The Lap - A jog around a pond

The Lap has been on my race wish list for a number of years.

The concept is really simple and beautiful at the same time. A Lap of Lake Windermere (England's largest lake) using some of the best trails The Lake District has to offer.

What makes The Lap special is that it caters to everyone. A generous 24-hour time limit means that the whole 47 miles could be walked. Not many Ultramarathons can offer that. And whilst the cut-off is generous, if you want to "race it," the course is challenging and will give you a good test.

Firstly I would like to say that everything ran like clockwork. Registration was simple, the pre race briefing was spot on, and the support from marshals/ checkpoints was amazing. Well done to everyone involved behind the scenes.

My goal for this had always been to finish in sub 12 hours. The injury I sustained at my previous race meant I'd had a very short build up to this. My main focus during this build had been hills. And lots of them. Up and down. The Lap has 2000 metres of elevation gain and loss. You'd better become friendly with hills!

Race start time was 6am. Nearly 800 people were on the start line, and this naturally led to some bottlenecking on the single tracks near the start.

This is something I need to work on and just settle into whatever pace I have to go. At the start of these things, you are naturally bunched together but overtake when you can and don't let it annoy you.

The first checkpoint was around 3 miles in. I'd already made my mind to go straight past this and not go in. This helped to thin the amount of runners who were around me, and I was able to run at my own pace.

Between me and the next checkpoint was a small fell called Latterbarrow. This modest fell might not have the height of some of its neighbours but it makes you work for every metre. The route up through some forest sections that had been felled made for some good running. 

Once Latterbarrow was sumitted, it was time for a steep descent off and down to Skelwith Bridge for the next aid station. I had planned on stopping at this one, so made sure my flasks were empty and ready to be refuelled.

I spent ten minutes at this checkpoint. A quick refill of tailwind, some snacks consumed, quick hello to a friend, and I was off.

This next section has the two largest climbs on the route. First up is Loughrigg Fell. This fell was the first Wainwright that I did, so it has a special place in my heart. However, I'd never gone up it via the West side before. This route up was steep with no rest. But the plus side is that the summit was reached quickly. 

A quick tap of the summit cairn, and it was down to Ambleside. I've ran this descent from Loughrigg before and knew it was a fun fast one. I wasn't long before I was joining the local Parkrun around Rothay Park in Ambleside. This was where I'd pre-planned for my wife to meet me for a quick hello. 

The effect of seeing someone you care about whilst racing can't be underestimated. I made my way through Ambleside with a spring in my step ready to start the climb up Wansfell.

Last August, I climbed this fell as my last Wainwright. Whilst it's nowhere near the biggest Wainwright, it definitely makes you work for it. The climb is steep and relentless. 

The view from the top is both magnificent and daunting at the same time. Magnificent as you get a great view along Lake Windermere. Daunting because it shows you how far you still have to go.

From Wansfell summit, the route took us along an undulating track to Baystones. Along the way, I chuckled to myself as I passed the place where my son went knee deep in a bog last year.

With Baystones ticked off, it was down into Troutbeck and the "roughly" half way checkpoint.

Here, we had access to our drop bags. I'd only packed some more gels and tailwind. I spent a bit longer here organising my kit, eating a bit more and generally just cooling down.

The temperature for the weekend had sky rocketed and was really taking its toll. I would later learn from the RD that they had the highest amount of DNF's ever due to the heat. Looking at the stats later, 38% of DNF's happened at Troutbeck.

On my way out of Troutbeck, I grabbed a slice of pizza and a coke to enjoy whilst getting back to the job at hand.

It was at this point that my friend Dan went passed me. We had seen each other at both check points but not ran together. This wasn't an issue as we were both running our own races. We shared a quick joke about keeping the pizza down and started the climb out of Troutbeck.

From this point until we got into Windermere, Dan and I kept on criss-crossing each other. As we left Windermere, we ended up running together and just started chatting.

The more I think about this, the more it proves to me how doing hard things really brings people together. At no point in the lead up to this race had we discussed running together. This wasn't a competitive decision (on my part, at least), just an assumption that we would run our own races. From this point onwards, we stuck together and didn't even mention it until that last part of the race.

As we made our way to the next aid station at Cleabarrow, we discussed finishing under 12 hours. We both agreed that as long as we kept moving with purpose, we would be able to do it. The heat was really beating down now, and it was a relief to get to the aid station, fill up water, and get some extra calories in.

We had already started breaking the rest of the course down into smaller sections. Either checkpoint to checkpoint or one place on the route to another. 

The next aid station was Cote Hill. This was only a water station, but it was nice to refill, take on extra fluids, and have some chit-chat with the marshals.

Our next objective was to get to Newby Bridge. Between us was small hill called Gummers How. Whilst it only stands at 321m, it felt a lot more with over 30 miles in our legs. 

Some "well dones" and "keep going" from the general public at the summit, and we started the winding descent around the back to Staveley in Cartmel. 

As we left the trail and hit some road, we were greeted with one of the kindest gestures I've ever seen. A family had set up an unofficial aid station with water and ice pops. The children were loving helping the runners and turning the garden hose on us. I'm sure this act of kindness was felt by the majority of the racers that day. Ice pops have never tasted so good!

A short road section, and we were crossing Newby Bridge. I'd arranged for my wife to meet us here, and as we jogged in, we were greeted with applause from people enjoying a beer in the nice weather. 

A two minute stop, and we were on our way again.

This next section was the hardest of the entire day. We climbed up to the last aid station at Finsthwaite. From here, it was another climb up to High Dam and back down to the lake.

By now, our legs were really feeling the effort. The descent through the woods was quite technical and made slow progress. 

Once we reached the lake shore, it was a case of keeping on going. Running the flats and down hills. Walking the up hills. 

As we came into view of the event village, the relief was real. We had done it. 

Running across the finish line together to be greeted by our families was something special.

We completed The Lap in 11 hours and 44 minutes. I'm sure we left time out on course, but given the temperature of the day, we can be very proud of achieving our goal.

This was a bucket list race for me, and after the disappointment of not being successful at the BYU, this meant a lot.

I'll finish by saying a massive thank you to the organisers and volunteers. They put on a hell of a show, and I can see why the event sells out in a matter of days.