Hello - I’m a longtime browser (and sometime PMer) on this forum but this is my first actual post. I’m a Londoner but have been an occasional fellrunner since living near Keswick for a year in the mid-eighties. In 2007 I completed the BGR and since then have done a few (increasingly long) triathlons (starting with the Keswick Mountain Tri). Gaining some bike fitness led me to enter the Fred Whitton Challenge in 2009 and in preparing for a mountain triathlon in Norway last year I made a long swim (about six miles) around Derwent Water, clockwise via the launch landing stages. So this year (to kick the habit) I’ve decided to have a go at linking these three together in a continuous swim-bike-run.
My inspiration for this was a similar challenge completed in 2007 by Paul Clavey, which I thought was fantastic. He swam the length of Coniston Water, rode the FW from Coniston and then took a lift to Keswick to start the BG, finishing the whole thing in about 43h. I’ve been in touch with Paul and he tells me that (as far as he knows) no-one has successfully repeated his round – and he doesn’t mind me adapting his route slightly.
I realise that combining (and repeating) these elements could seem a bit unimaginative but with the bike and run being established rounds and with the swim also being a round, the three do seem to fit well together as a long Lakeland triathlon. Riding the FW route from Keswick is not quite the same as riding the proper event but does allow the three stages to start and finish at the same point – the Moot Hall (with a short run to and from the lake).
The plan is for a very early morning swim start next Tuesday (5 July), a clockwise BG start by early evening and (if possible) a finish before last orders the next evening. (I’m 48 now, so won’t want to go more than 48h!) A friend in a canoe and others in a car will provide food (and kit) support on the lake and roads. I did consider going solo for the BG but don’t think it would be too sensible, so plan to have someone with me on each leg. In fact, Paul has very kindly offered to come on leg 1 and I’ll be really pleased to meet him.
But at the moment I still have no-one for leg 2, so if there’s anyone out there who fancies a (fairly slow) night out along the Dodds and Helvellyn next week (from some time after 11 for maybe 5+ hours), it would be great to hear from you!
I’ll post again afterwards to say how it all went…
Simon Neville
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