While other Carnethys were on the water at the weekend, either on the ferry to race at Goatfell or as part of the Scottish Islands Peak Race a few of us stuck to dry land and crossed the border into Lakeland for the Old County Tops race. The race starts at the New Dungeon Ghyll in Langdale and is run in pairs. The route takes in the highest points in the old counties of Westmorland (Helvellyn), Cumbria (Scafell Pike) and Lancashire (Old Man of Coniston) with a total distance of 57km and 3,200m so it’s a brute of a day out. I was running it with Lucas “the hat” Lefevre, Michelle Hetherington was running with her daughter Maddie and making up the final pair of Carnethies was John and Chris Busby. From the start to the first checkpoint after Helvellyn all three pairs kept passing each other but once we reached the pathless boggy section across to Stake Pass “the hat” and I lost sight of Michelle/Maddie and the Busby brothers and we settled into a battle with the heat, the bogs and the never ending climb from Cockley Beck. We shuffled to the finish in just under 10.5 hours, while John/Chris finished in just over 10 hours. Performance of the day was from team Michelle/Maddie who had a great run and finished 2nd female team and were well under 10 hours.
In the overall race the stand out result was from the female pair of Lisa Watson and Despina Berdini from Dark Peak who were 3rd overall and who broke the female record by over 25mins (previously held by Nicky Spinks/Jean Brown) in a time of 7:51. Overall winners were Josh Hartley/Harry Stainton from Black Combe in 7:10.
A very tough day out traversing some lesser known ground in the Lakes as you connect these three tops and when the sun is out and it’s hot, wear a hat, just don’t expect to wear it as well as Lucas.
Alan Renville
Download full-resolution images – Available until 22 Jun 2023