The Annual Fell Race, Langdale

Route: Mill Beck - Sergeant Man - Little Heart-shaped Tarn - Easedale (by New Bridge) - Robertson Lamb Hut.

Members: Bob Anderson, Heather Brooke, Virginia Castick, Sabina Cosulich, Andrew Croughton, Dave Dillon, Joe Flynn, Mark Garrod, Jim Gregson, Sandy Gregson, Graham Harkness, Sue Harkness, Michelle Harvie, Sheena Hendrie, Alan (L) Jones, Duncan Lee, Craig Marsden, Neville McMillan, Al Metelko, Lester Payne, Jim Symon, Judith Symon, Chris Thickett, Peter Walker, Frank Williams, Margaret Williams, Dave Wylie (27).

 

The weather forecasters promised a good day on Sunday, and luckily they were right. This was preceded by heavy rain and low cloud on Friday night and Saturday morning, and followed by more rain on Sunday night and Monday, but it was dry on the day that mattered.

A select band turned up on Friday, but those that arrived on Saturday afternoon missed nothing except the bad weather. Al, Heather, and Wavey got some climbing in, but rather more went out reconnoitring possible routes for the morrow.

More people turned up on Sunday, making a total field of 18, a respectable number. With good visibility on the tops, my concern was that the course would be considered too easy. I need not have worried. Sufficient errors in navigation were made, under the stress of the event, to make the results "interesting".

The first race-problem arose when Heather, official gate-opener and closer near the start, was subjected to a verbal battering by the landlady of the Millbeck Guest House (a shining example of Lakeland hospitality at its best) for our use of their unmarked private drive to access a public footpath. What Heather did not know was that the harridan's wrath had been fomented by none other than Jim Gregson, who had earlier walked round the back of the farmhouse and through the sheep pens to access the public path! Anyway, we thought it prudent to move the race start for the second and third groups back to a public path, and leave the runners to open and close the gates themselves. The times for the first group have been adjusted to compensate for this.

Everyone got to Sergeant Man in their own time. In good visibility it is difficult to miss, even though it may not always be in sight. Michelle put up the fastest time (44 mins), then carried on at the same speed but in the wrong direction. Craig was another casualty on the next leg, getting carried away by progress without checking the direction! Everyone else was successful on this leg, except Peter who pulled a muscle. Al laid the foundation of his ultimate success by being 7 minutes faster than anyone else on this leg.

Despite Neville's helpful hints, very few took the Easedale Tarn route on the third leg (perhaps they suspected a plot), so did not use the excellent new path by Sourmilk Gill. Mark did, and (walking???) nearly put up the fastest time on this leg. The alternative route had some navigational problems for Frank, who got irreversibly off-course. Graham also had some navigational problems and, to a lesser extent, so did Duncan and Sabina. Craig and Michelle moved fast (Craig putting up the fastest time on this leg), but had too much lost time to make up.

The final leg back to the finish was found hard by many (perhaps because it was! - N.) But this was where fitness told. Michelle was 6 minutes faster than Al, 9 minutes faster than Craig, 10 minutes faster than Mark, 14 minutes faster than Jim and Sheena, and 17 minutes faster than Dave Wylie, to move up from seventh place overall to finish third!! Duncan and Sabina also did well on this leg, gaining 7 minutes on Jim and Sheena, but failing to catch them before the finish.

The winners were: Fastest overall: Al Metelko 2 hr 05 mins Fastest female: Michelle Harvie 2 hr 28 mins Fastest on handicap time (Shelagh Manning Trophy): Graham Harkness 1 hr 27 mins Fastest first time competitor (Concordia Trophy): Not awarded

The organiser enjoyed researching the course, and choosing the check-points. He also gained Sadistic pleasure from analysing the various expressions of pain and suffering as competitors descended the final steep hillside! He has also learnt some lessons: Mark walks faster than the majority run, so henceforth, walking or running, he will be permanently in the fast group. Joe, despite being very laid-back about whether he marshalls or participates, becomes very competitive when the opportunity arises; he won't be in the slow group again!

The results are in the following table, in the same format as last year.

My thanks to the six check point marshalls. Thanks also to Mark and Michelle for organising the food, and to Margaret for organising the kitchen, and making sure that everyone was looked after. Thanks to all those who took part, and to the Oldies for supporting the event. But next year lets havemore support from the younger end, and more female participation, especially from first-time entrants - the Concordia Trophy awaits you.

Next year's Fell Race will be in the Lake District again, maybe the Duddon, in October. I hope everyone will be there.

