Attempts 27/28/29 July

[stevefoster]

Fantastic pic Stolly!

[andygib1982]

Nicky looked remarkably fresh when finishing, with nice weather sub-18 was on the cards!

Wil and Sarah finished within 2mins of each other, Sarah powering past Wil just before Portinscale, refusing to believe myself and RachFR telling her that we were OK on time. Wil was very relaxed.

pretty green support team, with only 2 having experience supporting before, but a great weekend - only one big mistake where we found 'Dollywaggon 2' during a slight detour - clag down from clough head to grizledale tarn made for a long night!

Started planning one yet....

[Nicky]

Thanks to everyone that supported me on Saturday from 4am to 10.12pm - 18hours and 12 minutes. I owe a lot to everyone that came out on the hill and also to those backstage especially Amanda Heading of www.racekit.co.uk as they made a record BG round possible in those conditions.

I always advocate not doing rounds in bad weather but the forecast was showers (same as for the Wasdale race which actually turned out perfect running weather) and so I went for it. Leg 1 was blustery and Skiddaw rather foul. Then the skies lifted and across Helvellyn we had views across to Scafell which looked promising. I managed to gain a bit of time on my 18 hour schedule until Great End where slippery rocks did slow me down a bit. Ill Crag and Broad Crag were horrid and the Scafell's lethal. After Broad Stand I needed two minutes just to calm the nerves and then the rock slabs up to the plateau were scary. Running into Wasdale once again the sun came out and although I could see clag on Gable there was no way I was dropping out then with only two legs to go.

Leg 4 started promising but a glitch in my schedule to Red Pike unnerved me, then I didn't eat, then my stomach packed up on me. Forcing a rice pudding down was a "make or break" and it did work by Green Gable although I had lost more time fighting it and the rocks by then. The hail and wind on Brandreth was the absolute pits and I was so glad to be getting off the hills to Honister.

The last leg was time to push it; my stomach had settled helped by soup at Honister, and I didn't have to worry too much about energy. I could picture the finish and even the road felt good as I didn't have to pick my way across rocks and could stretch out. What a feeling to sprint up deserted Keswick streets and touch the Moot Hall!!!!

And yes planning has started.....

[protodoc]

Having been up on Leg 3 on with Stolly a few hours before you and almost getting hypothermia on Bowfell, yours is an astonishing achievement! Seriously well done Nicky and team, awesome fell skills and stamina.

Thanks to everyone that supported me on Saturday from 4am to 10.12pm - 18hours and 12 minutes. I owe a lot to everyone that came out on the hill and also to those backstage especially Amanda Heading of www.racekit.co.uk as they made a record BG round possible in those conditions.

I always advocate not doing rounds in bad weather but the forecast was showers (same as for the Wasdale race which actually turned out perfect running weather) and so I went for it. Leg 1 was blustery and Skiddaw rather foul. Then the skies lifted and across Helvellyn we had views across to Scafell which looked promising. I managed to gain a bit of time on my 18 hour schedule until Great End where slippery rocks did slow me down a bit. Ill Crag and Broad Crag were horrid and the Scafell's lethal. After Broad Stand I needed two minutes just to calm the nerves and then the rock slabs up to the plateau were scary. Running into Wasdale once again the sun came out and although I could see clag on Gable there was no way I was dropping out then with only two legs to go.

Leg 4 started promising but a glitch in my schedule to Red Pike unnerved me, then I didn't eat, then my stomach packed up on me. Forcing a rice pudding down was a "make or break" and it did work by Green Gable although I had lost more time fighting it and the rocks by then. The hail and wind on Brandreth was the absolute pits and I was so glad to be getting off the hills to Honister.

The last leg was time to push it; my stomach had settled helped by soup at Honister, and I didn't have to worry too much about energy. I could picture the finish and even the road felt good as I didn't have to pick my way across rocks and could stretch out. What a feeling to sprint up deserted Keswick streets and touch the Moot Hall!!!!

And yes planning has started.....

[Stolly]

Just a quick note to say that it was a fantastic run and I'm just sorry that my legs just forgot to turn up for it . Maybe I just didn't taper enough or maybe the thrashing I gave them at Ingleborough (especially the nutter sprint all the way down) last week was still in them - either way I was already struggling a little on the long but gradual climb from Clough Head to Great Dodd so just what, 16 miles in, I knew I was in for a tough day. (My legs had perversely been brilliantly strong after full on 50 miles on my previous weather halted attempt, just 4 weeks ago!!)

