Fellsman 29-30 April 2017 – this fell race is over more than 61 miles and over 11,000ft of the Yorkshire Dales, from Ingleton to Threshfield via Ingleborough, Whernside, Dodd Fell and Great Whernside, to name but a few.
Katie Hateley and Clive Kent drove up with Jenny Kent on the Friday night, staying in the school hall at Threshfield overnight before breakfast at 5.30am and catching a bus to Ingleton in time for an 8.30am start.
The day dawned bright and dry, with some cloud on the tops that lifted fairly early. The field of about 400 runners headed up the high street and onto the bridleway towards Ingleborough, a warm up for the challenge to come. While it had been relatively dry beforehand, there were still some boggy bits on top and many summits and checkpoints left to go!
They covered the first half of the course in good form and reached Redshaw (checkpoint 12, 34 miles) at about 6pm. From this point on, it was a battle to stay positive – they knew as long as they kept moving the end would get nearer.
For safety reasons, before night fell they were grouped with Aimee and Michael (from Liverpool) and ran with them from Fleet Moss to the finish (about 20 miles), this helped as they were also really positive. Overnight, the temperature dropped significantly but it stayed dry!
The sun rose just after they passed the summit of Great Whernside, revealing another beautiful day and one final summit, then a relentless run along the road back into Threshfield and finally to the finish at about 5.30am. They submitted their tally cards (punched at each checkpoint) and had breakfast, before showering and packing up for the journey back to Melton Mowbray.
Jenny and Clive