I certainly hope so as I'll be marshalling at 1 or 2 points. Deffo a day for all the navigators / those that know the route.....Originally Posted by Fozzy42
Have a good run folks, c u in the morning.
I certainly hope so as I'll be marshalling at 1 or 2 points. Deffo a day for all the navigators / those that know the route.....
Have a good run folks, c u in the morning.
Have a good run, all...I'll do it one day!
Just getting ready to set off. Well up for it now! Hope I don't get timed out but will be happy to have a first run out in the Lakes since Howtown.
Good luck people!!? It's reet manky down here in Morecambe so lord alone knows what you guys face! Might be interesting.....numbers on vests/chest mind!!
Today was a bit of an epic, the worst conditions I've ever encountered...
Rain was pretty much non stop and horizontal, wind on the Scoat Fell - Pillar ridge was enough to blow me over, and the state of some of the people who retired say more thsn I can about the combined effects of the cold/wind/rain....
I was timed out on Pillar. Things were going well up to Seatallan and i was a good 15 mins ahead of the cutoff, and although heading in the right directlion towards the Haycock/Scoat Fell col, I guess I took a terrible line in the zero visibility, and the people who caught up to me were backing right up against the cutoffs. Pressed on over Scoat Fell, and then encountered the first casualties. 4 or 5 guys helping a woman down who was suffering hypothermia, then some army guys who had retired or timed out I'm not sure. Around here I somehow turned 180 degrees and was heading away from Pillar. Whether I was heading down the Red Pike ridge or back towards Scoat a Fell I still don't know, but luckily I bumped into a lady who set me right.
By the time we reached Wind Gap the Pillar cutoff had gone, and we bumped into another 5 or 6 runners who were escorting a lady down who had fell and banged her head. I think 3 of us battled on up to Pillar checkpoint, with 9 peoples tags, to verify our location and time ourselves out, not that we had a choice as we were 20 mins past the cutoff.
Shame as I felt strong and was still moving well, albeit in the wrong direction at times, but the conditions were very harsh, and with slower rockier ground to come, it was probably a blessing that I was timed out, and didn't have that hard decision to make myself, as I'm not sure I'd have been man enough to retire.
I have to thank everyone involved today, from the runners who looked out for each other, to the marshals who stood out in such terrible conditions for our safety, I really have no hard feelings or disappointment about my first DNF...
One slight negative. My dad had gone up to Sty Head to hopefully see me come through, and he said people who had clearly been timed out on Gable were carrying on up the route. Whether he got this correct or not I can't say, so probably shouldn't even mention it, but if so, it's a pretty poor show on a day like today.
I'd also mention all the people who finished today. Better men and women than me.
Pete
Pete,
A good and worthy post and thank you.
Whilst it will be little comfort to you because of your DNF it is important that reports are made of days like this to counter those who would have us all become blasé about safety. Even on good days Wasdale is probably the toughest race in the Calendar and on a bad day I'm not sure that the English language has a strong enough adjective... so well done.
Graham
Agree. A tough day out in testing conditions for all. No shame in not finishing today at all. Important for everyone to respect this and other races; benign, but tough on many days, loaded with potential serious incident on a day like today.
The marshals deserve great praise and thanks for being out on the hills for us to have 'fun'- as ever it wouldn't happen without them.
Thanks to the marshals and sandwich makers at the finish! Was good to see Joss at Greendale handing out drinks. I got timed out by a few minutes at Seatallan. Not too disappointed as I think I would have made it in better conditions. Walked back to Greendale with the marshals and got a lift back to Brackenclose. Enjoyed some sandwiches, cake and coffee and had a sleep in the car while I waited for a friend to finish. Big kudos to everyone who finished today, the conditions were epic! Hope the injured runners are ok.
I would not like to over exaggerate today, plenty of people got round, and I saw on Facebook that one legend of fell running merely described it as 'wet and windy'....
But for those of us who are even slightly human, well it was close to the limit. I've certainly come across colder weather, and possibly come across windier weather at times, but the rain was pretty monstrous, and all combined it was pretty serious. I think a lot of people may have been too slow to react to the conditions, tales of people cowering behind rocks and walls attempting to get into warm clothes abound.
I'm sure a lot of runners brushed it off with the minimum of fuss, but the ridge from Scoat Fell to Wind Gap was a bit of a war zone for a good number...
Agree with all of the above. Would just like to add my thanks also to the organiser and marshals. I was in a group of three coming up to scafell summit; think it's fair to say we were pretty pleased to find him, we all thanked him (I think it was just one guy?) and despite his being sat up there for an age, he still had a smile on his face and a few words of encouragement. Brilliant. Then the three of us ran down brown tongue, missing lingmell nose... Ha!
Massive well done to all who even attempted it today. Gruelling to say the least.
Harv
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