Muker Show and Ilkley Incline, 4pm and 7pm, Wednesday 4th September
It’s not that unusual to do two races over a weekend, one on Saturday one on Sunday. But two races in the same day, that sounds a bit excessive. Where do you get the puff to do that, let alone find two races with conveniently staggered start times and get between them?
Three races in one day would of course be completely ridiculous. Not that that puts off those hardy types from Ripon Runners! On a Saturday every August, thirty or more of them do Fountains Abbey parkrun at 9am, then travel over to the Dales for the 4-mile Littondale road race at 1pm, and finish off with the short Arncliffe Gala fell race later in the afternoon. The dream is to do all three in a combined time of under an hour. To be fair many of them are walking the fell race but no matter, they all add great humour and colour to the day, respect to them all!
Doing the Double
But that’s a parkrun (which of course isn’t a race, it’s a timed run…), a flat road race, then a fell race. What about a combination of fell races on the same day? I’ve only come across three examples. At Ambleside Sports in July you can do the Rydal Round (aka Fairfield Horseshoe) at midday, followed by the 1.5 mile Guides race at 3.30pm. You can tell who’s doing both when they blow-up on the climb of the latter. Closer to home the Gargrave Show and Burnsall Sports are often on the same Saturday in August, with fell race start times of midday and 4.30pm respectively, and just a short drive in between. I only know this because in 2022 I was chatting with race winner Nathan after Burnsall when he casually mentioned he’d won Gargrave a few hours earlier. Some double.
The third example I kind-of stumbled across for the first time in 2018, and on Wednesday got the chance to repeat for the first time since. Here’s how the day went:
Having booked the afternoon off work I was on my way from Bradford just before 1pm, heading for the Muker Show fell race in Swaledale. This is organised by Bofra and started at 4pm. I decided to go via Ribblehead and Hawes, thinking there’d be fewer delays, but in true A65 fashion got held up behind agricultural vehicles on those bends before Settle. This meant I didn’t come down the steep Buttertubs Pass until after 3pm, but there was still time to dump the car on the edge of the village, pay my £10 to enter the show, get a race number and have a quick look at the course. This was my fourth visit to Muker. It’s not just a great race but also a great show, well-attended with interesting stalls and produce on a sheep-y theme, all to the evocative soundtrack of the local brass band.
The fell race is a highlight of the day, helped by the surrounding topography. You get a great view of the whole race from the show field, which is banked on one side, lending a “stadium” effect to the start/finish. The whole crowd really gets behind the race and gives you some big cheers. The good news was that the weather was dry and the river low, which meant we were going to run through it, twice (in high water the course is diverted half a mile upstream to a bridge, changing the character of the race).
4pm we’re off and 83 of us dash madly downhill through the crowds to the river, which we cross for the first time just 30 seconds in. It’s a narrow gap through the trees into the water and like a herd of wildebeest we’re through, many using the rope slung across the river as a guide, but I risk a quieter line to the left, and get away with it.
A minute’s climb up a track and then we’re onto the steep fell – the question is, who can walk up this straight 500 feet the quickest, not even the guys at the front can run it. I felt I climbed pretty well, not too far behind the best in my category. But the trick with these races is to transition from steep climbing to steep descending – two very different disciplines – in the blink of an eye, and here I get a bit found out. It’s 1 minute of flat running along the top then you sweep back down to the river on a diagonal trod, all slippery limestone blocks hidden in the bracken. I lose a few places then steel myself for the second river crossing.
No hiding in the crowd this time, the gaggle of spectators have all eyes on you, so I employ the safety of the rope and pull myself across. I momentarily think I have a chance of catching Stephen in front, who has ended up on the wrong side of the rope, but he holds on in the run in. You just have to soak up the cheers as you run through the thick funnel of spectators to the finish. My time 15 minutes 3 seconds, 14th place, and of course you collapse on the line and feel like you’ll never run again.
Until 10 minutes later when you realise you’re sort-of back to normal. The other runners come in, then a wander to the refreshments tent for tea and cake (Wensleydale cheese on tea loaf, very nice), followed by the prizegiving. A shower comes in and the field empties rapidly in the direction of the village. Already, the brass band have taken up station in front of the pub and a big crowd has gathered for some communal singing, a stirring scene. Having caught a couple of numbers it dawns on me that it’s now after 5pm and it’s a long drive home, but I’ve actually only done 15 minutes of running today and there’s still a bit left in the tank….
Impulsive decision and I’m back to the car. I’m a notoriously slow driver, particularly on twisty mountain roads, but I’m now on a mission. I don’t look at the scenery much on the return drive over Buttertubs. Equally the narrow road over Fleet Moss and down Upper Wharfedale. A bit of driving music goes on, a few corners are cut and the foot put down. Eventually I get to the Skipton roundabout at half 6 and think there’s a good chance this unusual haste will be worthwhile.
Part 2
6.45pm and I’m pulling up in the familiar surrounds of Wells Road above Ilkley, and there’s a convenient space amongst the many parked cars. Dash out with a fiver to another registration tent (that of Ilkley Harriers this time) and get another race number. And a couple of complimentary biscuits which I think are meant to be for later but are very welcome now, thank you. There isn’t time to take the old number off, so I just pin the new one on top. Obviously I’m still in my race kit so none of that usual pre-race faffing about. Just retie my laces, jog over to the start line at the bottom of Keighley Road and almost immediately it’s 7pm and the Ilkley Incline is underway.
This is an unusual race, 1 mile uphill only. The previous time I did it (2018, also just after Muker) I went off too quickly and died towards the end where the course flattens out. So this time I was more cautious and that seemed to pay off, it was nice to overtake rather than be overtaken on the run-in. It’s all about the pacing I think, like an uphill 1500 metres. Somewhere in all this I get to say hello to a gaggle of NLFRs and old club-mates from Valley Striders. Plus some knowing nods from some of the usual Bofra guys that had given Muker a miss, but had spotted my unusual double race number layering system.
Top tip for Ilkley Incline – take a jacket, so you can do a bit of a longer warm-down jog on the moor after, rather than just coming straight down. I went via the Badger Stone and was back at the car in 25 minutes. Of the 3 runs I did in the day, that was the longest. 2 races, 2.5 miles/1000ft climbing in total, plus a warm-down jog. And a lively 50-mile drive in between. A better way of spending a Wednesday afternoon than sitting in the office.
Dave Middlemas
Photo Credit
River crossing: Benji Grundy
Start and climb: Stephen Fish
Incline: Philip Bland
Presentation and vest: Dave Middlemas
