Summer Solstice...?!

Tim's blog on last nights Summer Solstice club run:

http://testedtodestruction.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/glossopdale-summer-solstice-run.html

Cheers!!!

LAMM 2012 Ben Cruachan, 9 & 10 June

LAMM 2012, Ben Cruachan

A few years ago, long before I joined the Harriers, Rod and I used to cycle with a bunch of friends from Littleborough who also ran on the fells and I was puzzled by their obsession with “doing the lamb” when there were clearly other options for a nice roast dinner.  Eventually I cottoned on and “doing the LAMM” took on a completely different meaning, but not one I was likely to actually have to experience……

Fast forward to December 2011, several years of fell running and two mountain marathons later and the call eventually comes – Lins is looking for a partner for the LAMM 2012.  June seems a long time off (doesn’t it always?) so of course, I say yes.  We’ll be doing the C class, as Lins is a previous winner of the D class (running with Becky).  I then put it to the back of my mind and carry on with a reasonably good winter season of training with the Glossopdale gals and pals, getting out most weekends for longer runs with shorter stuff during the week.  This includes some horrendous days out reccying bits of the HPM and the Edale Skyline, a couple of nav events and then, in May, our epic Cumbrian Traverse.  So a fair amount of running and I do feel fitter, but the little voice of doubt whispers “Will it be enough, the mountains are very big and Lins is even fitter?”  Shut up, little voice.

Just after the Cumbrian Traverse, it turns out that Adele and Sue have decided to enter as well, which immediately solves one problem – how to get there.  Lins is sorted, having had the foresight to (a) book a family holiday in Scotland and (b) buy a camper van.  So we just have to make sure we rendez-vous at the event centre in time to stow her kit in the base camp tent and get to the start.  Which is what we manage to do, meeting as planned next to the marquee at 8am on Saturday 9 June.

8.15am – fighting off midges, we climb onto a bus and are driven for about 20 minutes to Cruachan dam and the true start of the LAMM.  Day 1 begins with marking up the map and then we set off up the hillside in the warm sunshine, clear skies providing magnificent views over Loch Etive and mercifully, no more midges.  Lins is slightly worried she may have tired legs after completing the ascent of Tower Ridge on Thursday (including Tower Gap, with both daughters) but it is quickly apparent that she is climbing well and is as strong ever.  We slightly overshoot CP1 and have to drop back to find it but navigationally, this is our only mishap all day.  However, the terrain is incredibly challenging with a lot of ascent and some long contouring sections which aren’t runnable.  We do well on the descents, keeping together and overtaking other teams but I am slow going up and Lins ends up carrying most of the team kit to try and even things up a bit.  On the ascent of Ben Euniach, I manage to keep on going without a stop so whilst I’m some way behind Lins, its not as bad as in the Saunders last year when poor Jude was waiting for ages whilst I dragged my sorry ass up the hills!  As the day progresses, I feel I’m steadily improving and we finish strongly, with a long, long descent to the mid-camp, with teams even standing aside to let us pass!  Our time for day 1 (23km and 1500m of ascent) is 6 hours 33 mins.  Once everyone has finished, we are 35^th overall, 5^th female team and 1^st female vets. 

The mid-camp is in splendid setting, a flat field to the side of River Kinglass and the odd flurry of rain and rising breeze keeps the midges off for most of the evening.  We pitch the tent and get the stove on.  I recognise the first signs of bonk as a sudden wave of nausea assails me and I force myself to eat one of the sandwiches I’ve carried all day, thankfully this does the trick.  Lins discovers she has forgotten spare socks and she is incredulous that I will be relying on a John Lewis bag and the foam back out of my rucksack as a mattress.  We prepare our sumptuous feast (SuperNoodles – me; Ainsley Harriot cous cous – Lins) followed by custard and choccy cake (I can’t begin to describe how lovely this tastes) then Adele and Sue come to visit, until the midges begin to manifest themselves and they beat a retreat to their own tent.  By 8.30pm, we’re tucked up, nice and cosy, listening to the snorts and other noises from our neighbours….

