Ennerdale Horseshoe Fell Race

The Ennerdale Horseshoe Fell Race is an annual Lake District fell race held in June, starting and finishing at the Scout Camp near Ennerdale Water. The route is approximately 36.8 kilometres (22.9 mi) in length with 2,290 metres (7,510 ft) of ascent and takes in checkpoints at Great Borne, Red Pike, Blackbeck Tarn, Green Gable, Kirk Fell, Pillar, Haycock, Iron Crag and Crag Fell.[1]

2014 Ennerdale Horseshoe Jackie Lee

History

The race was started in 1968 by Joe Long and Frank Travis of the West Cumberland Orienteering Club and in 1970 was taken on by the newly formed Cumberland Fell Runners Association, whose committee included both Long and Travis. The first nine editions of the race were all won by Joss Naylor who has noted that it was one of his favourite courses.[2]

A junior race was run in conjunction with Ennerdale in 1971. This followed the first part of the senior course over Great Borne and Red Pike before returning and was won by Dave Cannon. In the following years, the junior race was held on a route over Crag Fell and in 1977 a ladies’ race was introduced, also over the Crag Fell route.[3]

Véronique Marot applied to run over the same course as the men in 1979 but was refused entry. She ran unofficially, to the consternation of the race organiser. The next year, women were allowed to compete over the full route.[4]

In poor weather in the 1981 race, one of the competitors, Bob English, went off course on the way to the last checkpoint and fell badly. He was found unconscious with head injuries and died whilst being taken to hospital.[5]

In the 1986 event, Billy Bland waited at the start until five minutes after everyone else had begun so that the other runners could not follow him and take advantage of his detailed route knowledge. Bland then ran through the field and was able to overtake everyone except Hugh Symonds.[6]

The 2003 race was cancelled due to the small number of entries. Around that time, the event became part of the Lakeland Classics Trophy series of races and numbers recovered in subsequent years.[7]

On some occasions, Ennerdale has been one of the counting races in the British and English Fell Running Championships, including in 2014 when a shorter lower-level course was used due to forecast lightning.[8] The 2015 route was also shortened due to high winds[9] and in 2022 the race was cancelled due to expected adverse weather.[10]

Results

The men's course record is held by Kenny Stuart with a time of 3:20:57 set in 1985. The fastest women's time is 4:01:33, set by Janet McIver in 2008.

The winners have been as follows.[11]

Year Men Time Women Time
1968 Joss Naylor 4:00:00
1969 Joss Naylor 4:08:25
1970 Joss Naylor 3:53:20
1971 Joss Naylor 3:35:40
1972 Joss Naylor 3:30:40
1973 Joss Naylor 3:33:00
1974 Joss Naylor 3:32:42
1975 Joss Naylor 3:30:55
1976 Joss Naylor 3:46:08
1977 Mike Short 3:41:11 Joan Glass 0:45:34[A]
1978 Andy Styan 3:27:00 Jean Lochhead 0:42:39[A]
1979 Andy Styan 3:23:44 Jean Lochhead 0:39:21[A]
1980 Billy Bland 3:21:04 Pauline Haworth 4:37:47
1981 Billy Bland 3:50:59 Ros Coats 5:16:55
1982 Billy Bland 3:24:43 Sue Parkin 4:40:32
1983 Billy Bland 3:30:38 Linda Lord 5:29:57
1984 Kenny Stuart 3:32:59 Pauline Haworth 4:55:52
1985 Kenny Stuart 3:20:57 Pauline Haworth 4:27:52
1986 Hugh Symonds 3:38:59 Winky O’Neale 5:12:47
1987 Billy Bland 3:23:54 Vanessa Brindle 4:21:31
1988 Hugh Symonds 3:34:48 Sarah Haines 4:43:57
1989 Ian Ferguson 3:39:43 None
1990 Colin Donnelly 3:31:16 Tricia Calder 4:06:41
1991 Ian Ferguson 3:36:35 Alison Wright 4:43:54
1992 Gavin Bland 3:37:51 Ruth Pickvance 4:43:35
1993 Gavin Bland 3:30:13 Ruth Pickvance 4:23:49
1994 Gavin Bland 3:46:23 Jean Shotter 5:55:06
1995 Jonny Bland 3:42:55 Kate Arnold 5:06:51
1996 Lee Thompson 4:00:36 Jan Cave 6:32:41
1997 Simon Booth 3:43:35 Emma Moody 5:12:46
1998 Lee Thompson 3:58:14 Nicky Lavery 5:23:32
1999 Andrew Davies 3:47:23 Jane Jones 5:27:09
2000 Simon Booth 3:21:24 Sally Newman 4:29:52
2001 Cancelled due to foot-and-mouth outbreak
2002 Jonny Bland 4:03:00 Nicola Davies 5:41:53
2003 Cancelled due to low number of entries
2004 Gavin Bland 3:48:17 Jackie Lee 4:59:12
2005 Andrew Schofield 3:48:03 Jackie Lee 4:41:06
2006 Simon Booth 3:37:52 Christine Howard 4:23:34
2007 Ricky Lightfoot 3:53:17 Jane Meeks 5:08:55
2008 Nick Sharp and Pete Vale 3:48:01 Janet McIver 4:01:33
2009 Rob Jebb 3:38:28 Jackie Lee 4:29:47
2010 Rob Jebb 3:34:06 Jackie Lee 4:23:43
2011 Simon Harding 4:04:08 Nicky Spinks 4:48:18
2012 Rhys Findlay-Robinson 3:50:40 Jasmin Paris 4:24:54
2013 Oli Johnson 3:46:39 Jasmin Paris 4:32:28
2014[B] Rob Hope 2:52:16 Jackie Lee 3:18:26
2015[B] Kieran Hodgson 2:09:48 Judith Jepson 2:35:12
2016 Ben Abdelnoor 4:03:27 Judith Jepson 4:58:54
2017 Ben Abdelnoor 4:08:35 Nicky Spinks 5:32:53[C]
2018 Kim Collison 4:03:59 Jill Stephen 4:44:17
2019 Finlay Wild 3:52:36 Rosie Watson 4:57:59
2020 Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021 Billy Cartwright 3:32:16 Nichola Jackson 4:13:59
2022 Cancelled due to forecast bad weather
2023 Harry Bolton 4:22:05 Jodie Gray 5:35:53

A Crag Fell course.

B Bad weather course.

C The SPORTident results[12] show Nicky Spinks one second ahead of Kirsty Hewitson but they were credited with a joint win in a time of 5:32:54 by race organiser Colin Dulson.[13]

References

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