The Pixie Run – to an absent friend

While browsing the shelves for a couple of novels to take on the boat, I stumbled upon “The Pixie Run”, by none other than our damaged ex-team-member Damon. So in sympathy and respect, I’ll take it along. I read it years ago when I first met the wee man; in those days he had a loft-full of them, and would thrust copies at total strangers all around Glasgow; these days it’s a collector’s item,  available only from a small corner shop in Bideford, and any of Damon’s friends; actually from anyone he’s met in the last 12 years. Seriously though, it’s a cracking read, considering it’s about running silly numbers of miles day after day after day, easting crusts, sleeping under the stars, a psychotic girlfriend, and several weird friends, mainly called Nigel (as far as I recall).

And this is where I first heard of our charity Practical Action, except in those days they were called “Intermediate Technology”. Here’s what it says on the back of The Pixie Run… “In February 1996, Damon Rodwell, a moderately successful club-standard ultra-runner [those were the days!] was on a trekking holiday in the Nepalese Himalayas when he was exposed to the work of Intermediate Technology, a British-based charity striving to improve the lives of the poor in the developing world. He was so impressed by the projects which Intermediate Technology were undertaking, and with their common-sense approach to sustainable change that he resolved to spend his summer on a fund-raising venture”…. (and the rest is history that you can read in the book!).

Anyway, I must go and finish packing, and pop this wee gem in to keep my spirits up. And you never know, we might run out of bog roll.

LAMMinated

A minor scare over the weekend… I checked the LAMM Saturday results and found no sign of Stewart & partner Matt in the Score class. Then they appeared as “mp” (missed point), suggesting they had indeed started but failed to complete day 1.

Monday morning, I was relieved to find Stewart at his desk in perfect nick, confirming that it was Matt who came a cropper (thank goodness – sorry Matt), with a possible broken foot/ankle. So to look on the bright side, having only run 2 hours on the Saturday instead of 13 hours over two days, Stewart will be nice and fresh for the 3PYR !

PS I’ve put together a complete team list, to help anyone watching the race or following the live tracking.

One down?

While running over the Beacons this morning I was wondering how Damon got on in his big bike ride, whether the ribs & neck were recovering, or whether (as I feared) they would make life hard . On my return, I found the email I was dreading…

“My rib, six days after my fall, is more painful now than it has been all week. I embarked on an 80-mile bike-ride with a couple of plodders yesterday, managed ten painful miles then bailed out, and had to resort to calling Anna to come and collect me a few miles from home. I couldn’t get into a normal riding position, pull on the handlebars to climb hills or, in fact, tackle anything that required deep breathing without pretty bad discomfort. I can’t run a step without grunting, and can’t get dressed without swearing. My assurances that the rib was bruised rather than broken now seem a bit on the optimistic side (although the pain is centred about 6 inches from the point of impact, albeit on the same rib). From past experience I know that the pain will stick around for about three weeks, which by coincidence takes us to the start of the 3PYR. What this means is that I may be in a fit state to toe the start line, but that I’ll have done nothing for a month. How the injury would respond to humungously long runs on rough ground with a hefty pack is quite another matter.
The upshot is that you either need to find a replacement runner a very short notice, or to resign yourselves to having a cripple on board, which may very well necessitate some heroics from the crew when I get back from Snowdon hours later that predicted in a gibbering heap. Or, it might  be OK.  I guess the way to proceed is for a replacement to be sought, on the understanding that if none can be found, I pitch up and give it a crack.
I can’t express how pissed off I am about this, so I’m not going to try.There seems to be some wee bastard somewhere conspiring against my ever doing a big event again. I’ve finally managed to get past the hopeless susceptibility to chest infections that has scuppered so many races in the last couple of years (high-dose VIT C has done the trick, and I’ve been in good fettle for months now),  I had some miles in the legs, with a final push planned and was flying on the bike, when this happens. Really not very excited at all. I also feel extremely shite at letting you all down so close to the event. I know its a massive commitment of time, effort and money, and that the boat has a chance to do well, and I have nothing to offer except, "sorry!"”.

I’m looking for a replacement… anyone out there?

Fund raising

The 3PYR has a strong emphasis on fund-raising by the teams. Between the 25 teams that enter, the total is usually well into 6-figures. We’ve decided to raise funds for for Practical Action (helping alleviate poverty with sustainable technologies) and the RNLI (who might just save us all).

