Lake District trailrunning camp: 'from muppetry to mastery'

Educational, exhilarating, engaging, enlightening … and wet! 

Those are just some of the words that sprung to mind when we asked Ant, Tim, Neil, Chris & Simon to describe their experiences on our Lake District training camp last weekend.

Our runners had travelled from all corners of the country to converge at the Keswick B&B on Thursday night, and over dinner at the local pub (and a couple of pints of Snecklifter, the local brew),
coach Andy Mouncey summed up everyone’s training goals in one perfect soundbite: a journey from ultrarunning muppetry to mastery.

From seasoned ultra runners to triathletes, we had a mixed group around the table. They’re training for some pretty diverse races throughout Europe over the next few months, from The Wall & Ultra Trail Southwest, to the CCC, the Norseman Tri, and the (ever so slightly crazy) TransEurope Footrace – but common to everyone was the sense of excitement at the prospect of a weekend on the trails, making the most of everything that our guides (and the Lake District) had to offer.

We were out before breakfast on Friday, braving the 7 a.m. drizzle to get the legs working and put the guys through their paces. Starting right from the doorstep, our first route took in sections of the Lakeland 100 ultra, heading out across the mountain shoulders (with a few quad-busting uphill sprint sessions thrown in for good measure – well, we wanted to earn that Full English!)

After breakfast we were straight back out, into the car this time and heading down the road to Blencathra. The weather was pretty mixed on the way up, and blustery on top, but we pressed on up to Scales Tarn where Andy Mouncey gave a masterclass on running with Mountain King poles, and everyone had the chance to try them. Running with poles is standard practice in Europe, and Andy’s a huge fan of Mountain King’s, which are lightweight and dependable – watch this space for a short video masterclass, coming soon! 

Next up was our first navigation exercise, taking us from the tarn and out along the tops, where our International Mountain Leader, Phil, assessed the conditions and gave the go ahead to set off up Sharp Edge (with ropes, just in case …) 

If you’ve ever tackled Sharp Edge, you’ll know it’s pretty exposed, and it can be greasy & slippery where the rock is polished (there’s a particular A-shaped rock that’s always given me the shivers!) – but with Phil in charge, we were in safe hands. We even had the benefit of views on the way up, before the mist came down ...

The one thing that limited visibility is great for, is Limited Visibility Navigation masterclasses. Phil was quick to take advantage of the opportunity: the guys learned tick features, orientation, and how to read topography. After four hours out on the mountain, we made our way back to the B&B to spruce up ready for our evening agenda at the Keswick Mountain Festival.

Paul Tierney finishes the BGR in 17h59 - great going!

We feasted on pre-ordered pizza (time was tight) before making our way to the festival village, where Andy was booked in to give a talk on Ultra Running Made Ultra Simple (it’s all about mood, contact points and pace, he told us – simple!) to a packed tepee-ful of festival goers. Inspiring stuff, and no sooner had he finished than we were off again, racing into Keswick town centre to cheer for Lakeland 100 podium-finisher Paul Tierney home, as he returned from his 18-hour Bob Graham Round, a legendary right of passage for fell runners in the Lakes. A fantastic effort, and great to see. 

Saturday started gently, with an hour-long leg-stretcher on the disused railway line behind the B&B – just a gentle outing before breakfast – and a chance to reflect on all that had been learned so far: highlights included up- and down-hill running tips; how to survive without a gel every 30 minutes; how to get ahead of French competitors by charging through the puddles …

The rest of the morning was spent on kit masterclasses, and route preparation for the main event: our Saturday Night Run. We headed back into Keswick for the afternoon, where we’d arranged to borrow some test-pairs of Hoka One One trail shoes from the demo pool at the George Fisher outdoor shop. (‘Insanely comfortable’ was the verdict from Ant, after running in the Hokas for the first time on the night run – we’ll be making Hoka testing a regular feature of our training camps from now on.)

Stretching the legs out on the disused railway

After a final mooch around the Mountain Festival, it was time to get back to base for a snooze (followed by a ‘second breakfast’ of pasta!) ready for our big run. It’s an hour and a half drive from Keswick to Wasdale Head, and the conditions were perfect when we got there. The wind was light; the view was breathtaking, and the runners set off in daylight at 6.30.

It was a two hour run to the first checkpoint, up and over Black Sail Pass to Buttermere, and the guys made good time to the car park where a feast of hot tea, coffee, juice, Eccles cakes, flapjacks and gummy bears was waiting. Fed and watered, they set out again for another two hour stage to Braithwaite, where the support car was waiting with more food and drink (and the footy results for Chris!). Dusk was setting in by now, and by the time they reached Checkpoint 3 at Latrigg car park, it was fully dark. Another hour’s running brought the guys to the final Checkpoint at Blencathra field centre at around 12.30, after 26 miles, 6 hours … and some pretty mean hills!

The guys ran brilliantly – and were pleasantly surprised to find that they could all still walk (or even run!) in the morning. We woke on Sunday to brilliant sunshine with the Lake District looking its very best – perfect weather for a final celebratory potter around the shops and stalls of the Keswick Mountain Festival, before heading home as trail running masters – no longer muppets! ‘The currency is confidence’, concluded Mouncey …

See more photos from this trip

Find out about our forthcoming trail running camps