I was down (on my 23 hour schedule) by 15 minutes at the top of Blencathra, due mainly to pissing rain and poor visibility on Skiddaw, 10 at Threlkeld after throwing myself off the side of Doddick in misty drizzle and thick fog and, even though I struggled along much of the Helvellyn ridgeline and we took a dodgy line off of Nethermost Pike, just 4 minutes by Dunmail. To to be honest though, I'd expected to be half an hour up by then. I wasn't firing on all cylinders and things got gradually worse from Calf Crag, losing a couple of minutes here and there. It was raining on and off most of the time and foggy on the tops but, after getting through the Langdales, a complete and utter monsoon set in which reached horrendous proportions by Bowfell, with a heck of a wind chill thrown in. I'd lost some more time by then, down 23 minutes, (but more positively still 37 up on a 24 hour schedule) but had, at least for the moment, managed to stop the rot. But now the weather had chosen to go mental too in what quite frankly couldn't have been a worse place!

My legs (my quads specifically) were feeling really ropey and after marching on the best we could striving against the elements it was plain that the weather was becoming borderline dangerous. We were all drenched through and shivering pretty badly and we still had all the boulder scrambling and fannying about to do over Scafell Pike and Scafell before we could drop out of the weather. My quads weren't getting better any time soon anyway and we were all freezing cold so I called it a day. Regardless of my legs I think it was the right decision as it still took us a good while struggling through a continual deluge to get down to Wasdale via Esk Haus and Sty Head and we had to run most of the time regardless of my legs just to keep warm.

Eventually I turned up like a drowned rat at the Wasdale Head Inn and scrounged an immediate pint on a tab whilst Martyn, Mark and Lucas went to tell the support crew what had happened.

Thanks to all my helpers and pacers - Hes, Gav and Lee leg 1, Mark (mk1) and Adrian leg 2, Martyn, Mark (mk2) and Lucas leg 3 and unused Jack leg 4 and Kelly (ground support and leg 5). Martyn and Mark were both hoping to do leg 4 too and Hes leg 5 but it would have taken some sort of bottle in those conditions to want to carry on! And not forgetting Harry and Wallace on leg 3 who mostly loved it too, although both of them were shivering with the cold and driving rain on Bowfell. Top team.

Oh and a fantastic memory of a shooting star just as we started climbing the reverse slope of Blencathra (a gap in the clouds!) and the sun did try and burst through briefly too...





And awesome Nicky Spinks!

A quick update to this - I've just got back from the doctor's because I have a blotchy rash all over my thighs and to a lesser extent my shins and calves. The rash co-incidentally started to appear while I was running at the weekend and has now become quite red and prickly. Its also remarkable in that it is only where my legs were exposed (above my socks and below my shorts) and nowhere else. The doc reckons its highly likely that its a contact allergic reaction to something I ran through and, given that its thigh high, that could only have been the ferns coming off of the bottom of Doddick or perhaps the long grass and/or a big patch of cotton grass that we waded through before starting the ascent of Clough Head. The BGR is pretty much all short grass and rocks after that. Its probably a co-incidence but I began to feel rough and weak and woolly pretty much from the top of Clough Head onwards. Protodoc could some kind of allergic reaction do that?

Anyway its not pretty to look at.....

[protodoc]

Yes it could, although I would have expected the rash to appear sooner if you were symptomatic quickly. The kid of contact allergic reactions that make you feel unwell typically cause marked swelling of the area affected with heat, redness and itching. More serious cases have airway involvement. Could deffo have been a contributory factor though along with the driving rain bullets, wind and slippery rocks.
BTW I think I left my posh Camelbak insulated water bottle in Kelly's car, did you spot it?

[Stolly]

Yep. Hes has your water bottle and I also have someone's OMM woolly hat

[protodoc]

That could be mine too,I'll check tonight

[Martyn P]

That could be mine too,I'll check tonight

It'll be yours mate, I haven't got one and I saw you wearing an OMM beanie in the pub.

[Hes]

Hi guys, Protodoc, I've got your waterbottle in my car. We decided that I'm most likely to be in your neck of thewoods sometime soon. I'll get your hat from Stolly & drop both in some time soon unless you are anywhere near Masham, in which case give me a ring.

Stolly, that rash does look pretty hope it goes away soon. I reckon it was the bracken...its dodgy stuff.