Distance: 61.08 Miles / 98.3km
Climb: 12,579 ft / 3834 meters
Elapsed Time: 16:21:52
After experiencing and completing my first Fellsman last year, I was drawn to coming back for another go. This race is just something different, no other race I have entered has compared. The Fellsman is organised by the Keighley Scout Group and is staffed entirely from volunteers, many from the scout group.
Throughout the duration of the race, you visit 25 hilltop and roadside checkpoints. The roadside checkpoints are stocked with snacks and hydration, and some supplying hot food like pasta and hot dogs. The hilltop checkpoints are manned by scouts/volunteers in tents who remain there for the duration of the race.
The kit check is done on Friday night at Upper Wharfedale School in Threshfield and at the start in Ingleton on Saturday morning. The kit check is very thorough for good reason, so make sure you have the correct kit if you plan on entering! Once everyone was registered and has been handed there Fellsman tally, the race was underway at 8:36 (just 6 minutes behind schedule).
Ready at the start – showing off the all new Rab Veil XP 30 and Rab Downpour Trail Light Jacket
The first climb is a tough one. Straight out of Ingleton and to the summit of Ingleborough. The day was getting hotter by the minute, and any layers I had on were soon stripped off down to t-shirt and shorts. I was trying to pace myself faster than last year and felt pretty good, making it to the top of Ingleborough in 53 minutes, down the other side and up Whernside in an elapsed time of 2:08:58. I saw Liv at the summit of Whernside, then set back off down towards the Gragareth climb.
The start climb out of Ingleton up onto Ingleborough
Managing to keep the pace up, I summited Gragareth and followed the path along to Great Coum and down to Dent in an elapsed time of 4:20:03, which was 20 minutes faster than my previous effort last year. I still felt great and was eating enough, but I think I lacked on my hydration which I tried to make up for at the next checkpoints.
It was at Dent they were spot checking runners kit. On this race I was running with the all new Rab Veil XP 30 bag, a 30 litre fast backing bag designed for moving quick with lots of gear. I’ve found on previous long distance races that having a smaller bag and precisely packing your bag like Tetris was a real faff, and can be quite stressful later on in the race when tiredness is setting in and you need to get something from the middle of the pack. I opted for the 30 litre which at first seems like slight overkill, but when I was spot checked at Dent I could open my bag, find the kit they requested to check, and put it all back in without having to think twice, it was smooth and efficient. So a big thumbs up from me.
I’ll be doing an in depth write up on the Rab Veil XP 30 and Rab Downpour Light Jacket at a later date, once I’ve taken them out on more adventures.
Close up of the Rab Veil XP 30
As I continued on my journey through the Dales, I realised I was continuing to keep up the pace and was still feeling good. The humid warm weather was the only thing creating any issues but I kept reminding myself to keep hydrated, lime cordial at the checkpoints was a god send and was really hitting the spot. I made it across the bog and to the summit of Blea Moor in 5:54:02, from here it was all downhill to the next checkpoint which is Stone House, the checkpoint with the Pasta! I was ready for some proper grub at this point.
A faint line across the bog made from Fellsman runners in front, heading to Blea Moor.
The next sections of this race were to be as expected. Legs started to feel fatigued and energy levels started to drop but I kept plodding on. The climb up Great Knoutberry wasn’t as bad as I was expecting, and Snaizholme was kinder too as it wasn’t a big boggy mess like last year! The next big goal for me was to get to Fleet Moss in good time, so I could have some hot food and to tackle the big stretch of downhill tarmac to the start of the climb out of Outershaw, a section I was dreading. It was still just as rubbish this time! The climb towards Hells Gap from Outershaw is just a massive field covered in boggy holes and tussocks, no path to follow and definitely not runnable, it just seems to keep on going. After teaming up with a couple runners to help navigate the rubbish part, we made it to the Cray checkpoint in an elapsed time of 09:20:21 which was 40 minutes faster than last year, so I was maintaining my quicker pace!
From here there’s 2 big climbs to go, Buckden Pike and Great Whernside. I left the Cray checkpoint with my headtorch on standby as the sunlight was rapidly fading, although I managed to make it to the summit of Buckden Pike before I needed to turn it on.
There was an hour of shuffling between the summit of Buckden and Park Rash, the checkpoint before the last climb, Great Whernside. I had some cake and chocolate at the checkpoint which I thought might help but it didn’t sit right and made me feel a little nauseous. I pushed on and made it to the summit with an elapsed time of 14:08:01. It’s all downhill from here which is a really nice thought, all that is left to do now is walk, shuffle, and repeat all the way to the finish.
As I was starting to approach the finish, I was really hoping for a sub 16 hour. My legs and feet had other ideas and I could only bring myself to run for short bursts. I think pushing myself at the start was starting to catch up. After the 16 hour mark, my next goal was to finish before 1pm. I was running with a chap called John who was watching the ETA drop as we left the last check point and started the tarmac descent down into Grassington. We pushed to the finish and managed to finish at 12:56am with an elapsed time of 16:20:19, knocking 1 hour and 25 minutes off my time last year.
The volunteers that help out making The Fellsman the event it is are the real heroes, without them there would be no race, so I would like to say a massive thank you. The characteristics of this race is what will keep me coming back. The Yorkshire Dales, the people, the route, the atmosphere, everything combined is what makes The Fellsman so special, I would definitely recommend this race to anyone who fancies a challenge!