The Yorkshire 3 Peaks
There wasn’t much planning involved, it just started with a text; “fancy running the Yorkshire 3 Peaks
soon?” That was sent at 8pm on a Saturday evening, August 16th 2014, post Gateshead Trail 10km.
The following week we were stood in a car park in glorious sunshine, the temperature was a little
over 10°c and the air was still. What a lovely day to be in Horton-in-Ribblesdale. The time was
07.45am.
My companion that morning, Matt had recently moved from Ryton down to the lovely village of
Otley in West Yorkshire. Strangely both my Auntie and Uncle and my girlfriends Auntie and Uncle
live in the next village along the road, so I have been lucky to be acquainted with this part of the
world. It seemed like a good idea to catch up with Matt and we both had unfinished business with
the Yorkshire 3 Peaks. I wanted to get round in well under 10 hours and Matt had a previously
aborted attempt.
Starting and finishing in Horton, the route takes in the peaks of Pen-y-Ghent, Whernside and
Ingleborough. Often mistakenly thought of as the 3 highest peaks in Yorkshire, the summit of
Cumbric Welsh named Pen-y-Ghent is actually the 8th highest in the county at a mere 694m. The 3rd
highest, Great Shunner Fell (716m) is located on the North side of Wensleydale making a traverse of
the 3 highest peaks in Yorkshire a much tougher proposition!
Standing outside the cafe where everyone clocks in for the official attempt, we decided to not
bother with punching a card to make our attempt “official.” We had a Garmin after all, surely that’d
be proof enough of our achievement? So without further ado, we set off at precisely 8am setting a
nice gentle pace on our way up to Pen-y-Ghent, getting ahead of the crowd of people that would be
sure to follow.
Earlier on Thursday of that week I’d ran in the Gateshead Harriers Quayside 5km race. I mean come
on, how much will a piddily little race like a 5km affect me for a long slow run a few days later? I’d
had a bit of time out recently and found myself unexpectedly running near my best at that distance,
so I guess I got a bit carried away, completing the race in my 3rd fastest 5km time.
Well the 5km was certainly still in my legs, maintaining a rather pedestrian 18 min/mi pace between
miles 2-3 was a bit of a shock! Matt
with fresher legs was evidently finding
his way up Pen-y-Ghent with ease.
Trying not to panic, I just slowly
plodded behind him. Graciously, he
seemed to except my excuses and
slowed the pace a little.
Topping out in 45mins was quite
pleasing, the ache in my legs had
subsided and I’d found a bit of a
rhythm. Previously I’d completed the
route in a little over 10 hours, mainly
walking, then running back into
Horton from Inglebrough.
We honestly didn’t know what was going to be achievable prior to starting. Obviously a lot
depended on the weather, but the great conditions we were blessed with meant we knew we’d have
to make good time. Somewhere between 6 – 8 hours seemed a reasonable guestimate. So settling
on around 7 hours seemed reasonable, but the competitor in both of us showed. I couldn’t help
declaring that I wanted to get round in 6 hours or less. Matt, a Tyne Bridge Harrier clearly harboured
the same thoughts.
As we descended Pen-y-Ghent, I’d fully expected this section to be our most difficult navigationally.
In previous experience this had been the most troublesome, in decent the mist had settled in the
valley and finding the ground boggy and devoid of features. Nothing much to go off other than
contours.
To our pleasant surprise, not only could we see for miles, someone had gone to the trouble of laying
a new footpath for us. Definitely no excuses not to be making good time now! Feeling buoyed our
pace now literally exploded averaging out downhill and on the flat to a whopping sub-12 min/mi!
Even managing some splits of 9-10 min/mi.
Trying not to get too excited, we made a real effort to keep the pace steady as we made the long
journey to our second objective of the day, the massive whale-back that is Whernside. A great
mound of Yorkshire limestone, topped with a layer of millstone grit. It is actually the latter stone
which lends the mountain its name (Whern derived from old Norse “Querns” meaning millstones).
Definitely the least attractive of the 3 peaks, the ugly duckling perhaps, Whernside does at least
have a few redeeming features. The approach is the most gradual (if the longest), at 736m it holds
the distinction of being the highest of all the peaks in the Dales National Park. The most redeeming
of all features, particularly on this day, the views were frankly spectacular.
With Westerly vistas to the Lakes and Morcambe bay, the Dales rolling away North and South and
the North York Moors to the East; we were really being spoiled. If we’d have hung around, we might
have been able to the Isle of Man, Snowdonia and I’m told, with binoculars you can even pick out
the Blackpool Tower.
Not so on this day, the only time we afforded ourselves was to quickly hydrate and taking on board
some “real food,” as we knew we’d quickly tire of gels. So after treating ourselves to bananas, cliff
bars, grabbing a summit selfie and a quick map appreciation, we set off.
