A storming leg in the Lakes

Crispin and Stewart had an absolute stormer in the Lakes, finishing the most gruelling of the land stages in 7:10, in second place and only a minute behind the crack team from EADS Innovation Works. Their time for Leg 2, from which includes the sail to Whitehaven and the cycle / run up Scafell Pike and back was the quickest in the entire field, by a minute according to the results sheet, but by 11 minutes according to my calculations. Timing is everything on this leg, and the top teams can just manage to squeeze in and out of Whitehaven on the same tide. The Dockers managed this, but their whoops of joy were very quickly cut short when they ran aground on a sandbank and had to wait a few hours, with the boat lying on its side according to Crispin’s text message, until the next tide lifted them clear. They still left in second place.
As I write on Tuesday night, they’ve dropped a few places, but are pretty close to a group of six fighting for second place in the Sound of Jura, with EADS still a little way out in front.
Crispin sounded on a real high after leaving Whitehaven, and while I suspect the gap between the crew and the lead boats may be too much to close, the runners have a real chance of doing something very impressive in the Kings of the Bens competition. Keep you eye on the boats’ trackers here and on the results at here.

Waiting in Whitehaven….

We snuck into Whitehaven at about 4am this morning, arriving just before the first boats could enter – some of whom had beenw aiting for 2-3 hours for the tide to come in watching other boats (like us) catch up.

One boat Tactix got in before us as they drew slightly less – then it was us with 4 other boats all together.  The Tactix runners are very good – have held course record  or this leg in the past – that will give Crispin & Stewart something to chase

They reckon could be 8 hours – and last time we can lock out is … 12 midday – otherwise we have to wait until after 4pm – by which time many runners will have finished I suspect

Mind you looking at the wind – I’m not sure how much good its going to be being 4 hours in front – wind (such as it is – is due to fill in later).  Mind you every time I complain about the wind – I am reminded that we could be still trying to slop our way northwards to Whitehaven in a variable 3 – or worse still be perched on a rock in the Swellies

One run down, and sitting in 5th

The team have no internet access at the moment. A lumpy sail through the night brought the boat into the Menai Straits in about 10th place. Their tracker had packed up a few hours into the race, leading this worried follower to think they’d run aground or been forced to land for repairs. A steady run on the Snowdon leg , starting around 03:30 gained them a few places. The 8 miles on the road on the way back to the boat was a bit of an ordeal, as expected, and once back onboard they dawdled through the Straits on frustratingly calm water, emerging eventually in around 6th place. As I write, they’ve enjoyed a curry for breakfast, a large fry-up for 2nd breakfast and are now, hopefully, sleeping. The runners, that is. I presume someone is awake and piloting the boat!
A couple of craft ran aground infront of them in the Manai Straits, significantly the early leaders White Cloud, so congrats are in order for the successful navigation of a tricky stretch of water. Well done also to Stewart for a decent run in Wales after a bit of a battle with seasickness.
Their tracker seems to be playing up again, and hasn’t reported since 14:15, compared with 16:30 updates from the surrounding boats, so they may well be a couple of hours further on than I think…

Bobbing in Barmouth

Well we arrived in Barmouth to find both boat and dinghy still there.  Trots look a bit fuller now with lots of toing and froing with long sticks and scaffolding poles etc as people try to rig oars having seen the forecast.

We just looked at last weeks forecast which showed much more wind – so we’re happy oars stowed firmly below.

Waiting for runners to arrive.  We’ve been scrutinered and seem to have passed – some slight amazement that we have’nt cut our tooth brushes in half and plucked every other bristle.

We also have our yellowbrick tracker device bolted on – and it seems to be working -  just goto http://www.threepeaksyachtrace.co.uk/ and click on teh live GPS tracking if you want to see how far we have rowed.

Now got to see if this uploads to the blog OK

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.

Foel Fras

While Stewart tackles the mighty LAMM, I travelled north yesterday for the Foel Fras race in the Carneddau at Abergwyngregyn, the journey made slightly more interesting by concerns for my disintegrating gearbox, with no first gear and a struggle for reverse. I needed to run Foel Fras to have any chance of winning the Welsh fell running championships (over 40s), but also I like doing new races on hills I’ve not visited before, and it looked like a good final training run before the 3PYR. The measured stats: 13 miles and 3600 feet of ascent.

Arriving with a couple of hours to spare before the race, I walked the last couple of miles of the course, which looked tricky from the map – this was to pay off in the race.

84 runners started, Math Roberts setting a storming pace and soon miles ahead. On the open hill I settled into third on the long climb of Drum, until a bad stitch throttled me back and I fell back to about 7th by the summit of Foel Fras. I’d been told the navigation after Carnedd Uchaf is really tricky, so it was really good to have a small group ahead and I just cruised along behind them feeling comfy. When Arwel passed me I realised I was being way too lazy, so I pushed a little to get to the top of Moel Wnion in about 5th, then gradually passed people on the rough descent to the sheepfold. At this stage I was with Paul Jones (Oswestry) and Jez Brown (Buckley), and I sensed they were tiring, so I took a slightly different line from them and turned up the turbo. For a while I didn’t know whether they were ahead or behind so kept blasting away, my calves beginning to twitch and lock with cramps. When we got onto the really steep last descent I knew they were behind and I could hold them off.

