Ennerdale Horseshoe Fell Race

Continuing my experience of “classic” long fell races in the Lakes, I completed the Ennerdale Horseshoe on Saturday – 20 odd miles, over 8000 feet of climbing in 6 hours. At times I wished that I had “only” been doing Glen Rosa as I would have had at least a couple of hours less in the heat and strong winds that were present. It was an English Championship race this year and led to a field of @ 300, with Stuart Barrie and myself the only Scots intruders I think. The numbers meant that there was always people to follow on the numerous wee shortcuts and contours that only the locals really know. The race basically is a classic circuit of Ennerdale Water in a clockwise direction, starting and finishing at the Scout camp near Ennerdale Bridge and going out via Great Bourne, Red Pike and Black Beck tarn as far as Green Gable and then over Kirk Fell, Pillar, Haycock, Iron Crag and Crag Fell. I had a so-so race from the point of view of my “expected” time (5h30m-6h), but was still pretty chuffed at finishing it in 5h 55m in the heat. I think last week’s Duddon race and Wednesday’s Kilpatrick’s race seemed to take their toll on my legs which certainly seemed a lot more tired than last week. The race is the usual great mixture of Lakes terrain – good runnable grassy trods, contouring mixes of rocks and grass, steep gully descents and slow plods uphill. The views were stupendous, whether the nearby ridges, tarns, screes etc. or views of further away fells and lakes My usual slow/steady start remained just that throughout, and unlike last week there was no steady passing of runners in the 2nd half, and the last few hours were a definite grind, especially as after about 3 hours you could look way way ahead and see the finish at the other end of the lake and boy did it look far. Other than my knackered legs I actually coped OK with the heat as I had 2 litres in my Camelbak, all of which I drank. The finish was a great relief, especially the ice cold sponges over your head at the end, which almost had me in tears of joy and pain at the same time. I am already planning to do it again next year, which only shows what a short memory I have, or how stupid I am, or probably both. It was a well organised race in a wonderful part of the Lakes and deserves its “classic” status. The race was won by Simon Booth from Rob Jebb in over two hours faster than me! A great meal in the nearby Kirkstile Inn and a few pints of the local Loweswater ale went down extremely well afterwards and helped fuel the fond memories and dull the nastier ones. Well worth doing, and making a weekend of to enjoy this fantastic part of the country that we so often overlook.