Ultra Skills Training Course

Bernard writes… I recently attended an Ultra Skills training course in the Lakes and, on the basis this might be of interest to some of you, I thought I’d share some of the details.

The course is run by Mountain Run. Although the description is Ultra Skills, the course covers a range of activities that benefit trail / fell running of all distances.

The weekend was hosted by Charlie Sproson and Damien Hall. A quick check of their running credentials should give reassurance they are sufficiently qualified to pass on advice, tuition and tips. Damien finished 3rd at the 2016 Montane Spine Race and achieved 19th place at the UTMB. Charlie competes at Elite level on the Mountain marathon circuit and has completed amongst many the Dragons Back and the Bob Graham Round (twice).

The weekend started getting to meet the other runners on Friday evening over a couple of beers in the Sticklebarn Tavern. The 20 runners were a mix of ability and experience, some of a high standard, most similar to level to me and a handful with little experience but keen to build on the experience they had.
The accommodation was the YHA facility next door to the Sticklebarn behind the New Dungeon Ghyll pub in Great Langdale. This is a pretty basic facility so don’t be expecting spa facilities / fluffy dressing gowns etc… think bunk beds !

Saturday – After a breakfast of porridge and danish’s, we attended a 2 hour session on Natural Running and Natural Moving by a very sweary Irishman called Paul Tierney (winner of the 2015 Lakeland 100).
Following Paul’s session on Natural running, we spent 3 hours with Nic’s Nordic Poles. Whilst most of us may have little / no intention of using poles for running, after a couple of hours the benefits of using them were clear… if I ever return to Chamonix, I’ll be putting my new found skills to the test.
Back to the Sticklebarn for an hours lunch and dry out. As darkness fell, we then went back out with Charlie for a run / walk and map reading / navigation session. This is Charlie’s real passion. He now spends a lot of his time designing routes for mountain marathons. I suspect I am not alone in admitting I am pretty rubbish at navigation. Although I remain pretty rubbish, a few hours with Charlie gave me some really useful basic skills. I may not be quite ready to navigate my way through a night time, snow-covered section of the Spine, but at least I should be able to return to my car after descending Shining Tor etc.
After a shower and change, we met back up again at our base in the function room at the Sticklebarn for our evening meal (included). Following our meal, Damien had arranged a film night where we enjoyed an advanced viewing of the soon to be released film of the 2017 Montane Spine race. You may recall this was a fantastic battle between a Czech / Spaniard and our own Yorkshireman (I won’t spoil it).

Sunday – after breakfast (yep, more porridge !), we had a choice of an hour’s Yoga or brave the incessant rain and have a go at slack lining (a bit like tight rope walking on a loose rope)… I chose Yoga ! Damien then gave a Q&A where he provided all with his introduction to running and stories from his races.

As the rain finally abated, a handful of us went for a fantastic run with Damien and Charlie from Great Langdale over Blea Tarn.

Despite the incessant rain, the weekend was excellent. Whatever your level, I would highly recommend this course or any of Charlie’s / Damien’s courses… there was no pressure on anyone to do more than they were capable of, and as always seems to be the case with fell runners, Damien and Charlie were very humble and modest and keen to ensure everyone was involved.

The cost for the 2 night / 3 day course (including all activities / accommodation / lunch each day and Saturdays evening meal) was £165… great value !

Details of future courses can be found via the link below:

http://www.mountainrun.co.uk/courses

Bernard