Pleased to get second place in 1:49, though humbled by the 10 minute gap behind Math Roberts, who finished very close to the record in 1:39. Good points in the bag for the championships, but I think it will be hard to beat Paul Jones overall, as he’ll do Moel Siabod (which I cannot do) while I do Black Mountains; since the later is a British Championship race, competition will be much fiercer, meaning I will get relatively few points. That will leave us both doing Clwydian Hills as the final counter…

For 2nd overall and 1st V40 I won £40 in vouchers for an outdoor shop in Conwy – hardly convenient, but I’d better put the £40 into our charity fund anyway and maybe I’ll find myself in Conwy one day…

Now time to put my feet up ’til the 3PYR, let my battered ankles and calves recover, ice a troublesome tendon, stretch my troublesome sciatic nerve, watch a bit of footy, drink a bit of beer, and sort out mountains of kit. And check the sailing forecasts! Can’t wait…

Stewart is the new Damon

Team news… after many days scouting about for a replacement for Damon, who’s rib/neck/knee injuries have taken him out of the race, we have found what we need very close to home. Stewart Bellamy, work colleague of James and me at exeGesIS SDM, fell runner and mountain marathoner – and well matched with me for pace. He’s not entirely sure what will happen to his insides when the wind gets up, but to be honest nor am I if it gets really rough. Also he has a bit of a knee after mashing it on a boulder in the Jura fell race last weekend, but we fell runners take these minor irritations in our stride, preferably with several tons of ibuprofen.

 

Here’s Stewart at the Ras Diafol a few weeks ago.

Barmouth webcam

James says Autonomy is somewhere in the middle picture on these webcam images from Barmouth. I’m not convinced – maybe she’s drifted away?

http://barmouthwebcam.co.uk/page3.html

Duddon’s a dud

Preparations are askew at the moment, as we try to find a worthy replacement for Damon. Watch this space.

Meanwhile, James has taken Autonomy up to Barmouth, and I have recce’d the Snowdon route. We were camping at Shell Island, with a few million tiger moth caterpillars, and some other less hairy ones that I’ve yet to identify. Lois was desperate to climb Snowdon, and the 3PYR route goes up the the Ranger Path, which I’ve not done before, so off we set on the one rainy afternoon of the week. We saw a lot of cloud… then ran all the way down, arriving in Llanberis in 2 hours 45 minutes. Lois was deliriously knackered, and I was very proud of her because this was by far her longest outing on the hills. In the race we’ll hope to do that section in around 1.5 hours, but there’s also 8 miles on road at both ends!

Then I checked out Carnaerfon – how to get from the boat out onto the road to Snowdon (A4085), and how to get back from Llanberis again (A4086). The run back from Llanberis looks properly miserable – 8 miles of busy road with lots of hills – not looking forward to that much. We did find a fantastic chip shop right on the route as it comes back into Carnaerfon, but not sure if it will be open when we are passing.

Then we headed north to my Mum’s house in !shriek! West Cumbria, mainly to take in the Duddon race as a long training run. On the way to the race, we passed a pile of floral tributes at the location of one of Derek Bird’s shootings, and on the way back the village of Rowrah was full of police and press photographers. The 3PYR route goes through Rowrah on the bike.

The Duddon Race was terrible. I have absolutely no idea why, but at 8am I decided to fry up all the left-over roast potatoes from the night before, add a fried egg, re-heat a big bowl of chilli from the fridge, and scoff the lot. A fantastic start to the day if all you have on the schedule is lying on the sofa watching England get thrashed by Algeria, but not so good for a Lakeland Classic fell race of 18 miles and 7,000 feet of ascent, starting at 11am. Even jogging to registration was hard work, and the chilli burps were a warning to all. Then I lost my dibber, and had to dash around like a nutter just moments before the start, til I found it in the back of the car.

OK, the race… the moment we hit the first climb up Harter Fell I felt terrible, really nauseous, with panting shallow breathing and no energy, and it didn’t get any better. I wanted to pack it in, but thought that would be a terrible psychological precedent ahead of the 3PYR, so made up my mind to grind my way round no matter how slowly. On the notoriously fearsome climb up “Little Stand”, as I bent double howking and trying to rid myself of my breakfast burden, Jackie Lee (behind me in picture below) asked me if  I had found some early bilberries!

Anyway, I had a horribly slow race, never able to open up and run, until the final descent from Caw where I at least I managed to blitz about 8 runners who had passed my pathetic shuffling hulk in the previous couple of miles.

I finished in 3:52 (a full 30 minutes slower than in 2007) in 41st place out of 185 starters.

Positives: a good training run in hot conditions, wearing a rucksack as we will in the 3PYR; I didn’t pack it in when I felt shite; I know what not to eat for breakfast.