Sunday 3rd October – Hodgson Brothers Mountain Relay

Sunday 3rd October – Hodgson Brothers Mountain Relay

Report from the team:

Leg 1: Patterdale to Hartsop 6.7 km / 440 m (category AS / ER / LK / NS)

Time: 00:44:51 Leg pos.: 21st Runners: Ross McCall and Gary Johnson reports:

With a fortuitous break in the awful weather, the relay started at 9.15am without the need for the bad weather course. Leg one is relatively short compared to the other legs, clocking in at 6.7km / 440m. Ross and I followed the lead pack (👀) through Patterdale, on to farm tracks and quickly on to trods. We took a good number of places on the way up to Angle Tarn which was the first checkpoint and one of the landmarks Tom had told me to look out for. After that we were quickly through the next two landmarks, a partially collapsed wall and a few fence posts! The descent from Angle Tarn is down a very steep hill side. The torrential rain had made for a treacherous descent with the luge being the chosen technique for many of the runners. After landing on CP2, we were able to pick up some speed and some more places along a decent farm track which took us down to Hartsop where Andrew and Graham were waiting for leg two.

Leg 2: Hartstop to Kirkstone 11 km / 890 m (category AM / ER / LK / NS)

Time: 01:32:49 Leg pos.: 41st Runners: Graham Lake and Andrew Robertshaw reports:

The calm of the valley

Fortunately there was pause in the heavy morning showers whilst Graham & myself waited for Ross and Gary to appear at the end of the first leg.  Our leg starts with a mile or so steepish track to Hayeswater, from there it’s  steeper climb round the back of the Knott and onto the summit of High Street.  From there it’s a fast run across to Thornthwaite Beacon, a rocky steep descent and climb back up to Stoney Cove Pike.  If it’s poor visibility the second to last checkpoint is the only real tricky navigation section over the Caudale Moor Tarn.   After that it’s a long easy downhill section, with the occasional soft/boggy bit before the final tricky rocky descent to Kirkstone Pass.

Taking over in 21st position meant we were never going to pass many teams on leg 2…  but we pretty much held our own to the climb to the Knott.  Towards to top of which we were exposed to the full force of the rain on the strong westerly wind, time to put the jacket on.  The rain and wind continued to batter us across to High Street and Thornthwaite beacon.

The cold rain and wind, poor visibilty and sudden disappearance of all the other teams played with both our minds.  I suddenly thought we had somehow gone the wrong way, but quickly thought, “Don’t be daft, it’s a big track that goes nowhere but the Beacon“,  a minute or so later Graham was having the same doubts when he said he thought we’d been on the track a long time.  Don’t let the negative navigation gremlins take over your mind!

Losing my footing clambering over the wet rocks at Thornthwaite Beacon, didn’t do anything for my confidence for the rocky descent, holding the compass in hand, didn’t help either so not the best descending from me.  Despite the rain the cloud level was now high enough to see the Tarn checkpoint, so no worries about needing the compass.  After Thorntwaite Beacon it was a more sheltered from the wind and as the rain had stopped, jacket on, it felt almost tropical😜  A short run away from the pub at Kirkstone Pass we passed the baton, (dibber), to Tom Paget and Stephen Boddy.

We ended up being passed by 12 teams, handing over in 33rd, a leg time of 1:32:49, we were pretty well matched, I a little stronger on the steep climb to the Knott, Graham quicker on the descents particularly the two rocky ones.  Fastest on the leg were Sam Tosh and Eoin Lennon, Carnethy H. 1:04:38, fastest ladies Hannah Russell and Emma Gould, Helm Hill, 1:17:08, (they overtook us at the Knott).

Leg 3: Kirkstone to Hartsop Hall 7.5 km / 570 m (category AS / ER / LK / NS)

Time: 01:14:30 Leg pos.: 49th Runners: Tom Paget and Stephen Boddy reports:

A classic lakes trip, a good run and a pub,
Tom’s van parked at Sykeside served as our hub

We got merry on beer, food and anticipation.
We didn’t win the race but we secured next year’s participation.

