Lakes 24 hour record - Steve Birkinshaw

I tried hard to break the Lakes 24 hour record yesterday (78peaks, 90 miles and 40,000 ft of climb). But it did not work out. I gave up at Pillar after 55 tops over an hour behind schedule.

I am really disappointed. The weather and underfoot conditions were great but I still did not manage it.

The day started really well at Braithwaite at 3am. I felt great around the northern fells and came in around 7am about 10 mins down on schedule (but confident I could catch it up). Climbing to Great Dodd I suddenly felt really weak. I could not believe it, I had only been going 5 hours I should have been feeling strong. I was also cramping up and my stomach was really bloated. I was moving OK on the flats and descent but struggling up the climbs. I felt sick and the only things I could eat was Jelly babies and Mint Cake. It dawned on me that the conditions in my stomach were probably wrong. I had been having energy drinks and Nuun but also Gels with no additional water. Basically my stomach was not emptying and I was getting no energy from the food I was eating (apart from the really sweet stuff, which apparently can get absorbed before it reach the stomach). I needed to start drinking water but I stupidly did not ask for any. However we were going OK and not loosing any time on the schedule. We arrived in Dunamil and went straight through again this time with some water. We made steady progress to Langdale and did not loose any more time. but after that I was struggling and we were loosing minutes on each top. I knew it was slipping way. My support team was persuading me to eat more food in the hope it would help but it was just sitting there in my stomach. Eventually as we approached Esk Pike it all came out. I could not believe how much was in my stomach. I felt an immediate lightness and my stomach muscles stopped hurting. But it did not last long - the lack of energy hit me and I felt tired again. We arrived at Wasdale 45 minutes behind schedule. I carried on thinking I was not going to break the record but I could do 74 peaks or so. But the motivation had gone - I was just going through the motions. I lost over 10 minutes going up Yewbarrow and A similar amount up Red Pike. Going up Steeple I kneeled down dizzy and decided that was it. we took the easy route over Pillar and along Mosses trod back to Honister and home.


I must thanks my supporters on each leg, my roadisde support crew and in particular Jane saul who sorted out the logistics and generally stooped me having to worry about things.

I am now more impressed by this record than before I attempted it. There is no slack in the schedule, you cannot really have a bad patch and then catch it up again later. It is basically doing a BGR in 16 hours and then carrying on for another 8 hours. So hats off to Joss Naylor, Mark Mcdermott and Mark Hartell (and the guys that set the records before them) for each setting great records. It was good to have the two Mark's with me helping me yesterday. It shows what a really great group of people the Fell running crowd is.