The Langdale Horseshoe - Baptism of Fire
On trawling through the list of upcoming races on the Trawden website one stood out above the rest for me: the Langdale Horseshoe. Billed as a real Lakeland classic and with great reviews on various blog and web sites, it didn't take much persuading for me to sign up.
Shortly after 8am on Saturday morning, four bright-eyed and bushy-tailed runners - bushy hair too Peter Stobbs :) - from TAC saddled up and set off for the Lake District, Andy Graham, Kerrie-Anne Bretherton and Peter joining me for this one. A relatively uneventful journey over (other than a Mr Stobbs potty break amongst the shrubs) saw us arrive in good time at the Old Dungeon Ghyll pub ready for registration and kit check.
Race numbers were pinned to the black 'n' white stripes, then a short walk to the start line where almost 500 people were eagerly awaiting the call to go. We were off!
After a slow stop-start opening I finally got in to a nice rhythm tackling the first monster climb up towards Stickle Tarn and then Pavey Ark. This was a real quad-burner and a hands on knees, dig in, rock scrambling job at times to the summit. This passed without incident but from this point on the fun and games began.
A nice runnable section ensued from Pavey Ark to Thunacar Knott, though after recent heavy rainfall it was quite boggy in places and a few fellow runners fell foul of this slipping and sliding in all directions. This filled me with dread as we still had to tackle Martcrag Moor, which is just literally a massive bog and mud bath! True to form, as I opened up my stride along the moor and began to enjoy myself...splosh...in I went. Waist deep. This wasn't part of my plan I thought as I clambered out to dry(ish) land and tried to regain my composure. It didn't take long for me to get over this though - good job I love the mud!
More tough climbing then took us over the top edge of Angle Tarn, and up to the Esk Hause checkpoint. On the way through several people could be seen nursing various injuries from cut legs to rolled ankles, a sign of worse things to come.
About 8 miles in we encountered Bowfell which is one tricky climb over slippy, jagged rocks. At this point the clag was down and, not being the most confident navigator, I decided to start running/climbing alongside another competitor in a bid to try push each other over the summit. The checkpoint at Bowfell was made in good time and I recall looking at my watch thinking I'm actually doing alright here.
From this point we seemed to take a bad line on the descent, edging slightly to the right which took us over some daunting rocks which were treacherous under foot, as we neared the bottom the bloke I had been running with suddenly went airborne, slipping off a rock and landing on his side taking all of his weight on his arm. A loud scream followed which immediately stopped me in my tracks.
"Are you okay mate?" I asked. "It's broken" was the reply. Now, I'm no medical expert, but one glance at the poor fella's right arm and I immediately knew it wasn't clever, with bone almost poking out of the skin and a ghost-white face pretty much confirming my fears. A number of other runners seemed to ignore this and continued on, which was quite disappointing, but thankfully a couple more people stopped with me to assist, and first aid and comfort was provided as best we could.
This guy needed help and had to get off the mountain. Several attempts to raise the alarm with emergency whistle were unsuccessful, so it was another tough, rocky climb back up to Bowfell summit for me to alert the marshals. This hindered my time and position but to be honest I wasn't at all bothered, the guy's welfare was the main concern. After guiding the marshals down, I left the stricken man in their capable hands (he was later airlifted to hospital). I then continued with the last push towards the finish via Crinkle Crags and Pike o' Blisco.
Part of my plan was to avoid "The Bad Step" on Crinkle which is a daunting 12-foot sheer drop. However I was caught out following a line of runners and suddenly I was stood looking straight down from the top of the Bad Step. I didn't have the energy to turn round so I just thought sack it let's have a laugh. Twisting and turning and finally hanging by my hands for several seconds, I dropped and landed. I'd survived! Phew…
After Crinkle Crags the next section was quite enjoyable in the main, as I had the pleasure of the company of Andrew and Kerrie who helped motivate and push me on. On a nice, rare flat section I suddenly lost my footing and turned over on my notoriously weak right ankle..arrgghhh not again! Thanks to some great advice from injury specialist Andy, after a dip in a cold stream I was able to plod onwards.
Just one more climb to tackle now then it was all downhill. Bring on Pike o' Blisco! What a killer this was, a tricky, rocky climb with every single muscle screaming at me all the way to the top. I made it and it felt amazing to be at the last checkpoint. A quick pitstop to remove a handful of stones from my shoe gave me great relief, then began the downhill dash off Blisco back towards the finish at the Old Dungeon Ghyll. I set my sights on a group who were a good 300 metres ahead and began trying to close the gap.
I followed the runners' trod on the descent but this proved quite challenging as the mud and grass had churned up making it very slippy. I demonstrated this point by taking a tumble head first in what can only be described as a Klinsmann-style dive in front of a group of amused hikers who proceeded to applaud me. With a slightly bruised ego I dug in deep, caught the group in front and gave it all to the finish.
A welcome site was Peter Stobbs (who was already home and dry) supporting me towards the finish "WHERE'S THE FINISH PETER?" I shouted and he thankfully pointed 100 yards in front. One last effort and I was home. What an amazing lift, an immediate feeling of accomplishment. Every muscle and bone aching in my body but I didn't care, I'd tackled Langdale and loved every second of it (apart from the Bowfell incident).
Hot on my heels were Andrew and Kerri-Anne who crossed the line together in a show of fantastic team spirit. All back in and dry (although in several pieces) the only thing left to do was to tuck in to a freshly baked pasty and a hot chocolate before the return journey home.
Having only taken up running in April this year and not competed in too many races, Peter's words after the race couldn't have be more appropriate "A real baptism of fire for you that!" It certainly was.
I can't recommend this race enough, it's a cracking adventure with every possible type of terrain and challenge thrown in. Well done to all TAC involved, superb effort. In the words of Mr Schwarzenneger "I'll be back!"
