated by a refreshment or 2
of local brew at the Swinside Inn.
Congratulations to Matt on completion of his first
Lakeland
fell race!
Thanks Roger for this
elegantly written article, thus maintaining our high standards!
SEE
RESULTS & MORE PICTURES
See
last time there!
Now
back to On the Fells 2007
Preston
Harriers Fell Section
:- fellblog