Next week, as a break from the hills how about a week focusing more on speed, culminating in a virtual race on Sunday 3rd May. Don’t worry if you’re not feeling as fast as you’d want to be, it’s more about being part of a club event.
If you’d like to join in, let us know, then before Sunday 3rd, we’ll assign you to a team of 3 or 4 (depending upon numbers). Everyone will then go out at some point between 8am and 8pm and run 10km as fast and as safely as you can. We’ll combine the times, and the team with the fastest combined time wins the race.
· Try and choose a relatively flat and quiet 10km route near where you live. Do laps if need be.
· Talk to your team mates to make sure you’re running at different times of day so we’re not all out running at the same time.
· Race rules apply, no headphones for your safety.
· Please keep to social distancing rules
· Send us your times for your 10k segment before 8pm.
· We won’t advertise the teams until afterwards to add an air of mystery and so folks don’t know who’s running with who (unless they’re in your team).
· Prizes for the top teams, it could be you!
Get involved!
Tom Sparkes
Lockdown 10K big reveal. You’ve made the team!
After careful consideration and independent adjudication from the coaches, we’ve picked 6 teams of 6 runners each.
If you’ve been missed out, let me know. Also if you won’t be able to run a 10k on Sunday after all, let us know and we can try and find a sub. 4 sleeps til race day..
Highlight of the week has been the culmination of the 3 Peaks Challenge
Not the London Marathon
Julie Oxenham “today I should have been running the London marathon, so to mark the occasion I do “not the London marathon “ and cycled the distance with hubby instead. “
Claire Barlow devised a beautiful Bodmin Marathon
Mike Reed and Rachael Wilsher both ran ‘the not doing the Madrid Marathon run’ on Sun (postponed to Nov). So 20m Sat & 6m Sun, mainly off road & well leafy, great crack no one about on 7m of St.s Way! 🥵👍
Mike
Martin Pipet has run everyday including another notaparkrunparkrun and 5k for £5 NHS run
From Jane Stephens, another notaparkrunparkrun then home via the solar farm!
Laps on Lockdown saw Daniel Cox,Dee Smith, Katrina Verran, Lesley Taphouse and Julie Oxenham, bag some new medals. https://bysvykenevents.vpweb.co.uk/v-i-laps-on-lockdown
Dan
Dee
Lesley
Katrina
Julie
Louise Richardson spotted a zebra
Andrew Ross won the Steve Allsop Trophy with his calf busting ” 7 times up Pound Lane and 8 times up Crinnicks! From College Rd “
Kerri Rowe ran 5k for the NHS run for heroes with Ellie. Tom & Casey on their bikes. 👍
Jacky Tyler finished painting the bathroom and laying the floor tiles
Phil Dawber ran up a big hill
John Tilly has been jogging through the woods in Camelford
Craig Welch got musical on a walk!
Gail Hartil “Tried to do a marathon but ended up just doing 20miles. This was me going past my sister’s house at lanivet. It was great to see my niece and nephew. X Oh and stopped and sang happy birthday to some random little girl on her doorstep with her granny and watched her blow out her candles. 😁 “
For Ian Ringer “Today is day 40 of “run every day during lockdown”. (Some lockdown!)”
Jules Atherton has been doing yoga and gardening
Fran Vosper made a flowerpot man and then took us all on a virtual run
The Road to Nowhere by Fran Vosper
With the restrictions fully in place I thought the running bard would submit the run that never happened.
25 runners turned up and those that didn’t weren’t there. Ians map was upside down or inside out It made no difference as we didn’t go to the coast or to the moors. The weather didn’t happen, a still nothing hung in the air.
Gail and Billy didn’t have hangovers and did not run like banshees towards the setting sun for last orders
When we ran past Barnies Fran treated us all to cake! The pub next door served free beers and England won the World Cup.
The afternoon didn’t see Phil or anybody else lead us in search of Brown Willy or Roughtor on top of boggy hills and every pair of trainers stayed spotlessly clean excepts for the grizzlies.
Martin didn’t lose his way to a remote VW camper serving hot teas, and coffee Coloured pencils and charactures .
The two Karen’s yacked all the way Zoe was unusually quiet and Jules had nothing to say Andy V wasn’t late and even Alan didn’t come Emma ran like the wind whilst Dee huffed and puffed
Dan went insane, and Kerri didn’t fall Becky and Steph left their hats at home And the Temples and Richardson’s came back for more
Overall we all missed the run Andrew and Tom said it was the best run they had never been on.
So we’ve done it, we’ve all staggered off of the hill(s) and into the Golden Lion Pub in Horton in Ribblesdale. After Marty Barnfield’s efforts on the hill today, he’s feeling on top of the world and after one pint is offering to fight anyone in the pub. Let’s be avving yer! Stefan Palmer is so tired he’s made the terrible decision of starting a strip poker competition with the locals. Jane Stedman on the other hand is bringing some Cornish culture to Yorkshire, belting out sea shanties from atop the bar that would make the Fisherman’s Friends blush. What a couple of weeks.
