The Fellsman
Saturday 30 April 2022
61 miles (98.2 km); 11,000 feet (3,353 m) of ascent
Starters: 204
Finishers: 134
Retired: 70
Joint first: Oli Johnson; Dark Peak Fell Runners; 11:23
Joint first: Damian Hall; 11:23
First lady: 4th overall; Fiona Pascall; 12:08
Stuart Walker: 6th; Dark Peak Fell Runners; 12:27
Laurence Piercy: Joint 15th; Dark Peak Fell Runners; 13:55
David Harrison: 59th; Dark Peak Fell Runners; 18:10
Neil Drake: Joint 114th; Dark Peak Fell Runners; 23:28
Steven Jones: 123rd; Dark Peak Fell Runners; 26:27
DNF:
Jonathan Jackson: Dent; 20.5 miles; Dark Peak Fell Runners
The joint winners of both the Fellsman Axe and the Tregoning Cup were Oli Johnson of Dark Peak Fell Runners and Damian Hall with a time of 11 hours and 23 minutes. The Fellsman Axe is awarded for the fastest time while the Tregoning Cup is awarded to the fastest novice (ie they took part in the Fellsman for the first time). Oli Johnson also shared in a third trophy with Stuart Walker and Laurence Piercy for being the team with the quickest overall time to earn the Service Trophy.
The event started at 8.30 am on the Saturday and it was then already very warm. I struggled with the heat and was one of the last to reach the checkpoint on the summit of Ingleborough. I gradually gained places especially on the descents but after Great Coum I went over a wall rather than following it around and down. It was a while before I realised my error and rather than backtrack I contoured over rough ground and vegetation to Flinter Gill to resume the route. With the diversion entrants I had overtaken were now well in front. There was a threat of rain but it held off until after Dodd Fell then the rain and wind and fog hampered progress; it was very fine drizzly rain that penetrated waterproofs. I made it to the Fleet Moss checkpoint as it went dark and had managed to stumble the last bit without pausing to put my headtorch on as I made it along with a few others. On the way I found a deep hole and went up past my knee in boggy water. My waterproofs were wetting out and at Fleet Moss I changed out of some wet clothes into dry ones. The fog was dense hampering visibility although I found the Middle Tongue checkpoint easily enough but the terrain after that was slow going. My route choice was not ideal and I spent ages going up and down groughs and hollows before losing altitude to follow the fence line with faster progress there. I enjoyed the hospitality at Cray for quite a while before venturing out into the fog which was now even more dense than before. At times it was hard to even see the ground at your feet making it easy to stray away from solid ground. At one point I found myself thigh deep in thick peat bog which was more in the spirit of the Fellsman than the hot weather at the start. At the final roadside checkpoint of Park Rash a gas fire had been set up which was drawing runners to it like moths to a flame. The friendly checkpoint crew offered me a second cup of hot chocolate and more cake and the gravitational pull of the fire drew me in. While chatting and resting I was able to dry my second pair of gloves on the top of the fire. A steady trickle of runners and walkers came into the checkpoint while I lay by the fire. My target time to complete the event in under 20 hours was abandoned a while back and it seemed like a good idea to try to have a nap for half an hour or so. There seemed no point rushing out and when the rain eased it was daylight so I declined the offer of a fifth hot chocolate I set out again. It was nice to be able to see the final part of the course that I normally do in darkness and ran a bit to overtake a few of the participants who had passed through Park Rash while I was resting. At the final checkpoint at Yarnbury I could see three people approaching at a brisk pace so I had to run a bit to keep them behind me. I eased off in Grassington but saw one of them running at a decent pace not far behind me for a final challenge to get finish ahead of me. That inspired me to burst into a run despite having resolved the walk to the finish but it enabled me to get my time below 26 hours and 30 minutes.
It is possible that there were more Dark Peak Fell Runners in the event than listed above but the results do not show which clubs runners belong to.