Old County Tops - 2026

 

I think this is my 9th. Might have been Chris's 11th or 12th trip around the Lakes on this 

somewhat excellent and epic race. It shouldnt really need any introduction, but for the 

last few years it has been getting harder and harder to be in shape for the race. I get to 

about April with a healthy amount of fear and no-where enough mileage in my legs. 

I was determined to be a bit more structured in my approach this time. 

Realising that doing the same thing over and over and getting the same result hasnt 

really been working (I realised that for a number of years I was pretty much just 

coasting on historic fitness). 

This year, for 6 months I employed a coach to keep me somewhat more on track,

 and enable me to get some residue of actual hill fitness back. 

 

It worked insofar as I have been running a LOT more, and in hindsight, had I not been 

doing this training, I can't even imagine how bad it would have been. 

Chris, as ever, was on form. We had an initial agreement that it would be a good idea 

to keep the pace relatively sedate to begin with. His sedate and my sedate are very 

different paces. My Heartrate was defintely a bit high on the climb up and over 

Silver Howe, and the pace was not crazy as we came through Grasmere, but it 

was a little uncomfortable where I was hoping it might be a bit easier. The climb 

up towards Grisedale tarn was good as we let the fast guys go ahead. Dollywagon Pike- 

steep as ever... a long long grind to the top- there are some parts of this race that 

never get any easier. I was wondering if I've ever felt good on that climb- and also

realised that the calibre of athlete doing the OCT has definitely risen in the past few years. 

The guys up ahead of us were rocketing ahead, and showing every intention of 

nailing it the whole way round. 

The top of Helvellyn appeared 1:45 or so in, which, if you're keeping up with your 

race nutrition, is still a fair few grams of carbs in by this point. A sedate run down 

into the crazy angled clough, where there is now a trod- (never used to be one back in the day!), 

and the steep grassy section down to the food point before Thirlmere. 

I can't say I was entirely comfortable with the pace, but any slower and it 

would have been silly. My main aim was to be able to actually run some of the section

 up from Esk Hause, and that means keeping some powder dry up to Angle tarn. 

The climb up Wytheburn is long and boggy. It really isn't too bad in and of itself, 

and there appears to be work on quite a big new path down at the bottom, which will 

certainly speed things up once it is fully built. Up over the top and a contour (again, 

on a trod that didnt used to be there) across and over to Sticks path, across that 

and up toward Angle tarn. 

I was beginning to make small mistakes with footing, but nothing crazy. 

Certainly wasn't feeling fresh- but equally, not desperately tired. 

We cruised through Angle tarn checkpoint, first full refil of the water bottle, 

and then on up to Esk hause- where I was actually able to put in a bit of a shuffle 

up the hill. Astonishing. Had I gone too conservatively on the first section, in 

order to get some irrelevent speed at this point? Who knows. The ascent to Scafell Pike

 is rocky and not really running territory on tired legs. There is far too much opportunity 

to mess your race up with a silly injury. We made haste to the top, and then took the 

direct line off the Pike. Always a bit of fun. We didn't totally nail it, but then, we didn't 

mess it up and were off the steep stuff in short order before making our way down the 

grassy sides of the hill. Second full refil of the bottle, and then the run down Mosedale. 

At this point I was feeling it and was entering full ultra-shuffle mode. 5 hours and 2000m 

of ascent in and my legs didn't really want to play. I know Chris is strong at about this point 

and he was very cool about just running at my pace, despite every fibre of his being 

wanting to absolutely smash it down through this boggy section. 

Getting food in was pretty hard by now, and I must have been losing concentration 

as we got towards Cockley  beck, going over on my right ankle hard- and subsequently 

cramping in my adductor and calf at the same time. Had to take a couple of moments 

before I could get going again, and from there it was a bit of a battle to just keep going 

rather than drop out anywhere- especially at the impeding road crossing at Cockley beck. 

Half a sandwich and another refil of water, and off we went up Grey Friars. 

Everyone knows Grey Friars- my main aim was to not stop at any point, and just keep on 

walking all the way up. Not something I've really had an issue with before, but definitely

on my mind this time. It took an age before we got to the top, it was almost like an infinite hill. 

Then to the out and back to the Old Man of Coniston. The clag was coming in from 

the West, and the promised rain was looking somewhat promising. We ran as much of 

this section as my legs and lungs would allow, taking a somewhat lower line on the way back. 

