Episode 17: Kit Lists - Ambleside Trail 25 & 50k

Cathy & Wayne are joined by Scott Umpleby from The Brathay Trust, event organisers of the fantastic Ambleside Trail 25 & 50k races.
Join them as they discuss how this event began, how a full Lakeland breakfast and a frittata were highlights the first year and what delectable comestibles will be on offer this year....
Offering not just breathtaking views, great trails and incredible checkpoints The Ambleside Trail 25 & 50k events also raise vital funds for the  work Brathay do with young people in Cumbria and Yorkshire, improving their life chances and mental health.
There is, as always, plenty of talk about kit: what to use, how to choose and favourite items as well as food, trails and where to find information for folks new to trail running.
Sponsored by Montane, this podcast ties in with a fantastic competition to win a Montane Trailblazer LT 28 Pack from Joe Browns and The Climbers Shop. Want to know how to enter? - just take a listen..... ***Competition is now closed

Enter the Ambleside 25k: Brathay Challenges | Ambleside 25K
Enter the Ambleside 50k: Brathay Challenges | Ambleside 50K
Enter the competition: Montane Trailblazer LT28 Competition (mailchi.mp)
Learn more about the Brathay Trust and their work with young people
Stay at Brathay in their Lakeside accommodation: Staycations - Brathay Trust
Shop the Montane Range: Montane On-Sale | The Climbers Shop And Joe Brown Shops (climbers-shop.com)

A massive thank you to the Ambleside 25 & 50k race sponsors:
Hawkshead Brewery: Hawkshead Brewery. Beer From The Lakes – HawksheadBrewery
Voom Nutrition: VOOM Nutrition | Leading sports nutrition & sport energy products
La Sportiva: Search Results Page (climbers-shop.com)
Ultimate Direction: Search Results Page (climbers-shop.com)
Montane: Montane On-Sale | The Climbers Shop And Joe Brown Shops (climbers-shop.com)

Transcript

Wayne
Hi, Welcome along to outdoor gear chat. This is episode 17. So today we're going to be talking about the Ambleside Trail 25 and 50. As always, I'm joined by Cathy. Hi.

Cathy
Hi Wayne. How you doing?

Wayne
I'm alright. Thank you very much. Yeah.

Cathy
Not suffering?

Wayne
No, no, no, I was gonna go with; this is after I've had COVID And I'm not feeling rough but I am feeling pretty rough. So anyway, moving really rapidly on Yeah, yeah.

Cathy
So, we're gonna talk about the kit lists for the Ambleside Trail 25 and 50k which is a fantastic trail run, based out of Rothay Park in Ambleside so centralized right in the village. And this is a new multi route this year because it began its life in 2019 is the Ambleside Trail 60 which was a bit of a ......another one of my two o'clock in the morning ideas when we were celebrating the 60th anniversary of The Climbers Shop in Ambleside. I was thinking how can we engage our customers. I know - we'll arrange a trail race for our running customers alongside a climbing challenge and a walking challenge for our climbing and walking customers. So I came up with the idea and then rapidly discovered I had no clue how to go about organizing a major trail event. And just by happen chance. I made contact with Scott Umpleby from the the birthday Trust, which is a local charity and they excel at producing and delivering amazing events. Scott and his team are fantastic at creating a whole range of events, their Windermere marathon probably being one of the biggest and well known. So from that the Ambleside trail race was born. And Scott is actually here to join with us today to help explain about the role of the Brathay Trust. So welcome, Scott.

Scott
Hi, Cathy. Thank you. Hi, Wayne.

