Rydal Round – Thursday 29th July
9miles. 3,000ft ascent.
Kate Ayres 71st 1hr 54.18
Paul Ayres 84th 1hr 59.52
One muggy Thursday at the end of July, Paul and I set off to the Lakes with our support team (son, daughter and dog). The weather didn’t look promising (the forecast was for storms) and as we looked across to the fells it certainly did look very stormy but we were lucky and the rain held off for the race and the cloud remained high so we had no trouble with navigation.
The Rydal Round is the second Fairfield Horseshoe fell race of the year but this one is part of the Ambleside Sports Meeting, a big event held every summer which includes amongst other things Cumberland wrestling (strange outfits!) and Hound trailing where the hounds follow a laid scent. We were rather alarmed to see on our way up Fairfield a man coming towards us dragging a large rag behind him. This was the scent and we had visions of a pack of hounds tearing towards us. In fact they didn’t set off until we were down – we were changing by the car when there was a great noise of dogs baying and the pack flew past us, we almost lost our dog Ben with them and only just grabbed his lead in time.
Considering it was a mid-week run there was a good turn out (109 runners). The race started from the centre of the sports arena in Rydal Park and headed towards Nab Scar. The path up Nab Scar was tough, I ran as much as I could but the going was steep and I walked a lot, more than I should have but it’s very off putting when people are walking faster than you are running! I ended up running with a group of about 8 people – it amazing how these races spread out – and 3 of us were female which got the competitive streak in me going. I worked really hard to stick with them but by the time I got to the top of Fairfield I was trailing at the back of the group. I had some drink and gel which was disgusting but it had an effect and I picked up speed, gradually passing all of the group and catching up with a few others I could see in the distance as the descent got steeper. For a long time on the way back I could see the marquees in the valley below where the finish was but it never seemed to get any nearer. Eventually the last summit of Low Pike was reached. The last section was along narrow tracks through tall bracken and you couldn’t see where you were putting your feet so I just hoped there would be no pot holes or rocks to twist the ankle, this seemed to go on forever until suddenly I was at the top of a steep slope and there was the finish at the bottom. One last effort and I was back, exhausted but pleased to have run such a fantastic race. Paul arrived back soon after me just inside 2 hours full of his usual enthusiasm!
Kate Ayres