Duddon Valley Fell race 2013

 The Duddon Valley Fell Race is an annual event and is a classic race. There are 2 races at the same time known as “The Long race and the Short race”.  For obvious reasons.
Unfortunately this year, it clashed with another race and so numbers were slightly down on previous years.
 This time we had 137 runners in the long race and all but 4 made it round the 18 mile circuit that has 6000ft of ascent. The short race had 33 runners on it’s 10 miles circuit with 3000ft of ascent.
 Sheila and i marshal the check point on Swirl How in the Long Race, the highest point at just over 2634ft high and the most exposed.

The Duddon Valley fell race circuit.(Long Race)

 We had the bad news that the electronic “Dibbers” that we normally use, and which make life a little easier because all the information is downloaded from them, would not be available. Apparently the person who has them had been rushed into hospital and nobody could get into his house. 

Lesson here to be learnt from for the future.

 So, it meant that we would have to go back to the manual system of writing down every runner and recording the times and then double checking to ensure everybody is accounted for. (Not that we never double check anyway).

And also we were to have a 3rd marshal this year in the name of Paul Cox, an ex bobby.

 Friday was a gorgeous day and we just hoped that the weather hadn’t peaked too soon. So Saturday came and it was almost as nice, just a little cooler and a bit of a breeze. Perfect for running.

 So the 3 of us set off early to get a parking spot at Three Shires. It’s usually a very busy place and especially so on a nice day, and you would have no chance of parking if you left it till later. The unfortunate negative is that you get to the check point too early and if it turns out to be a lousy day, then it can be a bit miserable.

 As it was, our “newbie” was raring to get up there and he set a hell of a pace up Wet Side Edge. It turns out that this was Paul’s first fell race marshalling and he was full of enthusiasm and couldn’t wait for the runners to get to us. But like i said earlier, we had 2 1/4 hours until the runners got there.

Finding a nice seating place we talked and admired a wonderful panorama. The time flew by.

 Great Carrs in foreground with Scafell Ridge line behind.

 Great view of Scafell and Scafell Pike 

  The ridge line was quite busy with many very large groups being guided. Spanish, German and Americans.

We also had numerous people whom, even on a perfectly clear day and with maps, thought that they were on a different summit to where they actually were. A lot thought they were on Wetherlam rather than Swirl How.

As usual we had lots of interested people asking about the event. Always nice to talk to folk.

The airwaves were getting busy and race control kept us informed of runners progress and any retiree’s. etc.

The first group of runners got to us at around 1.00pm, 3 came almost together and looked very fresh, like they had only ran 100yds. The last runners came to us at 3.00pm and looked shattered. Cramps were giving them some problems but they carried on and crossed the finishing line.

First runners through. The eventual winner is 2nd at this time.

 Paul knew a few of the runners, being a local lad and ex Ambleside Policeman.

 It all got very exciting when we were visited by a Rescue Helicopter. It just looked like a practice and it had nothing to do with our event, thankfully.

Rescue helicopter above Brim Fell

 The weather started to change, the clouds started rolling in and getting blacker with every minute. The wind picked up and the temperature plummeted. Ok if you could keep moving but for us we became very cold. The layers started to get put on, the down jackets, the windproofs and then the waterproofs.

Trying to write when your hands are shaking and numb is not that easy. Also the noise of the wind was giving us a few problems with hearing the runners numbers.

 Paul had now gone from very excited to wishing those last runners would come in so that we could get going off the fell. It looked like rain for quite a while but it never happened, thankfully.

Going through the numbers and cross referencing, we accounted for everyone and let race control know the status and that we were now closing the station and heading down. As we moved from our relative sheltered spot the wind was incredible and as we turned to head for Great Carrs we were almost blown off our feet. Not a good place to get blown off, as the drop is precipitous and about 800ft.

Top of Broad Slack with Great Carrs in background

 Paul wanted to find the running line around Great Carrs and so we moved NE to accomplish this. We think he fancies running it next year. 

 Again the pace quickened and we had quite a struggle to keep up with him. He is definitely a quick fellow and it wasn’t long before we were back at the car. With some luck we just got back to the race field as the prizes were being given out. 

Simon Booth won again in a time of 2hrs 55 mins 32 seconds. (I think this is his 5th or 6th time of winning). Not bad for a veteran.

 Sheila had made a curry for 6 people, a tradition of ours at this race. So after a quick wash and brush up, the meal was cooked at the side of the tent, our friends came over and it was demolished along with a few bottles of wine and a pack of lager. Prior to an evening of blues music and chat at the Newfield Inn.

Not sure what time we went to bed!!! But the nice thing was, the MIDGES were not in plague numbers and i didn’t get one bite this year. We camped at the back of the pub and so we didn’t have the walk back to Turner Hall that we have done so many times before.

 A brilliant weekend.

Thanks to everyone for making such an effort. It was well worth it and a pleasure to be a part of it.

