With Storm Denis on the horizon for last weekend I was considering my options on the Friday evening:

• Bleasdale Circle on the Saturday – 8 km with 380 metres of ascent – a Settle Harriers Championship race
• Or Barbon on the Sunday – 3 km with 360 metres of ascent – a Kendal Winter League race
• Or both

Having studied the OS map for Bleasdale, curiosity got the better of me: a school, a church and a parish hall, all with no road leading to them??  I’d have to take a chance with Barbon and just hope that my knee would be up for another race on the Sunday.

The journey to Bleasdale was, thankfully, uneventful; it even stopped raining, and there was just one flood to negotiate which, so long as it stayed dry, I reckoned I’d be able to get back through.

I arrived in good time as I hadn’t pre-entered, but I needn’t have worried; with only 59 out of a maximum number of 120 there was plenty of room for everyone on the start line.  Spot checks were carried out to satisfy the full kit requirement, although by now a lot of runners were wearing most of their kit as it had started to rain again…

The route headed north from the parish hall, turned east to cross sodden farmland for a couple of kilometres past Bleasdale Circle (no time for sightseeing) and then climbed steeply up onto Fair Snape Fell at 510m.  While one couldn’t really describe the conditions as pleasant, the climb up to Paddy’s Pole on the summit was fantastic: the wind was so strong that I seriously considered unzipping my waterproof to harness this relentless stream of free energy.  Would this be classed as cheating I wondered?  In the end it was the reluctance to get soaked which made me desist rather than the ethics.

On the summit conditions really were atrocious as the marshal grabbed me by the arm to steer me round the stone shelter in case I got blown away.  The race organizer had very prudently decided to shorten the course that morning making it a there-and-back to Paddy’s Pole rather than continuing along the ridge to Parlick; in fact at the start line he told us that the summit marshals had been instructed to descend if conditions worsened and that the turnaround point would be wherever you happened to meet them!

As it was, there was only one DNF, everyone got back safely, and I finished a very respectable – for me – fourth from last.  And back at the parish hall there was a seemingly endless supply of hot soup, hot tea and delicious home made cakes.  It was still raining.

Once I was warm and dry and fed, my mind turned towards the homeward journey.  I set off and eventually reached the flood which, to my surprise, was not as bad as I had remembered it.  I drove through it, rounded the next bend, and realized that that was actually a new flood: the original flood was now twice as long as it had been a few hours ago and was receding into the distance!

As I drove home I thought about my daughter Chloe; having signed up for the university caving trip she had driven from Cambridge to South Wales on Friday evening bombarded with dire warnings from her mother about being sensible and intelligent students, and I wondered where she would get her sense and intelligence from…

And Barbon?  Obviously I was devastated when the race had to be cancelled, but secretly I think my knee was quite relieved.

Jill Gates

Post-run pub chat at this time of year inevitably turns to our much-loved, iconic local classic, the Three Peaks Race.

In honour of this famous event on our doorstep – and to remind you to enter (it’s a club champ) –   here’s some fun peaky facts…

• The Three Peaks as a round was ‘invented’ by two teachers from Giggleswick School who completed a circuit in 1887 in 14 hours and 27 minutes.
• The first foot race took place in 1954, starting and finishing at Chapel-le-Dale. It was won by Fred Bagley, one of three finishers from a starting line-up of six.
• The route has changed a few times over the years, most recently to use the ‘new’ path round Sell Gill, Penyghent summit, and the flagged route off Whernside. I think we can all be pleased it no longer goes across Black Dubb Moss – aka the bogs of doom.
• The Daily Mirror sponsored the race for a number of years.
• Yorkshire TV made a programme about the 1976 edition. Well worth a watch on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyRHE9chNyg&t=286s
• Chris Hirst is the fastest Harrier, having clocked 3.10.50 and 12^th place in 1992. Other fleetfooted completions include Alistair Scholey and Adrian Pickles who have both run 3.25.
• Carol Evans is our speediest female with a PB of 3.54. Rachel Hill has also broken four hours.
• Settle Harriers had 16 runners complete the race in both 2014 and 2016 – our largest turnouts.
• Judy Marshall’s sister, Helen, was first female in 2006.
• Steve Moor is always last out of the start field. It’s the law.
• Judith Allinson has been known to serenade competitors with her flute on Ingleborough.
• Mike Wynne’s marshal post on Ingleborough was legendary. The finest slurp of tea ever tasted.
• The shoe debate is nearly as old as the hills. It’s possible, apparently, to run it in road shoes in a dry year. However, Andy Peace set his 2.46.03 record in 1996 wearing Walsh PBs and I believe Victoria Wilkinson’s 2018 record run of 3.09.19 was in Inov8 X Talons, both of which are very grippy!
• The late John Rawnsley, long time organiser of the Three Peaks Cyclocross, which started in 1959, completed the fell race 30 times. That’s as well as riding the cyclocross 45 times! Wendy Dodds has run it 35 times. Jon Sharples has 22 completions to his name running for Clayton-le-Moors. We must have others with multiple runs in double figures – anyone? Who’s our club member with the most completions to their name?
• If you’re still looking for qualifiers, try Black Combe (AM and a club champ) on March 7.

Anyone else got any fascinating or funny facts about the peaks?

Some ‘historical’ photos…

Julia Murfin