Northern Traverse 2016 – Day 2 Summary

“We seek him here, we seek him there,

Those photographers seek him everywhere.

Is he in heaven? — Is he in hell?

That damned, elusive Eoin Keith”

– a mis-quoted Baroness Emma Orczy

Eoin Keith is on fire, he is blasting through checkpoints and burning up the trail. I tried to catch him this morning and missed by about 10-minutes at Nine Stands. I even expected a faster pace and navigated ahead on the trail so that I could run towards him…. a lack of 3G failed me and when I finally goy an update on my tracker it told me the bad news. Eoin had passed but by the narrowest of margins.

I remained on the higher ground and was blasted by the strong icy winds to John Knapp and Matt Neale come through. The front three are relatively equally spaced at the time of writing (1400 Tuesday), Eoin is probably getting close to Richmond? If only I could get 3G.

The 190 mile journey is taking its toll and runners are now spread over a large area, the last runner is David Taylor (I believe) and he is climbing out of Patterdale – puts Eoin Keith’s pace into perspective.

Day 2 conditions are good with great visibility, just a strong, cold wind to contend with.

Ship will be a key aid station in the coming hours and evening for the back markers, equally, Richmond important for the from markers.

How long will Eoin Keith stay in Richmond? My guess, not long… Robin Hood Bay is starting to appear quite close