For as long as Paul Fox can remember he has loved running through the great outdoors, usually with his mad and muddy collie, “Spook”. Now, Paul, a former member of the Tavistock Section of the Dartmoor Rescue Group, offers courses on navigation, compass, map work and hillcraft skills, based on Dartmoor, so that anyone who has ever wanted to go and explore off the beaten track can learn or develop existing navigation skills so they can experience the beauty of Dartmoor and discover its many mysteries for themselves.
In the Long Run By Paul Fox
The weekend of 30th/31st July saw the fourth running of the Lakeland 50 ultramarathon and my first. After registration, weighing and a kit check at HQ, it was a night under canvas amid a snore-a-thon punctuated on an hourly basis by the chiming of the town clock. Never mind - I suspected sleep and I would be strangers for some time to come. Saturday saw the dawn of what promised to be a warm day and after a few last minute kit checks of my own, we were bussed to the Dalemain Estate on the edge of the Lake District for the start. By now, some of the runners who were participating in the 100 mile run and had started at HQ at 5:30 on Friday were having a refuel before starting on their last 50 miles. There can’t be many events where 50 miles can be considered the ‘fun run’!
it was off to Pooley Bridge and the first checkpoint at Howtown to fill up on bananas and water before the long hot climb up Fusedale. Dropping down to Haweswater we followed the west shore to the checkpoint at Mardale Head for lashings of Coke and jelly beans. After the long (and still hot) climb to Gatescarth Pass came the long descent to the Kentmere checkpoint. Each checkpoint, superbly crewed and provisioned, had its own character although this one was
40 After a 4 mile warm up loop
temperatures were more comfortable, it required more careful navigation. At this point I teamed up with a couple of runners, one of which I’d met at HQ and who I knew through our contributions to each other’s running blogs. After the climb up Robin Lane came the long downhill into Ambleside and the checkpoint at Lakes Runner. Potato soup and strong sweet coffee set us on our way to the checkpoint at Chapel Stile where beef soup never tasted so good. It was getting harder and harder to get going, but the lure of the finish prised me out of my seat towards the boggy Blea Tarn and the Tilberthwaite checkpoint.
ultramarathoneer’s heaven. Balloons and lights welcomed the runner in with the promise of pasta, soup, smoothies and even a massage with an infusion of soothing reggae to cap it off. Leaving was easily the hardest part of the whole run but I coaxed my protesting legs into some sort of action to cover as much ground as possible before nightfall.
The climb to the Garburn Pass led to the long descent of the Garburn road to Troutbeck. By now night had descended and although the cooler
A serious climb was not what was needed at this point, but within a few miles of the finish it didn’t seem so bad in the end. With the sky starting to brighten and my headtorch on its last legs, one last quad-punishing descent lay between us and the finish at HQ. Running in to rounds of applause I finished in 16 hours and 25 minutes.
For those who would like to gain a nationally recognised qualification or if you would just like to explore a different side of the moor off the beaten track, visit
www.4windsnavigation.co.uk or email: enquiries @4wind-
snavigation.co.uk or call Paul Fox on 07971 954588 for full details
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