The British fell relays in the Lake District, Grasmere

It was my first race in the Lake District; it was a proper hardcore fell race in the rugged Lakeland fells.

The Harriers ready for action at the Great British Fell relays

We booked into  Fisher Gill Camping Barn (myself and Alan in the campervan) in Thirlmere .12 of us (plus Dan Clark the weekend’s fell mascot) have been busy juggling transport plans, fitness strategies, cake baking and maps – yes – lots of maps.

The relays themselves are broken down into four legs

This event was hotly contested with representations from the best fell teams and runners from across the Isles. The relays themselves are broken down into four legs: Andy Paisley took the first leg consisting an 8k, partially marked course climbing steadily to Grisedale Hause and then steeply onto Seat Sandal (736m) before a steep, fast descent back to the event field where he tagged the duo consisting Alan and Wykeham. Our leg headed on a 10k partially marked course straight for the summit of Fairfield (873m) before descending the exposed Cofa Pike towards Grisedale Tarn. It was then back up to Grisedale Hause before a slippery descent back to the field to tag Edward and Joel, to embark on the navigation leg. Maps were to issued to competitors 200m into the leg, after which competitors were expected to navigate between 5 fixed points on the open fell before returning to the transition. The weather (low cloud and drizzle) made things a little more challenging, particularly on the longer legs where route decisions had to be made on the featureless terrain. They finished in an excellent 39th for their efforts, covering a distance of around 12k. Richard ran the final leg on a tough, fully marked 7k course to finish strong and bring the team home in a very respectable 89th position overall (239 total finishers). A fantastic, well-organised event enjoyed by all.”

Leg 1: Solo Julia. Andy

Leg 2 : Paired longer. Sarah & Cat. Alan & Wykeham

Leg 3 : Paired nav. Helen & Wendy. Ed & Joel

Leg 4: Solo. Rachel. Rich


My leg with Alan

The start of leg two

We had the longest and toughest leg from an elevation point of view as we went all of the way to the summit of Fairfield (873m). We had driving rain and 30mph winds for the whole race, but it didn't stop us smiling, grinning and laughing all of the way.

When our legs had that much lactic...we surrended to walking!

The first half of the race was tough as we had a long gruelling climb towards Fairfield. However, after we summited, the proper fun began: We ran along misty knife-edges, down steep scree slopes, narrow trodden paths and brilliant wide valleys. The route was stunning; probably the best race i have ever done. It was very challenging with sketch nail-biting terrain, but the atmosphere and competition around were brilliant.

The visibility for majority of the race; though it didnt stop us from smilling all the way around!

Having now just got back from the weekend, it was precisely what club running should all be about – having great shared experiences together with like-minded folk.

“lakeland runners coming back looked like they’d been beaten up”

“races on another level to those we do in the peaks”

“climbs so steep runners were just sliding down them” {we think Julia and Andy jointly made this one up to make them feel better!}

“climbs so steep runners were just sliding down them” {Rachel did slide down half of her descent – fact!}

“climbs so steep runners were just sliding down them” {due to a navigational hiccup it seems Helen and Wendy did this on their climb!}

“climbs so steep runners were just sliding down them” {Leg 2 had none of this – confirmed by Alan, Wykeham, Cat, Sarah = we just ran down a scrambly ridge at 850m! }