The Lap
Report by Claire Baker
THE LAP took place for the first time on Saturday. This is 45 mile trail ultra marathon around Lake Windermere, which is open to runners and walkers. THE LAP is a fully way-marked route with generous cut-offs and is advertised as a great introduction to longer races or a fast, low level option for experienced racers. However, I would say that this is a fantastic event and route but with nearly 9000 ft of ascent (so not as low level as advertised) and some fairly technical descents it’s possibly not for someone setting out on their first ultra!
Competitors have 24 hours to circumnavigate England’s largest and most iconic lake, taking in all the best view points on some of the most beautiful trails The Lakes has to offer.
Three Ripon Runners were on the start line on Saturday after a very early start from Ripon to make the 6am start. Alex Fawcett had an outstanding run finishing in joint 3rd place, completing the route in 9 hours 8 minutes. Being the true gentleman he is Alex let the runner he crossed the line with take the 3rd place trophy. Competitors also received a bottle of beer and a meal on completion (I didn’t hear any mention of Alex giving his beer away?!).
Meanwhile much nearer the back of the pack were Matthew Holt and Claire Baker. After a very dodgy start, which involved a navigation error of 1.5 miles down a very steep hill that took them back to the car park and ultimately 1.5 miles up a very steep hill to get back on track it was clear that Claire was going to struggle around the route after recent races. Matthew kindly stayed and ran with Claire and they both crossed the line in 14 hours 4 minutes. Without doubt Matthew would definitely have completed the route 2-3 hours quicker had he run his own race but a big thank you from me for dragging me round to the finish!
This is a great new event that I would definitely recommend. We were blessed with fantastic weather although I wouldn’t expect that in September in the lakes every year. The organisation and checkpoints was great and once you got used to the way the route was marked it was easy to follow (if you paid attention). In 2020 the route will be run in the opposite direction.