Thanks for the heads up PeteS, just entered...only done it once before but loved it.
Thanks for the heads up PeteS, just entered...only done it once before but loved it.
Entries are now being taken for this years La Sportiva Mountain Trial. The location is Loweswater Village Hall, in the North West corner of the Lake District. The date is Sunday the 12th of September. Full details of this long standing Lake District classic are on the website, including entry details.
Someone once said "You aren't a fell runner until you've done a mountain trial"........
http://www.ldmta.org.uk/
Just entered the short course. Currently under physio instructions of no more than 2x5k a week so thought it best not to push my luck with anything more ambitious!
This weekend will see me undertake my annual MOT and it will be a test after a year or so plagued with injuries and very few long days out in the fells. So, short course it is for me which apparently will have a separate map collection point to the medium and classic. I think you can therefore assume (though I confidentially predicted the Grasmere trial wouldn't cross the A591) that the short will head south whereas the longer routes may head to the far side of Crummock water. The fells to the west of Mellbreak are a mystery to me but looking at the map the opportunities for sheepfold as a CP are plentiful! There is also the opportunity to reacquaint myself with Floutern Tarn which I last visited during a very wet week of youth hostelling many, many years ago. Having gone into a bog virtually up to my waist, I vowed never to return that way and so it has been.
Good luck Pete... i chose to miss out the LDMT this year in the hope that i'd have an attempt at a sub-3hr Stretton Skyline.
As it turns out the Skyline is off, and should have done the trial!
Spent a torrid morning on the fells west of Mellbreak a couple of years ago in zero visibility... no help to an LDMT recce... all i can offer is the east and west flanks of Hen Comb are horrifically steep, uneven and boggy, and best avoided. The Burnbank, Blake, Gavel fell ridge is also very slow going except for the path linking the tops. Shortcuts are difficult. There's a fence-line to the west of Floutern Tarn which takes you up onto the Great Borne/Starling Dodd ridge, and this is a surprisingly quick (if steep) way up onto that ridge if needed.
Thanks Pete - useful information.
I will be up in Lakes on Friday morning so hoping to get out that way, do a recce and tick off another 3 or 4 Wainwrights leaving Saturday free for a more relaxed wander around the area. Looking forward to it immensely - my first non-virtual race in 18 months.
Not running this year due to a niggling injury that won't hold up to a long day in the hills. Will be helping out on the day, hopefully not on a rain-swept control in the middle of nowhere.
Geoff Clarke
Beware the A66 is shut from Embleton this weekend. Approach via Whinlatter recommended if coming from the East.