…to be woken at 5am, not by a piper but by the guy in the next tent popping his balloon mattress! Well, I suppose he didn’t have much choice but he could have done that last.  We can hear the exclamations about the murderous midges before we took the plunge and cracked the tent open and they were bad.  Still, there is nothing to be done and we get on with breakfast preparations: tea and porridge; replenishing water supplies; washing up; visiting the facilities (I do sometimes share some of my hill experiences with work colleagues, but that is not one of them).  By 7.45am, we are ready for the off as are Sue and Adele.  Our respective routes diverge immediately after the start, with me and Lins retracing our steps up that lovely long descent from yesterday, wearing our midge nets all the way.  Without trying, we are steadily overtaking people who seem to be much wearier than us.  My little voice has decided I can push myself today to keep up with Lins and for once the legs and lungs seem to have listened.  (Nice one, little voice).  CP1 takes an hour to attain and CP2 is another hour.  Lins is troubled slightly with blisters but the compeed plasters work wonders.  We eat after an hour and then more or less every half hour thereafter – fig rolls, jelly babies, dates, one energy gel and half a cheese and chutney sandwich (now 48 hours old but still tasty).  There is a lot more runnable terrain today and we are running it.  Lins is still ahead of me on the ascents but not by much and I am able to trot out at the tops to catch her up.  Only one guy passes me on the gruelling ascent of Ben Mhic Mhonaidh, and as he goes by he says “You’re bloody good down hill!”   At about 11am the rain and clag descends and we put our jackets on.  As we head to CP6, Lins comments she isn’t sure about this one but we carry on across a rather featureless traverse to a fence and some knolls where we (and everyone one else) is expecting to find the point.  One group suddenly hurtles off towards the next ridge but we aren’t convinced and scout around for a while until deciding they are probably correct.  Sure enough, the point is on the next ridge (not really a knoll).  We ruefully agreed that we should just have followed the others as we began the long descent.  Never mind, the end is in sight and we hurtle down to CP8, at a gate and then sprint past the two ladies in front to the finish!

Hang on!  You’ve spotted what happened there (which we didn’t until the data was downloaded) - CP6…CP8.  Yep, we had completely forgotten to visit CP7.  Bum.

So, our elation at such a good second day, which we had completed in 5 hours 29 minutes was somewhat diminished by this faux pas.  We very briefly contemplated going back up the hill but by that time we were half way through portions of Wilf’s veggie chilli and we couldn’t face it.  We chatted to other competitors, including Jasmin who had dragged her brother out for his first fell run, finishing 5^th team on the B course.  Sue and Adele arrived, got changed and ate and then we packed everything up and headed south.  For the record, our final time was 12 hours 2 minutes and we would have been around 32^nd overall, 4^th female team and 1^st female vets.

So now I have been LAMMing too, well – almost.  As Lins said “Unfinished business”!

Up and Down in the Mountains

Lest anyone might have the impression that long competitive days and weekends on the fells all have successful endings resulting in knackered yet elated runners returning with proud tales to tell, it might be pertinent here to redress the balance by referring to those occasions when this was clearly not the case. Only a fool would take the mountains, moors and fells lightly, even on days of fair summer weather. When the elements prove inclement and/or you are are clearly not up to the task for a host of reasons (fitness, illness, injury, inexperience, over-confidence etc) then is the time to withdraw gracefully. The fells deserve the greatest respect and and are quite capable of humbling the fittest and most capable of our fraternity.

This message was first pressed home to me when I was on a Welsh 3000s recce in wet conditions on the Glyders. I slipped and fell on the slippery rocks hurting my back in the process and was forced to beat a hasty retreat. In my first Lakeland Classic - the Ennerdale - I lost concentration thinking I had cracked the hardest part by reaching the summit of Pillar within checkpoint closing time....and then proceeded to go off piste in the general direction of Sellafield. I have since been back three times to put that right and the Wainwright sketch of Haystacks and Scarth Gap signed by the legendary Joss sit proudly on my wall. I passed my baptism in Mountain Marathons in bad weather on the Range of the Awful Hand in the 1986 Galloway KIMM but then hit trouble in the 1989 KIMM in the Howgills. I broke a bone in my ankle but still unwittingly and stupidly carried on to the end of the first day. Ending up in plaster for 6 weeks was a salutary lesson but I still retain fond memories in the rosy glow of retrospect. You need to keep a sense of black humour in these events and mine was tested to the full in my first SLMM when my partner went AWOL for an hour on Day 1! On another occasion I talked my partner into going up to the summit of Scafell Pike forgetting to go to an earlier control. At least these latter two tales had happy endings and eventually the SLMM proved to be a permanent fixture on my racing calendar. Call me a softy if you will, but long summer days in the Lakes in July with milk, beer and decent toilets at the overnight camp proved to be more popular with me than pitching a tent in the teeth of a storm in a bog at the back end of October. However, even the Lakes in summer can be testing............

