Fellsman

Apr 18, 2016 · 18 minute read · Comments

21 hours 26 minutes of shuffling, getting back to Threshfield just as dawn was breaking I’ve finally beaten the Fellsman, making up for my only ever DNF 2 years ago.

(watch battery died mid way round)

Last time on CSI Miami the Fellsman

Back in 2014 I had my first stab at the Fellsman and turned up massively underprepared and overly confident. Having completed Stour Valley Path 100km I thought to myself that I could do the distance and it was just a case of walking the uphills and following some experienced people across the hard to navigate Fleet Moss, worst case scenario it was going to be 19-20 hours out on my feet.

I then spent the morning clambering up mountains on my hands and knees and falling in bogs. In the 5 miles from the top of Gragareth to Flinter Gill I managed to fall into bogs up to my waist three times, each time needing other people to dig me out. The last fall was particularly heavy as I was coming down off the top and trying to make up for lost time - I ended up dropping through the bog so fast that my left leg tried to take the next step before I realised what had happened and the bog kept hold of my foot. The resulting cramp from the suction of the bog made it feel like I’d torn my calf and I then spent the next few minutes screaming in pain as a couple of helpful runners dug me out and massaged my horribly spasming calf muscle.

After that I managed to make my way to Dent where I spent 45 minutes trying to pluck up the courage to go back out on to what was clearly far harder terrain than I was comfortable with. The rest of the day was spent trying to pull myself together and just focus on getting to the end. By the end of the day I was starting to feel a little better but just in time to start trying to cross Fleet Moss in the dark which ended up being an absolute disaster as our group spent hours wandering around in the pitch black. Arriving in Cray I felt absolutely gone and had to force myself to leave the checkpoint, telling myself I’d done the worst of it and just had to make it to Park Rash and then out the other side of the checkpoint and then I’d make it back to Threshfield. And then I started suffering with hypothermia due to failing to eat enough, being exhausted and how slow we were moving which made it hard to maintain body temperature. Coming off the top of Buckden Pike I was so far gone that I briefly blacked out and tried to go to sleep on the side of the mountain. At that point I knew I had been beaten. Trudging into Park Rash as dawn started to break across Top Mere I knew it was over for me and that it wasn’t safe for me to go back out but I had given it absolutely everything.

So this time was a big focus on avoiding bogs, eating better and staying warm. I figured if I could make sure I stayed warm throughout and wasn’t ruined by constantly falling then I had a good chance of getting round it. Last time I had taken pretty much the minimum required kit but this year I wasn’t taking any chances. Even though the kit requirements had been increased (more layers to cope with the potential extra cold due to the race being moved forward a couple of weeks) I made sure to double up with a thermal base layer and a thermal buff for the night and added a much coveted Patagonia R1 hoody as well.

Ingleton to Dent via most of the big climbs in Yorkshire

Just like last time I took advantage of going through kit check the night before the race and bedding down in the hall at Threshfield school which means you don’t have to worry about getting through registration and kit check in the morning once you rock up at Ingleton. Grabbing the 6.30 bus over to Ingleton in the morning I tried to settle my nerves and chatted with Giles who is also going to be at Lakeland later this year but doing the 100 as his first hundred miler! As it turns out he’s also a pretty decent photographer so I’ve nicked a couple of his stunning photos of the Fellsman course for this blog.

Climbing out of Ingleton at the start and along the footpath with the overly excited crowds, I’d got less than 2 miles before I realised that I had been pushing too hard for the gradient and the load I was carrying before my muscles had warmed up properly so now my leg muscles were already sore from tightness. Not a great start to the day considering I had 20+ hours to cover on them still.

Trekking up the footpath to Ingleborough in the clear sun compared to 2014’s heavy rain at the start made for a glorious sight. Made even better by the snow showers that started falling as we got higher up although I was worried about the top being icy as descending on wet/icy rock is one of my many weak points at fell running. Along with descending generally. And climbing. And picking my way through boggy terrain. And navigation. And distance. Okay, so maybe I shouldn’t be doing things like the Fellsman.