I also took a spectacular fall as I put my foot on a rock and my inov8s basically didnt grip 

in any way shape or form. Pretty annoyed about that. 

As we came to the route off the hill and towards 3 shire stone the clag was very much 

coming down and we had a moment of doubt about the route. Only a moment, and we 

continued on the right line, dropping down fast. Looking at the watch, it was clear that 

any hopes of a sub 7:30 were long long gone, and a sub8 was likely, but not totally guaranteed. 

Around Blea tarn, and then down and across the fields, time for one last stub of the toe 

and very nearly headbutting a gate, followed fairly swiftly by spraining my right ankle 

*again* before the final 100m of road to the end. 

7:55. A hard day out. 13th overall- and 2nd V90. 

Maybe Im about 12 months off some decent fitness. Just need to keep at the training now.

Teenager with Altitude 2026

 It's been a while since I entered this monster of a race. Innocuous sounding title, but at 25k and 2500m or so of ascent over not-insignificant Lakeland fells, it really isn't a race to be sniffed at. Previously, well... a decade ago, I got around in 3:14 or so, that was the year I'd done the Spine, had lots and lots of running in the recent past, and was stomping around in full pomp. This year is slightly different. My long term, long distance training has really been down, and the experiment with a coach since last November is only really coming into it's own. I'm about 2 years off full, long distance fitness, in all honesty, but needed to do a race of this depth and length as a bit of a trainer for the OCT next month. 

The main point about today was to get out, practice with eating at race pace, kilometres and metres in the legs and general fellracing experience. 

This weekend is generally a decent one for weather, but there was a fair bit of precipitation around at the beginning of the day. "Showers and some sunshine", I suppose you could call it. Not warm, windy from the West on tops, with a decent bit of clag that would send some people off course. It felt like I was very loaded down with food, for a race of this length, but that's what the instructions were, so it was best just to go with it, really. Chris was there, fresh from (apparently) being a bit ill and not having a great few weeks training. He was fully expecting to grovel his way around. I was fully expecting him to be at about my pace until 2 hours in and then gaily skip off into the distance as my legs fade. 

Teenager starts as you would expect any fell race worth it's salt to do. Straight up a hill. Causey Pike, to be exact. The first 1.7km is all uphill- combination of running and walking and scrambling, up into the mists. True to form, Chris is right on my tail. Rhys F-R is up ahead, chatting away to someone else, totally in zone 1 as the rest of the field behind are gasping in zone 4-5, and the guys at the Front are pretty much off the charts. 

Over Causey Pike in the cloud, down the increasingly slippy path and across to Outer-side. I'm sure that this trod didn't used to be this used- more races and more people definitely show up on the fells as increased erosion. I'm already eating at this stage, and having to slow down in order to do so. Choking on the stuff that is meant to be sustaining you through the race isn't a good look. 

Top of Outerside- and another checkpoint, down and across the boggy and interesting part of the race over to Coledale Hause and the long trudge up the (what seems like) hard standing all the way up. Chris and I are pretty much travelling together, having a chat, though it seems like I'm working a bit harder than him. He has the ability to suffer a lot more, and still be utterly unfazed by it. (or maybe he doesn't *really* know what suffering is, and he just bimbles along *thinking* he's having a hard day of it, and not really knowing how much worse it is for other people around him!). 

From Coledale Hause up to Grasmoor was pretty much clagged out. Viz of about 10-15 metres, occasionally more, normally less. A couple of runners certainly took some sub-optimal lines here, but Chris and I battled through the mist and, well, lets call it "heavy mist" to get to the checkpoint, and then off again with minimal amounts of navigational error. The journey down and off that bit of hill and across to Whiteless Pike was fairly unproblematic, though the normally spectaclar views from the Pike were unfortunately not available due to atmospheric conditions. (the checkpoint, though had a superb array of food for the discerning fellrunner). 

Then my favourite part of this, perhaps indeed, any fellrace, dropping straight off the side of the Pike and down into Bleak Rigg. The actual run down the hill totally canes your legs, but that bit at the top where you go... down *where*?! is hard to top. 