The King of the Mountain pants have been claimed by Marty this week. 7000ft of ascent, he ran up Ingleborough 3 times, nutter. In these times when we’re not really allowed to go to the pub he also wins this virtual Yorkshire homebrew kit. Enjoy!
After a close race, Andrew Ross stole the Steve Allsop prize from Steve himself, in the last hours of daylight. 2600ft in 9.5miles. Good effort Andrew You win a signed photo of Steve Allsop #fake#therealsteveallsop.
Full credit to Lesley Taphouse who took no prisoners on this one and claims the overall King of the Mountain Title across the 3 weeks with a grand total of 19,076ft when she only needed to do 5890ft! In honour of this, the people of Yorkshire have renamed Whernside, Mount Lesley. Very generous. You’ll receive a special KOM sticker on your certificate!
Anyway, massive well done to everyone who took part and gave the Virtual Yorkshire 3 Peaks a bash. Even if you didn’t win one of these fantastic virtual awards, you’re all still legendary virtual fell runners. Thanks for coming along, I’ve really enjoyed myself anyway! I’ll be sending you all a highly prized and unofficial Y3Peaks certificate. Between the 29 of us we’ve clocked up over 76,000m of climbing over 3 weeks, the same as climbing up Shispare, the 38th highest mountain in the world ten times. Or keeping it local, 2200 reps of Crinnicks Hill!
Have a week off from the hills (if you want to!) and if folks want more of the same, there are plenty more virtual hills out there. Rebecca Bateman did suggest a virtual Bob Graham Round (a famous challenge in the Lake District), although I’m not sure if she realised this would involve 26,000 feet of ascent!
This week’s scores on the doors in ft. Now, who’s got the keys to the minibus??
Marty Barnfield 7561
Lesley Taphouse 6948
Jane Stedman 6391
Claire Balow 6046
Gemma Vare 5010
Ian Ringer 4274
Jane Stephens 3635
Steve Allsop 3592
Stuart Thomson 3550
Chris Madeley 3386
Katrina Veran 3258
Becky Bateman 3022
Damian Philip 2982
Julie Oxenham 2887
Phil Dawber 2828
Louise Richardson 2680
Helen Stevenson 2672
Andrew Ross 2651
Nicky Brenton 2588
Stef Palmer 2569
Tom Sparkes 2562
Dee Smith 2417
Kerri Rowe 2363
Emma Stephens 2328
Nichola Sinclair 1729
Martyn Prouse 1606
Once again, apologies if I’ve got any of this wrong!
Phil Dawber and Rebecca Bateman are continuing the live Tuesday Facebook strength and conditioning sessions. Tune in for Becky’s drills session on 28th April
Laps on Lockdown Continue:
Well down to Jane Stephens for completing a “hot, hilly, loopy and never far from home marathon”
More Virtual Insanity from Jacky Tyler (and her three and four legged friends) and Claire Barlow
Jackie
Claire
Jane Stedman has continued to delight us with photos of Bodmin Moor.
“Rare white bluebells seen on the first beastly hill that I hit once I leave my house —-👌🏽 “
Parkruns
Team Temple “completed another non park run – variation on the theme hill rep relays today. So miss the Park Run, it is going to be so weird when things eventually return to perhaps a new normal, perhaps a better one”?
Martin Pipet went out for a notaparkrunparkrun
Craig Welch and Katrina Verran have been having a lot of fun naming new Strava Segments. Can you spot where Craigs been airing his dirty linen in public?
Helen Stevenson ran to Luxulyan valley for a “rerun of the Eden half “
Zoe Buse went for an early morning run with Bella who made some friends
Dee Smiths been out on the coastpath again
Claire Barlow has “been finding lots of hills around the back lanes near where I live for Tom’s 3 peaks challenge”
Gail Hartil‘s Ankle has “been playing me up so had to get the rusty bike out instead and ride to Wadebridge and back”.
And God did my bum hurt!!!!!!!!!
Jacky Tyler heard a cuckoo on Bodmin Moor
Damian Philp has been taking the Hills of Hell to new extremes and sharing his love of running and teapot collections on you tube.
Katrina Verran ran an NHS 5K
Everyone is out searching for the steepest hills they can find to complete the Toms Sparke’s3 Peaks Challenge.
Fran Vosper took us all out for a bluebell run
The Bluebell Run
Ok guys and gals as we are we faced with where to run I thought I’d invite you all to run virtually with Nic and I as we run through our wonderful countryside.
Read it slow as the pace is gentle but if you do get ahead of us just loop back.