Leg 3 runners battled hail up Dove Crag
Mercifully we quickly dropped back under the clag.

There were tiring climbs followed by precipitous descents,
No Campervan spots left, just a damp one man tent.

Leg 4: Hartsop Hall to Patterdale 11 km / 900 m (category AM / ER / LK / NS)

Time: 01:35:05 Leg pos.: 44th Runners: Derek Fuller and Tom Lynch reports:

The final leg was a leg of typical Lakeland weather, Derek and I and friend Patrick started the leg crouching under a boulder sheltering from the cold sheeting rain, waiting for our leg 3 runners to come in, and finished the leg in sunshine running towards a rainbow stretched across Ullswater, definitely the best weather conditions of the day, despite the start.

We left Patrick waiting for his team to come in, as Tom and Stephen came in on a strong run on what is an often underestimated Leg 3, one of the rougher legs, with some good navigation needed.  Leg 4 takes you back up the way your leg 3 runners have just come down, and repeats the haphazard Leg 3 descent as a climb up to Hart Crag. I’d reccied this fairly thoroughly, and was pretty happy with my line, which seemed to have got more obvious since I’d last waded through the tussocks. The weather was still pretty grim and windy on the way up, and and it was a nice surprise to see summit marshals and former 2nd claimers Carol Morgan and Simon Franklin who were somehow cheery and enthusiastic, giving us both a boost on our way to Fairfield. We negotiated our way through the rocky plateau on the way up to Fairfield, being picked off by a few strong teams on the way, with quite a bit of swirling fog enveloping us. To my surprise we had still not been caught by Patrick and his partner James Harris, as we made our way of the rough shoulder of Fairfield where you have to negotiate your way down Cofa pike. We picked a nice scree line off here to the left, and were still holding onto a team that had passed us on the summit. At this point, to our surprise they plunged off left seemingly heading into the valley. We both wondered if they had misheard potential bad weather routes, and were heading to Grisedale tarn – we continued to carefully pick our way over and down the craggy bits of Cofa pike for the last big climb up St Sunday’s Crag. As we neared the col, we realised the team ahead of us had taken an intriguing line, low and under Cofa pike, and now seemed to be further ahead of us – definitely one for a recce next time.

We had a good climb up St Sunday’s crag, with some running interspersed with the fast walking, and hit the summit in good time ready for the long and fun, steep, technical and grassy descent off down to the finish field. Just as we hit the traverse under Birks, before a very steep craggy/steppy descent we were suddenly caught by a pair of runners, we’d almost forgotten about Patrick, and it turns out he was running with James Harris who also knew Derek. They must have been closing on us in the clag for much of the race, unnoticed by either pair. After some good natured banter, they started to pull away from us, on the false flat before the last descent. Despite our best efforts, we knew we weren’t going to hold onto them, although we gave it a good go, and were perhaps a little too focussed on keeping up with them, I managed to turn my ankle on the final steps on the way down, but it was OK to keep running. The last part is a sprint down the road into the finish field, and is quite a nice way to end a race, giving you an assisted spring into the field.

 

Otley crossed the line in 5hrs 7 mins and 15 seconds, in 39th place overall. Our best showing since 2012, when our super-almost mixed team took us well into the top 30 (and with 1 more woman would have made 2nd mixed team).

Full results here

2 thoughts on “Sunday 3rd October – Hodgson Brothers Mountain Relay

  1. Great reports, strong runs and happy photos Thanks lads! I’d forgotten we had had to run as an open team in 2012.

  2. I agree with Tamara that the reports from the HB Relay are brilliant and really interesting and also the pics are good especially that one of Tom Paget’s shoes swimming on the footpath and that one of the Honorably Handicap boss Andrew R. in a fell runner vest looking strong , a different one from last Sunday at Calverly . Awesome running , beautiful landscape , well done to everybody .

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