A slow descent all the way to the bottom, while looking up a High Snockrigg is enough to make you blanche, and your legs feel wobbly before even doing any climbing, but that is what must be done. More food, and a bit more slowing down, the checkpoint on the road at Newlands Hause, and then the sharp climb. True to form, at 2000m of ascent, and about 2 hours in, Chris pulled away from me jabbering on about how he wasn't really feeling it and over the next 10 mins he disappeared  across Buttermere moss and up onto Robinson, not to be seen again until the end. Standard. 

The run across the moss was quite enjoyable, underfoot was much like Bleaklow, the climb to Robinson was a little tricky as the CP was at the top of the southern flank of the hill, rather than the peak. Not knowing the area hugely well, I aimed off a little high by about 30m so lost a little time there. At this stage, the race joins the same route as the Newland Memorial race- which started an hour later, but hasnt had quite as many hills to run up, so you get a mix of runners over the final few hills. 

The walking ascent to Hindscarth, the attempt to run all the way up to Dale head (again with one of the finest views of the Lake district... just not today), the drop to the pond, passing others saying "Im pretty sure this isnt the right way".... great- just jump down the next section of rocky crag and carry on... and then onto the final "straight". 

Well. Northerly bit, about 4-5km or so... and certainly not flat. And certainly not without its foibles. High Spy isn't all that far away, but then the route from there to Catbells seems to take forever. There are a number of trods, most of which I might have managed to find, but there are definitely better ways. I came over a ridge at about 3 hours and 12 mins and saw Catbells still a decent distance away and thought... yep. I must have been going REALLY well the year I did this in 3:14! 

I ran with and then overtook a bunch of people doing the Newlands Memorial, and managed to keep some speed up off Catbells, only really losing my footing once or twice, and then cruised into the finish, aware of very achy legs and a considerable amount of fatigue. 

Dibbed in at just over 3:30 in 20th place, (of 105), so a fairly decent outing. Chris was about 10 mins ahead of me, and it was gratifying to know that other runners whom I hold in high regard were also slower that I managed 10 years ago as well... 

A delightful day out, but crikey. I'm tired after that.... 

Ras y Aran- 2026

 It's been a while since I raced. Indeed, a while since I blogged about racing. Last year I did in fact do Cracken Edge and the Fell relays, but never got around to writing about them. 

Ras y Aran- an out and back race- although it starts at 1pm we got up super early as I was dropping Lynne off somewhere in Wales for her to ride home, and earlier was better for her. 

Lynne about to set off for home. Chilly, but sunny. 

 

No problem, and at 7:43 we parted ways and I carried on down towards Bala. Made a coffee and went for a wander at Llyn Tegid lake, and then onward to Llanuwchylln, the village where the race starts. I was indeed there ridiculously early, so took the opportunity to have a wander in the glorious sun, checking out the start and end of the route- even though its an out and back, they differ slightly. 

Acquainting myself with the locals

I was still far too early for race registration, so went and had a lie down in the van until about 1100, and then went to register. All good, I was number 5, and as I walked outside with plans for the next few hours to do not a lot, FOOM. I noticed I couldn't see anything apart from peripheral vision- migraine. Shit. 

Thankfully the van was a short walk away, where I necked a couple of asprin (theyre the only thing that seem to help), closed my eyes, set an alarm for 12:30 and resolved not to open my eyes until then and see what happenned. 

Not a lot to say about the next hour an a half, but when I got up and got changed, there were no visual disturbances, and the headache hadn't kicked in. Number pinned on, I gingerly ran up and down the road getting in a bit of a warm up. The sun was out, it was hot and I was kind of glad to have a t-shirt on rather than a vest, or I'd certainly have ended up very burnt. 

We set off at 1 on the dot, and as normal, I was looking around at all these people who looked very fit and wondered how I'd stack up. Top 20 or so? 65 runners, I think- maybe top 15? As we took the turn up the road that turned to a path, there were 5 runners ahead of me, and I was making good progress. You could see the hill above us, but from experience, I knew that the top was very much out of sight. 

See that lump in the background. That's halfway to halfway. 

As we made our way up past Garth Uchaf, the turn around for the junior race, I lost touch with Jez Brown from Buckley- still going very well indeed - and I ran for a while with one of the local guys from Merionydd. A fair amount of the route was kind of path-like, but with sections of bog, which was amusing to negotiate on the way up. It was a constant battle of "is this gradient slack enough to run? Is my heart rate going too high? why do I feel so awful?"