In 1990, flushed by the success of finishing the previous event and fighting fit after recovering from my broken ankle, I cajoled Carl into doing the 1990 KIMM. Starting from Langdale, it soon became apparent that the incessant rain, wind and very poor visibility would be more than a match for all but the most seasoned of campaigners. After wandering like headless chickens all over the Crinkles, Esk Pike and Bowfell for a few hours, we reached Esk Hause and decided to call it a day. I was both embarrassed and disappointed as we slunk back down Mickleden in very low spirits. However, I took the decision to improve my bad weather compass work by entering events like the New Chew ‘O’, Tanky’s Trog and some LDWA events with my walking mate. Adversity can be a helpful tutor at times.

After successful SLMM completions in a range of classes over the next few years, everything was very upbeat. I will always remember long never-to-be forgotten weekends in the fells I love, with special like-minded friends who each contributed much to the different partnerships. Each successful completion was always hard fought for, with many gut-busting climbs and heart-stopping descents. It was becoming apparent to me that the standards set at the sharp end of mountain marathons had improved with the growth in lightweight equipment, dietary expertise, incredible fitness and technical know-how. What this meant for a veteran bog-standard punter like me was the knock-on effect as course-setters tried to set testing courses for elite competitors. Not once did I feel that any of the successful weekends with a range of partners came easy. If I ever had done so, the SLMMs of 97 and 98 would serve as reminder. The mountains sometimes win some too.

A series of long days out on the fells seemed to be giving me the fitness background I was seeking ; in the previous 2 years I had completed local anytime challenges like the 15 Dark Peak Trigs, the Tameside Trail and the Etherow Watershed. I tested myself in competitive races and in early 97 lasted well in the Wuthering Hike and was on course to attempt the challenging Fellsman event, only to be plagued by stomach problems which caused me to withdraw. However, with good mileage in my legs over winter and spring, I recovered sufficiently enough to declare myself fit for the Scafell class of the SLMM prior to the Tour of Tameside.

However, after two long days out on testing courses contouring seemingly vast distances on difficult terrain either side of the Dollywagon-Clough Head ridge from Grasmere, my lack of fitness finally caught up with me late on the second day when I reluctantly had to accept that I was moving too slowly to be inside the time set for the course. In the next year’s event I discovered what it was like to ‘bonk’ during the race. I had always been proud of my stamina and determination if nothing else, but here I was, nauseous, dizzy and almost incapable of walking up the slightest incline. How I eventually managed to walk the eight miles over three passes to get back I’ll never know! Such withdrawals have to be put into context because to pull out can be the hardest decision to make at times. However, it must always be remembered that the mountains are going nowhere in a hurry, they will still be here next year: what we must try to ensure is that we are also! More recently, this obvious but oft-forgotten thought was also a source of comfort to me when I had to be airlifted off Kinder in the 2010 Kinder Trial!

So there you have it then. The chapter that I was not going to write has been written and clearly puts into context other tales of epic adventures with more satisfactory conclusions. It has always been easy to produce accounts of long days on the fells which ended successfully but surprisingly not as traumatic as I thought to write about the ‘downs’. One thing is for sure:- if you succeeded every time you stepped out on the hill, the days would be too commonplace to recall. Occasional humility is good for us all and disappointments also serve to heighten the euphoria at the end of days when all has gone well. What was it that Kipling said about those twin imposters?

Lantern Pike Dash - Tim's blog

A few Glossopdalers were out for the Lantern Pike Dash - well done Chris, Roger, Neil and Tim. Here's Tim's write up: http://testedtodestruction.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/lantern-pike-dash-2012.html

and the results are out: http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/temples-bin/hc.pl?a=list&d=hc&f=lantern-pike-dash-2012

Circumnavigation - Kinder Tops

I've now written up my blog on the Kinder Tops run last Sunday.... http://runningdelights.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/circumnavigation.html

Thanks to everyone who was out, and a special thanks to Sikobe's wife for baking cake, Sikobe for carrying that + water and to the drivers. It was a grand day out!

Caption competition please.....

Lynne