 A slideshow of the day can be found here

Turner Landscapes Fell Race 2012

 Saturday 11th August 2012

The Turner Landscapes fell race is a charity race for the Alzheimer’s society. Last year Sheila and i were marshal on Swirl How and i had not recovered from Shingles. It was a most dreadful day and thought that i might not be able to carry on. The weather on the day was also pretty bad.
 This year we were asked if we would like to donate a day to help out again, doing the same marshalling point. Obviously, we said yes or i wouldn’t be typing a post about it.
 Now i/we, have heard all the tongue in cheek jokes like “We would have run but couldn’t remember where the start was” etc etc. No more Alzheimer jokes are required thanks.
 So to the race.
 It starts and finishes in a field adjacent to Turner Hall campsite in the lovely Duddon Valley Cumbria.

The Duddon valley - view south.

The tops covered by marshals are Grey Friar, Swirl How, Old Man of Coniston, Dow Crag, and White Pike. My unofficial stats for the race are 16.5kl and 850 M of ascent.

Turner Hall Farm and Grey Friar.

 Gathering up our equipment, paper, pens, board, etc and the extremely important radio we set off for Three Shires where, if we are there early enough we can manage to park up. If not then we can end up having a bit of a walk.
 We always ascend via Wet Side Edge as this is the shortest and most accessible route. If you need to get a runner off the fell quickly then with the car being relatively close it makes life a bit easier.

Pike O’Blisco and Wrynose pass.

 The route up is quite well defined with cairns along the way. The views you get on a clear day are just spectacular. I particularly enjoy the view of Bowfell  and the Crinkles from here.

Cold Pike (right foreground). Crinkles in shadow with Bowfell in sun.

 We were making speedy progress today, Sheila setting quite a pace. I had to stop a couple of times supposedly to take a photograph but it was just to catch my breath. We caught up and passed a family group with about 5 small terriers we never saw them the rest of the walk so i don’t know which way they went. The edge gives fine views across the district and although it was quite a hazy sort of day the distant fells  as well as those in close proximity could still be made out. So different to when we did the Duddon Fell race in June.

 Sheila on Carrs with Grey Friar behind

 Wet Side Edge with Little Langdale in the valley.

 We stopped on Carrs to look at the memorial to the 8 Canadian crew that were killed in the Halifax plane crash here in 1944. They were only a few metres below the ridge line when the fatal accident happened in bad weather.

It doesn’t matter how many dozens of times i have passed this place i still stop and read the inscriptions. Some of the Halifax wreckage is still visible below Carrs in Broad Slack.

Broad Slack

 Approaching the summit i checked the watch and we were in good time. There were plenty of people around who said hello and were dressed for summer. They must have found it strange that we were layering up and putting waterproofs on when most people were layering down.

 The thing is, if you keep moving you wouldn’t get cold but standing still for a couple of hours you can still become hyperthermic without realising. So the plan is always to layer up.

 We checked in to race control to let them know we were in position and the chat across the radio was quite amusing at times. Being nicely early at the summit gave us a bit of time to wander around and take in the scenery before the business of checking in runners started in earnest.

 Just near the sheepfold at the head of Greenburn Beck i spotted a yellow dot. It turned out to be a North Face tent wild camping in a lovely spot.

Wild Camp near Greenburn beck.

 I have wild camped here myself and although it can get very windy it’s still a lovely spot. We were quite envious of the peace and quiet these people were having in comparison to our noisy night on the camp site. The campsite was very busy with hardly space left on the usual 2 main fields. Anthony, said that this year has been a disaster regarding numbers of campers. So this weekend’s crowds was great to see. He will always find room for everyone even if it means opening up new fields. You will never get turned away unless your too rowdy.

Our base camp set up with Scarp 2 and kitchen basha.

 We did get a bit of sarcasm for being glampers this weekend and we were told that if we were not careful we would be heading for camper van territory. Hm. Friends eh. 

Still the basha was quite good and if used in the opposite way to the set up above ie long ways, it would be a good wild camp bivi as it only weighs 600 grams.

 Time passes by so quickly, and before long we heard on the radio that the first runners were through Grey Friar checkpoint. 

 We checked the skyline and sure enough the runners were fast approaching. If you have never seen fell runners in full flight then you should make the effort to watch a race. They are lightening fast on the downhills which really does have to be seen to be believed. A few minutes later and we were doing our job of marking times and checking race numbers. 

The front runner from Ambleside AC. Tom Gibbs 

Quite a few walkers had stopped to watch as the runners approached, said thanks for marshalling and sped off heading for Old Man of Coniston. We were asked do they never stop for a sandwich or to look at the views. That gave us a bit of a giggle. Then one lady approached and told us she had seen a runner way off the track and must be lost or something. We explained that runners don’t have to follow strict routes and that as long as they go to all the checkpoints they can use what ever route they want to.

A think she was a bit happier to hear that and away off towards Wetherlam she went.

 Due to the fine weather i managed to take quite a few photo’s of the majority of runners and i will put a link at the end of this post for those who may want to have a look and if anyone wants to copy the pictures then be my guest. No need to ask me.

I will also put a link to our photo’s of the weekend.

