The 13 Valleys Ultra has been pipped as a future UTMB of the Lake District. It celebrates the 13 unique valleys of the Lake District National Park which are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site status, by linking them all together. You can choose from the 2 Valleys (22km) and three ultra distances: 5 Valleys (55km), 7 Valleys (110km) and 13 Valleys (180km).
My first experience of the 13 Valleys Ultra was the inaugural event in 2023, on the 7 Valleys (110km) route. Admittedly it was my first ever race over the 110km distance, having only raced further on the Cumbria Way Ultra previously. Being local to the Lake District, the idea of racing on my home turf was appealing and exciting.
This year it was back – bigger and better. But I wasn’t particularly confident in the buildup to race day. 2024 has been my ‘annus horribilis’ of running, after a second COVID bout in the Spring and two failed Coast to Coast attempts in the summer, with the second attempt hitting 124 miles only six weeks before the race. My training had been inconsistent with lingering fatigue and very few structured sessions. But I remember having similar niggling doubts before the race last year, where I had exceeded expectations with a 2nd place finish. So I showed up anyway with a mantra that ‘happiness = reality minus expectations’. It’s easy to get caught up worrying about the race start list and making assumptions. In reality you can’t control who else turns up on the race day; only performing at your own personal best in the circumstances.
One thing that had changed this year was the support of VOOM. Having tried the Pocket Rockets and Fusion Fuel last year without interval running into the bushes like usual, I was proud to become a VOOM ambassador this summer, which as the nutrition partner, made my fuelling strategy much easier. Nutrition has been an ongoing issue, with my usual strategy of mostly ‘winging it’ and treating aid stations like a giant picnic with zero precision. Each Pocket Rocket contains 45g of carbs, so consuming one along with jelly sweets, coke and Soreen would achieve my target of minimum 60g carb per/hour.
This year I decided to be braver and really test what I might be capable of. When the race kicked off at 6am in Waterhead, I quickly realised that keeping up with the front pack at 7 min/mile pace wasn’t a wise race strategy, so I dropped back into my own space. I’d brought a few Pocket Rockets, one per hour, which allowed me to skip the first aid station in Langdale and keep up front. I got a little too excited, enjoying a big gap in 4th place until a group of runners caught me on the steep steps up Rossett Ghyll, and I knew to let them go. The race photographer had laughed “those front guys will pay for it later” when I passed. Last year this tactic had served me well, where I had moved from 8th into 3rd place by Ambleside.
The route offers an incredible window shop view of Great Gable as it descends to Sprinkling Tarn, where I caught my friend Sarah Perry, who would later become the 13 Valleys women’s winner. After a punishing descent towards Sty Head and into Rosthwaite, the route climbs straight up through Stonethwaite to Lining Crag, where last year I’d got briefly lost: only to emerge out of the clag and catch the pack like Braveheart. Today was clear with the briefest shower, and holding back preserved me enough to catch two runners on this long and bumpy descent into Grasmere. I left the aid station with military efficiency, with more water and another handful of Pocket Rockets. At Ambleside I was pleasantly surprised to find myself in 3rd place with a 50km PB of 5:56.
Sadly however, this was only the halfway point. I resented the 5 Valleys runners! I scoffed crisps, coke and filled a flask with the lemon and lime Hydrate Smart before leaving with a spring in my step, keen to bridge the gap. In the flustered rush through the checkpoint I’d committed the schoolboy error of scoffing 4 mini salted caramel doughnuts in short succession. Stomach cramps reduced me to a painful shuffle into Troutbeck, walking where I should have been running on open easy trails. The rain came in hard. 3rd place was taken in a flash and I had no fight left to resist. I caught one of the 13 Valleys lead runners, and even he was moving far better.
The Hydrate Smart contains both carbohydrates and electrolytes, which allowed me to get some fuel in without the solid food and let my stomach settle. On this long stretch I regretted not having more than a litre of fluid capacity, as the sun emerged once more. From the tower of Thornthwaite Crag was a delightful grassy descent and I was revived by a refill, coke and another handful of Pocket Rockets at the Hayeswater checkpoint.
My knees were less relieved, with wincing pain on the descents making it hard to turn the brakes off. But last year had taught me that a lot can change in a short time, so I stuck to my usual mantra: “this too shall pass”. Unfortunately this wouldn’t pass until the finish line in Keswick. I had also paid the price for my early faster miles and it had taken a while to recover from the stomach cramp so the zig-zag climb through the rocky spoils to Sticks Pass was an unpleasant affair. Now my strategy was simply to hold my position and finish strong. I kept looking back towards Glenridding, increasingly paranoid that 5th place would be gaining on me.
As the name suggests, the route has a number of flat valley sections so I could pick up the pace again in Thirlmere until a quagmire of boggy fields before Threlkeld. I made a quick dash into the final aid station here, anxious to keep 5th place far enough away that I could relax a little. Whilst the 5 Valleys participants happily took the time to sit down for soup and bread; I hurried to refill my bottles, jelly sweets and a Pocket Rocket. With just over 13km to go, I needed a quick release and just enough to get me home.
Darkness fell and a line of headtorch beams bounced along the adjacent hillside, higher and further away than I perhaps hoped for. This final climb through the Glenderaterra valley is gentle, but with 60 miles in the legs I was now confined to running and walking in short bursts. It was a relief to turn the corner, physically and mentally, at the head of the valley – before promptly falling into a bog and swearing in frustration. The pains of the day were numbed by adrenaline as I let rip on the final descent, with some brilliant semi-technical trails beneath Lonscale Fell. The route skirts Latrigg where a white beam suddenly appeared to chase me, moving faster than the rest.
“Where the hell did you come from?!” I cried, shuffling along.
“Don’t worry!” she laughed, “I’m not in the race!”
I hit the road with an exciting final blast weaving through Keswick with cheers from pubgoers, and grateful I had nobody close on my tail. Reflecting briefly on the uncertainty, health worries and disappointment of the last few months, I found myself tearing up on this final mile, grateful that I was still capable of such things. “Never ever doubt yourself” I ordered myself.
The peace of the mountains was disturbed by blue spotlights, music and an MC as I came into the finish in 4th place, 14:34:34 later. I was an hour slower than the year before, but I was content that I had little left to give. I had fought even harder for this one.
Could next year be 3rd time lucky?