Coming down off the top was tricky as usual and I started to notice that the pack had thinned quite heavily already with me trying to ease my calfs off on the climb. I started to worry that I was a long way back in the field compared to the last time and that it would make it very tricky to make my target of being grouped at Fleet Moss instead of Redshaw.

I started picking up the pace once we got off the very top of Ingleborough and settled into a decent stride for quite a while, overtaking people as I went but feeling more and more comfortable as things eased up. Funnily enough I ended up catching up to a runner that looked very familiar and realised it was Edwin, one of the guys I had ran with from Stone House until he dropped out at Cray back in 2014. We had a bit of a catch up before I moved on as I was feeling good at that point. The climb up Whernside with other runners coming back past me felt like it went on a lot longer than I remembered but wasn’t too strenuous. As soon as we hit the checkpoint at Whernside I could gather some pace as we ran down a decent trail. This was probably the best running I had all day so was keen to enjoy letting gravity do the work for once.

Hitting the checkpoint at Kingsdale I started to feel worried about the section ahead of me. Gragareth had torn me up pretty badly last time and I had had to stop a couple of times during the final, near vertical climb. I decided to just grab whatever food I could from the Kingsdale checkpoint and start marching up the hill and see how it went. I had to stop once near the top as both of my Achilles tendons felt close to snapping from the exertion. Overall it didn’t feel too bad to get to the top but it was the boggy ridgeline up to Great Coum that had ruined my morning previously so I left the checkpoint at Gragareth dreading the next couple of hours.

I took the decision that I would pick my way very slowly across the bogs all day and just tentatively step into anything that looked even remotely wet. It would slow me down massively and probably add a few hours to my time across the entire day but I knew that if I had anything like the experience of 2014 then I was not going to make it to the end. As I very carefully plodded across to Great Coum and then very slowly down to Flinter Gill I had a huge amount of people stream past me and started to feel like I’d ended up too far down the field again which would make the rest of the day pretty difficult if I couldn’t find a good group before the evening.

Suddenly I saw a figure on the path leading down to Dent and realised it was Tony, from my running club, who had unexpectedly shown up to help run with me for a while. All of a sudden I went from feeling pretty resigned to not being able to make enough distance in the day and then falling apart again in the night to feeling pretty fresh again and being able to push hard all the way into Dent.

When I reached Dent, a picturesque little village and the first major checkpoint on the course, I was keen to grab what I needed and get out of the checkpoint as quickly as I could, even if it was just walking while eating and drinking. 2014’s failed attempt had seen me take 45 minutes at Dent trying to get the agonising cramp out of my legs and hovering over asking Laura to come fetch me so I knew I absolutely needed to get moving again as soon as possible.

Dent to Fleet Moss - the “easy” section

Climbing out of Dent I was feeling more confident than I had all day, particularly with Tony leading me across Blea Moor, picking a good line across the bogs. In 2014 I had circumvented most of the bogs by dropping a fair way down the footpath and picking up the footpath trekking back up the hills to the Blea Moor checkpoint but it had probably added another mile and a half plus a fair chunk of climbing. Coming to the last climb up to the checkpoint at Blea Moor I started flagging again but having Tony just ahead of me the whole time kept me moving and I was able to tell myself that it was just a patch and once I got to the top I’d be able to trot down the hill and through the woods to the road into Stone House and from Stone House I’d be okay.

I somehow completely misjudged how long the road section into Stone House was and started pushing hard along it even though I was starting to feel weary from the day’s exertions. I was glad to actually reach Stone House and get some much needed pasta in me. Tony decided to finally head back to the car he’d parked outside Dent from here, promising to meet me at Fleet Moss if he could and I left the checkpoint in high spirits as I’d made up a lot of time while Tony had been running with me and remembered things getting a bit easier last time.

