Quote Originally Posted by Athers View Post
First scoot around Buttermere Horseshoe and what an absolute beauty she is. Everytime i race in the lakes, i think i'm going to struggle to top that for a true fell route but they just seem to get better each time. Had a decent...ish enough race. 5.07, i think sub 5 is easily achievable with a recce. Plan was to start very steady and then try and finish strong...which i kind of did. A few issues didnt help along the way but generally a grand old day out.

For some reason i decided to add Red Pike summit just because im a bit stupid like that sometimes when my head is down and then took the worst line possible through the woods heading to the very bottom of Melbreak. Did run a few sections with Mr Fishwick himself but with some fancy line choices being taken he slipped my grasp. :-) See you next year! I'll be back for more of that thank you. The support on the hill was superb. I even managed to get a massage off a club mate on a cramping right quad in honister. Way too early for those type of shennanigans to be setting in but it certainly set me up for a decent second half.

You can truly see why they are know as the classics when they are this good. Oh and Carl Bell...well the mind boggles.
My old man told me afterwards how he had watched him RUN up Melbreak. What an animal.
With you on the quality of the route. Prior to this, Borrowdale was my favourite race in the Lakes (it helped that I had a good un back in 2016, including a good battle with the venerable Mr Fishwick for much of the way). Langdale is also a cracker, though it’s kicked my backside both times I’ve done it. However, despite having fallen off the back of the race early on, I am in awe of what a fantastic race it is. I went with a group up the steepest part of Robinson, with terrain that felt nothing like any other race I’d done. It’d be an interesting race in the clag with its more modestly sized field in a non-champs year!

Carl Bell clearly had a fantastic race but I think Jasmin Paris might take run of the day - smashing her own record by some way. Add to that having a baby under 1, that’s some effort (& puts my own excuses, about being a dad of twins of a similar age, to shame!)