By this point, at mile 14 and after 2 peaks knowing we’d broke the back of the days efforts in 3hrs
47mins we allowed ourselves to dream we might
be on for a sub-6hour effort, as we “only” had 10
miles or so to go. The little bit of wind that was
present on top of Whernside was absent as we
descended into Chapel-Le-Dale, the sun bearing
down on us mercilessly.
It was at this stage that I evidently decided that things were going too smoothly, so obviously I
needed to give myself some sort of handicap. The appropriate thing seemed to be to stub my toe on
a large rock, which I duly did. Not wanting to start whinging too much, I was scared that it would
become a real issue if I thought about, I allowed myself a bit of a wince and bashed on. I detected a
feigned look of concern from Matt, which was thoughtful at the very least.
I’ll never know if was broken, they refuse to x-ray such things at the walk-in centre. I called-in on my
way back, I was apparently being a bit of a big wuss. In my defence, it turned black and blue and it’s
now a little deformed. It was also just a little sore.
Anyhow, not to be deterred we passed through the outlying farms of Chapel-Le-Dale and onwards to
Inglebrough. Taking on food on the hoof as we approached the lower slopes, it became apparent
that I had found a bit of a groove and it was Matt who was now struggling a little. Not surprising for
Matt really, as he hadn’t ran over 14 miles until today. What a way to smash that achievement.
The weather threatened at this point, wind picking up now and spitting a little rain. Up the steep
path we pushed on. Greetings from fellow 3-Peakers had become a bit of a pantomime routine, on
seeing that we were running, they’d ask how fast we intended to complete in. To which we’d reply,
oh about 6 or 7 hours; to which they’d all inform us that the fastest recorded time was much
quicker! Sheepishly I’d agree and move on.
Having a masters in hindsight, it now strikes me that we probably were the quickest party on that
day, perhaps that week, who knows? Will keep that retort stored for future use!
The fastest recorded time stands at a mind-bending 02:29:53 set by Jeff Norman set back in 1974.
There has been subsequent course revisions making the route longer, meaning it’ll probably be a
long time until that time is breeched.
The current record is by Andy Pearce 02:46:03 (1996). Anyone who can run at 6:45 min/mi pace over
that terrain for that distance isn’t normal. The female record is a not so shabby 03:14:43 and is held
by Anna Pichtrova (2008).
Ingleborough with its distinctive round shape and flat top is probably the most photogenic of the 3
peaks, so shaped because of its complex geology. At 723m it is also only second in stature to
Whenside throughout the Dales. A natural fortress, its summit location once held an ancient hill fort,
which in in old Norse “burgh” meaning fort giving it its name. Found at its summit, an enclosure
holds Iron Age foundations, however it is likely that a hill fort of some description predates this
period.
Topping out in 05:20:20, which as I’m sure the keen eyed amongst you will have worked out, this put
us ever so slightly outside the course recorded.
Knowing we had done over 19 miles with just
fewer than 5 to go, we realised that 6 hours
might be possible, but was looking increasingly
unlikely at the pace we thus far achieved. We
tried to pick it up a little on the way down from
the top, but the weather closed in and the trail
was technical and wet on the decent, tired legs not turning over quick enough.
The miles ticked off as we closed back in on Horton-in-Ribblesdale, though they were not getting any
easier. We’d kept a pretty sensible pace throughout, walking on the steepest bits and trying to reign
in the pace if we got over excited, but now everything felt a real effort. The weather, in complete
mockery decided we’d prefer a bit more sunshine to dry off, so we had an unscheduled stop to repack our hats, gloves and ran jackets.
After the 23 mile point moral took a nose dive to see a sign indicating to us that we still had a mile
and a half to go. We’d been going now for over 6hrs 15mins.
That mile was a tough’un but the last half mile seemed to whizz by as we realised how close we were
to the village. Our pace increasing as if we’d not been struggling at all, sun shining still, we came
crashing into the village at about 7:30 min/mi pace, trying to pretend we weren’t racing each other.
Back at the cafe I stopped the watch at 06:38:03 having covered 24.65 miles at an average pace
16:09 min/mi. This included all our stops for water, food, nav checks and “comfort breaks.” Total
elevation 1,428m, calories burned 4,624. This last statistic pleased me greatly as it was a great
excuse to indulge in a fest of gluttony. In this regard, I didn’t let myself down.
The stats later showed our “moving time” had been 06:09:03 and had an “averaged moving pace” of
14:58 min/mi. Although we’d have been delighted in getting round the course in under 6 hours, we
were happy enough to get round in sub-06:40. What a cracking day out, comes highly
recommended, just make sure you book the right weather!