Tragic fall of Cambridge student in Lake District ‘hare and hounds’ race
A CAMBRIDGE student plunged to his death while being chased across Lake District fells in a game of ‘ hare and hounds’, an inquest heard.
John Grenfell-Shaw, 25, travelled to Cumbria last July with students and alumni of Trinity College for their annual ‘Lake Hunt’, a fell running event dating back to 1901.
The mathematics PhD student assumed the role of a ‘hare’ and was being pursued across challenging terrain by a pack of ‘hounds’ when he fell.
Mr Grenfell-Shaw – an ‘extremely capable runner, scrambler and climber’ – sounded a horn to draw attention to his position as he ran up Haystacks, a 1,959ft hill in Buttermere, Cockermouth Coroner’s Court heard.
He ran down a gully near the summit of the fell, but the male ‘hound’ pursuing him did not follow as the route was too risky.
He was reported missing several hours later when he failed to rejoin the group. His body was recovered later that evening, July 5, after he fell a ‘considerable distance’ down the gully and suffered a traumatic head injury.
His friend Pollie Boyle told the inquest: ‘This is an area that runners are told is very dangerous and should be avoided.’
She added: ‘John was an extremely capable runner, scrambler and climber, and not an undue risktaker, all of which led us to be less concerned than perhaps we otherwise might have been.’
The inquest heard that the privately-educated student had taken part in the tradition for six years and was staying with the group of around 25 fell runners in a Lake District holiday let base.
Mr Grenfell-Shaw’s father Mark described his son as ‘deeply analytical and always deeply calculated’, particularly in his approach to risk. He added: ‘I miss him.’
The inquest heard he was a keen rower who had also represented Cambridge University at cycling.
Senior Cumbria Coroner Kally Cheema ruled he had died as a result of an accidental fall.
Writing in an alumni magazine, a former member of the Trinity Lake Hunt said it is ‘essentially, a giant game of tag, which takes place over ten square miles of wild Cumbrian mountains’.
He added: ‘Between 30 and 40 people assemble once a year in the heart of the Lake District and spend three days hunting one another.
He then explained: ‘They are divided into hares – usually four per day – and hounds – everyone else.
‘The hares get a head start to make themselves scarce in the mountains.
‘The hounds set off to “kill” them. A kill is made by touching.
‘It doesn’t sound dangerous until you think about it. Think, for example, about the word ‘mountains’, and all that it implies: rocks, gullies, cliffs, extreme weather.’
Mr Grenfell-Shaw studied maths at Trinity, Cambridge’s largest college, from 2011 to 2014. After completing his undergraduate degree he stayed at the college to do a PhD in Applied Mathematics.
In a tribute after his death, Cambridge University Cycling Club said: ‘Above all, John was always enthusiastic, polite and very good at working out how to get the very most out of what he was doing, which is an inspiration to all of us.’
‘Known to be a dangerous area’