From Jann Smith…
This iconic, long standing fell ultra is based on visiting the three highest peaks on the old counties of Cumbria: Westmoreland (Helvellyn), Cumberland (Scafel Pike) and Lancashire (Coniston Old Man) starting and finishing in Langdale. It is a tough, epic, hard route which involved scrambling pathless in the clag down the back end of Scafel Pike with no navigational devices allowed. It is run in pairs and there was a good turnout of Harriers who all managed to finish.
From Ben Sheppard…
Depending on the route you take and how good you and/or (in my case) your running partner are at navigation (yes, you run in pairs), the Old County Tops fell race should be around 35-37 miles long and involve around 10,000 to 11,000 feet of ascent. It starts and finishes in Great Langdale, taking in the tops of Helvellyn (3,117 ft), Scafell Pike (3,209 ft) and the Old Man of Coniston [an accurate description of how I felt by that stage] (2,634 ft) – the highest points of the old counties of Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire respectively. It was something of a blind date for me and my running partner for the day, meeting in person for the first time at 4.45 am on race day outside my house for the drive to Langdale. Based on his write up of the Great Lakes 3 Day race a few weeks ago, I had no doubts that I would be safe in the navigationally-skilled hands of Simon Richardson. And so it turned out: his orienteering skills see us safely and efficiently off Scafell Pike in the clag, and his pack of blister plasters saved me from an early drop-out. It also helped that we were well matched in terms of pace (or lack of) and attitude (it’s not so much a race as a mobile picnic).
Great to see fellow Harriers having stonking runs. Jane McCarthy and Jann Smith set a new record for their category, while finishing in similarly fast times were Kate Archer with the former Harrier and long distance specialist Brian Melia, and Alison Weston with Andrew Merrick. Meanwhile Joe Morrell and his partner finished 8th despite taking a long detour around Coniston to the summit of Dow Crag before realising their mistake, which surely cost them a place in the top 5. Heartening then to see Joe still smiling after the race – I have no doubt he has plenty of podiums ahead of him.
8 Joseph Morrell + partner 8hr 01min
17 Ben Sheppard + Simon Richardson 8hr 40mins
32 Patrick Wardle + partner 9hr 00 min
61 Jane Mcarthy + Jann Smith 10 hr 02mins (1st in age category and course record for age category)
65 Kate Archer + Brian Melia 10hr 11min
68 Alison Weston / Andrew Merrick 10hr 16min (1st in age category)