Race 25 of 60 @ 60 : Rivington Pike

Just as Wordsworth travelled to Monmouthshire to prove, in his lines about Tintern Abbey, that he could be boring outside the Lake District too, we went to Horwich to confirm that classic fell races can also be found outside the National Park. In fact, with the Rivington Pike Race first being held in 1882, this is thought to be the oldest fell race still going. The 2024 edition was the centenary celebration of Horwich RMI Harriers (that’s the Railway Mechanics’ Institute) who’ve been organising the race since just after the second world war.

It’s a pretty simple race route, up and down to the tower on the fringe of Winter Hill, scene of the biggest and best mass trespass for access which set off from Bolton in 1896, decades before the copycat Kinder Scout kerfuffle of 1932. The Kinder Scout trespass is probably more famous because of it’s success in securing access whereas the Winter Hill one ended up with 12,000 Boltonians drinking the pubs dry in the village of Belmont and Colonel Ainsworth’s lackeys and gamekeepers securing the moor for the toffs. It’s a matter of priorities I suppose. Anyway, since I started with poetry, here’s a short one by Allen Clarke, published in 1920:

Will yo’ come o’ Sunday mornin’

For a walk o’er Winter Hill?

Ten thousand went last Sunday

But there’s room for thousand still!

Oh there moors are rare and bonny

And the heather’s sweet and fine

And the roads across the hilltops –

Are the people’s – yours and mine!

 

Ahead of a fair few

For us, the event was a bit of a family get together with Luke leading us home, Tim not appearing on the results although he was standing chatting to Luke when I got there ( I guess I’ll have to admit that he beat me), then Katie, just a few seconds in front of Mary.

Results: 123rd/396 V60-69: 8th/38 Time: 26:09

Luke 67th in 23:38;  Tim (estimated): 109th in 25:30;

Katie: 253rd in 30:43; Mary: 258th in 30:54

Distance: 5.2km Climb: 213m

We Need to Talk About Chevin: Race 24 of 60 @ 60

I chose this race over Causey Pike or Boulsworth Bog because it allowed me time to get over the M62 to the Toughsheet Stadium in time for the match at 3 o'clock. The game was postponed with the implausible explanation being that Bolton have too many current international players in the squad. As I'd already entered I took on the interminable drive down the A65 and in the end, I really enjoyed the race.

It's nearly all in the woods, although it does pop out on to the moor briefly, and it consists of a series of ups and downs on paths between the road and the moor. Not a fell race in the Lake District sense but still a properly hard race, evidenced by the DNF rate of 7 from 88 starters. I'm doing more in Yorkshire than anywhere else at the moment - how long can I let that go on?

Bloody Campervans!

Results: 29th/81  V60: 2nd/9  Time: 1:31:04
Distance: 14km  Climb: 650m

Race 23 of 60 @ 60: Muncaster Luck

Misty on Muncaster Fell I was running with a group which drifted a bit too far left between checkpoints one and two. Spotting a wall on our right I pulled up thinking that we'd missed Silver Knott. Big mistake - wrong wall. Several others stopped, having no more clue than me where they were. I headed back quite some way before trying again and finally, using map and compass, I firmly relocated on a wall corner. Meanwhile, phones appeared out of bumbags and consequently I arrived last at the checkpoint.

The ironic thing is that in my opinion the FRA prohibition on the use of GPS is simply daft. It's completely unenforceable and more importantly, all organisers want runners to arrive at the finish safely and not in a neighbouring valley. I use my phone when I'm uncertain in the mist on my own and when I'm away I download routes to my watch. After nearly 500 fell races over more than 30 years I get it with the ethos thing, I really do but seriously, things move on, like it or not.

But anyway, the bottom line is that I should have had my map out from the start and not lost touch with it in the first place. Ended up doing over 20km on a race listed as 15km. Shocker!

Results: 25th/26 finishers, 29 started  V60: 2nd/2 (The only MV60 to finish)   Time: 3:01:35

Official Distance: 15km  Climb: 620m

(My distance: 20km  My climb: 810m)

Race 22 of 60 @ 60: Black Combe

12th time on this race and not a PW - that's good, sort of, since it was really quite windy. I didn't struggle with the second climb as much as I had done in previous years and I actually had energy left for the descent but I still didn't make the top half - that's bad - age: the only explanation..

I finished with with 13 BCR's in front of me and 13 behind, but at the front of that group, six people thrashed my PB from 2005. Not only old then, but never as good as I always wished I was. Luke didn't beat my PB but is closing in.

Results: 111th/189  V60: 7th/25  Time 1:50:24
Luke: 64th/189  Time: 1:35:06
Distance: 13km  Climb: 1000m

Race 21 of 60 @ 60: Ilkley Moor

Ilkley seems like a very pleasant town. In fact if it wasn't in Yorkshire, I think I would be able to say that I quite liked the place. The race has a lot in common with my favourite West Pennine races, geologically speaking, so I should do OK, having by now just about recovered from the Long Mynd Valleys.

It turned out that Ilkley Moor was a Yorkshire championship race this year so the competition was pretty hot. The first V60 beat my previous time from 20 years ago by 3 seconds and I was about 8 minutes slower. I'm putting the difference in my own performance down entirely to the exceptionally muddy conditions, although I admit that I did run out of steam a bit in the second half. Kit requirement was just a whistle but I took a hat as well - you never know and we've all heard the story. Nice race map too, an orienteering map colour coded by orienteers for fell runners too daft to understand contours. Love it!

Results: 142nd/264  V60: 5th/20  Time: 1:00:25
Distance: 8km  Climb: 401m