Jordan shows up for the Three Shires Challenge
Soon after Grisedale horseshoe in the race calendar comes an Iconic Lakeland classic (and one of the seven races in the Lakeland classic legend series) The Three Shires fell race. This epic route starting from the three shires inn in Little Langdale takes in the summits of Wetherlam, Swirl How, Pike of Blisco and Lingmoor fell. All offering a mix of runnable rugged and technical terrain and something to please everyone. The only cut off checkpoint in this race being located at the Three shires stone which is set at two hours from the race beginning.
After arriving in a heavily clagged in Lake District and parking up at the designated farmers field (which was getting muddier with every car) I set off on the 30 minute walk to get to the start of the race. Arriving at the Three Shires Inn to the left was another farmers field with a registration and kit check gazebo along with another tent to shelter the runners from the elements. There was no problem if you’d forgotten any race essentials either as Pete Bland Sports had a van chock full of any running gear available to purchase.
After going through a kit check, getting my race number and ‘dabber’ to be scanned by the Marshalls at each checkpoint then soaking up the great atmosphere and not so great weather it was finally time to head over to the start line.
With the race organiser wishing everyone luck and ringing the bell to signal the start of the race myself and 187 other runners headed off to take on this Lakeland classic. Deciding to take it relatively easy at the start before hitting the first and biggest climb of the day turned out to be a wise move, as the first ascent up Wetherlam was brutal. though once the brutal climb was completed we were then rewarded with 50mph gusts and driving rain, all part of the fun!
After checking in at Wetherlam with some very brave Marshals (big shoutout to anyone who volunteers to do this) I swiftly moved on towards Swirl How helped along by some particularly powerful wind gusts. Making my way over the slippy technical terrain of the Prison band section between the two summits I’d genuinely never felt so alive or full of life. I guess being clad only in a vest and shorts pelted by wind and rain probably contributed to that close connection to nature. Navigation proved difficult up until the descent down off Swirl How and then down to The Three shires stone (making the cut off with 31 minutes to spare) as the clouds temporarily began to clear revealing magnificent views of the Pike of Blisco and the surrounding fells around Langdale.
Steadily making my way up towards the summit of the Pike of Blisco the terrain changed from soft spongy and boggy to jagged rock, slowing me down somewhat as I’m still getting used to this new type of terrain. The clouds began to move in again which made picking the right lines up to the penultimate checkpoint increasingly difficult. Finally making my way up to the summit and back down the really tricky descent of Blisco the Lingmoor Fell came into sight and signalled that the end was near. Fellow Pennine Fell runner Richard Tunnicliffe caught up with me and we decided to stick together for the last leg of the race.
After powering up to the summit of Lingmoor, civilisation appeared below us and we battled our way down to the final road section cheered back into the starting field and through the kit check tent to hand in our dabbers in and then drop to the floor on the other side in complete exhaustion and elation that I’d completed a true Lakeland classic fell race after only running a 5k run around my local park in March. Coming in 83rd out of 188 with a time of 2 hours 56 mins 55 seconds.
After chatting over a cup of tea and flapjack with fellow runners who were all similarly buzzing off an incredible runners high I made the snap decision tol take on another one in a few weeks time, The Langdale Horseshoe. Until then I’m off to Greece to sink plenty of mythos and gyros and top up the tan. All the best.
