EnduranceLife Lake District Coast 2 Coast
Lakes C2C 2008
Ben Lowe / 05.11.2008
Run: Grange-Over-Sands to Fell Foot ParkKayak: To Windermere Ferry
MTB: To Great Langdale Campsite
A mixture of nerves and excitement filled the pub for the pre-race briefing the evening before the start of the inaugural EnduranceLife Lake District Coast 2 Coast. A good mix of C2C virgins and veterans including a couple of people completing the full race series (Devon, Snowdonia and Lakes) this year. I had previously competed in the 2007 Snowdonia C2C and thoroughly enjoyed the experience despite the weather and it was looking like I had brought the rain with me for this race too (the 2008 Snowdonia C2C had spectacular weather, probably because I wasn’t doing it).
A head torch lit breakfast followed by the handing out of the day’s race route got the feverish planning underway as the competitors planned their route as best they could for the day ahead. The initial run from the Grange-Over-Sands campsite to the National Trust’s beautifully situated Fell Foot Park at the bottom end of Lake Windermere was to take in two mandatory check points at the summit of two hills. Competitors had to choose their own route, with many footpaths, byways and lanes heading north to pick from.
The group countdown got us underway and straight up a very slippery, muddy path out of the campsite. A few slips and slides were had and I was very conscious of not wanting to roll an ankle within site of the start line. An early split in route choice as those ahead headed off down a lane where I took a footpath and that was the last I saw of anyone until the first transition. A great view of Morecombe Bay was on offer from the tower at the summit of the first hill but after finding the checkpoint at the top of the tower little time was spent taking it in. A mixture of paths and road took us to the next climb up to the second checkpoint which was accompanied by the first rain of the weekend. The mountains to the north were all too apparent knowing that the next day we would be racing over them. The first glimpses of Windermere were snatched as the exciting bridleway descent to Fell Foot threaded its way through the woods. Back briefly onto the road and into the Fell Foot car park and into transition.
Lovely reflections on the flat water and wisps of cloud hugging the sides of the hills were a magnificent distraction from the 7 miles of paddling ahead. From looking at the grid reference of the kayak to bike transition I knew that we had to just get past the Windermere ferry so I took the line of least resistance up the middle of the lake. I rowed on Windermere as a kid and it felt great to be back out there again as most people were still having their breakfast. The last time I’d sat in a kayak was at the Snowdonia C2C the previous year so I was keen to take it fairly easy, enjoy the experience and not cripple myself for the next couple of days.
Finally the ferry came into view and fortunately the timing was fine to avoid getting caught up in the cable it uses to pull itself back and forth across the lake. The welcome sight of the Endurancelife flag on the banks got me through the final few hundred metres knowing that all that remained of the day’s racing was a long and technical MTB. Having spent most of the year training for the 7 day long TransWales MTB race held last August I knew I was in fairly good biking form and the day’s route took in tracks that I had ridden a number of times as part of my training.See All Event Posts
