A Cambridge University PhD student, 25, fell to his death while being chased in mass game of tag called ‘Hare and Hounds’ in known danger spot in Lake District.
John Grenfell-Shaw, 25, was among two dozen friends who were taking part in a series of unofficial running games, an inquest in Cockermouth, Cumbria heard.
Mr Grenfell-Shaw, an ‘extremely capable runner, scrambler and climber’ died as he was playing ‘Hare and Hounds’, a game which is thought to have been developed by English schoolboys during the 1830s.
John Grenfell-Shaw, 25, was among two dozen friends who were taking part in a series of unofficial running games, an inquest in Cockermouth, Cumbria heard.
The game sees participants acting as hounds chase others across rough terrain who take on the role of hares.
Mr Grenfell-Shaw, who was a ‘hare’, was followed by a ‘hound’ to a fell called Haystacks, Buttermere on the morning of July 5 last year.
He was chased down a gully on the northside of it, known as being hazardous.
His friend Pollie Boyle, told the inquest: ‘This is an area that runners are told is very dangerous and should be avoided.’
She said the Mr Grenfell-Shaw was told that he would not be followed down the route by the hound.
Mr Grenfell-Shaw was an extremely capable runner, scrambler and climber
Mr Grenfell-Shaw was instructed he wouldn’t be followed down that route by the hound, who waited a short time but neither ‘heard nor saw anything’. Pictured is a view of Haystacks
She explained the hare waited a short time but had not ‘heard or saw anything’.
Mr Grenfell-Shaw, of Bristol, was later found in a gully near the 1,959ft Haystacks summit following a search by his friends and mountain rescuers.
His friend Pollie Boyle, told the inquest: ‘This is an area that runners are told is very dangerous and should be avoided.’
Mr Grenfell-Shaw was instructed he wouldn’t be followed down that route by the hound, who waited a short time but neither ‘heard nor saw anything’.
He was last seen at 11.30am and was reported missing several hours later after he failed to return to the group.
Mr Grenfell-Shaw, of Bristol, was later found in a gully near the 1,959ft Haystacks summit following a search by his friends and mountain rescuers.
A search involving mountain rescuers and his friends followed before Mr Grenfell-Shaw’s body was found by a group member that evening in a gully near the 1,959ft Haystacks summit.
Mr Grenfell-Shaw died from a traumatic head injury.
His father, Mark told the inquest his son was ‘living life to the full’.
He said he had passions for music and sport, particularly cycling, running and rowing.
He described his son as ‘deeply analytical’ and ‘always deeply calculated’, particularly in his approach to risk, adding: ‘I miss him.’
Mr Grenfell-Shaw, who was a ‘hare’, was followed by a ‘hound’ to a fell called Haystacks, Buttermere on the morning of July 5 last year. Pictured a view of buttermere Lake from Haystacks,
Ms Boyle also told the hearing: ‘John was an extremely capable runner, scrambler and climber, and not an undue risk-taker; all of which led us to be less concerned than perhaps we otherwise might have been.
She said he was ‘a very talented person yet very modest’, and that he ‘would always have gone out of his way to help someone’.
She added that ‘he will be sorely missed’.
Looking down buttermere valley from the summit of haystacks
Senior Cumbria coroner Kally Cheema concluded that ‘it was more than likely that Mr Grenfell-Shaw died as a result of an accident’.
Ms Cheema said: ‘Mr John Grenfell-Shaw’s body was located in the gully near the summit of Haystacks, suggesting that he had fallen a considerable distance down the gully, and as a result suffering injuries to his head and his body.’