Hayfield Fell Races - Archive

This page contains items which have been ejected from the main page because they are no longer topical. The stuff here is kept in date order of archiving - the newest items are at the top of the page.

Some good pictures here (thanks to Nick Ham) and here (thanks to Frank Golden).

Here are the results - thanks Brian! Nick Ham took some nice photos on the way round and here's a photo taken by Brian the day after the race - spot the difference!

Here are the senior and junior results - thanks Richard.

Here are some nice pics from Nick "100-Mile" Ham who seems to be getting into this short-distance stuff.

Here is a race report from the organiser. Next year's race will be on Sun, 13 Jan 2013 at 11am.

Here are some photos - thanks (again) Neil.

Here are some rather less than perfectly formed results. Thanks to Andy Howie for rescuing these from a watery oblivion. If you can fill in any of the missing information please drop Andy an email.

Some pics from Neil Coverley here ... and some more from Geoff Briggs here - thanks guys!

Photos from Richard Seipp here and from Neil Coverley here.

• May Queen
• Mount Famine
• Lantern Pike Dash
• Lantern Pike Dash Juniors
• Three Days in May

The race will bypass the Downfall by bearing right off the main path at SK073892 and will descend to Mermaid's Pool where competitors will wade the pool (don't panic - it's only 4ft deep!). Marshals will be on hand should you get stuck. The race then continues down to cross the Kinder at SK079887 where your number will be taken. This is followed by a rocky scramble back up onto the plateau and main path at SK081885. The last 50m is quite steep and a number of fixed ropes will be in place for less confident climbers. Mountain Rescue will be in attendance in the vicinity.

Here's a map showing the diversion - old route in blue, diversion in red. Please do not recce this new section of route, access has been granted for race day only and it will be well marked. Next year this diversion will be unnecessary and you'll be able to stop off at the visitor centre to spend a penny!

Update at 11:15am - Someone has just emailed me to enquire how the visitor centre will be powered. I understand that the NT will install a peat-powered generator. Apparently, there is tons of the stuff lying around up there which nobody has found a use for. Update at 16:25pm - A young lady from GVS has been in touch as she is only 4'9" in her Walshes and is worried about getting out of her depth in Mermaid's Pool. Don't worry, just get yourself along to your physio and ask for some stretching exercises - 3 inches should be enough or 6 if you want to be on the safe side. Update at 19:35pm - News just in of an interesting find at the Downfall. National Trust surveyors working on foundations for the visitor centre earlier this week uncovered a previously unknown small cave. The cave was empty but for some unusual animal droppings which were sent off for analysis. It appears that the droppings belong to wallabies, long thought to be extinct in the Peak District. Work on the visitor centre has therefore been postponed while NT zoologists search for the cave's occupants. A local NT warden, who did not want to be named, said "Bl**dy wallabies - me and the lads were looking forward to having somewhere warm out of the wind for a fag and a cup of tea." The race will therefore not have to be diverted this year. Runners are encouraged to report any wallaby sightings to the National Trust.

Photos - Andy has provided 3 sets - the first from Andy, the second from Lis and the third from DazH. Thanks!

I took a GPS - here's the trace (a shade over 11 miles).

Kinder Trial Start list

Results (on FRA web site) here.

Richard Seipp was out with his camera - pics here - thanks Richard. He was not the only one - more pics from John, Pippa and Andy (who shot a few of them while running!) - thanks chaps.

There are some photos taken by Chris of Kinder MRT over on the Pennine site - here
. . . and some more from IanDarkpeak - here.

Here are the May Queen results - thanks to Andy Howie for these,
. . . and the Mount Famine results - thanks to Mark Boulton for these,
. . . . . . and finally, the Lantern Pike Dash results - thanks to 'Old Bare Chest' for these (and the junior results)
. . . . . . . . . and finally, finally - the Three Days in May table

Chris Smith of Twenty Trees has some photos of the May Queen and Mount Famine races here - thanks Chris.
. . . and yet more nice pics on the Pennine site

Here are some nice pics from Ann Seipp - thanks Ann! ... and some more via Dave Soles here ... and yet more from Chris from Kinder Mountain Rescue here.

