K2B
Last saturday I got a late entry to the annual Keswick to Barrow race, it's been running for 48 years and started as a challenge between the Barrow shipyard and the Royal Navy.
BAE Systems have been sponsoring it for a while, and the whole event is absolutely epic in scale.
There are 2 start-points, just outside Keswick (40 mile route) and Coniston (20 mile route), with over 2,000 people taking part. It absolutely tipped down all morning (= the first 20 miles) and then brightened a bit but with a huge headwind. Coming over Kirby Moor was quite a struggle, and I was very pleased to eventually see Barrow in the distance......
I finished in 8hrs 34, which might have been better had I not shot off at 9-minute mile pace for the first 10 miles, getting to Grasmere (10.4 miles in) in 1hr 35. I slowed a bit after that, but picked up speed later on once past Coniston.
The 26.4 mile point came up in 5hr 35, a new PB for the marathon distance.
I was really regarding it as a training run, so I was doubly pleased to do what feels like a reasonable time. The results had me at 369 out of 2157 finishers (no count given for DNFs), not too shabby for a veteran, although my team all thrashed me including three beating 6 hours!
