Windermere, where the Great North Run was to have taken place. Photo: Magnus Franklin CC-BY-2.0

The Great North Swim, which was to have taken place this weekend in the Lake District, has been postponed.

Up to 9,000 swimmers were due to take part in the charity event on Windermere, including Labour party leadership contender Andy Burnham.

But organisers this evening announced the event had been put back because of the prevalence of blue-green algae, which presents a health risk to participants.

The swim, with participants covering a mile on the lake, was expected to attract up to 15,000 spectators on Saturday and Sunday.

Announcing the postponement, organisers said: “This decision was taken by the event safety group in the interests of safety of swimmers after further stringent water quality checks were completed.

“We realise that the postponement will affect many people, but the safety of all swimmers has to be our number one priority at all times.”

The organisers said they were looking at options, including rearranging the event on a date later this year or deferring it to next year.

Sarah Crickmer claimed a walker had broken a leg on Skiddaw

A journalist has been found guilty of making hoax calls to mountain rescuers at the height of the Cumbrian floods in November last year.

Sarah Louise Crickmer, 27, of South Shields, Tyne and Wear, was found guilty at West Allerdale Magistrates Court of two counts of sending a false message by public electronic communication network to cause annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety, in contravention of section 127 of the Communications Act 2003.

She was convicted on the second day of the hearing in Workington.

The incident involved calls made to Julian Carradice of the Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team as the area’s 12 mountain rescue teams in the Lake District were pushed to their limits dealing with the worst floods in living memory. Police appealed to fellwalkers to stay off the mountains to allow the volunteer rescue teams to devote their efforts to the county-wide emergency.

Ms Crickmer told Mr Carradice that she believed someone had broken their leg on Skiddaw and that no rescue team had been sent. The details were passed on to the Keswick Mountain Rescue Team, in whose area Skiddaw is, and investigations began.

Christopher Higgins of the Keswick team told the court he went to the Lyzzick Hall Hotel, near Applethwaite, to speak to her after being unable to get full details from her over the phone. He became suspicious when she was unable to provide any further details.

Members of the Keswick team were put on standby at the foot of Skiddaw as a result of the calls.

When police forensic officers examined the journalist’s laptop computer, they found a pre-written story about the incident.

The court heard that Ms Crickmer has alcohol problems and felt too unwell to attend the trial. Her solicitor Christian Harbinson withdrew from the case.

Magistrates warned she could be jailed. The case was adjourned for reports on the woman, and a warrant for her arrest was issued.

After the verdict, Andy Simpson of Mountain Rescue England & Wales said: “At the time of the call, we were gearing up to bring teams in from outside Cumbria to relieve the pressure faced by the local teams already dealing with the floods in Cockermouth.

“There was never any question that we couldn’t have coped with additional incidents had we been required to, and the local team initially dealt with the hoax incident as though it was a real callout.

“As an organisation staffed entirely by volunteers, this kind of thing is extremely unhelpful.”

Skiddaw, the mountain on which the alleged offences centred

The trial of a journalist charged with making hoax mountain rescue calls during the Cumbrian floods last year began yesterday in Workington.

Sarah Louise Crickmer, 27, of South Shields, Tyne and Wear, is charged on two counts of sending a false message by public electronic communication network to cause annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety, in contravention of section 127 of the Communications Act 2003.

The hearing took a twist when the reporter’s solicitor Christian Harbinson revealed the woman has problems with alcohol and felt unable to attend West Allerdale Magistrates to answer the charges.

Mr Harbinson requested an adjournment of the case but this was refused. He then told the court he would no longer be representing Ms Crickmer and withdrew from the case, which then went ahead without either the defendant’s presence of anyone to defend her.

Christopher Higgins of Keswick Mountain Rescue Team told the court he went to the Lyzzick Hall Hotel, near Applethwaite, to speak to her after being unable to get full details from her over the phone.

She had earlier rung Julian Carradice of the Wasdale team claiming she had been told someone had broken a leg on Skiddaw and was not being rescued. Mr Carradice told her the mountain was outside his team’s area and passed on details to the Keswick team.

