Wild weather hits the Lakes
Wild weather sets the stage for the 3rd race in the Skyrunning UK and Ireland series, the Helvellyn Sky Ultra
The start of the revised Helvellyn Sky Ultra 2023 ©Andy Milton Photography
The 3rd of the Skyrunning UK races took place over the weekend and wow what a wild weekend of weather and running it was.
The events team were toiling hard all week to re-adjust the courses as thunder and lightning looked likely to cancel the event, but with final weather reports showing the storm might well pass under the Lake District the team had re-designed the course to go ahead in all but the worst conditions.
Saturday morning saw the hardy 139 entrants from 12 different nations taking part in the new shortened Thunder and Lightning route. The weather was hard, the rain was falling and the wind was picking up.
Harsh conditions ©AndyMiltonPhotography
Usual suspects stood at the front of the start line with Calum Scullion, Luke Roberts, Hugh Chatfield, George Fisher and James Wilkins with the chance of a podium finish and in the women’s line up there was Alicia Schawarzenbach, Keri Wallace, Amelia Balfour, Maddie Brunt and Robyn Cassidy all in the mix for the podium spots.
With the course having under gone a major change for the weather, the terrain was going to suit everyone differently as no longer was it a 57km skyrunning beast with 3700m of ascent, but a much tamer 42km course with 1950m ascent and whilst the true nature of the course was changed quite drastically, there was still the sky ultra element to the route, albeit a much faster race for the runners. Those who could move fast on trail were bound to excel over the course.
Hugh Chatfield, Luke Roberts and George Fisher lead the zig zags ascent ©Route North
At the front of the men’s race Luke Roberts led the first ascent to Sticks Pass, dropping back as Hugh Chatsfield took the lead on the descent to Stanah and the first timing checkpoint. With Hugh in the winning position, he was closely followed by George Fisher, James Wilkins and Calum Scullion with Luke staying in the mix with the lead group.
As the rain smashed down and thunder and lightening threatened the race from the south of the county, the lead guys toiled it out for the podium spots.
Crossing the line was Hugh Chatsfield for the winners place, followed by George Fisher and 3rd over the line was James Wilkins, Calum Scullion taking 4th and Luke Roberts making the top 5.
Hugh Chatfield wins the shortened Helvellyn Sky Ultra 2023 ©Andy Milton Photography
The women’s race was equally as exciting with some obvious changes to what the top 3 might have been, now the course was much more ‘runnable’, meaning Keri Wallace’s technical running ‘edge’ was now reduced to those with the faster trail skills.
The race found Robyn Cassidy pushing hard throughout closely followed by Alicia Schwarzenbach who is no stranger to hard and technical sky racing, not an out and out trail runner, having podium-ed in the last two Skyrunning UK and Ireland races, but this was a different race with a different skill set.
With the first 2 podium spots looking set, albeit they were racing hard against each other, the 3rd place was still to be taken. Keri Wallace kept the pressure on, but didn’t have the trail speed to take Amelia Balfour who was consistently a few minutes faster to each timing point and took the 3rd position for the shortened Helvellyn Sky Ultra 2023.
Focused faces on the start line HSU 2023 ©Andy Milton Photography
So with the 3rd race in the season complete, Skyrunning UK and Ireland look north to Scotland to watch the Salomon Ben Nevis Ultra unfold and take place in the middle of September.
This will be the final race over the highest mountains in the UK completing the National Three Peaks, but not the end of the series.
One week later, we travel to the west coast of Ireland to Donegal and the superbly wild Seven Sisters Sky Race that traverses the wild and remote mountain, Errigal, for an out and back of 55km and 4000m vert to finish the season off.
Robyn Cassidy, female champion of the Helvellyn Sky Race 2023 ©Andy Milton Photography
For all those runners looking to take part in the Skyrunning UK and Ireland national series, we want to remind you that for 2023 you need 3 races that count. So if you have raced 3 in the series, then you are through to the finals in the ranking, but don’t let that stop you for entering the Seven Sisters, as the Ben Nevis Ultra is full, as your best 3 race results count and so you might better your race results so far, bringing you 1 step closer to being champion of the UK and Ireland series.
As Skyrunning UK and Ireland re-establishes itself for 2023, watch this space for 2024 and what new and wonderful things we have coming.