:D:D:D
Some day that was....!
Pretty sure that is up near the the top of the Corridor Route/Piers Gill/Lingmell Col.
Printable View
:D:D:D
Some day that was....!
Pretty sure that is up near the the top of the Corridor Route/Piers Gill/Lingmell Col.
Entries for this year close on Monday.
Hope Pete and everyone else enjoyed the Mountain Trial today....
Interesting to see the amount of "novices" placing high up.
Good to see plenty of young faces there and a good turnout in general. I did enjoy the trial and I'll post more tomorrow but thanks to some ridiculous highways management (M6 closed near Lancaster with no prior warning!?), I've not long got home with an early start tomorrow.Quote:
Originally Posted by Travs
The courses looked interesting.
I was exploring round that old mine chimney on Raise this time last year, thinking what an interesting feature it would be on a mountain trial...!
It was a tough one this year - I clocked 20k with 1400m ascent on the short course in just under 4 hours for 16th place. Quite pleased with that as I didn't push it too hard and all the injuries held up (apart from jarring my shoulder tripping over a tussock!) There were some interesting options in terms of route choice from CP1 to CP2 but the biggest conundrum was then to CP3 - High Brow (above Dowthwaite Head) to that old chimney on Raise. I contemplated the direct line over Hart Side and Green side but didn't fancy the additional ascent that would require. I chose to drop down to Dowthwaite head and take the path under Hart Side to join the path contouring around the head of Glencoynedale and dropping into Nick Head. Others chose either direct or via Sticks pass. It was pretty straightforward after that with a good run in over the Dodds - basically the latter part of the Helvellyn race.
I've just posted my GPX on the route gadget.
Looking at route gadget, I seen to have lost a good 10-12 minutes on my route choice from 2-3. The classic faced a similar choice from 3-4 and in most cases there was not much in it between going direct or via Sticks. Also amazing how many got early controls completely wrong. Perhaps late start times were lucky with cloud cover?
Another very enjoyable day, definitely one of the first events in my calendar each year. As you say Pete, good choices/options first half and then more straightforward second half. I was on the classic and went quite a long way round under Great Dodd from 3 to 4, not many seemed to go that way, but when I look at the splits and play the routes on the route gadget thing it didn't seem any slower than the people around me.
So Eskdale YHA is the venue this year. Plenty of challenging options South to Dunnerdale, the Scafells, Wasdale, upper Eskdale, I guess even the heads of Ennerdale or Borrowdale are viable options. I note Rhys F-R is the course setter so could be interesting!
Entries have now opened for the 2023 Lyon Equipment Lake district Mountain Trial. Sunday the tenth of September. from Eskdale Youth Hostel. They will close on the 28th of August so that we can print maps, sort food etc.
PeteS is entirely correct with the range of options and the support of Eskdale Youth Hostel........
Full details on the LDTM website https://www.ldmta.org.uk/
Entries through SportIdent https://www.sientries.co.uk/event.ph...event_id=11575
Andrew
Just had a look at the final information. 11,000 feet of climbing on the classic!!! Assume we must be heading north over to the Scafells. Going to be a long day :)
Another year of low level (run) training so doing the short course again this year. 17k/1200m and assuming the reality is usually 30% more, still a decent day out.
Upper Eskdale and Wasdale head probably beckon. Maybe a nod to Brackenclose on the way past?
Well there's nothing like an approaching thunderstorm to focus the mind on the job in hand!
My pre-race optimistic liberal application of sun cream was washed off on the crossing of Great Moss as the torrential downpour that followed the thunder and lightning hit. I'm not sure how much the weather affected the classic - only 4 finished but it was a tough one this year regardless. Eskdale, Cold Pike, Stake Pass, Glaramara, Green Gable, Kirk Fell, head of Eskdale, Great How, Goat Crag. Ouch!
I managed 13th on the short course which given my current fitness and the rate of attrition on this year's trial, I'm reasonably pleased with. Route choice seemed to be my downfall - other than from CP2 to CP3 (Hard Knott to head of Eskdale) where I did manage to put in a couple of kilometres of running, the rest was very much a fast walk interspersed with the odd jog - bracken, tussocks and boulders throughout.
Route gadget will be interesting to see where I lost time. I suspect a lot of time was spent finding Goat Crag - many wandering around and plenty of head scratching when I approached. Thankfully visibility was not a problem by then as the sun had come out again.
I've just been looking at the Classic results... i assumed an error on the results.... only 4 completed and wildly varying times....
What happened?
Well done on your time and position Pete....
Thanks.Quote:
Originally Posted by Travs
Not sure on the classic. None had finished by the time I left. The storms seemed to be rolling in from the SW so probably would have affected the Wrynose/Langdale/Borrowdale section. Looking at the splits most retired at CP4 (Glaramara) or 6 (Kirk Fell). Possibly timed out or at least from there a reasonably easy run back to Eskdale.
The reality was 20.5km/1330mQuote:
Originally Posted by PeteS
I've just had a look at the Classic Course on Routegadget..... Jesus!!
Looks incredibly tough, some massive legs... and the final section round Cow Cove/Cat Cove is really difficult ground.
The Cat Cove area was a nightmare. Just thankful we had good visibility otherwise I might have still been up there now!Quote:
Originally Posted by Travs
I've just uploaded my GPX to route gadget. Not too dissimilar from the winner. (Other than an hour's difference in time of course!)
