The week after the Grisedale Horseshoe, Alex Roberts was out racing again. This time an up and down of England's highest mountain, Scafell Pike.

5 mile and 3,000ft, the race starts within the car parking field below Lingmell, the runners do a partial lap to thin out the crush, then use the path on the north side of Lingmell Gill. Then it's all the way to the summit of Scafell Pike and back down as fast as you can.

Alex came back in a super quick time of 1:02:53, finishing 11th overall. A good turnout this year, 119 runners in total.

Wednesday night (18th Sept) was CFR's Crab Fair Fell Race. Just over 8 mile, heading out of Egremont towards Dent Fell. One over the summit, the runners return via a similar route back to Egremont.

Despite the rumours, its actually the fastest runner who is classed as the winner and not the best gurner.

Alex was once again out, finishing 5th in 1:02:17 (Ironically he was 1m 02s at Scafell too).

Close behind in 8th place, making his first appearance for Elbra since joining us recently. Simon McCarthy, finishing in 1:03:17.

Brilliant stuff lads 💪

📸 Heidi Martin

We're like the local bus service. No post's for a month then 2 in 2 days.

This time it's for The Derek Price Memorial Grisedale Horseshoe. The course was put together as a match for the Ben Nevis race that’s ran on the same day. If you look at the stats you can see how similar they are; similar but very different. Both races around 10 Mile and 5,000ft.

This years race formed part of the English Fell Running Championship. Which ensured some of the best runners in the country turned up to compete. Among those were 5 Elbra runners. A good turnout, probably more due to the fact a Beer Festival was on in Grasmere following the race. 304 runners in total for the race.

The route itself start's at the Glenridding village hall. Due to the numbers this year it was a bit tight on the path. The field becomes more spread out once they hit the fell. Like most fell races it starts with a long climb, heading up to Birkhouse Moor followed by a flattish run across to the base of Catstye Cam. The pace really picks up along this short section as many runners try to make up places. The pace soon drops as they hit the steep climb to the first checkpoint on the summit of Catstye Cam. The next checkpoint is Helvellyn, just at the summit of Swirrel Edge. A fairly rapid run and steep descent to the next checkpoint at Grisedale Tarn before making a steady climb to the summit of St Sunday Crag. From the summit runners go off on all kinds of different lines, each trying to find the best line down to the next checkpoint at the Barn just by the river crossing. Once over the river there is one last climb. The dreaded climb up to the Wall Stile (Grid Ref 373160, often referred to as the hole in the wall). This is where you find out if you've got the strength left for a good finish. A good climb sets you up for the fast downhill finish back to the village hall.

Richard McGrath ran a good race taking off from the rest of the lads from the start. Finishing in a time of 2:03:40, 43rd overall.
Dava Williams next home, just edging ahead of Alex Roberts on the last climb. Finishing in 2:17:12 (93rd)
Alex Roberts ran well. Competing in his first AM class race for a long while. He feared his legs may not last the distance beforehand. They lasted, but just didn't have the strength to keep the pace up on the last climb. A great effort though and entering more AM races will help solve the last climb issue. Finishing in a time of 2:19:58 (107th).
Chris Knowles was next, and similar to Alex, was his 1st AM race for a long time. Although it may have been a couple of years since he competed at this distance. Finishing in a time of 2:25:45 and 134th overall.
Shaun Atkinson has been entering plenty of races recently at all the distances, AS, AM & AL's. If he keeps this up it won't be long till he's back to his best. Finishing 158th in 2:31:09.

Big thanks to Nick Ray who came out in support offering water and treats en-route. Grabbing some great pictures 📸(I think he ended up doing just as many miles as the runners on the day 🤣)

Well done everyone 💪#Elbra

We've been a little quiet on the updates the past month. Unlike our runners, who have been out racing in good numbers.

So to catch up with the August races, we'll start with Keswick AC's NOT round Latrigg race. A midweek race that starts in Fitz Park, the route goes out of the park and up Spooney Green lane to the back of Latrigg. It then turns left following the Cumbrian Way under Lonscale Fell to a gate which is the turning point. Returning via the same route.
120 Runners took part, 3 of which were Elbra lads.
Chris Knowles 26th in 42:41
Daz Wylie 37th in 44:35
Shaun Atkinson 52nd in 46:55

Next up was another Keswick AC race. This time as part of the Keswick Show, Barrow Fell Race.
Starting in the show field running out over fields and onto Barrow fell with two short, sharp ascents and returning over the same fields.
103 runners took part, 3 from Elbra
Alex Roberts 16th in 35:55
Chris Lister 38th in 41:42
Daz Wylie 42nd in 42:26

Just a couple of days later was another show race. This time at the Ennerdale Show. Just a small field for this classic midweek race, 35 runners.
The unsettled weather combined with tired legs from Keswick Show two days before prompted a smaller field.

The runners set off in drizzle, and mostly finished in quite heavy rain. Conditions on the fell were windy and gusty.
Ricky Lightfoot led the race to the summit of Knock Murton and back, clinching the title and the Jock Ireland memorial trophy in a time of 12:31 – before setting back out to the same fell for a training run!
Ricky Lightfoot 1st 12:31
Alex Roberts 7th
Chris Lister 13th
Shaun Atkinson 14th

Well done all 💪#Elbra

📸from various sources &
Grand Day Out Photography