[Entry list - Route notes]

Some of these would take a caption - let me know if you can think of one.

• "I've got this magic compass that pulls me along when I get tired" (Worked well this year, Nick!)
• Pennine fancy-dress training run - "Dammit! - we've all come in the same costume"
• "Curses! - they said there was a refreshment tent at all the controls ... AND I've brought my mug ..."
• "Jim couldn't shake the nagging feeling that he'd left something behind at the last control" (Julien M)

Dave Pinnington has sent me links to photos taken at Lantern Pike - seniors and juniors - thanks Dave.

Chris Smith was also at the Sheepdog Trials with his camera - photos here.

May Queen results here (thanks Nick & Yvonne) and Mount Famine results here (thanks Mark) and Dash results here (thanks Andy, Richard and Debbie). Here is the overall table for the 3 Days in May races. Oh, and here are the Dash junior results ...

Chris Smith has some nice photos of the May Queen and Mount Famine races here - thanks, Chris. And there are three of the start of MF from Mel ... here.

18 runners braved all three races - here is the overall table. Congratulations to Andy Trigg and Jackie Lee who took the top places.

Report - Local wordsmith Andy Howie relates - "Fairly ideal conditions saw a big turn out this year; 258 runners were greeted by the new organiser at the start on the bridge in the centre of Hayfield, causing the usual friendly chaos, which is one of the defining features of this classic local race. Following the normal insults & banter the happy runners whizzed up Kinder Road and took the sharp left up Snake Path; plenty of stumbling, wheezing & coughing up to 20 Trees, where the field began to spread beguilingly across the landscape. I could just about glimpse the front-runners, disappearing over Ashop Head onto Kinder plateau, as we lesser mortals topped out of William Clough ...
Then as usual, the rest is a bit of a blur! The bruised, battered & bloody and still very happy runners were suitably rewarded with tea & cakes back at the Scout Hut ..."

. . . What a cracking race (again), seamless organisation, well marked & marshalled course, probably the wettest & muddiest underfoot conditions ever for this event, some fierce competition in the aged ranks. Good tussle between the Under 12's & the Over 60's! With a warm welcome & roaring fire in the Grouse Inn after the finish, rounded off with (free stand up) entertaining prize giving and an ace pint or two of well kept Robbies Beer - what more would you want? (Chip Butties? - next year, apparently!)

Mel Cranmer sent me this a while ago . . . results of the very first Lantern Pike race in 1977 (where the course record was set!). It's a scan which has been converted to PDF - click here to download (100k).

A quick plug for one of my favourite events - the Peakers' Stroll is a laid-back but well organised long distance walk which welcomes runners. The full course is fairly demanding (think Edale Skyline but with summer heat) but there are 3 shorter courses available (or you can walk it). Registration and start is at the Reading Rooms in Peak Forest (GR SK113793) and runners go off at 11:30 (walkers 9:30).

The full route has 6 checkpoints (with drinks at all and food at CP3). From Peak Forest you head north over Windy Knoll to CP1 below Mam Tor. Then it's up Mam Tor, east to Lose Hill, down to Killhill Bridge in Hope (CP2) and up Win Hill. From Win Hill drop down to the side of Ladbybower Res. and CP3 then it's NW along the side of the reservoir to CP4 at the reservoir inlet. A short drag up through the woods brings you out near Crookstone Barn and from there you cross Jaggers Clough as you head SW towards CP5 in Edale. Leaving Edale it's up and over Hollins Cross then down into Castleton and CP6. The final climb is up though Cave Dale (nice!) before the descent down Oxlow Rake to the finish at Peak Forest and a late lunch served at your table in the Reading Room.

All this for £6.50 (you can enter on the day) and this year it's on Sunday the 4th of July.

The Peakers Stroll web site has all the information you need and there are more details on the LDWA web site. Here is my profile of the full route (the shorter routes use a subset of the checkpoints and are 9, 13 and 17 miles)