The case continues.

The London headquarters of the Lloyds Banking Group

The investment arm of the part state-owned Lloyds Banking Group has snapped up a stake in budget outdoor retail chain Mountain Warehouse.

The deal, in which Lloyds Development Capital bought out the holding of Icelandic private-equity group KCAJ, will enable the retailer to continue its growth plans

Mountain Warehouse has opened more than 50 new stores in the last two financial years and now has 110 shops. The company said its rapid growth, which has created more than 800 UK jobs, has allowed its sales to rise 50 per cent to £47.5m and profits after tax to increase by 100 per cent to £3.7m.

The fast growing company has opened 18 new stores so far in 2010 and has plans for at least a further 18 over the second half of the year, with a target of more than 200 shops by 2014. So far in the five months of the current financial year to the end of July total sales have increased by 35 per cent.

It said it plans to launch a new ‘higher-end’ clothing range, Mountainlife Extreme, this autumn to compete with established brands such as The North Face and Berghaus. Costing about twice the retail price of its standard range, the company said Mountainlife Extreme plans to use better quality fabrics and have higher technical specifications while remaining competitive on price.

Mark Neale, the Oxford University physics graduate who founded Mountain Warehouse with one store in Swindon in 1997, said: “This is an excellent deal for Mountain Warehouse. It provides us with additional capital to help fund our store opening programme and our new higher-end clothing range. It also gives us access to LDC’s extensive sector knowledge and experience. We very much look forward to working with them to fast track our expansion plans.”

Carl Wormald of LDC added: “Mountain Warehouse has an excellent affordable proposition for the current economic climate. People are looking to buy quality outdoor clothes and products at value rather than premium prices. The company has a great management team led by Mark Neale and we’re excited about working with Mark and his team to realise the enormous potential of the Mountain Warehouse proposition both in the UK and overseas.”

The anglophile Icelandic founders of AREV and KCAJ named both companies after Coronation Street characters, their names backwards reading Jack and Vera, characters in the soap opera.

Following the deal, Lloyds Development Capital will have what is described as ‘a significant minority holding’ estimated at between 20 and 25 per cent, and will value Mountain Warehouse at more than £50m.

Taxpayers have a 43 per cent stake in LDC’s parent company Lloyds Banking Group following the Government bail-out of the bank in the midst of the 2008 financial crisis.

Patches of snow, such as this one on the most northerly munro Ben Hope in June, are common

The first snows of the Scottish winter arrived early this year – in August.

A brief, two-hour flurry was reported on the Cairngorm tops last weekend and Mountain Weather Information Service meteorologist Geoff Monk said it is possible Ben Nevis’s summit might get a dusting this weekend.

The snow fell on patches still lying in sheltered corries high on the Cairngorm range. Ruari MacDonald of the Cairngorm Ranger Service reported a sizable patch in Coire Mòr on Ben Macdui and a small patch on the Coire Cas headwall was shrinking rapidly. Lying snow also remains in Ciste Mhearad and the Garbh Coire.

Winter mountaineers are hoping for another bumper winter after some of the heaviest snowfalls in decades last over the 2009-10 season, with some ski centres operating their ski lifts into June.

However, Mr Monk cautions that the early snows don’t necessarily presage another harsh winter. He told The Herald newspaper: “It’s very unlikely more snow will fall in the next 10 days.”

Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team joined the search of Ullswater

Rescuers searching for a man missing on Ullswater have found a body.

The discovery follows a major search lasting 20 hours after angler Mark Bryant was reported missing by his partner.

Members of Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team and their colleagues from the Penrith team searched the shore and lake throughout the night for the 55-year-old from Beamsley, North Yorkshire. Four dogs and handlers from the Search and Rescue Dogs Association also joined the operation.

A spokesperson for the Patterdale team said: “A body was located by police divers and recovered at approximately 7pm on Wednesday.”

A spokesperson for Cumbria Constabulary said: “That body has been informally identified as our missing person.”

Mr Bryant had last been seen fishing on Ullswater at around 1.30pm yesterday. When he failed to return to Side Farm campsite, Patterdale, where he was staying, his partner reported her concerns for his welfare to the Patterdale team who began a search of the surrounding area at 11pm last night.

