The Great Lakeland 3Day is an Ourea Events run, an annual early May Bank Holiday event taking place in a different location each year. Runners have their overnight kit transported each day to the next campsite where an event village with food vendors awaits. They must carry enough food with them for each of the three days though and be self-sufficient while on the hill. The choice of routes is varied too with a shorter Café course all the way up the Extreme, with the added flexibility of choosing your course each day. We chose the Fellrunner course each day, knowing that the extreme had been too much for us in the past. We were given the map on friday evening which is marked with checkpoints, instructions then tell you which checkpoints and the order that you need to reach them for each day. The route between them is yours to choose. If you’re a regular Lake District runner you may know better routes than others. We studied the routes and made rough plans for each day, these often changed when we spotted other routes on the day or from chatting to friends in the camps who helped advise us.
The weather was mixed with Saturday being misty on the tops including Scar Fell, Sunday we were in waterproofs all day and rarely saw anything because of the cloud cover but Monday was lovely with great views across the Lake District. We were both delighted at how strong we felt throughout despite sleeping in a noisy campsite and being a little less well rested.
Day 1. 20.98 miles, 2715m of ascent in 9:12:58. 48th of 106. 11th lady. Start Coniston, over Old Man of Coniston, Hard Knott, Scafell and Bowfell, camp at Langdale.
Day 2. 21.69 miles, 2385m of ascent in 9:19:27. 28th of 58. 8th lady. Langdale to Pike of Blisco, Cold Pike, Crinkle Crags, Rossetti Pike, Loft Crag, Harrison Stickle, High Raise, Easdale New Bridge, Silver How back to Langdale
Day 3. 19.96 miles, 1917m of ascent, 7:00:46. 26th of 35. 6th lady Longmont Fell, Loughrigg Fell, Skelwith Bridge, Tilberthwaite Gill Bridge, Wetherlam, Brim Fell, Miners Bridge back to Coniston camp.
Overall position joint 22nd of 26 who did the fellrunner route on each of the 3 days.
DAY 1. Fellrunner route. 9:12:58, 20.98 miles, 2715m of ascent. 48th of 106. 11th lady. Start Coniston, over Old Man of Coniston, Hard Knott, Scafell and Bowfell, camp at Langdale.
7am start cool and a light rain so on went the waterproofs. Bags weighed 11.7 and 12kg so nicely under the 13kg limit. We realised our chosen route would have taken us through the purple prohibited area after we climbed up too far following others. We tended to go with our route but see what others were doing. A lot of the day was on broken down sharp bracken or over slate. There wasn’t always a path to follow so we pushed up steep slopes at times. Sadly we didn’t get many views as there were low clouds but coming off the Old Man of Coniston the clouds were below us do we had good views across the peaks.
Coming down was tough as the most obvious route would have taken us through a purple zone. Instead we dropped down to a farm, the farmer wasn’t happy!
On and up Hard Knott which had no path really, unless we’d gone up the zigzags or a path parallel to it then cut up to the top. . We then ran along the top awhile before dropping down steeply to the bridge. Others had come down from the summit a lot sooner but I’d been anxious about the crash being to tricky to climb down.
At the bridge a guy advised us to cross the steam and flow that path which was good going.
Coming up to Scarfell we decided to take a more direct route which was perfect especially when we saw the route down a narrow gully which we would have had to climb on the main route. Instead we had quite a steep climb but it was good under foot so we could keep moving.
Before we got to Scafell Pile we met Andy and Petra Chapman Gibbs out doing Wainrights.
Loads of people were on Scafell Pike making it hard on the narrow paths to get down. Our route undulated over the tops to Bowfell and then the steep tricky descent to camp.
Great to set the tent up in the dry and get washed and changed inside. We were given cake and beer token so headed over for scones, jam and clotted cream! Amazing. We sat outside and chatted with others and had Pizza for tea.
We went into the hub to listen to a Q&A about Howard who did the Cape Wrath Ultra last year then the meds Nat and Nikki discussed footcare. We do it well but have more advice. Off to bed just after 8. Tired.
DAY 2. Sunday 30th Fellrunner route 9.19.27, 21.69 miles, 2385m of ascent. 28th of 58. 8th lady. Langdale to Pike of Blisco, Cold Pike, Crinkle Crags, Rossetti Pike, Loft Crag, Harrison Stickle, High Raise, Easdale New Bridge, Silver How, crossing point up high behind Old Dungeon Gyhll and back to Langdale Camp.
