NAV4 Tour de Helvellyn

Joe Faulkner (NAV4 Adventure) / 23.12.2011

This was the second annual ‘TdeH’ once again proving it’s a very tough route, especially at this time of year. The weather played its part too, with white out conditions on Sticks Pass although generally warmer than 2010. Conditions underfoot were varied, from no snow on the lower trails to knee deep powder on Sticks Pass and around Grisedale Tarn.

Good navigation skills and winter experience are very necessary in order to survive. The route runs around Helvellyn; starting and finishing in Askham on the edge of The Lakes National Park. There is no doubt this was another great day out for some very hardy mountain runners judging by the feedback we’ve received; even the soup is legendary, here.

<b>No prizes - No Hype</b>

Everyone’s a winner, here. ‘The Tour’ is not a straight forward race, but a time trial, with runners starting between 7 – 9am and finishing between 6 and 12 hours later.

The vast majority of runners are very content just to complete the challenge and enjoy their day out; some hard running is needed to keep up the required 6kph in order to avoid the cut-off. The highlight for some was starting and finishing in the dark, or enjoying seeing a range of winter wildlife including deer, foxes and rabbits.
Kim Collinson was the first home, and one of the last to start, with a phenomenally fast time of 6hrs 5mins. Kim, running on home terrain and having a superb season, paced his run superbly, with Mike Robinson second home in 6.27 and Andrew Fallas third in 2.49. Shona Robertson recorded a very fast time of 6.57 to be fourth overall and the fastest female. Full results are on the NAV4 website.

Trail conditions gave fast running until Patterdale, which proved a slight glitch with runners arriving too early for refreshments at Control 2, but the course bites back later with two big climbs across the snowy Helvellyn range. A further significant climb back out of Patterdale marks the start of the final stage, but undoubtedly the sting in the tail is the re-crossing Askham Moor on the return, with many doing an extra mile or two due to poor, or complacent, navigation when tired in the last hour or so. Perhaps they need a navigation course?

The tour could not happen without some very skilful and dedicated people supporting it, and my thanks go to the team, including those in the Legendary NAV4 soup kitchen, Stu Smith - aka ‘The Legend of Swart Beck’, Ric, Sarah and Jeff for sweeping and Santa and his little helpers at Swirls Car Park.

Thanks also to all those taking part and creating such a good atmosphere. Next years TdeH will be on Saturday 22nd December. I wonder what the weather will be like next year?

Finally, I’m pleased to announce that we will be staging the NAV4 ‘Dawn to Dusk’ Ultra on Saturday 23rd June. This will be approximately 100km, with just 100 places available for experienced mountain trail runners. A ‘Summer Tour’ run will also be available based loosely upon the TdeH route.

More details soon at <a href="#" onClick="javascript:newsitewindow('http://www.nav4.co.uk')" class="main">www.nav4.co.uk</a>.