James has set up a nice easy donation page – please help and/or pass it on.

And just for the sake of it, here’s Damon and me on Ben More, Mull during the (similar but easier) Scottish Island Peaks Race in 2006.

Scafell Pike recce (wreckage?)

 

We’ve been up at my Mum’s house near Cockermouth, so I took the chance to recce the Scafell Pike route.

The running route

My first outing was the run, and instead of starting from Gillerthwaite YHA I parked at gatesgarth in Buttermere and started over Scarth Gap, joining the race route at Black Sail hut. This added some ascent to the route, but perhaps left off some distance. The hills were saturated with melt-water and recent rain.

From Ennerdale the route goes over Black Sail pass, which I had not done in this direction before. The path is obvious in daylight, but I reckon it could be a bit tricky in the dark, both up and down.

Here I am emerging over the top of Black Sail pass, looking over towards Red Pike and Mosedale.

The path on the Mosedale side is lovely – impossible to miss in the dark all the way down to the Wasdale Inn.

The next picture is taken from about half way down, looking into Wasdale. The peak on the right is Stirrup Crag, a subsidiary top of Yewbarrow.

 

 

Being in Wasdale Head reminded me of a fantastic day some years BC (before children) when stockbroker Jon mashed his knee on the Corridor Route, I tried to run up Great Gable from Styhead (long before I started running!), I took pics of Baa and Gavin climbing Nape’s Needle, while Naomi nursed Jon in the pub.

 

Here’s Wasdale, from the start of the climb, where the real task soon becomes apparent… Wasdale Head is just  above sea level, while the top of Scafell Pike is only about 2 miles away at 977m.

 

 

The 3PYR route is, as I understand it, Lingmell Gill to Hollowstones, then left to approach the summit from the Lingmell side. This photo shows the Hollowstones area, where things could certainly be a little confusing in the dark, and the path is marked by occasional small cairns among the boulders. I then followed the tourist path to the left of all the craggy bits, though I wonder if there’s a quicker route up one of the snow-filled gullies.

The summit area was quite snowy, though I doubt we’ll need to worry about that in June.

I was a little weary at the summit, because I’ve not done much going up massive hills since coming back from injury last July, but the fantastic weather and views were keeping me breezy.

It was on the way down I started to realize how hard this leg will be – it’s really steep and rocky, and where the going is not just fractured rock then it is man-made boulder paths; I could feel my thighs turning to mush with every step.

Here we are nearly down, looking back towards Wasdale Head and Mosedale, with Black Sail pass heading away up to the right behind Kirk Fell.

 

Needless to say, I hauled, crawled and clawed my way up Black Sail pass and then Scarth Gap, a shambling wreck by the time I reached the car nearly 5 hours after departure, though perked up marvellously by a large ice cream with flake and raspberry sauce. Here’s a map showing the bits from Black Sail hut down to Scafell Pike. Next… the bike route!

The cycle route

The next day I drove down to Whitehaven to recce the bike route. I found a car park where one machine said “Out of order – please use other machine” and the other machine said “Out of order – please use other machine”, and the verdict among us honest but bewildered punters was that it was free parking day. I went to the harbour office, and a nice lady showed me exactly where the boats come through the harbour wall in the race (the harbour is completely sealed, with a sort of revolving door thing that opens for boats) and where they drop the runners before berthing. All very straightforward compared to the bonkers dinghy frenzy in the SIPR! She said supporters will be able to park on the marina pier.

The cycle route is not exactly hard to find, but I’m really glad to have recce’d it anyway, because there is a one-way system and it wasn’t quite in the direction I was expecting. In fact the route is well signed as the C2C cycle route with clear blue signs and bollards. The first couple of miles go through, umm, how do I put this politely, umm, well it’s a bit like Soweto or a run-down suburb of Belgrade. Wear chewy tyres, coz the route is covered with broken glass and rubbish, and skanky blokes exercising their pit-bulls. Despite a few turns and junctions, this route should be easy to follow, and soon it’s out in the open country, following the old railway line gently uphill all the way to Rowrah and Kirkland. Then onto the road and down into Ennerdale and onto the forestry track to the Youth Hostel.This is where I was wondering whether the road bike would be such a goood choice, but in fact it was fine, because I had put larger tyres on and the track is fairly benign. There were only a couple of short sections where I really wished for knobbly tyres and suspension, though I might change my mind when doing the ride after several hours of running!