Wayne
Scott. All right. Great. Yeah. Great to have you here. We work closely, well on all sorts, including, as Cathy has just said, The Windermere marathon and the Langdale road races, don't we. So we spend many an hour alongside each other freezing and soaked to the skin. Usually freezing. Yeah, but I just mince along and talk into a microphone normaly. You've done all the graft by then. So yeah, tell us more about Brathay and your involvement in these events then if you don't mind, mate,

Scott
Yeah, so first of all, the charity; Brathay trust. We've been around for, Well, this year is our 75th anniversary. So around for quite a while. Our focus is supporting disadvantaged children, young people, mainly from communities across the Northwest across the north of England, into West Yorkshire, certainly Cumbria where our residential centres based. So we're based at Brathay Hall, just outside Ambleside, on the shores of Windermere. That's where we work with young people, I guess in the outdoors, doing a whole range of outdoor activities really focused on building self esteem, giving young people the confidence and ultimately improving their well being and their skills to go forwards and be successful independent adults, kind of at the end of the day. Now a lot of our work also takes place in communities. So we have a number of community centers, where we're really kind of centered and work with partners, as well as working with those young people close to their home base. And that's in towns like in terms of Cumbria, in Barrow in Furness. So we're working with many, many young people in Barrow in Furness, in their community and bringing them to Brathay Hall for outdoor residentials. And we also have a sizable community operation in Bradford. So a youth and community center, right in the center of the city in Bradford, working with young people across West Yorkshire. So a range of projects delivering targeted work with learning outcomes for young people with who are facing a whole range of challenges. So it might be young people leaving care, young people at a key transition in their life. And young people who for whatever reason, are really suffering just to make that forward progress with their lives. Now, as I mentioned, a key part of our work are these outdoor residentials delivered in the Lake District. And fortunately, very close to Ambleside where Cathy and the team are based;The Climbers Shop. So we were delighted back in 2019 when Cathy approached us and said will we work in partnership to deliver the Ambleside Trail 60, as it was then, in celebration of of The Climbers Shops 60th anniversary.

Cathy
Yeah, and it was a great event. And of course that's where I met you Wayne because Scott was busy getting all of the logistics sorted and I was standing next to you freezing in the rain.

Wayne
Exactly. Yeah, yeah. We just ended up chuntering away to each other in the in the park, Rothay Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Amazing how that works out. I guess, for me as well, just just adding to what Scott has just said, I started off as a customer. Really broadly, when I was working for Siemens, when I was working for the huge engineering manufacturing company, it was bringing my apprentices and graduates up to Brathay to have some, you know, some, well it was an induction program, actually, that we were looking at doing so yeah, if you if you're listening in, and that's in your in the corporate world, and I absolutely recommend getting in touch with Brathay, the facilities are incredible on the shores of Lake Windermere. So and I guess that I say that moving into your role, Scott is the events are a huge, huge fundraiser for the charity, to enable you to do  the work that you do.

Scott
Yeah, yeah. So my my role at Brathay, I'm the fundraising manager, but that includes being race director of a series of what I think now is eight or nine running events, including the Ambleside Trail events. And as Cathy mentioned, the Windermere marathon, which is kind of where it all started for us, in 2007. That was our first try at using challenge events and running to raise funds for the charity. And it's built from then, you know,  over the following 15 or 16 years, all of our events together in terms of the entry fees that runners pay, but then also more significantly, the sponsorship and funds that they raise all makes a really significant contribution to our work with young people. And allows us, I guess, each year to reach more and more young people with these programs that we deliver,

Wayne
Indeed, and yeah, now and it's great see for me as working on those events alongside you is, is seeing the amount of people who return or you know, the people who get sucked in from the Windermere marathon or the Langdale Christmas Pudding race, even the 10k. And certainly, a matter of years later, they're doing the Ten In Ten, 10 laps of the Windermere marathon course, and all those people supporting the various events that you do as well, including the trail the trail events.

Scott
What's great for us now and the people who do our events, as you say we've got a real loyal following now built up over many years, and we're now able to offer everything from a 5k race, which is held in May with the Windermere marathon, all the way through 10k, Half Marathon, got two marathons. And now significantly this year, we'll obviously have the Ambleside 25k and the Ambleside 50k. So it's great to be able to offer that range of events for kind of all abilities.

