Grand Tour of Skiddaw - 28 August
Report by Ady Warner
It’s 3 am on Monday 30th August. I can’t sleep! This race keeps playing on my mind and keeping me awake, so I thought I’d get up and write a race report.
The Grand Tour of Skiddaw is as it advertises a lollypop route starting at the Lime House School near Dalston, approximately 6 miles south of Carlisle. The route heads south towards Skiddaw before heading up and over and back around to re-join the same route for the final 8 miles. The route is advertised at 44 miles with 7,136 ft of elevation. With these kind of events, it delivered as always and gave more. There were 4 check points along the way, where when you arrived you checked in with your timing dibber. Until you finally checked back at the start/finish point.
On Friday afternoon I set off on a leisurely drive across the A66 bound for Carlisle to visit an old work colleague only to be thwarted with traffic queuing through road works. Thankfully this moved and eased and soon I was on my way heading north and looking forward to our catch up. After leaving Carlisle swimming with tea, beer next time, I drove through the entrance gates to the school grounds. I paid an extra fee to camp in my camper on the sports fields. Registration was open and once set up I had my mandatory kit checked, collected the tracker and dibber. Great, all ready for an 8 am start the morning allowing loads of time to eat, repack my kit and get some sleep before a tough day out in the hills. Falling asleep in a peaceful setting listening to owls calling was easy.
The alarm woke me up, which is unusual for me. Waking up to a glorious sunny morning shining on the side of my camper was a great start to the day. Whilst my porridge was warming through, I looked out of the window and was surprised how many others had arrived overnight. That was a good sleep.
Race brief was brief on the start line and before I knew it we were off. And after about 300m we stopped. Damn! I should have recced the way out of the school, a kissing gate allowing only one at a time. Still, what’s the rush? It’s only a race after all. Once through I was a way again, down a gentle slope across the field to the next kissing gate, and the next… This first section is fairly flat mostly across fields and eventually through woods before arriving in Caldbeck at CP1. Feeling good after managing to pass a few others I quickly grabbed some snacks, mainly banana and dates. Almost 8 miles ticked off in 1hr26. That’s 9:30 am, Mrs W and everyone else at Fountains Abbey Parkrun will be heading for coffee about now.
Leaving Caldbeck is the beginning of the first real climb of the day. Steadily winding up the lanes south towards Nether Row before breaking out onto the fells. Now for the continuous slog up to High Pike at 658 m. Viewing the stream of runners making their way ahead and looking back down at those following me had me thinking what position I would finally end up with? As I looked up, I could see a pair of guys I’d been chatting to earlier. I had entered into this race as a team, but my mate had pulled out leaving me to battle this one on my own. How would we have faired as a team? Anyway, stop pondering on the ‘what could haves’ and make hay while the sun shines. Oh, the sun was shining! It was getting hot and coupled with only a light breeze I knew I needed to stay hydrated. Holding my position, I reached the summit of High Pike without any problems. A quick photo from the viewpoint and I was away.
Dropping steadily down across the open fell to the rescue hut before turning left down through Grainsgill Beck to eventually pick up the Cumbrian Way. From here the track leads for about 3 miles to Skiddaw House Youth Hostel. A remote hostel only accessed on foot, check it out if you’re looking to escape for a while. Following a rocky footpath to the next CP at Latrigg I passed a guy suffering with cramp. I checked he was ok and continued. This sparked a game of cat and mouse between us. Who would be victorious? This was by far the longest leg between check points, taking me nearly 3 hours. It’s lunch time. Everyone doing the M2M will be getting to York about now. I’ll be there next year!
From Latrigg to Peter House Farm is another 7 or so miles. Only the route now climbs up and over Skiddaw at 931 m. Not much to say about climbing up this route apart from it seems to go on for ever and ever. Making progress taking short breaks I made it to the summit where on the Trig Point is a bell for everyone to ring. Cheered on by all the walkers out for a pleasant day I was spurred on to making my way down the steep scree slope towards Longside Edge and Ullock Pike. Descending steep ground like this is energy sapping and forces you to break your stride resulting in your quads to start screaming at you. Once I was down though I stretched out and made my way across the edge. I caught up with another runner who had sat down on Ullock Pike to enjoy the view and refuel. What? Sit down? What a great Idea. Not yet though maybe soon? Actually, what a great idea, about a km further on I did exactly the same. He came past and complimented me on my chosen spot and as I watched him descend further it prompted me to get moving again. Continuing the descent through some farms and onto a tarmac road led me to CP3 at Peter House Farm after another 3 hours.
I was pleased to get here because I knew that I was well onto the return journey. Arriving at the stand the volunteers waited, along with the wasps crawling all over the food out on display, to help me refill my water bottles and point me in the right direction. Conscious that a wasp sting would be an unpleasant prospect I hastily pressed on. My pace was slowing considerably now. Not because of any injuries or anything but because the heat of the day and lack of energy had taken over. Jogging down any slope was still an effort, where I could I dunked my cap in the streams and hugged the shade to try and keep cool. But I was heading back to Caldbeck and to the finish. This section of the route has a long stretch of tarmac which on one hand is good because it’s smooth, but on the other, it’s a hard surface for tired feet and aching joints. YAY! I’ve re-joined the route completing the lollypop, now just back down the stick. Another 2.5 hours on my feet ticked off.
Calling back into the CP at Caldbeck the volunteers offered me the choice of soup, tea or coffee. Tea please. Final refill of water last bite of flapjack and off I walked through the street with a lovely cuppa. This was such a great feeling, sipping away and back on the final leg to the finish. Realistically looking at my pace I was hoping for a 12 hour finish time. This gave me a bit of focus to jog as much as I could and work hard on the up hills. I passed the guy with cramp for the last time soon after Caldbeck. Pressing on through the endless gates across the fields gave me target points to get to until I saw the finish point come onto my watch. The end was insight, well at least on my wrist. I made my way into the last field, and do you remember that gentle slope after the first kissing gate at 8 am? It didn’t seem so gentle going back up. Who cares, I made my way up and through that first and last gate into the school grounds. Going past the school building towards the finish point in daylight with a time of 11 hours 56 minutes and 22 seconds to a cheering crowd of volunteers, runners and their families was overwhelming.
The after-race party was in full swing, the bar was open, the pizzas were cooking and the light was fading. For the next few hours the bell was rung and cheers from everyone echoed the grounds for all those still crossing the finish line. As I climbed gingerly into bed, scared to move too quick in case cramp got the better of me, my thoughts turned to Paul Walker still smashing his way through the UTMB.
This is a brilliantly organised event that was fully way marked, I didn’t need to navigate once. Praise must go to the fantastic set of volunteers supporting us throughout the day and night. Nothing was too much trouble, and I would recommend anyone to having a crack at this one. Warning! It’s a toughy.
Pleased with my time and finishing 50th overall is a fantastic achievement for this 50 year old. Had we have entered as a team we’d have come second. Maybe next time Dave?