It has to be said that the return route does feature some fairly savage hills, and one complete monster, but I’m going to blank that out for now.

Charities etc

Well – I’ve just had an email from three peaks organisers – reminding me to finish updating profiles – so I’ve done that.

I’ve also plumped for a couple of charities to support (seeing as there was umm – err – “limited” feedback shall we say). They are:

Practical action – cos Damon has had some involvement with them – and they do similarish things to Water aid etc

and

Lifeboats – cos unlike Mountain Rescue – its something we may all need rather than just 2 of us – and its easy to do centrally. Also Doug has had a long involvement with RNLI and one of our other crew members is also crew for the local Angle lifeboat.

If anyone disagress violently – well tough – you should have shown more interest earlier ! No seriously – any issues – let me know – but I had to plump for something.

Oh – and training etc – well I hear Ben is busy training every Thur – unfortunately at pool – rather than in the pool – but there we go. Doug reportedly has man flu – so didn’t even make it down to his own boat at the weekend (and probably won’t be seen out for a while after Scotalnds showing in the rugby yesterday).

Boat – well I fitted the Dan buoy cradle, and threaded a new VHF cable up the mast (seemed to be a bit intermittent last season – mind you the old cable looked OK as it came out). Sanded back the keel on one side – and re-painted. Even got a coat of antifoul on today. Just over 4 weeks to lift in – so need to get a shift on.

The running/cycling routes

We’ve not been sent the official route maps yet, but here’s what I’ve gleaned from various sources, mainly Martin Beale on the FRA Forums:

Caernarfon / Snowdon

The route up Snowdon is from the wharf in Caernarfon up the A4085 road that goes to the south of Snowdon, up the Snowdon Ranger path to the summit (where there is the only checkpoint), down the railway path to Llanberis and then back along the A4086 road to Caernarfon. There isn’t much route choice.

Whitehaven / Scafell Pike

From Whitehaven follow the C2C cycle path / West Cumbria Cycle Path to just west of Kirkland NY 062 178. Turn left at the road, after about 300m turn R at crossroads by Kirkland school, up the hill after 800m to crossroads in Kirkland. Straight across then follow the road to a T-junction at Cauda Brow (FRA relays 2009 venue!), turn right and drop down to Croasdale (turn left into village), then continue to end of road and onto 4km of stony forestry track to the Gillerthwaite youth hostel at the head of Ennerdale Water.  Run up the valley and then over Black Sail Pass to Wasdale Head (checkpoint), then up a diagonal path (via the charmingly named “Brown Tongue”) to the main path to Hollow Stones. Then go left a bit to the col between Lingmell and Scafell Pike, then straight up to Scafell Pike (this last bit is how you would finally ascend Scafell Pike if you’d done the Corridor Route from Styhead).

Corpach / Ben Nevis

Dock at Corpach lock, run along the “coast path” by Caol (Great Glen Way) in a SE direction. Cross river on a footbridge by the Mallaig railway line bridge (I think it is the same bridge, but may be wrong there). Run through Inverlochy, then up the north / east bank of the Nevis river along the minor road. Pass Achintee House, then up the main Ben Nevis path. You’re not meant to take the Red Burn path shortcut (I think that’s what it’s called), but can cut the zig zags after that (according to choice). The checkpoint is on top of that big cylindrical cairn on top. The way back is the same as the way up. The finish line is by the lock in Corpach. There is only one checkpoint on this leg: at the top.

Lessons we should learn

There are some vaguely informative/amusing/terrifying tips from runners who competed in 3PYR over the last few years on the Fellrunning forums, e.g. this thread.  Here are Martin Beale’s comments after finishing 2nd in 2008 (they had been in the lead after Scafell, and thought they had got back in time to beat the tidal gate, but then ran aground).