The climb up to Great Knoutberry dragged on for as long as I remembered the last time. It feels particularly annoying on the way up because it’s a fairly pointless diversion where you go straight up the mountain and then back down it and simply adds a bunch of elevation and a local summit rather than really adding anything to the route. But then I actually enjoyed the descent as you get a really great view across the Pennines including seeing the summits that were covered in the morning and a decent view of what was to come still.

I started falling apart again when trekking across Redshaw and finding the going really tough but I was spurred on by knowing that I was going to easily make it out of the Redshaw checkpoint before the grouping cut off which had been my goal going into the day. Getting into Redshaw I started looking ahead to Fleet Moss and how I still needed to try and find a decent group, hopefully before Fleet Moss, so I decided to grab some food and get straight back out across Snaizeholme as quickly as I could to make some decent ground before sunset. Unfortunately I was too busy stuffing my face with biscuits and trying to drink some blackcurrant squash as I stalked up the hill after the checkpoint to realise how cold it had started getting and very quickly ended up getting in a bit of a mess as my hands started to freeze from the wind chill. Struggling to get my gloves on, my quickly freezing hands had me standing around for too long and my body temperature quickly plummeted. Eventually I managed to get my waterproof jacket, gloves and a hat on and managed to get moving again but considering that all happened less than 200 metres from the checkpoint I realised that I needed to be a lot more prepared before I set off from each checkpoint.

Moving on from the checkpoint, the first stretch was tricky, boggy conditions that had me tentatively stepping along and seeing groups stream past me, leaving me worried again about being able to find a good group to join for the night. Thankfully, not long after leaving the Snaizeholme checkpoint the ground firmed up a bit and I ended up bumping into Edwin again and we started running together for a while. As we started along the brief chunk of the Pennine Way that the course picks up, we ended up joining with three other runners - Russell, Matt and David - and we agreed to group up for the upcoming mandatory grouping through the night that we were sure to hit at Fleet Moss.

Talking to Russell and finding out that he knew his way across Fleet Moss (and the rest of the course), having done it multiple times and knowing that I’d grabbed a good group to get through the night I started to relax my fears of not finishing and could finally see myself making it to the end even though there was still another 10+ hours ahead of me.

Fleet Moss to Threshfield through the night

Coming down off Dodd Fell and into Fleet Moss we were running well so we all agreed that we’d officially form our group at the checkpoint, put head torches on for the coming darkness and see how much of Fleet Moss we could cover in the dying light as the sun set. I was pleasantly surprised to meet Tony again at the checkpoint who helped me put my Rab microfleece on and juggle kit before I dashed out across Fleet Moss, chasing the group.

We managed to make about 45 minutes and a couple of miles across Fleet Moss before it was truly dark, almost making it to Middle Tongue which felt like a massive win considering Fleet Moss had taken my group a little over 4 hours to traverse the previous time. Given how lost we managed to get last time I’d imagine this section alone probably accounts for the some of the biggest variations in course times and even drop out rates with how demoralising it can be to be trudging around in the dark and getting no closer to the flashing beacons at Middle Tongue and Hell Gap.

As we trudged on through the dark and the cold begain to set in, I became particularly aware that I hadn’t had the chance to put on all the layers I’d brought with me and had planned to put on at Fleet Moss. Who would have thought running quicker than expected was going to give me problems?! I was also starting to worry about my energy levels and the fact that I was way down on the amount I’d planned to eat and drink by that point, which was exacerbated by the fact that, once again, I had very swollen hands which was a good sign of dehydration. That aside, the group kept me going well and Russell’s navigation across Fleet Moss was spectacular so I felt confident that I’d make it in good shape to Cray and could regroup mentally there.

