Lakeland 4 Passes
Report by Matt Holt
Remember those things called races… what was once a monthly or even twice monthly occurrence 2 years ago!!
Well for only the 4th (I think?) time for me in the last 18 months, and the first time in years for Jill, a proper long race with everything that that entails: 5.30am alarm call and a kitchen table full of stuff like race vest / waterproof jacket and trousers / maps / compass / survival bag – you know, loads of the things and stuff you hardly ever see between races.
It was lovely to be in the Lakes again, with this race starting in Rosthwaite near Keswick. Jill and I arrived about 15 mins before the start, got our numbers, (there was no kit check, no fuss) just wandered outside and after a concise and informative race brief (about 3 minutes long) , Jill and I set off with all the other runners at 9.30am, heading towards the looming mountains, the tops of which were all covered in mist.
(As a personal note, I like events that don’t have kit checks. The rules when you sign up for an event are clear, and compulsory kit is often one of them. If you don’t want to carry, or don’t agree with the race director regarding kit, don’t enter. Go do another event. I don’t think events should have to waste everyone’s time by checking kit before giving you your number, only for those determined to bend the rules to then go and dump the kit that they deem ‘unnecessary’ before the race start).
The route started steady enough but then climbed up a track, eventually with Great Gable on our left and the Scafall range to our right, followed by a long descent to my favourite part of the Lakes, Wasdale Head. This place is awesome, it feels totally disconnected from the rest of the Lakes. That’s probably due to the one road in and out with Great Gable acting as a kind of dead end road block you don’t argue with. Wasdale is also surrounded by some the Lakes most well known mountains.
From the pub at Wasdale, we climbed again and then dropped downhill to the beautifully secluded Black Sail Youth Hostel. We warned at the race brief to take care on this section, and the wet rocks were like ice and definitely needed care. After passing BSYH, the rain started to fall and made the next section of tracks very slippy as we headed upwards and then dropped again towards Buttermere.
A final climb was in store, this time quite steep, until the path finally flattened out and we could see the car park and cafe at Honister Slate Mine.
The last few miles followed the coast to coast route, all downhill, back to Rosthwaite, where drinks and hot meal were waiting along with finishers medals.
The race was open to walkers who started at 8.30am and was organised by Ascend Events. They did a great job with 2 checkpoints and 2 safety checkpoints along the route. A really friendly team, the event had a nice, low profile and unfussy feel about it. We would definitely recommend it.
In total the course was just shy of 19 miles long with 5200 foot of ascent and we finished in 5 hours 39 minutes.