From Helen Thurston…
This was my second Lakeland Trails race and as before it was a friendly, well-organised event starting and finishing on the shore of Coniston Water. Part of a weekend of racing, there were 10k and 15k options on the Saturday and half-marathon and marathon race and challenge events on the Sunday. The half-marathon route includes some tough climbs on slippery shale, a lap and a half of Tarn Hows, a fast descent and then four of the longest flat km I have ever run to the finish! The weather threw pretty much everything at us – sun, wind and downpours – but the views from the top were gorgeous.
(1 1:22:28 Gareth Raven, Sale Harriers)
24 1:42:39 Helen Thurston (2nd lady, 1st V40)
52 1:56:52 Emma Sheppard
83 ran
From Rebecca White…
It was a rather cloudy grey start when Catherine and I set off for Coniston in the early hours of Sunday morning. It would be my debut marathon distance, and a second marathon in 3 weeks for Catherine. On arrival we bumped into Jill preparing to leave in the Challenge Marathon leaving at 8am, and agreed it was still a shorts and vest day and the weather would hopefully improve!
The race pretty much takes you around Coniston water with a lap of ‘Tarn Hows’ thrown in for good measure, a trip through Grizedale forest, skirt around Beacon tarn and the a rather rutty tree rooted trail path along the shore to the finish line. It was a lovely race with a friendly atmosphere and plenty of feed stations. Stunning views. I had the rather unfortunate timing of coming through the finish line with the children’s fun race much to Catherine’s amusement who was already home and busy refueling!
Catherine Charlton 4hr 37 8th female home 5th in open cat (Race)
Jill Ezard 4hrs 55 5th female home and 1st Fv50 (Challenge)
Rebecca White 5hrs 19 (Race)