A Day in the Lakes 2016

On the weekend of the trail race a small team of Harriers supplemented with the cycling power of my brother headed south to the Lake District for the annual "A Day in the Lakes" triathlon relay. There were several changes to the usual format this year, mainly brought on by the extensive damage caused by the floods of Winter 2015/16 which had washed away several road bridges on the bike route. Although this meant that the bike course had to be completely changed to a less severe two lap course totaling 48 miles rather than the usual 56 and missing out the big climbs up Shap and the Kirkston Pass, the upside was that I had less time to wait to start the unchanged 13 mile run! The other major change this year was that the ever present team Billy was not present, various maladies affecting the team on the run-up to the event (swimmer Billy taken overseas that weekend, cyclist Sandy not really having got beyond the daily commute to/from work on her bike and runner/chef Kenny injured).

So the sole team would be our European Triathlon Championship qualifier Martin Duthie leading us out on the 2km swim (the organisers admitted it was probably a bit longer than 2km; not easy to wheel measure a course in a lake), my brother on the 48 mile road bike stage and me on the 13 mile fell run. My brother and I were camping in the excellent Parkfoot Camp Site at Pooley Bridge where the race was based whilst Martin and Mandy took the more luxurious option of a hotel 10 miles or so up the road.

Sunday morning dawned bright and calm (except for the crows cawing and lambs bleating from sun rise at 3am) and Ullswater looked absolutely perfect for the swim with hardly a ripple on the surface (Billy, you will be kicking yourself for missing the first flat calm swim for some years!). As the race start at 8:30 approached, Martin made his way down to the water for his usual warm-up ritual and the race organiser made the final swim briefing over the Tannoy. Unfortunately the race briefing added more confusion to the proceedings as the race director announced that the swim would be a clockwise circuit whereas the race map showed anti-clockwise. Having made the announcement, the race organiser had no option but to stick with the clockwise decision which caused confusion to those swimmers who were fully capped and ear-plugged up and did not hear the instruction! At 8:30 sharp, the race was off around a 2 lap circuit stretching across to the far shore of the lake.

There is no way of recognising individual swimmers during this stage so there was little point watching and I headed back to the transition zone to await Martin's arrival. As Martin had injured his shoulder in a fall at his last race in Strathclyde Park (see the race report earlier in the blog) we were worried that he may not be able to swim at full power (although he did say he would swim one armed side-stroke if he had to). We need not have worried. 41:43 later, Martin appeared running into transition (which is 100m from the water's edge) lying about 6 minutes behind the leading relay team and 8th relay team.

Martin admitted that this was one of the longest competitive swims he had ever done and that his shoulder did not really bother him. Having transferred the velcro strap with the timing chip to my brother's ankle, Robin was off, running out of transition with the bike. Unfortunately, 10m later the velcro strap came flying off. Luckily he noticed and stopped to re-attach it, losing only a few seconds.

Again, little is known about what went on out on the bike course except that this year there were no traffic lights and hence no chance of disqualification for running red lights and also that the course was flatter than usual (Billy, another chance at an easier than usual leg missed). Robin completed the 48 miles in 2:25:43 which was 4th fastest of the relay teams and brought us up to 5th relay team overall. 

This was the 6th time I had done the run but I knew that I was not as fit as last year, so was not expecting much. I took off just behind one of the individual triathletes but was in no hurry to catch or pass him as I wanted to use the first flat mile as a warm-up, knowing that the relentless climbs started at mile 2 and that was where the time would be made or lost. Sure enough, I breezed past just before the right turn onto the climb (letting the guy know that I was a relay runner so as not to panic him) and hit the first big climb which is initially on single track tarmac before leading onto a rough track. I passed a handful on this first climb and was moving well and relaxed. We were well up the field so runners to catch were few and far between but I was making steady progress through whilst consciously holding back. The biggest climb comes after about 6 miles and is a monster up a sheep track cutting up the mountainside. By this point I had just passed a couple of the leading triathletes (or relay teams, I wasn't sure) and was keen not to lose the advantage. There is a point near the top of this climb where there are big rocks forming steps in the path and usually everyone has to walk from that point and most from considerably before that point. I was determined to keep running to the rocks this year and managed to do so, power walking the final few hundred metres from the rocks to the summit. Comparing Garmin data to last year (after the race), I was surprised and pleased to see that I was on identical pace to the top of the first climb and was actually 1 minute faster to the top of the second, biggest climb. So much for not being as fit this year! 

