Scafell Pike

[Travs]

Well done Anthony.... climbing well as usual.

That path beneath the Screes is, with the exception of Scafell Pike itself, the major hotspot for Wasdale Mountain Rescue callouts.... so many people get stuck on there.

[anthonykay]

Well done Anthony.... climbing well as usual.

That path beneath the Screes is, with the exception of Scafell Pike itself, the major hotspot for Wasdale Mountain Rescue callouts.... so many people get stuck on there.

While clambering over the boulders on the path below the screes, it reminded me of another location that should have had a race today, which was cancelled: the summit ridge of Elidir Fawr. Anyway, the people (and a dog) on the paddle-boards on the lake were certainly making easier progress than I was on the "path".

I should have mentioned that the winner of the Scafell Pike race was Loughborough graduate Joseph Dugdale.

[Mike T]

96 finishers (and one retirement) at Scafell Pike on Saturday. The Army have traditionally supported this race by bringing a large contingent, which probably helped me get a position not far below halfway down the results list (51st): the soldiers obviously have a good general fitness level, but not many have specific fell-running experience.

I overcooked the initial steep climb up Lingmell Nose (which accounts for just over half the total ascent); at the top of this climb, I was just behind the leading woman, who finished 28th overall. From there, it was just a case of holding on, and trying not to lose too many places.

Another disadvantage of going so fast at the start was that I stayed ahead of Lindsay Buck on the traverse across the moorland to the tourist path. Last year, she showed me a brilliant short-cut through the boulders and crags; this year, she was behind me reaching the tourist path, and then appeared coming down from the summit as I was approaching it on the way up!

My fuel-gauge hit zero near the top of Lingmell Nose on the way down. It's not a technical descent, but I was struggling even to move my legs forward to let gravity do the work. By the finish, I was completely exhausted.

Note for future reference: walking from Wasdale Hall to Brackenclose along the "path" at the base of the Screes is a great experience, but is not recommended as the prelude to a demanding fell race.

I have done that path under The Screes several times - the first time my response was 'WTF', and each subsequent time I have felt the same - it is a bit like childbirth I imagine - each time you do it you think never again, but then the stress of the event somehow erases the memory.

I did the race back in 2011, and managed to beat Lindsay by a couple of minutes.

[anthonykay]

On the morning of the Scafell Pike race, the summit marshalls set off up Lingmell Nose - and decided that they weren't going any further. So the race became the Lingmell Nose race, with half the amount of climbing in about one-third the distance of the full Scafell Pike route. The steepness is similar to the nearby BOFRA race up Kirk Fell, which is the steepest race in England, but the length and climbing are about two-thirds of Kirk Fell. So a real lung-burster.

The rain had stopped by the time the race started, but the wind continued to give assistance on the way up - not that it felt any easier. Anyway, this short steep race gave me an excellent opportunity to display my descending incompetence: I lost 2m41s on the lady I was with at the summit, Emma McWilliams of Mynydd Du. Another Mynydd Du runner, Rhian Probert, put in one of the amazing performances that those who watch the Welsh fell scene are used to: she is now W55, and was second woman overall and ahead of all the M55 and older men. She took 30:37, while first woman Jo Hickman Dunne took 30:21. First man was Jack Walton in 26:04, and I took 40:46. I got my M65 winner's prize, and Martin Walsh, the only runner older than me, got his M75 prize, finishing last in 53:59.

There were 78 runners, maybe reduced due to a clash with Three Shires. There was an interesting post on facebook from Selwyn Wright, Three Shires RO, describing the conditions that runners and marshalls were enduring there. The Scafell Pike RO's decision to curtail his race must have been right, even though conditions had improved somewhat by the time the race started.