Ricky makes light work of Wasdale
Ricky Lightfoot at Wasdale 2012
Ellenborough runner Ricky Lightfoot took his second win at one of the hardest fell races in the UK this weekend as he won the classic 21 mile Wasdale race, which takes in such Lakeland giants as Great Gable and passes the house of fell-legend Joss Naylor…
Having won the race in 2007 in a ‘sprint finish’ from Pete Vale, the Cumbrian is clearly fond of the event and aware of the significance of this great race. His win on Saturday also underlined the fact that when fit and on-form Ricky is amongst the best fell runners in the country.
Jasmin Paris won the women’s race, with results and further reporting to come. There are also some great images online at Sport Sunday here and by Andy ‘Wharfeego’ Holden here.
Still, there is never any better way to portray the unravelings of a race than allow the winner to talk you through it, especially from the perspective of the race up-front. One nugget of information which has also transpired from Ricky’s musings below is that his time was the fastest for over 20 years too!
The leaders at Wasdale 2012
He picks up the story:
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“It went really well, I felt strong from the off and pushed hard on the initial climb over Ill Ghyll Head and Whin Rigg. I managed to get a small gap over Carl Bell, Kim Collison and Martin Mikkel-Barron but lost what lead I had coming off Whin Rigg stumbling over which line to take.
“By this time Carl and Kim caught me and I followed them off trying not to push too hard coming off as I knew there was still a long way to go, trashing the legs on the first descent would have been a bad idea.
“I decided to sit in until we crossed the valley to Greendale where Joss (Naylor) was waiting for us with water as the race passes straight past his house. From here I knew there was a big climb up to Seat Allen, after refuelling with a gel I pushed on again and felt I pulled away a bit easier than I thought I would.
“The low cloud kept on coming in and blowing over so I had my fingers crossed it would be clear. I made a slight mistake coming off Seat Allen where Carl managed to close the gap slightly and he shouted me to look for the path, cheers Carl! From here on I sort of knew the lines bar any mist or cloud coming down so I pushed on.
“I got through the mist on Pillar and Great Gable refueling in between with caffiene gels and was greeted with sun shine all the way up to Esk Hause where the cloud came in again. From here on in to the finish I couldn’t go wrong, there was so many walkers up there they virtually lined the route down to Wasdale.
“I felt strong right through to the finish but was relieved this time round I didn’t have a sprint finish! I was happy with the time, maybe a little disappointed not to go closer to 3.40 but I’ll settle for 3.44 which is the fastest time since 1990. Maybe next time I’ll make sure I recce the route so I know it better.
“It was a relief that my knee held out as I haven’t ran a lot since racing in Denmark in May. It’s just great to be back out in the hills again!.”
This weekend's view of Wasdale by Ian Charters