Wayne
So yeah, tell it tell us more about the the the the 25 and the 50 then, so it's got Yeah, it's got a fair chunk of ascent and it's I mean the routes just stunning as well, isn't it?

Scott
Yeah, we we started with the route that we delivered twice for the Ambleside 60 and actually just made  adjustments based on what we felt having delivered the event twice. And also more importantly, feedback from our participants from the runners. And essentially both routes focus on stunning trails working kind of south and west from Ambleside moving down towards Tarn Howes, Grizedale forest touching on the Coniston fells up and round Weatherlam, Tilberthwaite, Little Langdale coming back into Great Langdale and over to Grasmere and Rydal so just to give you a picture, it's those valley trails, really good footpaths and tracks that are going through stunning woodland past a number of tarn's, great views of some of the lakes and fingers crossed if we get good weather; it'll be an absolutely stunning run. I mean, I've personally and I know Cathy has as well, have run large sections of the course just just kind of having a look at doing risk assessments, trialing bits the course. And on a nice day. The views are absolutely stunning. You get a great sense of that kind of South Lakes scenery, in all the hills and everything that's around

Wayne
Well, you are absolutely get everything aren't you. There's an amazing mix of woodland. Yeah, that like you said, the lakes, the tarns, the mountains as well. And the whole, there's a few points where the vista just opens up on it. Yeah, just just absolutely fantastic. Fantastic views. What  led to the change from the dropping it down from 60 to 50. If you don't mind me asking?

Cathy
The reason it started as a 60 was literally because I plucked the number 60 out of the air. Yeah, because it was our 60th anniversary and it was 60 quid to enter. So it was pure marketing, that it was 60K and we, the staff came up with a route to cover that, but actually, with the first year was a fantastic success. We had over 170 people start. Did we have anybody not finishe? Maybe, I think everybody got over the finish line. I think they did actually. Yeah, cuz it was amazing. I mean, the weather was just incredible. It was like the, you know, the running Gods were smiling on us that day. And I think it's also really important to say that Brathay were absolutely fantastic in delivering one of the very few trail races in 2020 as well, in September 2020. Watching the hoops, you and your team went through Scott to deliver that event was incredible to see. And I was on the finish line and literally every single person that came across that finish line, the first thing they said was like, thank you so much for putting this on. There was a huge amount of work in putting on but it was so gratefully received. And it was a truly super event in a very, very tough year for everybody.

Scott
And we were lucky I guess, the event day just fell between those lockdowns. We're taking a little bit of a chance putting all the work into it. Yeah, the gods were looking down on us we were lucky.

Cathy
It definitely paid off

Scott
with all the precautions when we could hold the event Yeah.

Cathy
So we had a bit little bit of a regroup last year, didn't we, we decided to take the year off last year. The Start to 2021 obviously was locked down. And we're all just still finding our way. And as a result of that, kind of just time off, we just talked a lot about how to make the event essentially more commercial, really, because the whole point of this is to raise funds for Brathay to to help people and improve their life chances. And so if somebody can have a trot around some glorious fells, getting fit and feeling good about themselves, and their money goes towards helping improve the life chances of a young person or the mental health of a young person. It's a complete win on every level. So we felt moving forward for this year having a smaller 25k for people who are just getting into trail running to have a go at and then alongside with a good solid 50k For for all those hardened trail runners out there. Like myself(!) (Laughing) It's a laugh innit.  Yeah, I think it's just offers something for everybody. That's what we wanted to do wanted to try and offer something for as many people as possible while raising as many funds as we can for Brathay.

Wayne
And I guess, having that focus on independent businesses in the community within that as well. So yeah, it's I guess it's an important thing for you to have local businesses involved in supporting it. And is it right that Hawkshead one of the sponsors Hawkshead brewery?

Scott
Yes.

Wayne
Go on Scott.....

