Lakes Mountain 42 Blog

Lakes Mountain 42 is an event by Nav4 Adventure. An absolute classic!

I did the event back in 2016 when they closed the A591 due to the collapsed road after the devastating floods in the area. Off the top of my head I finished in around 11hours 30mins – and that was with a shortened course due to the collapsed road. We couldn’t go down to Wythburn church so at Grisedale Tarn we went straight up Dollywagon to Helvellyn Trig- shortening the course to be named Lm38. Here’s a pic 📷 John Bamber

BACK TO LM42:

So this was to be my 1st race of the year. Sorry my 2nd race of the year but my 1st race since the challenger . I used it as “B” Race for UTS 50. Testing out different energy systems and basically using it as a personal/general fitness test to see what gains I had made with last years racing and training. I’d decided I wasn’t going to do my usual slow/relaxed start and pick people off and see where I end up…I was going to race hard from the start and wanted to see what happened?!

Initially Id had a good build up. Plenty of mountain weekends & recces along with a good training plan etc . Then slowly but surely as per usual the cracks began to appear (is it just me that gets these in the build up to a race or does everyone get them). But they were all my own fault- just bad planning and prep.

I was working in Darlington. Thursday evening I drove home 2 hours for physio….then drove back up to Darlington to carry on working Friday. Then when I finished work Friday I drove back home 2 hours. I’d agreed to be a guest speaker on 2 evenings at an event my friend had organised to help raise money for mountain rescue.

I’d completely overlooked the fact that the 2nd event was on the Friday night- the evening before the race at 7.30pm in Oldham. So I rushed home packed my race bag and got ready for the evenings event. Winged my way through that and had to apologise that I needed to keep it short and sweet as I had a race in the morning & a hotel up in Askham that night!

I wanted to get bagged, tagged & registered that evening so less faff in the morning before registration shut at 10pm. I made it by the skin of my teeth. I was feeling a bit spent already and I’d not even made it to the start line yet!!

I was in my hotel bed, bag packed and kit ready to go at around 11.30pm . I felt sick setting my alarm for 4.30am!

So I made it to the start line at 5.45 I felt anxious and jumpy. Probably due to the build up and very little sleep. Just to throw me off track abit more an unexpected visitor arrived to surprise me at the start who I wasn’t supposed to be meeting until after the race so by this stage my head had completely fallen off. You know when you just want 5 minutes before the start to sort yourself out…Not speak to anyone and Check you have everything, get clear in your head what you want to achieve and so on, oh & last minute toilet trip ha- well all that went out the window. I was completely thrown!! Off I went to the start, I remember shaking like mad trying to put my gloves on and fasten my race pack.

6am sharp Joe set us off and off I went- like a charging bull! It was a beautiful morning. Clear, crisp, cold & about -2, but sunny. Perfect conditions!

📷Matty Brennan.

It’s a nice steady, runnable climb out of Askham Centre. About a mile of tarmac and farm tracks & then onto the luscious, Cumbrian fells! By now I’d switched off, calmed down a bit and had settled into a nice steady pace, enjoying myself.

📷Matty Brennan

The ground was crisp and hard underfoot, occasionally you’d hit a damp spot and it would wake you up a little. I was at the back of the front pack which was now splitting up into 2 groups as we hit “the cockpit”.

One or 2 carried carried on along the trail, past and through towards Brown Rigg (my intended route) but the majority had taken a more linear route. The devil in me chose to follow the majority. The majority then began splitting up into individuals and groups of 2/3.

I was then left confused as to which route to follow because we wasn’t on a sheep trail anymore it was proper fell with freezing cold ankle deep water, full of “Turks heads”!

I decided to re- group with the runners to my right which seemed to be moving well. I wasn’t enjoying myself now- school boy error “should of stuck to the route you knew” I thought as I was stumbling through the marshes.

I’d caught a few people up again on the way upto load pot hill. I don’t normally speak much in races but I was literally parallel with a guy so I forced out a “lovely morning for it innit” There was abit of small talk. He kept stopping and taking pictures and said “I like to take a couple of pics” -he said it keeps him reined in!

