Race Director’s Report – 10Peaks™ The Lakes 2017

Introduction

Taking on an event that has built up a great reputation and a loyal following is never going to be an easy task, and I’ll admit to feeling a little nervous as the days ticked down to our first 10Peaks in the Lake District this June. Paul Smith who started 10Peaks The Lakes, and Mark Bottomley who organised 10Peaks Brecon Beacons were both due to take part.

 

 

When we took on the two 10Peaks events at the end of 2016, we decided to change very little for 2017, and adopt an approach of organising the first event in the Lake District, before making any significant changes, if indeed, any changes were required.

 

We have a vision for where the ‘event brand’ could go in the future, and we do have some very exciting plans for developing the existing races, and potentially some new 10Peaks events in 2018. If you are on our email database you’ll be the first to hear about the developments.

 

 

My role as the Race Director is multifaceted but safety, fluid logistics, and fairness are primary considerations. At 10Peaks The Lakes, safety is managed via safety monitoring of the GPS tracking data, and from information coming back from checkpoints and the three support points. We also have a dedicated First Response Team able to respond to any emergency as required (fortunately they had a quiet weekend). Fluid logistics for this event are really about making sure the support points and checkpoints are in place and ready for the leading runners, whilst also being there for the last runner. I’ll admit to feeling a little nervous as Andrew Berry stormed towards Scafell Pike, as our marshal team walked in… the marshals got there about 20 minutes before Andrew!

 

Fairness is important to me, and I strongly believe that ensuring that there is parity across the event and between all participants is key to long-term viability and good reputation of any event. I believe that being a good Race Director means stepping back from the moment, taking an overview and ensuring that the structure and parity of the event is maintained. That structure is created from many aspects of the event set up; the rules, the start/finish times, cut-offs, etc. all of which combine to give the event its identity. Without this structure, there would be no coherent event. This also means that I will not just change the rules adhoc. Whether this relates to someone missing registration, missing a mandatory kit item, missing the bus, or missing a cut-off, my role is occasionally to apply strict fairness and parity.

 

 

I am looking forward to sharing our plans for 10Peaks events with you all later this year.

 

Thanks to the Event Team

Always the most important ‘thank you’ of any event is the Event Team! For our first 10Peaks event, we had many of our regular Event Team members that are seasoned veterans of many other Ourea Events races, some new faces, and we were also fortunate to be joined by four experienced volunteers who had helped at previous 10Peaks events; their contribution was important for aiding the continuity of the event, as we took on the reigns from Paul Smith and Mark Bottomley. The event team was:

 

• Abbi Forsyth
• Alex Chesters
• Becky Tate
• Colin Harding
• Duncan Kendrick
• Emma Dent
• Gary Tompsett
• Graham Gristwood
• Helen Samson
• Ian Cowie
• Janie Oates
• Keith Montgomery
• Mat Nelson
• Matt Gemmell
• Mike Hogan
• Rick Pearce
• Shane Ohly
• Simon Dixon
• Stewart Bondi
• Stuart Smith
• Sue Dowker
• Tom Hecht
• Tom Withers

 

Prize Winners – Long Course

 

• 1^st Female: Fiona Marley Paterson (11^th overall)
• 2^nd Female: Julie Fewster (34^th overall)
• 3^rd Female: Ruth Dance (35^th overall)

• 1^st Male: Andrew Berry
• 2^nd Male: Scott Morley
• 3^rd Male: Tony Holland

 

Prize Winners – Short Course

 

• 1^st Female: Lorna Young (18^th Overall)
• 2^nd Female: Maddy Heginbotham (=19^th overall)
• 3^rd Female: Jessica Spears (25^th overall)

• 1^st Male: Alan Lucker
• 2^nd Male: Mark Potts
• 3^rd Male:  Chris Sandison

Course Statistics

 

Long Course

• Entries: 109
• Starters: 94
• Finishers: 56
• % Finish Rate: 59%

 

Short Course

• Entries: 126
• Starters: 108
• Finishers: 84
• % Finish Rate: 77%

 

GPS Tracks

All the participants’ GPS tracks are public and available for download for everyone to view (link is to a zip-file download of all tracks – sorry it’s not compatible with mobile devices)

Live replay here:

 

Social Media

Please check out our Facebook page to re-watch highlights of the action from ‘The Lakes’ in both photos and videos – and don’t hesitate to tag all those known to you in photos, share posts and your photos from the event.

 

Don’t forget to have a browse through both our Instagram and Twitter profiles too and follow to keep up to date ahead of 2018!

 

10Peaks Brecon Beacons

We hope you enjoyed 10Peaks The Lakes, and will consider joining us in South Wales on the 9^th September 2017 for 10Peaks Brecon Beacons. The event is based from the beautiful and remote YHA Dan y Wenallt, with two incredible courses traversing the finest mountains of South Wales.  Like our Lakes event, 10Peaks Brecon Beacons now includes GPS tracking, so your friends and family will be able to watch your exploits from the comfort of their home/pub/ etc.

 

Feedback

Feedback from anyone who engaged with the 2017 race, from participants through to audiences keeping updated via news/social media/tracking from afar, is very important to us. Whatever you have to say, positive or negative we are keen to hear your thoughts. This is so important for us in refining and improving the event. Certainly, the honest feedback we have received over the years has been instrumental in polishing our other events. So, please don’t be shy and get in touch with your comments.

 

Other Ourea Events races you might like…

1) Salomon Ben Nevis Ultra™

 

2) Great Lakeland 3Day™

 

 

10Peaks The Lakes 2018 – Provisional Date

Our intention is to return to the Lakes for the same last weekend of June weekend in 2018 (23-24^th June 2018). We will of course confirm this date when we open the entries ASAP – keep informed.