Northern Traverse / Lakes Traverse
Wet Wet Wet
Carrick Armer / 13.05.2018
So, having said at the end of the last report that it had been a glorious day but anything could happen, the obvious happened and it rained. Ho hum.
It's debatable whether it dampened spirits, but the onset of darkness and the incoming precipitation damped speeds, for many of the participants, at least a little. Those heading over from Patterdale towards Shap trod carefully over the wet rocks of Kidsty Pike, and those in the Lakes Traverse likely copped the worst of it, forced by the time constraints to push on through the darkness. Stuart admitted it had been a nightmare on the top in the wet, with the paths slippery and the feet not in a good state. Those in the Northern Traverse could, should they so wish, take some time and get some sleep at Patterdale, and many did. Harriet and Karl Shields reckoned they'd taken 7 hours out, two hours of eating and five hours of sleeping, topping up on the lovely veg chilli on offer.
Undeterred by the dark and the rain, Adam Potter came in as 1st man in Lakes Traverse, with brothers Matt and Richard Wilson taking joint second. Adam had snapped at Eoin Keith's heels for a large proportion of the day, while both the Wilsons had spent the last few kilometres suffering with stomach problems and vomiting, possibly a stomach reaction to the can of Coke they'd shared. They looked after each other to finish together just ahead of Matt Clarkson.
Cass Chisholm arrived at Shap to take 1st Lady in Lakes Traverse. She'd been issued a 24 minute penalty for a route deviation that gained her a small advantage, but that penalty had no effect on the outcome of the event. She said she'd been happy for the whole route, other than the climb out of Rosthwaite, and still had the energy to pull disco shapes at the finish line while singing a Flash Gordon ditty she'd been rehearsing since mile 30. Nicola Richards and Lucie Barnes rounded out the podium, both arriving in the early hours of the morning
First retirals also came overnight, Noel Privat, David Reece and Ruiqi Xu all having withdrawn withdrawn from the Lakes Traverse at Patterdale and John MacLeod and Frank Hinds a little earlier on the course. All the full Northern Traverse runners are still on course. Eoin Keith is roughly 35km off the front of the Northern Traverse race, with Richard Parker and Gregory Crowley now up into second and third, having passed Matt Neale and Paul Nelson when they opted to get a couple of hours sleep at Kirby Stephen. The day is now warm and sunny once again, proving the adage that if you don't like the weather, just give it a minute...
(Live tracking is at live.opentracking.co.uk/nt2018/, and galleries of images on the Open Adventure Facebook page)
SleepMonsters
