Race report by Josie:
Who put the LOST in LOSTOCK?
Sorry..it’s a long one 😬🫣
BUTTERMERE HORSESHOE FELL RACE
On Saturday, Tom Grundy and I headed over to Buttermere for the 3rd installment of the
Lakeland Classic Trophy Series, Buttermere Horseshoe, better known as the Darren
Holloway Memorial Race. Widely thought of as one of the toughest and most respected of
the Lakeland Classics. The race features 22.1miles with an elevation gain of 8251ft on
some of the quieter mountains of the Lake District.
This was the first long classic fell race that Tom had entered but for me, it was the 3rd in a
month! However, it was the only classic that I had never done. A recce the previous week
had to be abandoned because of the extreme heat, so the final summits of the race would
be unknown for me.
Tom and I set off amongst a good field of runners from Loweswater Village Hall in warm, dry
but overcast conditions. The pace was steady given the heat in the valley and overall distance we had to contend with as we headed to the fells. We reached the extremely windy and cloud covered
first summit together and remained close over the summit checkpoints of Grassmoor and Whiteless Pike until Tom pulled away at Newlands Hause. I could see Tom in the distance crossing the bogs
ahead of the Robinson traverse. I spent the next couple of hours on my own in some pretty
poor weather across the cloud covered tops. The wind was knocking me sideways at times
and the rain was persistent. Thankfully the temperature wasn’t too bad and I persevered in
my racevest.
Reaching Honister was light relief! Visibility was better, it was warmer, less windy and the
hills to the next checkpoint were less severe. However, what followed was a massive
contrast. The route over High Crag to High Stile was a navigational nightmare when my
compass malfunctioned. I borrowed a passing walker’s compass to take a bearing to get back on
course. I was delighted to be joined by another runner so we could use his compass, only to
find out he’d accidentally left it behind when he stopped at Honister!
Unbeknown to me at the time, Tom was having his own battles further ahead in the race in the zero visibility as he negotiated the tricky descent beyond Red Pike. Thankfully, he was sporting a new compass following a similar malfunction during his recce. The route at this point is pretty rough and steeply drops to the valley floor. The sting in the tail is the final checkpoint at the summit of Mellbreak.
Tom maintained a great pace throughout and successfully arrived back at the village hall in a
brilliant time of 6:25:49 in a good midpack position.
Meanwhile, I joined ranks with two ladies and
together, we negotiated our way through the rocks and out of the clouds to safely arrive back
at the finish in 7:20:55. Not my finest moment in a race but one that I have learned a serious lesson on. My final stats for the race were 24miles and 11,000ft somewhat more than the race stats owing to my walkabouts in the clag! A great day out!
