Three Rings of Shap - 2008 Report and Results


MORLAND ON RING 2 OUT ASBY WAY

Results for this year's Event can be downloaded here.

 100 K

Ring 1

Ring 2

Ring 3

Rings 1 & 2

Rings 1 & 3

Rings 3 & 2

 

This year saw the 4th running of the Event and we were rewarded with record entries and superb walking weather with a cool friendly breeze, high cloud and sunny intervals with only scant evidence of the forecast showers. Underfoot conditions were also good with firm dry going and no recurrence of flooded stepping-stones. Fourteen hardy souls had braved the Hall floor the night before but didn’t seem any the worse for wear at breakfast time.

Soon after 7am pandemonium (aka registration) filled the Hall with an anticipatory buzz as cars pulled off the A6 onto the adjacent playing field. Cumbria members, their friends and relatives were kept on their toes ticking off lists, serving tea, preparing supplies for checkpoints and all the multitudinous tasks required at that time. 131 entries translated into 114 starters most of whom set off on the mass start at 8am. As the Hall fell quiet to a sigh of relief was someone heard to say – ‘this would be a great job if it wasn’t for the entrants’? It was not quiet for long, however, as more dedicated ladies arrived to take up their position in the engine room (kitchen) making sandwiches, preparing stew, pasta salad etc.

Many walkers and runners chose a selection of single or two Ring options keeping all checkpoints busy throughout the day. HQ was reinvaded from lunchtime onwards as all returned for refuelling; some to set out again and others content to rest, eat and chat after their exertions. As evening fell the mood changed gradually as the 2 and 3 Ringers started to take centre stage. Most of the former arrived before full dark and were either satisfied with their day’s work or had decided ‘enough was as good as a feast’. By this time seven super fit mortals had run/jogged or some how got round all three Rings. Philip Gwilliam and Colm McCoy arrived together just after 10pm looking fresh as paint after 13 hours 22 minutes, having knocked a good half hour off Colin Travis’s previous record.

There is often discussion about the need for ‘sweepers’ though we have always sent a team around each Ring following those attempting the 100K. The value of this was clearly demonstrated as the Ring 2 sweepers returned at 2.30am coaxing a bedraggled and exhausted walker who was totally unexpected by HQ having somehow been ‘ticked off’ the check in list in error. Egg was wiped off faces and lessons learnt for the future! By this time the Ring 3 sweepers were long gone in the company of the last 100K contender and the long lonely night wore on in the Hall with finishers few and far between.

Only 14 walkers finished between 1.30am and 9am and tribute must be made to those few in the Hall and at the last checkpoint who waited patiently to check, feed, and generally pamper them! Altogether a magnificent 21 completed all Rings, which equates to a 75% increase over previous years. Fittingly both the LDWA Chairman and Editor featured on this list for the first time.

By mid-morning on Sunday the Hall had been in use for some 43 hours and was finally evacuated after being tidied, cleaned and thoroughly searched for sleeping walkers. It is to be hoped that the 5th Three Rings of Shap, provisionally scheduled for 13th June 2009, will be as successful. Given the dedication and professionalism of all those who gave so freely of their time and energies on the day, this should be a foregone conclusion.

HARD BANK WOOD ON RING 2

01.BREAKFAST TIME IN THE HALL 02.HARD AT WORK 03.RECOGNISE ANYONE? 04.CHAIRMAN'S AWAY 05.TRUSS GAP 06.EDITOR AT TRUSS GAP 07.PHIL & GEOFF AT TRUSS GAP 07.SMILES AT TRUSS GAP 08.CHAMPS AT TRUSS GAP 09.CHECKING AT TRUSS GAP 10.MORE AT TRUSS GAP 11.CHAIRMAN AT TRUSS GAP 12.DARREN & LIZ AT TRUSS GAP 13.THE SHAP BOYS AT TRUSS GAP 14.ANN & RON AT TRUSS GAP 15.SWEEPERS AT TRUSS GAP 16.YOU EXPECT ME TO GO IN THERE !!! 17.BRIAN & ANN WINN APPROACHING CHECKPOINT 3 18.A MARSHAL'S WORK IS NEVER DONE