It was raining when we woke up. We put full waterproofs on and headed for breakfast ready to go. Sausage and egg sandwiches.
We left just after 7 shoring we had bivvy bag and head torch. First test of the day was finding the way to the start we turned left out of the start area instead of right. I realised straight away luckily!
We caught Jan on the old road and headed up to the turn of for Pikr of B. We removed our waterproof as here as we were warming up but soon had to put the tops back on and they stayed on for the rest of the day.
Up to the top then out to … before heading to Crinkle Crags. It was tough finding a way off but we were soon joined by others who gave us confidence in our route choice. There was little visibly have any sense of where we were. Jan caught us here have gone over the tops and we chatted to Mark who was an orienteer. We stayed together for quite awhile as we looked for the Bob Graham path down and decided heading up that route would be easier, we avoided it and stuck to our planned route round to a long drag up Loft Crag. . It was wonderful to have a moment of seeing people heading off path up the route we wanted but they soon disappeared as did Mark once we reached the top. Jan stayed with us to the end but was part of the decision making rather than following out route blindly. Then the sharp down to … from here our last big climb up to High Raise. I was finally feeling cold so stopped to put my waterproof trousers on, backwards! The descent was steep and we ran little of it but we found it tricky. It was wonderful to see the clouds lifting and views around.
One last climb to Silver How along with at least one other route do it was lovely meeting others. We were heading down to Langdale but had an out and back to a bridge then a tricky steep climb up behind the Old Dungeon Ghyll pub. The path from there was bumpy and we could see others on the flat path below. Into camp in a similar time to yesterday. Really pleased especially as the rain had finally stopped. Pete was at the finish and we dipped our timers. 19th finishers today but later that was at least 28 out of 56. First FV50 but Jan was seconds behind and she was a stronger runner. We had encouraged her to go on ahead earlier but she stayed with us.
Changed into dry clothes then over for cake a choice of treats with Fiona serving. Tiffin with clotted cream for Andy and salted caramel brownie for me. We found seats in the main tent and Andy got hot food. Then we listened to Shane interviewing Lisa Watson who’s won the Dragons Back twice and then interviewed Tom Hollins as a Scarpa sponsored athlete. We know him for winning The Spine. Pete joined us with cake to share but had to get back to work. Lovely seeing a lot of the crew that we know.
Back to the tent for 8 to get ready plus an early night.
DAY 3. Monday 1st. Fellrunner route. 7:00:46, 19.96 miles, 1917m of ascent. 26th of 35. 6th lady. Longmont Fell, Loughrigg Fell, Skelwith Bridge, Tilberthwaite Gill Bridge, Wetherlam, Brim Fell, Miners Bridge back to Coniston camp.
A dry morning, we had to pack up the tent and hand in our drop bags. There were queue for breakfast and drinks but we were off just after 7 with a steady stream of runners. Straight up a hill then over the tops towards Grasmere. Great to have views.
Down to the edge of town then up Loughrigg. We’d run alongside a guy in red shorts, and took his route off road instead of going on road through town. He was quicker than us on the downs and flats but we overtook him on the climbs. We used him as a guide as to whether our route was a good one or not. It was interesting to see him behind us as we went up Wetherlam much later. Everyone seemed to be coming back the route we climbed Loughrigg which surprised us as we thought we’d be going off to the side. We took a different route round the tarn to the others around us which was lovely and took us down to the Lakeland 100 route. We met a lot of other runners after Skelwith Bridge including one guy running back as he had missed the checkpoint on the bridge. The others were coming towards us as we headed towards Tilberthwaite. We took a different route to get down to Tilberthwaite as there seemed a lot of road but sections we weren’t allowed on with the parrlel path, then we were excited at seeing the Lakeland 100 steps that we ended up going up them and were on the opposite side of the Gill to most people but we still got to the checkpoint bridge. We decided against going up the side of Wetherlam as it looked so steep so we followed the path and it was still steep at the top. The clouds moved in as we approached the summit and stayed with us as we picked our way across the tops of the final few hills, we came back over the Old Man of Coniston and were amazed at how many people were coming up. The rain stopped and by the time we got back to camp it was really warm, a totally different day.
Pete fed us brownies and we got changed before heading over for post race chilli. Really pleased with the overall event and our racing. We were pleased to be back in time today but it was less hilly and much more runnable. Home for a long hot bath.
Making lifes adventures - Sarah Norman 