Host club Keswick just missed out on being crowned British fell running relay champions by a frustrating 48 second margin despite a valiant effort by the six man team.
Hundreds of athletes from across the UK converged on Braithwaite on Saturday for one of the most important events on the fell running calendar and there was an exciting climax to the race as Keswick came close to chasing down Dark Peak.
Former European mountain running champion Jacob Adkin (34-48) ran the anchor leg (6.9km and 560m of climb) and took a minute-and-a-half out of international athlete Finlay Grant (36-07) as he brought Keswick home in a time of 3-30-48.
Mark Lamb (28-02) put Keswick on a sound footing by coming home third in the first leg (4.6km with 470m of climb) behind Ambleside’s Oscar Subuh-Symons and Sam Bentham, running for an Ilkley Harriers mixed team that drifted back through the field to eventually finish 89th overall. The first leg visited the tops of Barrow and Stile End as well as Little Man, which is a small summit half way down Barrow.
John Battrick and Brennan Townshend (1-14-55) ran the second leg (12.6km with 1,030 metres of climb), which visited Outerside, Coledale Hause Sail, Causey Pike and Barrow, before handing over to Matthew Atkinson and Steve Hebblethwaite for the navigation leg (10km and 705m climbing) in second place with Matlock leading at this stage of the proceedings.
It was on this leg that Dark Peak did the damage with their pairing of Jonathan Crickmore and Tom Saville setting a blistering pace with map and compass to post 1-06-19 while Atkinson and Hebblethwaite posted a more than respectable 1-13-03 – the fourth fastest time on the leg – as Keswick slipped back to third behind Dark Peak and Ambleside.
The navigation leg visited the Stile End stream junction, Coledale Hause stream bend, Birkthwaite Beck stream junction, the ruins on Eel Crag and Long Crag, the stream junction below Causey Pike and the hill top half way down Barrow.
Adkin overhauled Ambleside’s Ben Sharrack (35-57) on the final leg, which visited the summits of Stile End, Outerside and Barrow but was unable to catch Finlay Grant, who was looking nervously over his shoulder as he bore down on the finish line to give Dark Peak victory in 3-30-00. Ambleside were the third team home in 3-31-14 – just 26 seconds behind Keswick.
There was joy for Borrowdale’s V50 team as they romped to a comfortable win over Helm Hill (4-27-12) and Dark Peak (4-32-47) and placed a creditable 31st overall in 4-11-39 thanks to the efforts of Ben Bardsley (31-14), Andrew Schofield/Phil Davies (1-32-34), Mark Roberts/Steve Birkinshaw (1-24-54) and Jim Davies (42-57).
Keswick’s B team finished 10th overall in 3-51-44 with a team made up of Jacob Hiam (31-13), Harry Bolton/Jake Collier (1-18-55), Carl Bell/Callum Trinnian (1-20-32) and Ben Barker (41-04).
The ladies’ race was won by Helm Hill (4-19-48) who were followed by Ambleside (4-24-47) and Black Combe (4-29-20). Keswick’s LV50 team were second in their category with Kirsty Barker, Kerry Cornforth/Sara Hogson, Hazel Davies/Gill Atkinson and Steph Illingworth coming home in 5-56-14 and placing 183rd overall. They lost out to Dark Peak (5-18-22) while Helm Hill (5-57-29) were third.
Meanwhile, Keswick AC received praise from the chair of the UK Athletics Mountain Running Advisory Group for the “impeccable” way it had organised the event.
Anne Buckley thanked the club for all of its hard work on putting on the relays and added: “It was a fantastic event and the standard of organisation was impeccable.
“It was the biggest British Fell & Hill Relay there has ever been, and probably the biggest fell event that has ever taken place in the UK.
“Everybody I spoke to was full of praise for the event and were thoroughly enjoying the day. This is down to the months of hard work put in by Keswick AC.
“Events such as this cannot happen without the volunteers and we are extremely grateful for all the effort you put in to making yesterday’s event such a success.”
