Click here for the Clif Bar 10 Peak Lakes website

Date:  Saturday 27 June 2015

Distance:  45 miles (Medium, but harder than some Longs!)

Ascent:  18000ft/5600m

2014 winning time:  10:50:42

ALREADY OPEN FOR ENTRIES

In 2015 we’re continuing what we started in 2014 with the Vegan Welsh 3000s: including an out-and-out mountain tops race.  The Clif Bar 10 Peaks Lakes race follows a tremendous route over the 10 highest mountains in the Lake District, with a few extra tops thrown in for good measure.

This race was first run in 2010, and nobody finished at all, the weather was so poor.  Our experience is of running in 2013 and it was a really great race.  It’s about 2/3 of a Bob Graham Round, in both distance and ascent.  Take notice of the warnings on the race website, and don’t enter unless your navigation skills are good, and you are used to running long distances in the mountains.  You’ll need to train for the amount of climbing involved, unless you’re already doing a lot of fellrunning.

The race begins at dawn at the foot of Helvellyn, and the climbing starts with a vengeance straight away.  After Helvellyn you trek up soggy Wythburn, over High Raise to Stake Pass, then up Bowfell for a great high-level circuit of the Scafell tops, following the Bob Graham route.  You then have two options to get from Scafell to Pillar and Great Gable.  If you drop down to Wasdale Head and climb Pillar via Mosedale and Wind Gap, the climb is horrendous with tired legs.  The alternative is to follow the Corridor Route to Sty Head, climb Gable, then go out and back to Pillar.  Whichever way you go, the drop down to Honister Hause is a very pleasant relief.  You’ve now got only one mountain to go, but it’s Skiddaw, miles away at the other end of Borrowdale.  So the race turns into a road and trail run north to the finish at Keswick, but…you haven’t finished yet.  The cruellest bit of all is leaving the slog up Skiddaw until last, followed by a mad scamper down the tourist track back to Keswick.  Epic.

The Runfurther race is the “Long” option on the race website, not the “Xtreme”.  Make sure you enter the right one.  Entries are cheaper before the end of January.