The man’s dinghy was found in the early hours, about 45m north of the steamer pier on Ullswater. The search resumed at 6am and rescuers were joined by the police underwater search team and Coastguard staff.

Ennerdale Water, scene of the man's slip

A walker was stretchered from a Lakeland path after slipping and injuring himself today.

The 61-year-old, from Cumbria, was walking on the shore path at Ennerdale Water when he fell and injured his knee and back.

Cockermouth Mountain Rescue Team went to the man’s aid about 1.30pm and he was carried by stretcher to a waiting ambulance at Bowness car park and then taken to West Cumberland Hospital, Whitehaven, for treatment.

Fourteen members of the team were involved in the rescue.

Ullswater, scene of the fisherman's disappearance

Two mountain rescue teams are taking part in a major search of a Cumbrian lake after a man failed to return from a fishing trip.

An overnight search by Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team was suspended at 3.30am this morning after teams spent more than three hours looking for the man after his worried partner rang them.

Mark Bryant, 55, from Beamsley in North Yorkshire was last seen fishing on Ullswater at around 1.30pm yesterday. When he failed to return to Side Farm campsite in Ullswater where he was staying, his partner reported her concerns for his welfare to the Patterdale team who began a search of the surrounding area.

The man’s dinghy was found in the early hours, about 45m north of the steamer pier on Ullswater. The search resumed at 6am and rescuers have been joined by an underwater search team.

Four search dogs are also involved in the hunt for the missing man, described as white, of a stocky but slim build with long grey-blond hair. He was last seen wearing shorts and sailing shoes.

Members of Cumbria Constabulary have been questioning owners and staff of hotels, guesthouses, campsites and bed-and-breakfast establishments in the area to try to locate the missing man, who is in his fifties.

Police are appealing for anyone who thinks they may have seen anyone matching this description in the area to contact them on 0845 33 00 247.

Kayaker Chad Salisbury, 18, of Leyland, Lancashire, died on the lake in June after his boat capsized, and in May this year, 62-year-old Tony Thwaites of Alcester, Warwickshire, drowned after going overboard from a pleasure steamer on Ullswater.

Elizabeth Ashbee

Police have confirmed that the body found in Caernarvon Bay yesterday is that of the missing kayaker Elizabeth Ashbee.

The 53-year-old, of Shrewsbury, Shropshire, became separated from four companions in bad weather about 2.30pm on Sunday while heading through rocks near Rhosneigr.

Her fellow paddlers managed to scramble up cliffs to safety and a three-day search by Coastguard, RNLI lifeboat crews, two helicopters from RAF Valley and the North Wales Police helicopter, aided by members of the Shrewsbury Canoe Club ended yesterday when Ms Ashbee’s body was found at 5.28pm on Tuesday.

A statement on the club’s website said: “Elizabeth was a real character within the club and will be missed by many.

“We would like to express our sincerest thanks to the rescue services for all their time and efforts.

“Our thoughts and sympathy are with the family and those involved in this tragic occurrence.”

Helen Jackson

A charity supporting Britain’s national parks has a new boss.

Helen Jackson takes over today as chief executive of the Campaign for National Parks.

Ms Jackson has held senior posts, mainly in the heritage sector. She was chief executive of Museums, Libraries, Archives South East until its closure, and was previously deputy director, policy and research, at the Heritage Lottery Fund.  She lives on the edge of the South Downs, Britain’s newest national park.

She said: “Helen says: ‘I am delighted to be taking up this exciting and challenging role. It is both a privilege and a great responsibility to lead the Campaign at this critical time of budget cuts and planning pressures, and I look forward to helping to secure further campaign successes.

“These inspiring and beautiful places need our protection and support if their unique value and potential to the nation is to be recognised properly and developed in the 21st century.”

CNP chairman Anne Robinson said: “Helen comes with a strong background in the charitable and cultural sectors, and a personal passion for the parks.  She is experienced in managing organisations, and will provide leadership to the Campaign at a very challenging time for national parks and all charities.”