Fellsman

[Stolly]

Sensible decision retiring, but it sounds as if bad luck had nothing to do with it. More like poor pace judgment, poor food intake (which I wrote about earlier but was largely ignored), and poor kit management amongst others. By taking personal responsibility and managing these factors I did not suffer any of Stolly's hardships and completed the event.

Haha. Thank you for you input

[cefn dave]

Sorry to hear you pulled out mate, it was nice to chat to you on the way down from Ingleborough. You weren't making bad time but carrying on with that injury would not have been big or clever bearing the conditions in mind. Still look, they got our best side - http://www.sportsunday.co.uk/fellsman-10401#photo lol

Walked from Dent with and got grouped with cefn_dave of this parish and what a nice chap he is too. Draughted a strong team over Fleet Moss which made things much easier than they could have been. Saw friends who were at the Snaizeholme checkpoint which was a boost. We got withdrawn upon reaching Cray at 3:30am. Lots of hypothermic cases there. One of our group lost his sight almost totally on the approach to Hell Gap so I had to walk him hand in hand the nearly 2 miles down into Cray. Was gutted I couldn't carry on as I was feeling OK. Still had a great time - hope folk from our team and everyone else are OK.

JP

JP thanks for your kind comments,hope you got home OK.You were flat out on sports hall floor when i left.Great job leading the man off the hill.I'm sure that after a warm up we would have made it to the finish.
Under very trying conditions,I thought the organisers/marshalls et al did a brilliant job,many thanks to you all.
We all need to bear in mind the comments on hypothermia and take appropriate measures,with 3 wool layers,a fleece and a waterproof,i was still pretty cold,i could have done better in the glove dept. one or two fingertips still a bit numb!
So whats the answer?Adopt,adapt,improve and, come back next year.
Am off to wash out the smelly kit i was made to leave outside last night!

[Stolly]

But the worst point was that 900 metres before Capplestone CP, we waited for him at the stile, and then continued to the CP. We were only walking and he should have been with us but wasn't, and we had to wait 30+ minutes in the freezing conditions before he materialised. We were all getting varying degrees of shudders while we were waiting. The CP staff just told him to get in their tent and sent us on our way. I eventually finished in 19:43 and was my slowest time for many years. I've just about thawed out, but blimey that was a cold one.

I thought you had to be grouped all the way to Yarnbury for it to count as a completion?

As for the staying together as a group it is worrying in those sort of conditions - one member is freezing, has shot legs and is lagging behind whilst the others are freezing while they wait. Doomed if you do and doomed if you don't almost. I don't think you should have lost sight of him though - he could have just wandered off and, well, died!.

[Dog Breath]

Ha ha, I thought this may get resurrected. I'm on my smartphone and should be working. Going to get told off in a minute. I know it's easy to misinterprete meanings on forums, so I'll try to explain later at lunch time when I can use the office internet

[Hes]

You do. I got my tally clipped twice at Yarnbury (apparently the second clip was for 'ungrouping') and the tally clipper told me that I was now officially ungrouped and could carry on alone...not on your life, I wasn't letting the others out of my sight and staggered about 10 foot behind them on the run into Grassington and managed to stay with them up the hill to Threshfield. We'll have to wait and see what DG is on about.

I thought you had to be grouped all the way to Yarnbury for it to count as a completion?

[plodding bear]

One year I did it, a lass we were with had a panic attack 40 minutes or so into Fleet Moss in the dark. We had to take her back to the checkpoint so she could drop out. That's why groups have to stay together - for the safety of all concerned! I would be surprised if anyone needs briefing on that very basic , and obvious, rule.

[Stolly]

A bit shocked at the Hot water bottle!! not exactly the gold standard treatment for a hypothermic person.

Hey Ian, don't knock that hot water bottle . I guess I had what I thought was the onset of hypothermia (clouded vision, difficulty speaking and feeling frozen to the core but not shivering) rather than the full on thing and withdrew from the race on the basis that I knew things could only get worse. (I think I was colder for instance that day of the blizzard over Bleaklow).

[AndyA]

You do. I got my tally clipped twice at Yarnbury (apparently the second clip was for 'ungrouping') and the tally clipper told me that I was now officially ungrouped and could carry on alone...not on your life, I wasn't letting the others out of my sight and staggered about 10 foot behind them on the run into Grassington and managed to stay with them up the hill to Threshfield. We'll have to wait and see what DG is on about.

Ah, I didn't realise that was what the second clipping was for. I knew that we would be ungrouped at Yarnbury but had already decided to stay with my group and let them finish just ahead of me; it was the least i could do after their expert navigation.

I could easily have been grouped with other newbies; I'm confident we would have got off the hill ok because I knew that section already but all the extra map and compass faffing would have added a lot of time.

As it turned out they all encouraged me to press on ahead so I legged it down the tarmac anyway!



p.s - My Legs Hurt - I'm thinking of getting one of those Jens Voight "Shut Up Legs" Tshirts from Stomach of Anger, just to wear after long races!

[dmd]

Unfortunately though I lost my camera dropping down to Flinter's Gill and got side tracked reporting that to the Dent marshals

Stolly, there is a message on the Fellsman Facebook page that your camera is safe.

[Stolly]

Stolly, there is a message on the Fellsman Facebook page that your camera is safe.

Thanks. Fantastic news