Ennerdale Horseshoe

[Sam Harrison]

Mapping the route in the good ol' fashioned way got me 21 miles and 4300ft of ascent. My legs felt like they'd done about that as well.

[Witton Park]

That was bloody tough. Garmin measured 21.1 mile with 4300ft, so that must still be a AL category. The track from Black sail Youth hostel was soul destroying. Race won by Rob Hope and Jackie Lee. Thanks to all involved, the refreshments at the end were plentiful and much appreciated.

I DNFd a few years ago. Dropped out CP3 with blisters and dropped down to the valley and at the lake thought I'd get off the road and take the south side track.
I was still out for 5 hours - almost may as well have finished
Not the best decision I've made :/

[Ella]

Mapping the route in the good ol' fashioned way got me 21 miles and 4300ft of ascent. My legs felt like they'd done about that as well.

My husband has also looked on a map and there is a 310m climb upto Flouten Pass, there is a 330m climb upto Scarth Gap, 340m climb into Beck Head, 60m climb into Black Sail giving a total of 1040m which is about 3500ft of climbing!

[zephr]

Blog of my somewhat demoralising run at the Ennerdale Horseshoe - alt route.
http://testedtodestruction.blogspot....champs-al.html

[Manhar]

I DNFd a few years ago. Dropped out CP3 with blisters and dropped down to the valley and at the lake thought I'd get off the road and take the south side track.
I was still out for 5 hours - almost may as well have finished
Not the best decision I've made :/

Commiserations WP - Had a bad day at the office myself also. Decided to retire at CP2, carried onto CP3, had a bite to eat as the fast people whizzed past before taking the jog of shame back along the edge of the water, 2nd year running I've done this.

I intend to nail this sucker next year.....

[ba-ba]

Cheers to all the marshalls. Despite the amount fo raod running I've done the last 3 years the tack back fooked me and I dropped through the field like a stone.
The path along the edge of the lake was needed to get some extra rough stuff in.

Best wishes to Tom. Big Kudos to Woodsy for helping him off - you must have been on for some serious champs points - by the way you went through me on the road you managed to salvage some of them.

[ba-ba]

From Lucy Spain:

I passed Tom Gibbs (without realising it was him) being helped off the hill. As I passed the words 'I can put weight on it' were being spoken.....knee cap fractured in 3-4 places, but walking himself off with the aid of a few other runners!

brilliant!

[Sam Harrison]

Blog of my somewhat demoralising run at the Ennerdale Horseshoe - alt route.
http://testedtodestruction.blogspot....champs-al.html

Great blog post, sorry it didn't go quite as you'd hoped! Though it's good to hear that you fast'uns have bad days as well :P

[L.F.F.]

Thanks to the RO and everyone involved in putting on the race.

Highlights for me were:
-Visiting the Blacksail youth hostel for the first (and second!) time. Stunning location.
-Dibbing your dibber in a dibber thing held by Joss Naylor of all people.
-The first three or so miles of the track!

Low points:
-Noticing that my bumbag zip was open and that I'd dropped two gels (sorry for littering. Not good.)
-The last part of the track by the lake - a pretty demoralising sting in the tail!
-The moment when I saw the new route. It might've been a decent route if you'd gone there for that route, but when you're expecting Ennerdale. Completely different.

Bit of a no win situation for the RO, though. Very hard position to be in.

In awe, as always, of the people at the sharp end.

Hope Tom Gibbs has a speedy recovery.

[dantodman]

Great blog post, sorry it didn't go quite as you'd hoped! Though it's good to hear that you fast'uns have bad days as well :P

Hi Sam,

Did i chat to you after the race, I was the Tod guy who also did Jura.

Dan