From Dick Waddington…

It was the 60th running of the Fellsman this year and the number of entries was up over 400, much better than the life-threatening numbers of last year that nearly caused the race to fold. It takes an arcing 95km route from Ingleton to Threshfield over a long series of often remote tops adding up to over 4000m of ascent.

On the bus to the start I was chatting to an American runner who had never seen a bog; I bet he feels experienced now.

After a delayed start to get all the runners registered we set off into bright and windy conditions. It was very cold on the tops, but the ground was pretty good underfoot given the wet winter we have had. I hadn’t trained very much for an event of this length, so I set off pretty slow and enjoyed the stunning views across to the Lakes. The checkpoints on the Fellsman are the best bit, being staffed by lots of very friendly and helpful volunteers. Sitting on top of Dodd Fell or Buckden Pike all day and night is truly impressive.

The few who finished in daylight got off lightly I think. As soon as the sun went down the conditions became horrendous on the tops. Visibility was down to a couple of metres and finding the path was a real challenge on the long traverses over Buckden Pike and Whernside. I was wearing all 5 of my mandatory layers (including fleece and belay parka for me) and just about felt ok.

It was a very pleasant sunny morning when I dropped into Threshfield, the birds were singing and the sun was shining, as if it had been a nice quiet night.

(1 Kim Collison 11:12)

Dick Waddington 21:02

The results are still being finalised, but times are here