Scott
Yes, every finisher, as in the previous two years we held the 60, will receive a specially designed bottle branded for their events. Bottle of Hawkshead beer on the finish line.
And was it right I think I've got one. So there was a bottle opener on the first one, was that right? That went down and absolute storm but it was like yeah, not only were people given a bottle, but there was a bottle opener. finished the race and I've got beer was brilliant.
Yes, so in place of their medal it was a bottle opener on a ribbon.

Wayne
That was it. Of course a was Yeah. And were the checkpoints previously run by local businesses as well. Is that right?

Cathy
Yeah, yeah, in the first year, we wanted to make sure that the event had as positive impact as possible on Ambleside. So there were no kind of stalls or food stalls on the field, people could get everything they needed in town and support small businesses in town. And then each checkpoint was run by a local catering company or delicatessen company. And honestly, I mean how many races do you get an English breakfast served at the first checkpoint, which is like little Haribo eggs, chopped up little pieces of Cumberland sausages it was absolute genius and I'm really pleased to say the Salutation Hotel are keen to do another checkpoint again this year. I did over here one customer and one runner talking to another runner saying: "Did you try that Frittata at checkpoint 2? It was amazing!" Where in the world would you hear that? So yeah, it's a showcase for local Cumbrian companies to show off their wares as well. So there's fantastic food and then also just a little bit of extra impact, hopefully this year. The lovely folks at Ambleside primary school are going to have bacon butties and tea and coffee for sale in their school carpark. So as you're going into the event, you can help the kids at the local village school as well by purchasing the bacon butty, which is just what you need, fill your tummy up before you go and jog around the fells.

Wayne
Interesting one that I know I know we've got a podcast yet to come on the Lakeland 100 and the Lakeland 50 as well, but one at one of my friends. I'm not going to name him. Well give it away though, actually walked out of the pre race briefing and went and got some chips in Coniston, and then went on to win the Lakeland 100 that year! Anyway, I digress, but I'm like "what are you doing?" He just just said I was bored and hungry. So Alright, anyway. Moving on. Sorry for distracting the conversation there. But yeah, so you can have a bacon butty and win a race is probably the theme there.  The moral of the story yeah. On some of the detail and so are entries open already?

Scott
Yes, entries are open right now. At www.brathaychallenges.com. And then it's very easy to find Ambleside Trail 50 or Ambleside Trail 25 Yeah.

Wayne
And then for newbies, what are they going to need to have for the event, what they're going to need to prepare for it. By way of kit and stuff like that?

Cathy
Well, on the website, where you can sign up, there's, there's loads of great information about the course as well. There's a free GPX download. So you can download that. And you can go and reccy the course if you want to. There's also a really simple, easy to follow kit list as well. And that's also got some tips and it's got some links to key items. So if you're not sure what first aid kit to pack, if you're not sure what kind of whistle you need, or it's obviously very topical in a lot of events, what sort of cup will pass pass kit check, then that's, that's all there as well. So there's basically links straight to our shop where you can buy those products that you need, you won't find links to any clothing items, because that's really personal. You need to buy something that's probably versatile as well, that you can use in other other events. And um, there's so much choice what works for one person doesn't work for another person, you know, you've got to get the right fit. And it's got to be comfortable for you to run in. So we recommend for the clothing, come into the shop and come and have a chat with us.

Wayne
And I guess, Cathy and I, our favorite kit for events, which is well documented so far. But Scott, what what sort of stuff would you take on an event like this? What's what's your favorite kit that you carry? I knowyou're a more hardy fell runner than us two.....

