On arrival at Brackenclose for my Wasdale debut, the weather was poor drizzle and misty mountain tops but on the plus side the temperature wasnt too bad.

From the gun I took up the running leading the field up towards Whin Rigg with the eventual winner Ben Abdelnoor. On the wet rock my footwear choice was soon becoming apparent that it was a poor one in that I had no confidence in them. Reaching Whin Rigg in 3rd place I somewhat wimped out of the descent but once on the flat to Greendale I moved away into 2nd.

On the road crossing Joss Naylor was giving out juice and said "aye wi looking after ya today lad". Heading up Seatallan I was gaining on Abdelnoor but I took an ambitious route up the waterfall edge then the steepest ascent of Seatallan. As then mist was down I didnt know my position but I was pleased to hear 2nd (57.10). This is when I went horribly wrong and my lack of navigation skills meant I did a whole circumference of Seatallan bumping into some old fellas walking up Seatallan.

Complete and utter dejection at blowing my chance of a Lakes Classic win especially after feeling so good I headed off in a NE direction bumping into some runners including John Duff and to be honest although I walked most of the next hour I was blown away by the spirit of the runners helping each other in the mist when perhaps at the sharp end this isnt always the case. Once I knew the route a bit I ran with at least 6 falls including a full on toe-end whack on a rock which hindered any sort of comfort on the rocky ground. I must have passed about 35 runners bumping into Will and Angus on the way.

At Esk Hause I settled for walk/running with 3 other lads.On the final descent I badly turned my ankle (which has swollen like a pudding!) but held off the fast finishing NFR teamate to finish 31st in 5.28.31. Rather than dwell on what might have been I have learned some lessons like the fell shoes I picked are crap on wet rock and that I need to learn how to use a compass and navigate.

Gary Jones

results (CFRA website)