4 completed the route, but only 2 of those finishers actually came in before the 5pm cut off! I headed home at 4ish (I did the medium but retired halfway round due to injury - a good day out nonetheless), but I assume the usual 5pm course closure time was waived this year?
I don't think the conditions were what caused the issues with the Classic - I was up on Crinkle Crags when the thunderstorm hit and it made conditions slippy, but not too bad. The cloud mostly remained high/intermittent, so nav wasn't as challenging as it could have been. (Admittedly a lot of this will depend on your exact location when the weather hits.)
The retirement rate was quite a bit higher than normal for all three courses this year, but the Classic was particularly striking.
I think the route for the Classic was probably just too big for most of the field to have had a chance of completing it in time. It was a fair bit more distance and more ascent than usual, and the terrain in that area is really tough. My husband usually does the classic and he retired when he realised that he had no chance of making the cutoffs - he only went to CP3/4 and back to base, but still covered 35km. In a lot of years, 35km would cover the whole classic course.
I think that's the first LDMT I've been to (either as a competitor or just along for the craic) where they haven't had enough finishers back to hold the full Classic prize-giving at the usual time of 4:30pm!
I normally hang around for the prize-giving, but by the time I left it was obvious they were barely going to be able to award first place.
The classic course was brutal. Weather was ok, a little bit of clag when I was near glaramara (which left me wandering round looking for 4 for a bit) but otherwise visibility was fine. Just too long for me (and most others!), I decided to quit at kirk fell after an attempt to contour round it went very badly wrong, and ended up climbing onto the summit anyway. The descent off the front of there was horrific, remind me to avoid that Bofra race. Then a long trudge back to Eskdale via burnmoor tarn, luckily I fell in with another runner in the same position so having a chat made it go more quickly. Tough day but in lovely areas, and it was quieter on the hills than I expected. Looking forward to next year.
I was out walking on the fells north of Wasdale on Sunday (having done my racing the day before on Scafell Pike, when the only meteorological problem was heat).
In the morning, I was listening to the thunder coming from the direction of Eskdale, wondering about what the LDMT runners were enduring while I just had some light showers. The thunder did seem to have scared most of the walkers off the fells: from Red Pike, going over Steeple, Scoat Fell, Pillar, and down to Wasdale Head on the Black Sail path, I only saw two pairs of walkers (and no dejected LDMT retirees coming off Kirk Fell).
Back at Wasdale Hall Youth Hostel, there was someone who had done the Medium LDMT course, who told me that when he left Eskdale just before 5pm there had been only one finisher in the Classic.
So the classic came out as 42.8Km with 3400m for the winner - one of only 2 to complete within the time cut-off. A very impressive performance given the difficulty of the terrain etc.
An email from the organisers last night acknowledged they may have got it wrong...
It is however clear that in the planner’s desire to set testing courses, and most runners are keen for the courses to be a challenge, that something went wrong in the calculations.This was obviously most significant on the Classic course, but the Medium and Short were also rather too long. We offer our apologies; we will reflect upon our processes and learn from this."
Fair to say the courses were a bit 'ambitious' but I had a big day out, and definitely felt challenged, which is what I really like about the event. Hopefully a bit shorter next year though!
Same here - the reason I always try to enter the Trial is precisely because it's a challenge. Whether I finish the course or not, it's always a big day out in the hills that takes me to out of the way places that I might not otherwise visit.
Looking forward to next year!
I'm quite pleased to have been involved in one of the hardest Mountain Trials ever and probably one of the hardest fell races ever. Other than the famous one in 1962 (the one that even Joss Naylor pulled out of) I don't think there has been a lower finish rate. Quite a story to tell the grandkids. Still had a great day out and explored some new places in the fells.
I had to smile when the organisers stated that the list of completions had already been updated. Won't have taken them very long this year! Also had to smile when I reread the title of this thread :D
I've just had a look at the results, and noticed that the Short course participants included several people in V60 and V70 classes who were among the greatest competitors at this type of events in my early orienteering and fell running days (late 1970's and 1980's): Derek Ratcliffe, Peter Haines, Carol McNeill, David and Miriam Rosen. Carol McNeill must be nearly 80 now; she was a W35 when she came 7th in the World Orienteering Championships in 1979.
Indeed Anthony, I think I passed Carol and had a brief chat on the way to CP3. Still going strong as was Peter Haines who started minute or 2 ahead and I didn't see again.
The trial is a challenge. It must be a test of not just the elite fell running community but those that possess true mountain craft and knowledge of the Lakes. I would personally definitely go for another in a similar vein but mindful of the need to attract more runners and although this year was well attended, I'm not sure this addition did much to aspire any new attendees?
Post #2 on this thread summed it up really :D
Entries have opened for this year's Trail. Sunday the 15th of September. The venue is near the hamlet of Orthwiate, just East of Bassenthwaite.
https://www.sientries.co.uk/event.ph...event_id=13497
Looking forward to seeing runnersat this unique event.
Just came on to post this. If the weather is bad it will be really tough in that area!
I'm going for a late start!Quote:
Originally Posted by Travs
Entries close on 1st of September. https://www.ldmta.org.uk/
And what a good read the web site makes. All that history from 1952. Including the remarkable 52 completions - 42 of them in the classic, 10 of them as winner. (Though Mike Walford has 44 Classic completions)It's going to be a good few years before those figures are eclipsed.
"Because its hard and you have to use a map" sums it up but the weather today makes it even more challenging.
Results, route gadget etc are here:
https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/LDMTA/2024/LDMTA/