Scott
Yeah, I think if I say my most favorite kit, I have to say my shoes, to be honest. You know, that's, I think that's the thing that really makes the difference. And again, I'm talking on the Fells where it's maybe a little bit steeper, so the shoes that fit you in, you can move well in over the terrain. But then I think there's there's this debate always with this kind of event is how light do you go? You cut down on weight so much, that actually the kit you've got might not really built to the job, or is it that middle ground where you know, it's the Lake District, the weather can be wet as we know it can get cold, windy, what you really don't want to be doing is starting to get cold and losing energy over an event of this this duration. So depending on your pace and how quick you moving, I'd always say you want, you want enough to be able to put a thin long sleeve layer on under a decent kind of showerproof windproof albeit lightweight jacket that will fit nicely in a bum bag or something like that. And it's going to be September,  the Trail 50 Trail 25. In September, I mean, I would look at the weather. But normally in September going out on this terrain, I probably would start you know I'd be carrying a lightweight pair of gloves and a light hat in most cases. Because again, when you're getting tired, you might be getting late in the day the temperature drops, it could get wet and windy. You know, it can do a lot to save your energy if you just put a little bit extra on, keep a bit warm. And it's remarkable how at that point you can find yourself suddenly passing people who maybe aren't dressed for the weather and maybe have gone Lightweight.

Wayne
I think that the important message that we we've tried to repeat through these podcasts is yeah, don't don't underestimate that and don't pack too light and suffer for it because yeah, the weather weather can soon soon change and you can soon end up paying the price by it kind of you. So yeah. Is it something that yeah, I was just trying to have a look on the website while you were talking then sorry, Scott. Is it something I remember, We had most people carrying the sort of race vest style stuff, isn't it rather than a Yeah, sort of a fell running bum bag if you will. Yeah, it's, and that having having a bit of your old comfort food and drink with you on as you're carrying as you go round? Yeah.

Scott
Certainly a race vest gives you more options to carrying more or, or sharing the load with food and gels, bars that are really easy to get to that kind of thing, which over over this distance, even the 25 but certainly the 50 you're going to want to be eating in between our fantastic food stocks that we've mentioned already.

Wayne
Yeah, in between the all you can eat buffet (laughing)

Scott
Yeah, you just have a bit between fritatta breaks you might want something else (laughing)

Wayne
I love that. between frittata breaks brilliant.

Cathy
Montane have a fantastic range of packs, their Trailblazer pack range, they're just bring it out for this year. And I'm really looking forward to trying someof these actually because they're all designed for sort of fast and light. So if we have got folks that are actually just wanting to fast walk, or they're wanting to carry just that little bit more, they do everything from a 3 liter waist belt to 8 to 16 to 18 liter vests right through to sort of 20 to 44 liter packs. Now I'm not suggesting you probably want to carry a 44 liter pack. But perhaps somebody's training for something bigger, and they want to carry extra weight. Or they're just just wanting to try something out. So they are they're like kind of rucksacks, but with a running vest harness. So they're super low weight they're very, very stable. And of course, they give you really quick access to kit. And they've got external bungee so you can squish them down. Or if you get a small one, you can add extra storage on the outside. So you can just access that kit really quickly while you're out if the weather changes. The other thing actually they've just bought out as well is something called a lightspeed trail pull on. Oh, my word is so light is just incredible. And it goes down, packs into itself and basically just sits in your pack. You don't even know it's there. But if you need to keep the wind out, just to keep that chill off, you can just whip it out chuck it on. And the really cool thing about this is it's 100% recycled, Pertex Quantum so it's a it's a great environmental story as well.

Wayne
And What is that? Yeah, so we said that it's a pullover, but is it what, what sort of kit is it? Is like a mid layer?

Cathy
Well, yeah, no, it's a wind proof. Yeah. So Lightspeed Trail pull on.  It's just literally a pull on windproof it's just a men's one. At the moment. I've been using the Montane Featherlite jacket for the women's because I prefer actually a full zip. And, that's been Yeah, I love it. It's great. tons and tons of venting, superlite. Don't know you've got it on.

Wayne
With a name like that. Obviously, it's gonna make you run faster as well. I love that Montane Lightspeed. Yeah, it's kind of made me run at the speed of light as well. Brilliant.
Yeah, the packs help you lift you off your shoes. So you go faster (laughing)
Awesome. Sorry, I've got distracted with that. Now. . I've got lost in the world of the Montane website. Now. I was looking at, I was looking at the tech spec and the colors and lightspeed.

