Cartmel Ultimate Trails Race

Entering a race 5 months in advance to get a cheaper entry fee can sometimes seem like a great idea and it did last November when I entered the Cartmel Ultimate Trail Race. But the two week's after the Glasgow to Edinburgh Double Marathon I was beginning to regret the decision as the legs were taking longer to recover and the forecast wasn’t look great for the Saturday after a week of dry weather.

The weather man wasn’t wrong; we arrived to a very wet muddy race course car park which we were told had been bone dry the previous day, over night rain had changed that. I went for a warm up with fellow DRC member Dougie Brown along the last 1km of the course and quickly made the decision to go with 212 x-talons as the trail had become very slippery and soft underfoot.

Just before the start of the race at 2pm the rain stopped and the clouds began to lift. The race started on part of the race course which was very soft going making for a quick start which I was able to maintain finding myself in the leading group of six runners, I was surprised how good my legs felt at such a quick pace. In the lead group were two runners from Leeds AC one of them being Martin Hilton who I expected to win, the lead group soon dropped down to four as we climbed a step tarmac road. I let my pace drop slightly so not to flood my legs with lactic, Hilton and Richard Anderson from Huddersfield kept the pace going at the front, we crested the hill and quickly descended before turning off the road and onto the trail which climbed steadily again. James Buis from Heaton Harriers joined Hilton at the front and both began charging up the climb together, I tried to stick with them but the elastic was beginning to stretch and, Anderson dropped off from the three of us. During the climb I thought that third would be a good result as my legs screamed at me and, as I tried not to let the gap from myself to Hilton’s and Buis’s get too big.

I was surprised that once the trail became flat again that I closed the gap down on Hilton and Buis very quickly, the three of us ran together for the next few km’s along some undulating fell, where Hilton would take the lead on the climbs and then I would lead on the descents. My legs were feeling good and strong; the pace had slowed after the first few initial swift km’s. As we neared Bigland Tarn (last time I was there was at the JK in 1992 when I was an orienteer) I sensed the Buis was beginning to slow as I sat on Hiltons shoulder keeping the pace moving. We came to a short road section which gently climbed, I increased the pace with only Hilton able to stay with me and I maintained the pace over the brow of the hill and back onto the muddy trail.

The trail skirted the small tarn along a narrow slippery single track path, I kept the pace going, the talons were doing there business keeping me firmly on my feet as the path twisted and turned. My legs and lungs were burning but I knew I had opened up a lead Hilton. The trail climbed a track before a another road section as I went through the gate I glanced down the track seeing that I had opened up around a 20 second lead on Hilton. I tried my best to keep the pace fast along the undulating 1km road section hoping that I could maintain the lead. I was amazed how comfy the talon’s were on the road they felt like a racing flat and there wasn’t any of the thud thud thud I had experienced with other fell shoes on tarmac.

Thankfully the road gave way to forest trail again as the race entered a very wet and muddy section; which wasn’t much of a relief after the tarmac as I had to chop and change my stride over and around large muddy puddles. I had also begun to catch up competitors from the Challenge event which started and hour before the trail race, which added to the muddy obstacles. It felt great to be in the lead but I didn’t know how close behind Hilton was so I kept the pace going as best as I could.

Another short downhill road section offered some relief from the muddy forest but this was followed by a very wet muddy field and a very slippery tough climb with ankle deep sticky mud, which sucked the energy out of my legs. Thankfully the mud changed to a compacted farm track then another downhill on tarmac, before cutting through a farm and onto a track leading down to ford just before the last muddy forest section and the last climb.

The last climb was tortuous; gravity was truly taking over and my legs were now feeling very heavy I struggled to maintain my pace up the muddy climb, I was glad I had recced the section on my warm up as it gave a psychological boost as the small muddy path undulated and weaved along. Quicker than I expected I started to descend the last hill before emerging back onto the race course and the final 300m’s to the finish. Finishing first in 1:10.26 two minutes ahead of second place Martin Hilton.

Thanks very much to Graham and the rest of those involved at VO2 Max Events for a great event, and to the all the marshalls out on the course.