Tour de Helvellyn
After months of training and reconnoitres the day of the Tour de Helvellyn was upon me. A 38 mile winter ultra on one of the shortest days of the year. Adam Wallwork was up at Askham to see me off bright and early.
The idea was to go out hard, but was immediately stopped in my tracks by the 40 mph headwind whilst climbing out of Askham. Initial progress was slow. There wasn’t much point wasting energy trying to run through this. I was with about 20 other runners at this point, but I didn’t plan on hanging about so parted company as I dropped down the long track to Howtown. The rain drove into me hard all the way.
Howtown came and went as I reached the first checkpoint and another pack of about 20 runners which again I left behind as I made my way along the flat approach to the first major climb up to Boredale Hause. The weather wasn’t relenting, persistent driving rain and gale force winds, but I just kept my focus, still overtaking runners. I was going pretty hard but felt pretty good. I didn’t mess about on this initial climb which turned into a waterfall as I reached the summit.
Up and over the hause and it was time to find out that my Salomons were useless on water-logged grass as I skated and went down on numerous occasions, sliding for uncomfortable distances in my full waterproofs. Stick to the tracks…which I did and descended very well to the second checkpoint, 10 miles in, Side farm. I didn’t hang around, a quick shoe alteration and off again, still feeling good. Adam was in Patterdale to support and had probably driven 30 miles to get there. I gave him a progress report as he ran with me through the village.
Leaving Adam, the plan from here was to refuel on the climb up to Sticks Pass so as I was eventually forced into a fast walk, I had a bag of peanuts. I have no idea why I chose peanuts, other than I like peanuts, but had not tried eating them on a long run before. They didn’t agree with me and I felt quite queasy. Note to self to not experiment during a race, stick to what you know!
I climbed into the clag, visibility not great here. I didn’t know how far to climb, it seemed to go on forever. Those who know the route will know that as soon as you reach the pass, you are soon descending again (I really hadn’t fuelled well going up there). I was soon dropping out of the clag at a fair pace and remembering how inept my footwear was on this sodden grass - I wish I could have changed into Mudclaws - I stuck to the faint path or dying heather for traction. As with the climb, the descent seemed to go on forever, runners were falling all over the place, I managed to stay on my feet this time. My quads were seriously smashed as I reached the finger post dibber at the bottom. I took a breath and climbed out of the dip and onto the track leading to the forest. This poor excuse for a public footpath was strewn with boulders, it was really rough, I couldn’t pick up any pace at all, I had to concentrate on every footfall.
I reached checkpoint four which was also a food station. Tiring, I took a minute and ate as much cheese as I could and grabbed another handful to take with me. I was now left on a forest track without company and no one to chase. My quads ached from that last descent and the cheese hadn’t kicked in yet. With no company, no motivation and no energy I wasn’t in a good place. All I could do was dig in, head down and get through the forest to the next checkpoint. It wasn’t easy.
You can imagine what I was thinking when I was informed at the next checkpoint that the footbridge at Raise Gill had been taken out and that it was in spate! The marshal suggested ‘buddying up’ to get across as it was that bad. So off I went finding a suitable place to cross, waist deep in surging water, grabbing boulders, I made a right meal of it, glad no one was watching. I was across nevertheless. Head down again. The climb was up Raise Gill to Grisedale tarn. I concentrated and climbed strong, the cheese had done the business and I topped it up with an energy gel. I took a couple of runners on the way up, always good for motivation. I was back on it.
During my run so far, I had wished for the wind to be behind me, in fact I was owed this, to push me along. Be careful what you wish for! It was behind me, but wow, it was far too strong, meaning that whilst descending, you really had to hold back or on to something, or someone. There could have been a right disaster. I noticed a few runners take off from the path and drop down open fell to the right. I’ll have some of that, and followed, descending though long grass and dying heather, long confident strides. I did feel good now, catching another couple of runners, briefly commenting on how easy the open fell is compared to the wet rock of the track. I picked up the trail once more which lead down into Patterdale, I was working hard again.
On my way in to Patterdale, I was having issues with my insole of my Salomon, due to the descent. It had moved forward and creased under my toes. Very painfully I hobbled into the checkpoint of Side Farm again and immediately ripped the thing out. I told myself to take a minute here, made my last two gels accessible, grabbed another handful of cheese and left the farm. Big climb time again. Back up to Boredale Hause, but I didn’t care, I could see runners in front of me, and I was into the last 10 miles, countdown time. Don’t get me wrong, I was aching all over, my back, quads and hams so tired. The continuous running through mud and then standing water washed any debris into my shoes. I reached the top of the climb and concentrated on the initial part of the descent, it was still a waterfall. As the descent mellowed it became very runnable, so I just thought, ‘use this, get as much as you can out of this easy running’. The rain came again. And the wind battered me constantly. Onwards towards Martindale church and the last checkpoint before home. As I left I punched the air knowing that I had just over five miles to go. I dropped into Howtown and used up my last energy gel.
Well, I say its only five miles, but three of those are a gradual uphill pull. I knew that if I was to get back before dark I could not hang about. This was tough, but I did run most of those three miles uphill. It levelled out with two miles to go and as I checked my watch, I rewarded myself with a short walk to catch my breath. The weather knew I only had two miles to go, so made those miles as tough as possible. Head down, into the rain, aiming for the woods in the distance. I used this as a marker for safety, as I knew I had to turn right at the wood corner for the descent into the village. I reached my point and as I dropped I could see the lights of the village in the distance. My quads screamed with every step. As I approached I felt quite emotional that my adventure was about to end. I was soaked, wind battered and physically and mentally exhausted. I entered the village hall, dibbed and it was over.
An absolutely amazing day but in horrendous conditions, a real test of my endurance. Thanks to all at Team TAC for support on long training runs, recces, advise and loan of gear. I slept most of Sunday.