 

 

	Time to Finish		H'cap	Handicap Time	Finishing Place		KMC Fell Race, October 2002 Langdale, Sergeant Man, Little heart tarn, Easedale, Langdale   Results and Order of Competitors over each stage
	mins	hr:min:sec	mins	hr:min:sec	Actual	H'cap
Al METELKO	125	2:05:07	-5	2:10:07	1	5
Mark GARROD	144	2:24:20	-46	3:10:20	2	14
Michelle HARVIE	148	2:28:00	-17	2:45:00	3	13
Craig MARSDEN	156	2:36:05	23	2:13:05	4	6
Jim SYMON	158	2:38:14	45	1:53:14	5	2
Sheena HENDRIE	158	2:38:22	34	2:04:22	6	3
Sabina COSULICH	160	2:40:07	13	2:27:07	7	9
Duncan LEE	160	2:40:08	2	2:38:08	8	10
Dave WYLIE	163	2:43:18	-47	3:30:18	9	16
Graham HARKNESS	181	3:01:07	94	1:27:07	10	1
Virginia CASTICK	183	3:03:49	48	2:15:49	11	7
Joe FLYNN	185	3:05:42	58	2:07:42	12	4
Peter WALKER	192	3:12:07			DNF
Alan (L) JONES	204	3:25:00	61	2:24:00	13	8
Frank WILLIAMS	237	3:57:04			DNF
Bob ANDERSON	256	4:16:58	94	2:42:58	14	12
Roger DYKE	257	4:17:19	62	3:15:19	15	15
Chris THICKETT	257	4:17:19	98	2:39:19	16	11

 

Time to Sergeant Man		Time from 1st to 2nd		Time to Little Heart Tarn		Time from 2nd to 3rd		Time to Easedale		Time from 3rd to Finish
	mins		mins		mins		mins		mins		mins
Michelle HARVIE	44	Al METELKO	17	Al METELKO	64	Craig MARSDEN	24	Al METELKO	89	Michelle HARVIE	30
Al METELKO	47	Sheena HENDRIE	24	Duncan LEE	77	Al METELKO	25	Mark GARROD	104	Al METELKO	36
Mark GARROD	50	Jim SYMON	25	Mark GARROD	78	Mark GARROD	26	Jim SYMON	114	Sabina COSULICH	37
Sabina COSULICH	50	Duncan LEE	27	Sabina COSULICH	78	Michelle HARVIE	27	Sheena HENDRIE	114	Duncan LEE	37
Duncan LEE	50	Graham HARKNESS	27	Jim SYMON	80	Dave WYLIE	33	Dave WYLIE	116	Craig MARSDEN	39
Craig MARSDEN	52	Mark GARROD	28	Sheena HENDRIE	80	Jim SYMON	34	Craig MARSDEN	117	Mark GARROD	40
Dave WYLIE	52	Sabina COSULICH	28	Dave WYLIE	83	Sheena HENDRIE	34	Michelle HARVIE	118	Jim SYMON	44
Jim SYMON	55	Dave WYLIE	31	Graham HARKNESS	88	Virginia CASTICK	34	Sabina COSULICH	123	Sheena HENDRIE	44
Sheena HENDRIE	56	Frank WILLIAMS	31	Michelle HARVIE	91	Joe FLYNN	35	Duncan LEE	123	Dave WYLIE	47
Graham HARKNESS	61	Virginia CASTICK	32	Craig MARSDEN	93	Graham HARKNESS	44	Graham HARKNESS	132	Graham HARKNESS	49
Alan (L) JONES	65	Joe FLYNN	32	Joe FLYNN	97	Sabina COSULICH	45	Joe FLYNN	132	Virginia CASTICK	49
Joe FLYNN	65	Alan (L) JONES	37	Frank WILLIAMS	99	Duncan LEE	46	Virginia CASTICK	134	Joe FLYNN	53
Frank WILLIAMS	68	Craig MARSDEN	41	Virginia CASTICK	100	Alan (L) JONES	47	Alan (L) JONES	149	Alan (L) JONES	55
Virginia CASTICK	68	Michelle HARVIE	47	Alan (L) JONES	102	Bob ANDERSON	50	Roger DYKE	177	Bob ANDERSON	79
Peter WALKER	72	Roger DYKE	48	Roger DYKE	127	Roger DYKE	50	Bob ANDERSON	177	Chris THICKETT	80
Roger DYKE	79	Bob ANDERSON	48	Bob ANDERSON	127	Chris THICKETT	50	Chris THICKETT	177	Roger DYKE	80
Chris THICKETT	79	Chris THICKETT	48	Chris THICKETT	127	Peter WALKER		Peter WALKER		Peter WALKER
Bob ANDERSON	79	Peter WALKER	74	Peter WALKER	146	Frank WILLIAMS		Frank WILLIAMS		Frank WILLIAMS

 

 

Neville McMillan