 Pike O’Stickle from Swirl How

Carrs and the Scafell range in the haze, from Swirl How

 Seathwaite tarn

Dow Crag

  Because we were only the second checkpoint all the runners were soon passed us. This means that if we hurry up we could get back to the start point for the soup and cakes that are put on by the organisers and although because this race is for charity, and there are no specific prizes, the first runner to finish and the first lady to finish always get a hand shake from legend Joss Naylor. We made it back in time, so thanks to the ladies who made the cakes etc, wonderful.

 Unfortunately i missed getting a photo of the handshakes because i had left the camera in the car and didn’t have enough time to get it and get back before it was all over. There’s no hanging about with these guys.
However, i was kindly allowed to copy a fellow marshal's image. Thanks Ian.

Tom, Joss and Anna

The official race results have not been posted yet but i will amend this when they are available. We had a really lovely day and the weather was fantastic. Thanks for inviting us to take part.

Link to Turner Landscapes 2012 fell runner photo’s. HERE

Link to our weekends hill scenes etc. HERE

RACE RESULTS CLICK HERE.

Back from the wilderness

 Well we are now back home after 11 days in the wilderness. That’s not to say we were in a remote place, we were actually in the Lake District but depending on whereabouts you are, the internet is non existent, hence the wilderness theme.
 We spent 5 days at Sheila’s mums in Gosforth, the internet is still steam driven at her house and any posts and websites take forever to load. And then 6 days at Seathwaite in the Duddon Valley where not only you cannot get on the internet but mobile (cell) phones don’t work either.
 We were in the valley visiting friends and also we were there as marshall’s in the Duddon Valley Fell Race. Our marshalling post is Swirl How at the north end of the Coniston ridge.
This year was a British Championship race so there were plenty of entrants and family. I will post separately on this later.

 Swirl How Checkpoint

Arrival at Swirl How.

 On arrival at the Newfield Inn we were pleased to see a vintage car rally from Holland had stopped at the pub for refreshments so i have some lovely photo’s to post of them.
 I was also giving an outing to the Scarp 2 from Tarptent which we both think is a superb tent btw and we were also testing out a 2 man tent from Millets and a pair of Sealskinz socks.
 So i have plenty of key bashing to come this week and also plenty of your wonderful blog posts to read and catch up with the TGO reports and gear reviews etc..

Fell Race

This weekend has been one to remember. The weather for one thing was near perfect for both the fell race and taking photo's with the new camera.

Sheila with Mike Breslin who completed another race. Mike is in his 70's. He'll hate me for saying that.

As one of the previous post states, we went up Grey Friar on Friday and it was a scorcher of a day. Seathwaite tarn was about 6ft lower than normal and there was very little ground water about. The views were good in all directions.

We hoped that Saturday was as predicted, a little cooler, especially for the runners. The day started off very warm and i had the thought that it was going to be another scorcher. However it started to cloud over somewhat and the temperature was down a little.

We headed of up to Swirl How from Three Shires and we got there in around the hour. We like to get there a little earlier than required so that we can take in the views and then have lunch.
We were being spoilt again as the scenery and the cloud formations were stunning.

Eventually the marshals at Three Shires came over the radio to say that the runners were coming through their check point.
We had a great view down Wet Side Edge and it wasn't long before the leaders came into our view. From that point on we had a very busy afternoon.

There was the occasional lull that enabled me to get some pictures. At one point the sky went dark and we thought we might get a drop of rain, but it soon passed us and the blue sky's returned.

There were plenty of walkers around, and showing an interest in what we were doing and the details of what the runners had to achieve.
The race is 20 miles and starts from Seathwaite, Duddon valley. They run up Harter Fell, Hardknot, Little Stand, Three Shires top, Swirl How, Dow Crag, White Pike and finally Caw before decending back down to Seathwaite.

The record for the race is 2  hours and 44 minutes, completed by Billy Bland.

Finally the last runners came past us and we were able to check the numbers tallied with Race Control prior to standing down.
A few more pictures and then we were off back to the Seathwaite for the presentations and the evening entertainment.

The music and dancing was great and went on until, (well i'm not sure what time we finished)!
The midge's were out in force but luckily they didn't cause me any problems.

It had been a super event, well managed and enjoyed by everybody.
I've put some images on Smug mug and you can view them here. If you wish.

swirl how

Just arrived at the top of Swirl How it took us an hour. Weather is sunny but a great breeze. We are now in place for our Marshall duties.

Fantastic views over to scafell's, Bowfell and the Crinkles.

Duddon Valley Fell Race 2010

 Sheila and I have just had confirmation that we will be marshall's again on Swirl How for this years Duddon Valley Fell Race. 

The race is graded "A" and is held 1st saturday in June. That's 5th June this year.

We particularly like being on this top as the views can be spectacular. Although when the weather is bad it's usually very bad here.

It's always a fantastic day, not just the racing but also the post race entertainment, which is held in the garden at the Newfield Inn. There are usually a few bands playing and the range of music is varied from Blues, Folk, Rock etc etc.

We will be on Swirl How from around 12.30pm until around 4.00pm. If anybody is in the area why not come up and say hello.