The migraine was not making any kind of come back, it was just that I was probably going at a faster pace for a more prolonged time that I have done for quite a while. 

At some point, the merionydd guy and I caught up with another Merionydd runner- the one I was running with took off like a rocket, and I ended up looking at the same vest, just a different runner. We went through the checkpoint at Moel Ffenigil, about the halfway point and continued up to the visible high point of Aran Benllyn. He was most definitely leading me at that point, but as we crested the rise and saw the top of Aran Fawddwy- the turning point, somewhat in the distance, I commented something along the lines of "thats a long freaking way away, isnt it?!" and continued running.. he somewhat dropped back, which was very surprising as he seemed so strong. 

Sometime prior to here I'd had a gel, which wasn't sitting well in my stomach, which was a bit of a concern as the only other "food" I had was another gel. The plan was to have it at some point on the summit cone so that I had some kind of energy for the way home. It felt like I was getting slower and slower as I approached the final climb- a bit of a scramble, and I only counted 3 people coming back from it in front of me. Or was it 4? I have no idea. 

Climbing the scramble, it was still astonishing that no-one had gone past me yet considering the snails pace I felt like I was going at. Necked a gel, got to the top where I told the marshal he was a liar for suggesting that its "all downhill from here". It really isn't, and turned back down. Right behind me was a Mercia guy, and behind him was the Merionydd runner. Feeling like I had nothing really left to give, despite being only halfway through the race, it seemed inevitable that at least 2 people would come past on the way home, maybe more. 

The slog back to Aran Benllyn was characterised by feeling worse, and following a Mercia top along the way, saying hi to all the people that were still on the way up. (saying hi = grunting in a pained way to impart that yes, Im acknowledging you, but really, I havent got the energy to do anything else). At some point, the Mercia guy continued up a line which followed a trod and the fenceline which made no sense, so I took the less obvious trod, and cut off a swathe of route, overtaking him without accelerating at all. Last time I did this race I must have been following someone else on the way down, or I had more wits about me as there were a number of slightly different lines taken on the way down than the way up... this time, it was almost all exactly the same route. 

The Mercia guy came back past, and I continued to feel awful. Trying not to overstride and end up with a stitch, taking it almost easy on the way down, it definitely felt like I was not descending to the level at which I used to. Age and reduced strength gets you in the end. 

That being said, he wasn't getting further away, and from what I could tell, no-one was really gaining on us (never look back!). We passed the checkpoint at Moel Ffenigl again and on the way down to Moel Ddu the Mercia guy pulled up short- Checking he was ok- a twisted ankle up here is going to mean a LONG walk off- he just said "cramp"- fine... I'll keep on going then. 

Down and down, and then he caught up with me again. Can't have been that bad then, but considering that I hadn't really slowed down from my already pretty slow pace, he must have put on quite a spurt of speed to catch up, which might mean that he would end up cramping again. He led me through the gate before Garth-Uchaf, we crossed the bogs and then I was surprised as I led the way up the hill and through the next gate... now we were on the ground I had recced this morning. 

I *know* this bit!

Still feeling like I wanted to thrown up (much like the previous 45 mins) I led the way down the hill, through the next gate and then left around the finish "diversion"... ie. the bit that we hadn't started out on. No idea how close he was behind me, sometimes it sounded like he was just there, and sometimes not. Through 2 more gates, around a sharp bend and then road. The sharp bend enabled me to see that he was a good 10m back, and although that should have been a comfortable margin, I still gave it some welly down the final 2-300m to the end. 1:51 and change- and I think- 4th. 

It was hot, I was feeling pretty ill, so had some water, went for a cool down "jog" that was more of a stumble and a walk. Luckily there were showers, so I was able to clean down- and then couldn't work out if I was hungry or if I still wanted to throw up. Grabbed some water for my bottle and then went and crashed out in the back of the van feeling absolutely terrible. 

Woke up on a number of occasions and didn't feel well enough to sit up, let alone move, so drank more water and lay there feeling pretty miserable. Missed prize giving, continued to feel awful and continued to drink and sleep. Eventually felt well enough to move at about 1700. I was meant to be going to a Mountain Rescue Exercise starting at 1800 on Bleaklow... well, I was goinig to be late. 

Started driving, stopped for some food (I was feeling OK to drive at this point)- got home at just before 2000 and basically just crashed into bed. 

Quite a day.