Cathy
We've lost him

Wayne
Back. I'm back in the room again, back in the room. Oh....no I'm not.....

Cathy
Oh, no, he's gone. He's gone. Back to the kit. Well, while you're looking at kit Wayne, I'll just let everybody know that the Ambleside Trail 25 and 50k is on the 11th of September. So there's plenty of time to get trained up and sign up, choose your distance that you want to run. We have fantastic marshals on this event as well. So at any sort of major road crossing,  any of the gates I know Scott and his team have been out or already working out exactly what they need, who they need where and when. And we've also got a range of prizes as well, there are prizes. What we'd like to do with this event is have a number of spot prizes. So it's not just about the people who win on the podium, you could place anywhere, and you might get a little bag of loveliness. Very inclusive our events. That's what we try to do.
It's worth saying, even our volunteers, so all of the volunteer marshals, and there'll be many on this course, Cathy and her team do a great job of making sure that all the volunteers get rewarded with a with a gift from one of our sponsors.

Wayne
And that's fantastic. I'm not gonna mention the brand, but I Yeah, it's still every now and then if people come up to me and say, oh, did you get that hat because of the Trail 60? Or you spot people don't you. Yeah. Yeah. Mine's looking a bit bedraggled now. So yes, for newbies to the event as well. I know, there's two, there's two places where people can get information and advice, in particular on training; one is the Joe Brown Academy. Of course, isn't it Cathy, where there's information, you know, where there's running guide information on there.

Cathy
There is, there's also actually the Facebook page for the Ambleside child 25 and 50. There's loads of sort of fun chat and tips and all the latest news. There's little pictures of one of our flaggers, who went out on a bit of a run in the winter, we'll just give a little nod to James Gibson again, he's going to be flagging the route for you. So if you're a little bit nervous about navigation, don't worry, the whole route will be perfectly flagged. I've just set the bar now for James, haven't I, he's going to be really worried. (Laughing)

Scott
That was what I was going to say; if you want to come and have a look and a chat about the course check where it goes. There's a large OS map now in the climate shopping animal side. I know a lot of the team there have run bits of the course or all the course, and they're really happy to talk you through various bits of the course where it goes.

Cathy
yeah, definitely yeah. And especially the kit, they'll love talking to you about the kit. We all do. We do actually have a competition that will be running. And sponsored by Montane, they have a Trailblazer LT 28 Pack to give away, which is a just a beautiful piece of kit. It's got a customizable body hugging design, there's a roll top minimal seams it's unique because it is waterproof this pack as well. And it weighs a featherlight 385 grams. So if you want to get entered, and to be in a chance to win this pack. What you need to do is go to our www.climbersshop.com web page and all the details will be on the homepage.

Wayne
Yeah, that's another fantastic prize from Montane there. Isn't that brilliant? So yeah, I guess in closing then people can enter by visiting the Brathay events page, Brathay challenges page. Entries are open now. The date is the 11th of September. The events gonna be running on, it's brathaychallenges.com is that right?  Sorry, Scott. And there's the 25 and 50. Available on there. And yeah, we'll look forward to seeing you in, it'll be a beautiful day because it's September. It's always beautiful in the in the lakes in September.

Cathy
It's gonna be stunning. Sunshine, liquid or otherwise.

Wayne
Yeah, exactly.liquid sunshine. You're stealing my lines there Cathy don't give them all away.
(That makes a change! Laughing) And well, yeah, we'll look forward to seeing you there then.

Cathy
Fantastic. And there's actually one last thing to say and that is a number of local companies that offer coaching and training advice. We work with the brilliant Paul Tierney and Sarah McCormack at Missing Link coaching. And then of course we have our very own Wayne and he's www.runningconcierge.co.uk.

Wayne
Yeah, if you want to pay a visit to the Lakes I can sort make all your arrangements to get you up here, and we'll get you out on the trails.

Cathy
Yeah, have a cracking time get trained up, get entered, and we're very much look forward to seeing you on the 11th of September.