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Grasmere Gallop Runner

An Epic Lakeland Day

The weekend's Grasmere Gallop was a sunny, scenic, sweet success...

They say the sun shines on the righteous, so someone must have been behaving themselves at Grasmere Gallop HQ as conditions for the weekend's event were sublime. Hundreds of runners and outdoor enthusiasts descended on the pretty Lakeland town for a weekend of trail racing, fun and… cakes.

The Grasmere Gallop is a long-standing event, first launched by local hotelier Robin Lees in 1985 to raise funds for charities including Mountain Rescue and a local hospice. The organisation was then in the hands of the National Trust for some time, but in 2019 local trail running events company Pure Outdoors Events took over the organising reins and 'hope to continue and grow the event for many years to come'.

The event was unfortunately cancelled, postponed and cancelled again in 2020 and 2021 but, to continue the weather analogies, every cloud has a silver lining and in 2022 Grasmere Gallop teamed up with the OMM Festival to bring runners an epic outdoor weekend. This made the Gallop bigger and better than ever with events to suit every age and ability from 5.7K, 10K, 17K & 42K trail races, a 10K nordic walking challenge and of course the addition of the adventure races of OMM Lite.

Runners were delighted with the weather, the fantastic routes and the organisation. One finisher, Joanne Rolls, commented: It was a great event, thoroughly enjoyed the 17K might come back for the marathon next year." While Philip Dixon was similarly impressed saying: "Well-organised, a lovely route, great scenery and delicious cakes at the finish."

Oh yes, the cakes… all those taking part were able to enjoy the delicious offerings from local eatery - Apple Pie Cafe, with some 900 cakes ordered including jam doughnuts, salted caramel shortbread, brownies and cookies. Two runners who were particularly delighted with their sweet rewards were Robert and Stephen Watson (aged 10 and 8) from Ambleside AC who stormed round the 5.7K course to finish with a freshly baked doughnut. "We ran for jam!" they cheered!

Speaking after the event organisers commented: "What a day, thanks to everyone who came and galloped around Grasmere in the sunshine today!"

"Huge congratulations to all our marathon runners. You took on our challenging but simply beautiful course. We asked a few of our finishers for one word to describe the day, here were the answers: epic, brutal, crikey, gosh, amazing, blimey, f**k, classic, hard and the best (ok - that's two words)."

If you'd like to know more about the Grasmere Gallop you can visit the event website here.

Image: Grasemere Gallop/James Kirby

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