Fair play I thought. We too’d and fro’d for a few miles and I was impressed at his ability to stop and take pics (even going out of his way, well off course at times) and then catching me back up ha! I later found out this man was “Matty Brennan”

Here’s his wicked pics:

As I got to the base of High Street the front runners were on there way back. Blimey I thought as I counted them come past me tallying myself in at 5th and feeling good.

I pootled up and back down high street, making my way towards Angle Tarn and I was gaining on another runner. The clag came down and we was running in the clouds for a minute before I realised my watch was vibrating alerting me I was off track.

I’d totally switched off in the cloud and because I couldn’t see I’d just carried on descending after “the knott”! It’s only when my watch alerted me I realised I’d started dropping towards Hayeswater!

This is where I made another school boy error- instead of going back up the trail I decided to cut across country to get back on track at an angle and a slight incline. Big mistake, it was really marshy and boggy and really taxing me and I was pushing myself really hard in a frantic panic wondering how many positions I’d lost!

Finally I made it back on track to bump into Matty again ha. I think I’d lost 2/3 mins aswell as a massive expenditure of energy. Not good. I was exhausted now and sweating heavily. More people slowly overtaking me. The wheels where slowly falling off . Descending into side farm I started to cramp a little bit in my calf. This is not the race I’d envisaged only an hour ago. I felt low now.

I carried on pushing though from sidefarm all the way to Wythburn church and by the time I got there I was delirious. I was over heating and cramping. My race was over.

I decided I needed to go back to doing what I do best – plodding . Admitting defeat I took a different outlook on things and thought “just forget time and positions now, get to the end as comfortably as you can”?! I ascended Helvellyn quite well. Climbing is one of my stronger points.

📷John Bamber

So when I change muscle sets in my legs after only using one set for a prolonged period of time (like ascending Helvellyn). When I came to the descent back to Patterdale my Quads, Hams and Calf’s were all cramping but not full on like they used to last year. I had to back right off though. A few more people passed me on the descent. I was fuming with my body. I wanted to let go- I was totally fine again by now. I’d perked up but my body just wouldn’t do what I wanted it to.

I spent 2 mins at side farm having some electrolytes and salt tablets before cracking on again gaining a few positions by leaving some people faffing at the cp.

I took the easy option upto place fell I didn’t fancy cramping on the steeper more direct route. I switched off for 30 mins and before I knew it I was descending down the long descent into Howtown picking off another guy at Place fell summit.

At Martindale church I dropped another clanger I threw a right turn behind “the Coombs” toward “steel end”. I thought that was the best way ha! My cramps had subsided now and I managed to jog all the way from Howtown to the finish. Constantly looking over my shoulder, expecting the guy I last overtook to be gaining on me. I was alone.

Phew at least I can go at my own pace! I managed to put on a sprint finish into askham looking at my watch – more than happy with my time considering all the mistakes I’d made and how bad Id felt for a majority of the day.

I’d ended up in 13th – not a top 10 finish which I’d hoped for but hey ho, you can’t always have it your own way! I finished in 8hrs 31 knocking 3 hours off my previous time on a longer course! I sat in the hall for an hour chatting to friends old and new (and the guy who I took on place fell- he finished ahead of me haha he must have pipped me as I took a right at Martindale church) while consuming the country’s finest veg soup, carrot cake & date slice before driving home.

So for me – mixed feelings. Happy with the outcome on the grand scheme of things but there is always the big what’s ifs and some lessons to be learnt.

•Be more like Matty Brennan. Relax, take awesome pics and still finish in 6th!! Sterling effort!!

•DONT take a right at Martindale church & don’t go that way on TdeH either haha!

•What if I had gone slightly slower from the start, would that have allowed me a faster, more consistent average pace?

•By doing that would I have not cramped allowing me to go smoother/faster?

•I will always go “my” way in future!

•I will not set off like a loonatic!

•Concentrate on the route and not get complacent and start daydreaming . Maybe map read instead of relying on my watch!

•Rest & Sleep more in the build up to Races. Not be rushing around on the day. Plan & prep better.

I’d highly recommend LM42 to anyone it’s a Great Race. Awesome route, well organised, brilliant value for money & a great day out in the mountains with like minded people. You’d have to do it to understand. Oh and the cake...

Big thanks & well done to Joe and his team of elite staff at Nav4 for putting it on and pulling it off flawlessly. Il probably do it again next year.

Next Race: UTS 50