“We could have won it…

– if I hadn’t run leg 1 of the Cotswold Way relay on the morning of the race…
– if we’d had our sails up on the start line (rather than the mainsail twisted round the boom and the genoa falling out of the luff groove)…
– if the spinnaker hadn’t unclipped from its halyard between Bardsey and Caernarfon…
– if the spinnaker hadn’t ripped before Caernarfon ….
– if we hadn’t run aground 300m before Caernarfon ….
– if we hadn’t gone for an inadvertent tourist trip to Caernarfon castle….
– if we hadn’t got slightly lost on the zig-zags up the Snowdon Ranger path …
– if we could have got to Whitehaven 20 minutes earlier ….
– if I’d bought that flashy cyclocross bike rather than borrowing the skipper’s old mountain bike (we’d have cut off 15 minutes of cycling time overall) ….
– if we hadn’t run aground getting out of Whitehaven….
– if we hadn’t had a spinnaker halyard snap on the way to Corpach ….
– if I hadn’t felt so rubbish on the run up Ben Nevis ….”

NB Damon – perhaps we need some beefier tyres on our road bikes? Sounds like a recce of the bike route is essential, to find a way through this…

Winter jobs….

Well Autonomy is parked up out on the hard (lifted out just before Christmas) so sailing practice is off till Easterish.  Always breath a slight sigh of relief once the craning bit is safely completed.

However plenty of winter jobs to do (servicing engine, antifouling and the 101 other “little jobs” that need doing). Mast is out – so we can give the rigging a good check over. Genoa is with Ben for a little bit of attention after the winter series (and to add large arrow on the leach line showing people which end to pull 😉

Hopefully we won’t get quite this much wind in the open sea in June this was a winter day when they cancelled the racing but we went out for a play anyway ..

This year – due to some nasty cosmetic scratching in the marina when we had a force 10 through in the autumn she is due to get a respray this winter – so hopefully we’ll be looking very smart for the race.

Winter jobs have started – annual battle with the heat exchanger stack (which seems to stick each year just a little bit more than my improved methods for unsticking it) – blooded knuckles again. Finally got it apart, cleaned up and back together. Just need to see if when I fill it with water it all leaks out again.

Also been checking out the rules for the race – and Santa bought a few bits and bobs for the boat – all things that you hope you never have to use – emergency navigation lights, things to throw at anyone who falls overboard (I think the idea is that they help you find them again – not that you skewer the individual in annoyance – but I’ve not read the small print yet).

I’ve also had a bit of a look at the route – and came to the conclusion that basically its pretty silly – last time we went to Scotland we went via the Isle of Man – not via a load of harbours that don’t have enough water and vicious tides. Must remember to ask Crispin if he minds detouring a bit …

As for the running – well after being dragged round the Paps of Jura by Crispin – I vowed not to be quite so unfit next time (or at least to have actually broken into a trot within the last couple of years just in case) – so have been trying to get out a couple of times a week on a little loop that probably wouldn’t warrant Crispin and Damon putting their trainers on.  All a bit snowy and icy today for running (rare for us here out West) – so today’s exercise was dragging small children up hills on sledges (lets hope it thaws tonight – I think the running was easier !)  followed by a walk to the pub (too dangerous to run and 100 yards is still a bit far) and a large lunch (have to be careful to keep calorie intake up in this cold weather – especially after Christmas)

A baptism of fire – well snow actually

It was my idea to rekindle the spirit of the “£1 challenge” which three or four years ago saw Crispin and me (and a few pals) attempt to run every day for a year. It didn’t quite happen, but in the attempt, we all separately managed to squeeze out a lot more runs in the first six months than family commitments and apathy would have normally allowed.  After a quick bowel-loosening shufty at the task we’ve set ourselves in entering the 3 Peaks, I thought that something similar was essential. I now rather wish I’d kept my stupid idea under my hat. The eastern Borders where I live is currently under an 18″ thick blanket of snow, which is increasing by the hour. The first two days of the year have seen me toiling along the road that runs along the valley, and which is cut off to all but tractors and stud-sporting idiots. The snow is far to deep to attempt any of my usual routes in the surrounding hills. Today’s 40 minutes of purgatory had the added bonus of a strong stinging easterly laden with nasty little hard pellets of snow, and – the icing on the cake – a small pine cone which the wind dislodged and blew into my face, drawing blood from my cheek and leaving what should be a nice manly Action-Man type scar.

Pictures of our snowy paradise here and some pictures of the hills in which I frollick, before the snows came can be seen here.