I noticed this morning that it would have been the second running of the Lower Borrowdale Skyline fell race had it not been cancelled due to insufficient pre-entries and volunteers... it was a fantastic race last year and I swore at the time I would return to run it again. Ross has posted on Facebook that he hopes to reschedule it for the autumn so fingers crossed! And so to reminisce, I dug out my short write up from last year...
This was the first running of the race (originally planned for 2019). Ross Jenkin, stile builder extraordinaire and RO, the marshals and all the volunteers did an absolutely incredible job! Thank you all!
The race started at Low Borrowdale Farm, standing in the heaving crowd on the start line surrounded by the hills we were about to run on on all sides was daunting!
And we were off! The climb up to the ridge line wasn't overly steep, there was quite a large field (about 450 runners) so it was quite congested but that saved me blowing out on the first climb.
Once on the ridge line, it was a mix of boggy soft ground, epic single track, a gnarly wooded section on the return, a killer descent down to the final water station and just incredible views in all directions.
The weather was perfect. The climb to checkpoint 8 nearly broke me... 12.27 miles. 3,731ft elevation gain. Official finish time of 02:36:33.
I’ve saved the best bit till last: I turned up super early, I was worried about parking and full of anxiety (I don't sleep a wink the night before a race, I really don't know why I get so worked up but I do) and was advised that my car probably wouldn't make it up the farm track so I headed to the parking spot in Tebay hoping to catch a lift from there… I pulled up next to Darren Fishwick and immediately got chatting, he and Alison were waiting for a friend to drive them up the farm track and although Mark and Jackie had a full car already, they kindly made space for me.
I have to say that spending the time before and after the race with these lovely, lovely people made my day! They made me feel so welcome and they looked after me. Thank you ❤️. The fell running community is absolutely incredible!
Comments