Great Lakeland 3Day
Andy Wilson / 09.05.2008
The GL3D returned home to the Lakes this year after last years anniversary travels to Wales, and Joe Faulkner welcomed his errant event back with a sharp cuff round the ear, a kick up the backside and a stern lecture not to be so bloody soft in future.Having thoroughly enjoyed the Welsh event, I didn\'t really pay too much attention to the 2008 details when they appeared on the website, just visiting long enough to print off an entry form and send it in sharpish - the event only accepts 50 entries and is always full.
Had I been more attentive, I might have noticed the subtle clues - promises of a “shake-up�, “longer and harder� and “be warned ... GL3D 2008 won’t be easy�. The give-away was the promise of a 100 mile route over the 3 days – 50 % further than 2007. Sadly I only noticed on Thursday, when I had a quick look at the website to check we really did get milk provided at the overnight camps, by which time it was probably too late to re-assess my \'training plan\'. There are very few fells to train on in Surrey anyway.
Joe recommended using the BMC mountain map of the Lakes which covers the whole Lake District at 1:40k, however even this wasn\'t quite sufficient an area for what he had in mind and the Start/Finish wasn\'t even on the map, sited just off the easternmost edge at Bampton near Shap. At least we had the benefit of starting at altitude, well, about 200m at least.
The GL3D differs from other mountain marathons in that competitors are allowed a 12kg gear allowance that will be transported for them between campsites. As a result they can travel much lighter on the hill with no need to carry tent and camp gear during the day, just a lighter day pack with essential survival gear, just in case the weather turns. The checkpoints are also generally less navigationally challenging – summits, tarns and footbridges, rather than re-entrants and small rocks. The flip side is the distance - twice as long as the OMM Elite course, over 3 days, and run solo.
A Long First Day
I arrived at the start at 8:30 Saturday morning to find that most had already left, probably having recognised the enormity of the day ahead. The map was quick to mark up with just 9 straightforward CPs, but with the start off the eastern edge of the map, and the overnight camp pretty close to the south-western corner, it was clearly going to be a very long day – I made a rough guess at 8-9hrs. Drop off the overnight kit bag, trim the weight in the day pack as much as I dare, and its time to go.
Starting south west from Bampton the route led up to the first summit at Kidsty Pike then joined the Coast to Coast path towards Angletarn Pikes and a very steep descent to Patterdale followed. From there I was moving Southwest again into the incessant, will sapping, headwind to pass Grisedale Tarn and once again dropping steeply to the southern end of Thirlmere. Surely I’m halfway done, but already there are well over 4 hours on the clock.See All Event Posts
