Tour De Helvellyn

The Tour de Helvellyn is a 38 mile, 2000 metre ultra in its second year, organised by Nav4.  The course started in the village of Askham, made its way to Patterdale via Boredale Hause before looping round Helvellyn via Sticks Pass, Stannah Bridge, Dunmail and Grisedale Tarn, then returning back to Askham.

I decided to start as close to 9am as possible, this way I should know how well I was doing and avoid having to cut a route through the snow on Sticks Pass. I started a few minutes behind Alex Pilkington, Bruce Duncan and Mike Robinson believing these guys would be the ones to beat. The plan was to start fairly hard and catch this group, having caught Bruce and Alex by Howtown and had my sights on Mike, who had started to push on, hopefully giving me someone to run with. I caught Mike climbing Boredale Hause and we ran together for a short while before he let me push on as the slope steepened, reaching Patterdale in a split of 1hr 22min. I knew this was fast and, hoping I hadn't worked too hard too early, I wanted to utilise the boost you get from overtaking while my legs were fresh.

As I started to climb Greenside, reaching the snow line, the earlier starters were being reeled in. Early on the path was well trodden, but the soft snow higher up was more like treacle and I ran most of the way keeping to the tracks of the earlier starters. As the snow deepened  and the slope steepened my run slowed to a fast walk and I was soon at the top of the pass, with not many left in front. Heading down, trying to follow tracks of skiers and walkers, became difficult as the white cloud met the snow. A quarter of the way down I hit the front; with a slight correction as I had started to deviate from the path. Escaping the cloud was a relief and, with the hardest climb done, it was now a long grind to Dunmail Raise.

I was alone less than half the way around and this was where the race would get mentally and physically hard with one eye over my shoulder, I kept a rhythm trying to keep relaxed, with good posture, to avoid my legs seizing. The climb up to Grisedale Tarn was a pleasure with a good path in the snow, then the path ran out at the tarn and I had to cut steps in the shin deep snow as I contoured above the tarn trying to make my way to Grisedale valley. I started my decent back towards Patterdale, passing my mate Andy with a welcome cheer and Ally with a quick kiss, reaching Patterdale in just under four and half hours. I started retracing my steps towards Askham with the thought of a sub 6 hour finish keeping me going. The hardest bit was the long drag up from Howtown onto the moor and I knew I would not quite make it in time, although it was still great running down to Askham, stopping briefly for a photo, and surprising the finish staff by how early I was. With a finish time of 6 hours 5 minutes I was ecstatic not only to have won but finished with such a good time and not to of faded too badly on the way home. Thanks to Nav4 for a fantastic event, not to mention the excellent spicy parsnip soup, and to Inov8 for the Oroc's which gave me good grip and warmth in the snow. I hope 2012 begins as well as 2011 has ended ...