Coming down from Hell Gap once we cleared the edge of Fleet Moss I managed to get back running again as the ground firmed up, the lights of Cray being a sight for sore eyes. We took a fair few minutes at Cray to get properly kitted up for the cold night ahead of us with the snow falling in flurries and I finally got to put all my layers on. Last time I was finally beaten by hypothermia setting in due to not eating enough, not having enough layers and just being plain exhausted so this time I’d decided that I was going to make sure I didn’t have to worry about a lack of clothes. At Cray I switched out my merino base layer I’d worn all day for a thermal base layer, a Helly Hansen baselayer on top of that and then threw my long sleeve running top and microfleece back on and added a Patagonia R1 hoody, my waterproof jacket and trousers, a thermal Buff, along with my hat and gloves. I was not going to struggle with the cold with all that on!

All geared up and filled with some comforting soup we began the long hike up Buckden Pike that had been the end of me last time. Back in 2014 I was pretty much in a daze as I stumbled out of Cray and running on fumes as I tried to will myself around the last of the course stubbornly. But this time I was feeling strong and becoming more and more assured that I would make it to the end. Once the climb began to get steeper I even found myself out at the front of the group, confident that the footing was good and I didn’t have to worry too much about bogs during the climbs.

Leaving the Buckden Pike hill checkpoint we all had a bit of a laugh about my attempt to sleep on the side of the mountain last time and I began to look forward to getting through Top Mere, on to Park Rash and out the other side of the checkpoint, taking me further than I’d managed the last time.

Top Mere felt a lot shorter than it did last time when the sun had been rising on us as I stumbled through the fog and freezing bogs and then all of a sudden we were at Park Rash and I knew then that I was going to make it to the end. Once you get out of Park Rash the next point you can possibly quit is Yarnbury which is about 2-3 miles of road into Threshfield and the finish so I’d mentally set myself the challenge of making it to Park Rash and not being absolutely dead and I’d finally made it after nearly 17 and a half hours.

Pushing up Great Whernside, the last mountain of the course, I was feeling strong again and was able to set a decent pace for the group up the climb. Hitting the checkpoint at the top of Great Whernside we all knew all of our climbing was done for the day and we just had the tricky, boggy descent to Capplestone Gate to go really.

After my DNF last time I’d told myself that I’d done all the hard bits and if I hadn’t been suffering from hypothermia then it would have all been easy after Park Rash and the final climb up Great Whernside. A couple of Fellsman vets had coolly mentioned that the section to Capplestone Gate is harder than I probably thought and boy were they right! I’d told myself it was just a gentle trot down from Great Whernside all the way into Yarnbury and then Threshfield but actually the bogs down to Capplestone were pretty brutal and had me falling up to my knees in deep bogs a couple of times despite trying to pick my way through ridiculously carefully. Getting stuck in a bog just above my knees at one point meant I couldn’t get any leverage to pull myself out and it ended up taking all 4 of the guys to drag me out of my predicament leaving me to wonder just what the hell you’re meant to do if that happens to you when you’re by yourself!

Once that chunk of bog snorkelling was finally over we dropped down to Yarnbury, where we grabbed some biscuits and squash and were able to relax knowing the hard work was all done. From here on in it was just a gentle shuffle down into Threshfield along the road as the sun gently rose across the Dales.

Getting into the school at Threshfield where we’d set off on the coaches to Ingleton almost 24 hours previously felt glorious. Part of me desperately wanted to cross the finishing line into the school with a run but my legs had completely had it by then so just shuffling was going to have to do.

Finally crossing the finish line into the school and beating the Fellsman felt cathartic after the disappointment of my first, failed attempt. The fact that it is also this year’s hardest race has also given me that little bit of confidence that I might actually be able to pull off this ridiculous challenge of an ultramarathon every month even if I still have 3 50 mile events including Lakeland 50 ahead of me.

A big thank you to Russell, Edwin, Matt and David for dragging me through the night and back in to Threshfield. Having such a great group made a huge difference to how quickly we were able to move but also how good spirits stayed during the long, dark hours. And to Tony for surprising me at Flinter Gill and getting me back in to a run which got me through the day.

Event video

Apparently I pop up at 12 seconds into this video looking pretty worse for wear already as I struggled with my calfs going up Ingleborough.