Jordan legs it around Langdale
After successful runs in my first two ‘proper’ fell races up in the Lake District (Grisedale Horseshoe and the Three shires) I decided to take things up a notch and have a go at The Langdale Horseshoe, a 21km 1500m elevation race renowned for being one of the most difficult in the UK. Due to its steep and rocky/boggy terrain and lack of paths with navigation difficult due to the unpredictable Lake District October weather particularly up in the higher fells.
Starting off outside the old dungeon ghyll in Langdale the race checkpoints include Stickle Tarn, Thunacar Knott summit, Angle Tarn,Esk Hause, Bowfell, Crinkle Crags, Pike o Blisco and finally ‘the cattle grid’ after coming off Blisco. Setting off from the old dungeon in relatively benign conditions I managed to get a good position towards the front/middle half of the race and felt strong as I gained elevation up towards Stickle Tarn. Moving on from Stickle Tarn towards Thunacar Knott the mild conditions then made way for some refreshing wind and rain, lovely stuff.
After battling my way through the extremely boggy ground of Thunacar knott a mudslide descent followed only to only have to gain more elevation by traversing the side of Rossett Pike while the weather turned increasingly more foul. Levelling out briefly at Angle Tarn a few runners decided to wisely layer up and make use of the mandatory kit required for all fell races. However my competitive race mode mindset took over and I decided to keep moving. Though by the time I reached arguably the most treacherous part of the race the ‘Esk Pike Trod’ (labelled dreadful but correct on the Pete Bland Sports map) it became essential to make a stop to layer up. The only problem being I could no longer feel my hands and putting extra layers on felt almost impossible.
Further along the trod I encountered a group of runners struggling with the cold conditions too including a couple of club members from Pennine. At which point I realised I needed to get a grip (quite literally) and find a way to get some feeling back in my hands so as to get changed without embarrassingly having to ask for help which did cross my mind. Eventually I managed to pull myself together and battled through the summits of Bowfell, the long top of Crinkle crags and the Pike of Blisco. Feeling completely done in but immensely proud that I was overjoyed to have made it through in one piece in a time of 3 hours 50. Not my quickest but something to beat in next year’s race with hopefully less brutal conditions!