Watches set and we’re off out the door Down pass the white clock Running down Jubilee Terrace Where once the old hospital Kendall Block Overlooked the Ranco steel tube factory Gone now.
A quick bimble through the old hospital grounds Where I can still imagine the hustle and bustle of Fosters block and hall. Across Boundary Lane and down towards the sleepy St Lawrence Which in days gone by was a lepers colony And the eventual Asylums name for St Lawrence’s Hospital Both gone now
Up a bugger of a hill, short, sharp shock. Makes your bum hang out, keep going nearly at the top. Phew, wobbly legs will settle soon A nice gentle down hill bit to catch your breath Straight over the crossroads Looking for the footpath on the left
Here it is across the field and into Bluebell Woods It’s lovely here, the ground almost wall to wall bluebells Ferns, crooked gnarled trees, one of a few ancient woods We will run through today The pace as slackened as we take in the tranquility Loop back if you will, I’m savouring the moment
Down from the wood and into Lamorrick Along the main road and into Lanivet Turning sharp left before the church Up a nasty drag pass the cemetery Still going up, (walking now) Nic ain’t And a left turn up another sharp nip
Thank goodness it’s levelled out It’s even turned kind rolling gently down the lane Jim’s hardware store appears on the distant left Whilst to the right Bodmin spirals with new builds Adjacent to the not so new hospital ironically in the old St Lawrence Hospital grounds.
Turning right pass a granite farm house with a name I can no longer read Towards Pengellys Organic Farm and rich smells The hedges adorned with the aforementioned bluebells Primroses, buttercups, campions, and pretty little white blossoms. The old dog wonders out to greet us but our attention Is drawn by the nasty looking collie all teeth and snarl So i let Nic off her lead and he ran away ha ha
Turn right and up Blowinghouse Lane, if you’ve not done it before This is a steep devil, run, walk, run, walk, sod it Stop, stretch, dig in, Keep going it has to plateau out At the top, phew, fab views across the ploughed fields, Evidence of farmers busy planting, growing, waiting for harvest. I saw a pheasant, and an ostrich lolling in a field. Ha ha an Ostrich just wondering if you’re still with us.
Rooks, pigeons, blackbirds, big birds little birds Circling buzzard, hope it’s not a vulture Horses, cows, no sheep tho, turn left, And for all you Rainbow Warriors No plastic carrier bags, McDonalds packaging, Costa coffee cups Lockdown has some advantages for the countryside. Legs tired now as we run pass another ancient woodland East of Tregullon up, yes always up towards Tretoil.
Hanger left and Down, oh the pleasure of down, Down through Tregullon and its centenary plaque Pass my old Auntie Hilda’s cottage where Andy and I used to stay Did you know that there is an old tin mine Hidden in the moor between Tregullon and the Lanhydrock golf course Andy and I Used to cycle out and play there till we got chased away lol.
Turn left again and down, whoop whoop still down Alongside another ancient wood towards Trekillick Farm And the dry ford, up and over to Crazy Al’s and Kirlands Iron railed bridge and the worse up of all Thank god it nearly over crawling pass the beautiful Rose Cottage And ever up, walking again, just want to finish, need water
Up, (it’s nigh on a mile from Kirlands bridge to the beacon monument) Stopping at the fields behind the beacon looking back at where we have been Always a pleasure, such a view And today’s ideal conditions simply fabulous, wish I took some water tho
The final lanes around the beacon, a few people, and a man with a stick? Lots of green, different greens, leaves, grass, foliage, drying moss. Nearly home, 9 miles Knackered But glad we done it. Hope you enjoyed our company.
Its the final leg of the Virtual 3 Peaks. Ingleborough. 2356ft by 8pm on Sunday please.
As an extra challenge, the Steve Allsop Prize will be awarded to the person getting to the top in the least amount of miles. After that you can go as far as you like. So once you make the 2356ft, let us know how many miles you’ve done it in.
After that it will be the chase for the King of the Mountain Prize (max ascent).
Lets see some hills selfies please!
This section is stunning. Its almost 1500 ft downhill to the valley and Chapel-le-dale and then 1500ft back up to the summit of Ingleborough. From the valley it’s a steady uphill from the road over some world class limestone pavement, and then a killer climb up past Mere gill on some quad busting stone pitched path all the way to the top. After that its a 4.5 mile dash back to Horton in Ribblesdale, pretty much all downhill. You’re nearly home, see you in the pub before last orders. God bless England. You’ve got to run this while singing the hovis theme. I’m not crying, I’ve just got dust in my eye…
Well the sun’s going down over the Ribble valley and another epic week of fell running in the bag. Well done team, thanks for sticking with it, it’s a long slog across the misty moors and up the hill but you totally aced it. 24 of us made it without too much incident. 86000 feet of climbing between us. That’s like scaling Bodmin beacon 597 times, phew! Any volunteers?
