Coledale Horseshoe: Joe's story
Joe 'in the zone' at Coledale 2012
In 1988 Hugh Symonds won the Coledale Horseshoe race. Some 24 years later son Joe took a famous win on this classic route. To add some spice to the family theme Joe’s parents-in-law were on Grisedale Pike to watch their first fell race. Joe’s wins was in the stars!
Here he tells MST how it panned out:
“On the morning of the Coledale Horseshoe race I woke up from a dream and discovered that my feet were padding up and down under the covers without my voluntary control as if I were climbing lightly and easily up a steep hill. I took this as a good omen. Everything seemed to go well for me on this day. I felt strong and confident from the moment I woke up.
“After my win last weekend at Clachnaben I knew I was on good form; that the training was working well. I just had to get the tactics right once the race started – not to set off too hard and blow, but not to leave things too late as I didn’t fancy sprinting it out over the 3 mile descent into Braithwaite. This is a tough race, with a 2000 foot climb up Grisedale Pike from to start with, followed by a fast descent to Coledale, then a steep climb through the Eel Crags to the summit of Crag Hill – at 839m the highest point in the race.
“The descent off Crag Hill to the finish back in Braithwaite is fast and furious, interjected by brief undulations over Sail and Barrow. On these short ascents the battered legs must try their best to keep the pace up, despite losing the allegiance of faithful gravity for a while.
“A few days before the race, my Dad sent me a message from New Zealand (where he has been cycle touring for 4 months with my Mum) wishing me luck and reminding me that he won a race over the same course in 1988 when it was the World Mountain Running Trophy Open Race. The World Trophy that year was dominated by the Italians and was won by Dino Tadello. 1st Brit was Rod Pilbeam in 3rd, closely followed by Colin Donnelly in 5th.
“Since 1988 Coledale has never played host to a Championship race, but this year it was part of three: the 2nd English Championship race, the 1st British Championship race, and the 1st Buff International Mountain Running Cup race. This time it was not the Italians but the Spanish who were out in force – hoping to grab some early points in the latter series of 8 races, they’d sent a big team over to the Lakes. My objective this year is the British Champs. With the extra competition, this was bound to be one of the tougher races in the series.
“As expected, the pace was unsustainably fast from the start, with runners jostling for position in order to not be held up in a bottleneck after about a kilometre, when the course narrows and goes up some steep steps at the foot of Grisedale Pike. I sat in about 10th position, trying to stay relaxed and keeping a close eye on the likely main competition, Morgan Donnelly, Rob Jebb, Ricky Lightfoot.
“As soon as the race turned steeply up hill, I started to feel like I had done in bed earlier in the day – light-footed, relaxed, and very comfortable. But the pace was being driven on by Morgan and Ionut Zinca, one of the international visitors: a Romanian who Lives in Spain and runs for an Italian club!
“The climb up Grisedale starts steeply, then levels out after about half a mile, before climbing again very steeply for the last 500m. By the time we had hit the level section, Morgan and I were on our own, but he was looking strong. When we reached the bottom of the steep section towards the summit I was still feeling good and started to drift away from Morgan.
I made a conscious decision to commit myself and run hard to the top of Grisedale, knowing full well that I would have a long and lonely run on my own if I were to hold on for victory, but not wanting to miss out on an opportunity to make a decent gap on the steep climbing, which is my strength. Fortunately for me the Ladies race had been set off 15 minutes before us, so there were plenty of them up ahead to keep me focused on the route.
“At Coledale Hause I came across my mother and father-in law who were watching their first ever fell race. They were about as excited as I have ever seen them, and their high decibel shouting spurred me on as I tackled the rough scree leading up Eel Crag. They counted my lead a 43 seconds. I looked back once, and made out a blue and white striped Bingley vest (Jebb). I threw caution to the wind as I ran off Eel Crag at the start of the descent.
“The descent went well until I got slightly confused at the bottom of Sail, unsure as to whether I should be heading up Causey Pike or not! I started climbing the path towards Causey until I spotted a well-meaning spectator pointing me in the right direction – downhill. I was still visible to my now hysterical in-laws through the binoculars, and after this incident my lead had dropped to 31 seconds.
“Fortunately there were no more lapses of concentration. I ran strongly up the lesser gradients of the final climb to Barrow, and set my sights on trying to catch the leading woman. I passed the second placed woman (fellow Hunters Bog Trotter Sarah O’Neill) just before crossing the fell wall, but Lauren Jeska crossed the finish line just before me.
“My lead at the end was just under minute The fast-descending Zinca was second. Donnelly was 3rd and Jebb was 4th. I was delighted with this run and very pleased to score top points in the first Championship race. It was one of those days that you wish you could replicate every time you race on the fells.”
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