The Cumbria Way starts in Ulverston and finishes in
Carlisle passing through the valleys of the Lake District National Park. I became interested in this event as it seemed
a low key and friendly day out on the trails through the glorious Cumbrian Mountains. It was an event to enjoy and have a good day
out doing what I love.
The weather was pretty much perfect with a southerly
tailwind. It was wet underfoot from the
previous week’s downpours but it didn’t rain during the race. I
felt pretty relaxed leading up to it as I tried to remove all stress from it by
having the sole priority of finishing, no matter how long it took or what state
I’d be in at the end. I made that clear
to friends and family, I usually stress out before a race as I’m sure lots of
others do. The cut-off times were
generous so I was quite confident that if I paced it right then I would
complete it.
I scribbled the distances
between checkpoints on my hand to mentally help to break down the overall
distance. The race started at 6am and I
began at a nice and easy pace through the first section to Coniston (16 miles). This is a really runnable part of the route,
so very easy to overcook it and get carried away.
It was a beautiful morning with a
great sunrise.
I reached the checkpoint
in good spirits, refilled my soft flasks and grabbed a few snacks to eat on the
go. The sun was quite warm during the
next section from Coniston to Sticklebarn (11 miles) in the beautiful
Langdales. I made sure I kept drinking
and cooling down at the streams which were abundant after the amount of rain
during the week.
The next section to
Keswick (16.7miles) took us over Stakes Pass, a nice steady climb and technical
descent towards Borrowdale. Then along
the shoreline of Derwentwater which is again, really runnable. I met up with my support crew (Emma and Tony Holt)
who were a welcome sight. I wasn’t sure where I was position-wise at this point
but I was feeling good. A quick change
of top and socks and I was off on the next section to Caldbeck(15 miles) up a
familiar route to Latrrigg (Bob Graham Round :o)) Another runner had latched onto me at this
stage and I didn’t really want to run with anyone else nor chat to them so I
was pleased when he ran ahead.
There was a really boggy
section heading to High Pike which was a bit of a chore, or death march! There were four of us together on this climb,
once we summited I gained an advantage on the descent and I was on my own again
to the Caldbeck checkpoint. The
volunteers filled my bottles and I was off again after a short rest. From Caldbeck onwards the route was flat
going through farmers fields all the way to Carlisle (15 miles). By this point I was run/walking, constantly
drinking and trying to eat what I could.
The sun had set so I got my headtorch out for the last 5 miles or
so. I passed a few 30 mile racers with
3-4 miles to go and they told me I was third male. This gave me quite a boost so cracked on
(after switching my headtorch off – tactics!) and pretty much ran the rest of
the way to Carlisle Castle. I was glad
to see the finish line! Overall, a
fantastic event with amazing support and volunteers. The course is really well marked and it would
be very hard to go wrong. If you want to
give an ultra a try, I would definitely recommend this one!
Thanks again to everyone who supported and the organisers. Particularly Emma and Tony, Gaynor and Amanda who gave me a lift to my car on the Sunday morning 😄
Thanks again to everyone who supported and the organisers. Particularly Emma and Tony, Gaynor and Amanda who gave me a lift to my car on the Sunday morning 😄