However, the descent from the run revealed the extent of the damage caused by the winter rain and floods and the usually treacherous sheep track descent was badly washed away and overgrown with bracken making it very difficult to see where your feet were going. I sort of minced my way down this long, dangerous slope injury free with only a few slips and only gradually catching another runner in front who was taking more risks. I lost the minute I had made up on the ascent but was still on identical pace to last year overall. At the bottom of the descent there is about 100m on the flat before being directed diagonally up another steep hillside by a marshall. I had still not quite caught the runner in front on this diagonal climb, at the top of which there is a drystane dyke, and a clump of nettles into which the path disappears. A marshall was sitting on a chair here and shouted a series of instructions involving going through the nettles, through a hole in the wall and then turning on to a path. Too much to take in when you are 8 or 9 miles into a hard race and chasing someone down. There should have been (usually are) two marshalls at this point. I just had my eyes locked on the runner in front and followed him through the hole in the wall and onto the rough path. I caught him as we reached a beautiful church and a tarmac road and I knew immediately we had taken the wrong path as there should not be any tarmac up here. There was no route arrow on the road, confirming we were wrong and I told the guy who I had just passed who was less than pleased! We had also lost some height and I knew we had to be higher up so we turned right and climbed up the tarmac road past the church. A group of walkers confirmed that some runners had gone this way so I knew we were not the only ones off course. From previous years, I had a rough idea where we should be so turned right around the church and up onto a small hill top for a better view. There were another group of walkers picnicking up here and they confirmed the route we needed to take to get back onto the path which I could now see stretching down the valley below. Both me and the triathlete guy had more or less given up at this point as we had seemingly wasted a lot of time, so we ran together until we were back on the route proper and then I took off again. A few minutes later we were at the water station for a second time and had "only" the undulating 5km route along the lakeside tarmac road to the finish. However, no sooner had I hit the road and started to wind up the pace, I turned a corner to be faced with the road completely blocked by a car and a minibus trying to squeeze past each other on a very narrow corner. I had to stop and the triathlete caught me up and stopped too. We agreed that this run was just not meant to be and waited for 30 seconds or so until the traffic sorted itself out. Then I just piled it on for the final 5k with only one final incident when a spectator on a bike behind me caused an approaching car to swerve into the side of the single track road, causing me to run sideways through the remaining gap between car and hedge. Just as well I am slim. I caught one more runner in the final 500m and ran steadily to the line. I was surprised to hear Martin say that we were first or second team as I was sure that I had not passed at least one of the relay runners who had set off before us and was very brightly dressed. However, it seems that my course knowledge had saved the day and I had not gone as far off course as the leading pack in front of me. My time was 1:41:46. Later comparison to last year showed that I lost around 4 minutes in the off course excursion and would otherwise have been slightly faster than last year. Even so, I still ran the fastest relay team run leg by around 90 seconds. The winning relay team was about 14 minutes in front, so we were never going to catch them despite taking 90 seconds out of them on the run. As Martin later said, this was perhaps justice for our disqualification last year in dubious circumstances. 

A huge well done to the team for attacking the event with such enthusiasm. Although we got through it in mostly warm and sunny conditions, within about a half hour of us finishing, the heavens opened and it would certainly not be pleasant for those still up on the hill side (especially as the the race director had announced that due to good weather forecast, the usually compulsory bum bag with full body cover was optional on the run!). A big thanks to Mandy for her ever present enthusiasm and support. We will be back!

Alan