Steve Brock BG success

I was back in Lakeland on Saturday to help pace Steve Brock over leg 5 of his BG. The weather was okay driving across the A65 from home but turned to rain after heading off the M6 towards Keswick on the A66. By the time I got to Honister late afternoon it was raining heavily and the wind was very strong

Steve (who has paced several successful BGs in the past) and another friend Gav (who'd been with me the week before on leg 1) had both set off at midnight on Friday and I'd heard that they were well ahead of 23hour schedule. Gav came through Honister perhaps half an hour before Steve looking a bit weary but happy. I gave him a pat on the back and shouted, 'get it done now!', as he was on his way to his support vehicle

Steve had Heather Dawe and Aiden with him on leg 4 and they'd done a cracking job in awful conditions. Steve was his usual self, smiling away and full of beans

Five of us were soon on our way: Steve, me, Tim from our club plus Andy Nichol and Steven Fry from Bingley Harriers. Steve came out of the car park with a mug of tea in one hand, a big slice of watermelon in the other and a smile that lit up the grey evening skies!

If the wind was strong it was unbelievable on top of Dale Head but we made decent progress and had soon ticked off the three final peaks complete with obligatory photo stop on Robinson. Steve was going well and spirits were high with plenty of cheering and encouragement all round

I was trying to remember the 'Bowland by-pass' route we took off Robinson on my round when Steve dropped down right on a steep but runnable line on grass and we were soon on the path down to the Newlands Valley. Definitely one to remember for future outings I reckon

Steve was buzzing on the run in and I was glad of the uphill sections that we walked as I was struggling to keep up. As we arrived at Portinscale the others shot off chasing a sub-22hour finish and I had a steady trot back into Keswick with my mind full of the previous week's adventures

The sprint finish had worked and Steve finished in 21hours 59minutes but the Moot hall wasn't a place to hang around with the rain and wind, so we adjourned to the Dog and Gun for celebration drinks. Loz from our club, who'd been solo pacer on leg 3 was there, as was a tired but very happy Gav, along with Steve's wife Angela and his parents

Thanks to Steve's mum for the lift back to Honister, Tim and Em for their hospitality in their camper, Ange for the food and the Bingley lads for their company. What a memorable evening in the wind and rain; one I'll remember for a long, long time