The second race of our Winter Series certainly warranted its ‘winter’ billing! Snow had fallen on the fell tops and the wind was bitterly cold.
Having shortened this race in 2019 due to the high winds, we were uncertain on the morning of the race as to the fell top conditions as the forecast was predicting 50mph gusts on the tops but down in the valley, it wasn’t looking too bad! One young lad, who had run the route that morning for a recce(!), showed us his summit video and it looked windy, snowy and cold but not completely horrendous…
We left it totally in the hands of our summit marshals – if they were happy standing out on the top, then the race would be the full course but if it was too bad for them, the race was only going to Sticks Pass and back.
The summit marshals didn’t get to the top before the race set off (understandably as they didn’t want to be there any longer than needed) so we had to set off the race telling runners we weren’t 100% sure whether they were going to the summit or not!!
Sure enough, 10 minutes after they had set off, we got the radio call from the marshals to say they were going for it and would keep moving/singing/dancing to keep warm!! The full race was on!
136 brave souls set off up the hill – most clad in full waterproofs but some mad men had just vest and shorts!!!
It was inspiring to watch the young U23 runners battling it out at the front end of the race with the senior men and see so many class female runners at the very front of the race.
A young lad from Buxton – Finlay Grant – reached the summit first just 37 second ahead of seasoned local elite runner Mark Lamb from Keswick and then just 19 seconds later……… Scout Adkin from Ambleside!! She is absolutely flying at the moment!
The descent is steep but grassy and tussocky for the first half and then the lower slopes are rocky and involved some pretty interesting mud slides on the day. Finlay managed to keep his lead, although rumours say Mark may have tried to run back towards Sticks Pass on the way down?! Either way, it was a nail-biting finish with Mark being only 8 seconds behind Finlay and Tom Simpson from Ambleside pulling through on the descent to finish in 3rd place.
And that young lad that showed us the video from his earlier recce? That was only Finlay – running it twice in one morning and winning, not bad that!
The women’s race was equally exciting! After Scout’s phenomenal climb where she summited over 2 and a half minutes ahead of the next woman, she sadly went over on her ankle and lost 10 places on the descent, limping into the finish in 3rd place in the women’s race and exiting quickly for treatment. This led to a fantastic battle for 2nd place with 3 other superstar international runners themselves. Vic Wilkinson – Bingley – summited 20 secs ahead of Caroline Lambert – Middlesbrough – and 37 seconds ahead of Hannah Russell – Helm Hill – the battle was on between the 3 for the race win!
After a phenomenal descent from Hannah Russell, the route was just too short for her to overhaul Vic who won in 40.51, just 4 seconds ahead of Hannah!
Both records in the men’s and women’s race were broken and look set to last for a while.
In other categories, the flying Scotsman Kenny Richmond, who has recently joined Helm Hill, beat all the Vet 40 runners and finished 7th overall – a fantastic run! He broke the V50 and V40 record for the course!
Other category winners who broke the course records were:
Roger Laycock – Settle – new MV60 record
Jim Downie – Keswick – new MV70 record
Finlay Grant – Buxton – new MU23 record
Vic Wilkinson – Bingley – new FV40 record
Sara Hodgson – Keswick – broke her own FV50 record
Jane Meeks – Borrowdale – new FV60 record
Wendy Dodds – Dallam – new FV70 record
It was obviously a fast day for the race and a successful one for local clubs Keswick who won the men’s team and Ambleside who won the women’s team.
We are super thankful to work with Martin Stone from Sportident timing systems who provides us with excellent, reliable results and checkpoint timing for all of our events.
Full results from Stybarrow Dodd fell race can be found HERE
More photos of the race by Grand Day Out Photography can be found HERE
Coming up…
Our next race in the series is ‘S.O.B’ (Stile End, Outerside, Barrow) from Braithwaite on Saturday 8th January which is a very different race to Stybarrow. It has 3 summits, with the highest being only 568m, so it is much more runnable between the main climbs but it is a stunning route and a local favourite. Who knows, it may be good weather for this one??
Full details of this next race and the series can be found HERE
Entry to the races can be found on SiEntries HERE
