‘A proper Lakeland fell race’, was how the runners described this year’s Wasdale Mountain Rescue Lingmell Dash as the rain held off for the afternoon.

A round trip of four and a half miles with a 2,500 foot climb saw Ravenglass based John Hennigan of Pudsey & Bramley lead the field of 43 runners from the start.

John was pushed by youngster Tom Humphries of Lancaster & Morecambe in the lung bursting climb up the nose to the summit before the drop to the finish at the Wasdale Head Inn in a time of 52:38.

A navigational error by Tom saw his chance of victory disappear after a trip south towards the summit of Scafell Pike.

A close battle on the descent saw Jonty Fish of Borrowdale take second in 52:56 with Rob Stein of local club Cumberland Fell Runners a clear third (53:36) from his team mate Paul Johnson (55:08).

For the ladies, Rosie Watson of CFR and Leeds University (63:30) finished in 14th place overall. Gosforth based CFR Lindsay Buck (73:38) again showed her strength on the climb and finished ahead of Alessa Ekerts of Leeds (75:32).

Other local runners who took up the challenge included the Gosforth based Iain Glendinning (57:56) in sixth and Dave Atkinson of CFR (66.39), with Chris Cripps of the Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team (76:52).

Race founder, Jen Fraser originally from Eskdale but now based in New Zealand also enjoyed the adventure (97:00) and finished alongside long term race supporter Mark Birbeck of Achillie Rattie (97:25).

The team prizes went to both the CFR teams of Rob Stein, Paul Johnston, Ben Opie (61:34) and Paul Jennings (61:46) for the men and Lindsay, Mel Bradley (81:15) and Jenny Jennings (92:25) for the ladies.

Many thanks to everyone who made the effort to support the race, in aid of the Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team, especially Burnthwaite Farm, the crew at the Wasdale Head Inn and Tim Brooks at Lingmell House for donating the prizes and for all the runners including the 13 strong CFR contingent, using the race as part of this year’s championship series and the eight Leeds University students who also supported the race.