I'm a Paddy girl at heart, however, I adore supporting any of the 'three rounds' and have been lucky enough to have experienced all of them at some point. I'm likely to trot around a Paddy soon enough and I'm rather enjoying the Bob's at the moment too. So, if you have no idea what the hell i'm talking about have a look at this taa daa and i'll move on.
So at the weekend a good friend and awesome fell runner Dale Colclough asked me to join in Marc Ryder's attempt on Saturday, the words were barely out of his mouth before my fell shoes were on.
Dale and his partner Den invited me over to the lakes on Friday evening to stay in their 'little holiday pad'. A static caravan near Penrith. 'Bring your sleeping bag as it gets cold though' were the word from the host. Firstly.. there was nothing 'little' about it and secondly, 'cold' I was hotter than a potato on a bonfire. It was lovely, spacious, cosy and I got fed :). After looking through Den's memorabilia of her successful BGR attempt a few years ago we had a couple of hours sleep before we were up out.
Dale knows the round well, he has solid navigational experience on the various legs of the round and has been a successful completer himself. He was navigating Leg Three and we were raring to go. We met Marc's crew at the road crossing of Dumail Raise and enjoyed watching him pick his way down Seat Sandle. We introduced ourselves, and after 11 mins we were off!
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| Marc Lymer in blue Dale in red cap at Dunmail Raise |
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| Boggy and wet |
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| Marc and his wife Cheryl |
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| Marc and some little people (his daughters). What an awesome Pa they have |
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| Off he goes to leg four's first climb Yewbarrow |
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| Fairy, Marc and Dale |
Marc proved himself to be an incredibly strong and consistent runner. His integrity was inspirational, and whilst he was clearly tired and probably experiencing all kinds personal trauma's and battles at times, he just kept going and pushing through. Whilst he made good time on leg 3, (he was running a 23hr 30 schedule) he'd lost a lot of time early on and he was pushing it to the wire to complete in under 24hrs. When we left him at Wasdale he was in with a chance however couldn't afford to drop his pace over the last two legs. Unfortunately, he was down on pacers as he'd run them ragged during the first two legs. With hindsight Dale and I wish we'd have carried on with him at least for his fourth leg. Anyhow, we had message later that he lost too much time on leg 4 and decided to call it a day at Honister. The amazing thing with Marc, when in conversation with him a couple of days later, he is already planning his training for his next attempt. He has learnt a lot from his efforts this time.
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| Den and Dale |
Dale and I decided to carry on with a bit more running so we tagged a two hour trot from Wasdale to Honister using the Monks path. Den had joined us and had brought her poles along, as I can't bare to be in the same room as poles, let along run behind them, I left those two to it and put an effort in to Honister. I sat dripping and smelling in the cafe, drank coffee and managed to convince myself and everyone else in the place that i'd actually ran to the wrong meeting point and between us all ramblers and dogs we managed to get me a lift to Seathwaite! But it wasn't necessary because Dale and Den walked through the door ... I worry about me!
Thanks Dale and Den for an amazing time and for being wonderful hosts.
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| the pad... where Den is obssessed with her squirrals |
Saturday night..... PARTY.... so made my way to Gaynor's place in Keld and had a great evening... 'from what i remember'!
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| What the.....I'm stood still! |
Sunday Gaynor dragged a couple of us on a 10 mile trail/road run to Mardale Head, it was cold and raining (the rain was coming in sideways), it was awesome. In spite of tiredness in the legs from Saturday, it was great to put an effort in for the last couple of miles and blasted it out.......... Whooop ;)
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