The Fellsman
Saturday 16 April 2016
61 miles; 11,000′
Weather : mild and good (patches of snow remaining in places) but very cold winds and colder later with some retiring due to hypothermia and frost-nip. The bogs froze with a crust of ice on top at night with the ice not being strong enough to support a runner leading to feet and legs plunging into icy waters.
Conditions : even boggier and wetter than usual!
Starters: 312
Finishers: 217
Retired: 94
Disqualified: 1 (lost tally)
Fastest Man: Konrad Rawlik 11:31
Fastest Woman: Karen Nash 15:45
Laurence Piercy: Joint 8th 13:18 (Lawrence?) DPFR
Steven Jones: 113th 19:41 DPFR
Neil Drake: Joint 168th 22:27 DPFR
John Vernon: 183rd 23:17 DPFR
At the awards and presentations the next morning (with some runners/walkers still out and yet to finish) someone received an award for their 40th Fellsman (36 successful completions) which gives a hint of how addictive The Fellsman is. It is perhaps roughly equivalent to two laps of the Three Peaks Fell Race followed by a Warts Run in terms of distance, elevation and the terrain and bogs. No wonder people keep coming back year after year.