Damian Philp smashed it this week, stealing the King of the Mountain title from Lesley Taphouse by 90ish feet. The cheek of it! Unfortunately the KOM pants are in deep clean after a week with Ian Ringer. On the plus side, I’ve found this excellent glue on mountain moustache and a virtual teapot from the area. Enjoy mate, well earned!
Helen Stevenson wins the People’s Perseverance Prize for forcing herself out again to get up the last 60ft before it got dark. She wins a virtual Yorkshire Terrier called Bingo. Watch him, he’s a bit nippy.
Well enjoy your tipple of choice, do your virtual chest bump with a team mate and we’ll crack on to Ingleborough tomorrow.
Once again, sorry for anyone I’ve missed off the list. My admin doesn’t get any better after a glass of Haywood cider.
Damian Philip 6725
Lesley Taphouse 6600
Marty Barnfield 6157
Jane Stedman 6095
Ian Ringer 4831
Claire Barlow 4573
Chris Madeley 3386
Tom Sparkes 3273
Stuart Thomson 3179
Julie Oxenham 3116
Katrian Verran 2907
Steve Allsop 2890
Kerri Rowe 2677
Rebecca Bateman 2441
Louise Richardson 2421
Nicky Brenton 2420
Phil Dawber 2303
Phil Dawber 2303
Emma Stephens 2267
Andrew Ross 2257
Jane Stephens 2231
Stef Palmer 2158
Dee Smith 2142
Helen Stevenson 2140
Race organisation and report by Tom Sparkes. Thanks to Phil for driving the minibus and Jane for providing the beers.
2067ft of ascent by Sunday please.Everyone did a cracking job getting up the first hill, but we’re not done yet. It’s a long boggy downhill, a flattish bit past the Ribblehead viaduct and then the climb up onto Whernside, the highest point of Yorkshire. No stopping at the ice cream van at the station car park! Saying that if you missed out on week one, there’s nothing stopping you joining in this time. See if you can claim the king of the hill pants off of Ian Ringer. You’ll have to wrestle them off him. Prizes for the best hill climbing photos too.. https://sandctrust.org.uk/stayatastation/webcams/ribblehead.htm. Who doesn’t love a railway webcam?
444m of ascent this week please if you’re doing the virtual 3 peaks challenge. (if you want to go harder 694 m from sea level to the summit)
We’ve made it to Yorkshire without Phil Dawber crashing the minibus. Ian Ringer had a moment where he realised he was reading the roadmap upside down, but a couple of hundred miles of detours later and we’ve made it!
Pen-y-ghent, probably meaning ‘Hill of Terror’ (or maybe not) is a short sharp run out of Horton in Ribblesdale, the starting point for the challenge. Its only about 2.5 miles to the top but its pretty steep.
Give it your best and we’ll meet at the top. Let us know how many metres of ‘up’ you’ve done by Sunday.
Tom Sparkes
Things got a little steep on my run yesterday! (Tom)
Made it to the summit! Amazed there’s solar panels at the top of a Yorkshire dale! (Phil)
Woop woop! Amazing effort Virtual 3 Peaks team We’ve made it to the top of Pen-y-ghent. The weather’s been phenomenal, the trails have been dry. Jane’s drunk pretty much all the beer but still made it to the top and everyone got slightly carried away! With a team of 23 (a few people haven’t quite made it out of the car park) we’ve pretty much all got to the top and done 20 loop backs to the village between us to pick up the stragglers. Between us we’ve climbed the same as two Everests. Amazing. Anyway, don’t stop now. Do your celebratory handstand then on to week two and Whernside
Not that we’re competing, but here’s the ranking with everyone’s ascent in feet. (Apologies if I’ve missed you off the list or made a mistake). Ian Ringer claims King of the Mountain and gets the honour of wearing the King of the mountain pants for the next stage! Thanks for joining in and looping back everyone.
While we’re still allowed to run outdoors (but not together!), we thought some folks might appreciate a bit of extra motivation to add some hills to your training. So with the nod from our esteemed coaches, I propose a virtual club trip up north to do the Yorkshire 3 peaks challenge over the next 3 weeks in April.
The route is 23 miles long with about 1600m (5249ft) of ascent. The plan is to do it in 3 week stages at our own pace, no one gets left behind! The mileage isn’t that important as I’m sure you’ll cover that. The main thing is to hit the total ascent for each week.
Week 1: Pen-y-ghent: 444m (1457ft) of ascent (equivalent of 1.5 seven hills of hell sessions)
Week 2: Whernside: 630m (2067ft) of ascent
Week 3: Ingleborough 718m (2356ft) of ascent
Comment on the group Facebook Page to say if you want to be part of the 3 peaks team. Then at the end of each week, comment to say how much ascent you’ve done during your training runs and I’ll tot it all up. You can go over the allotted ascent for that week, but as it’s a team effort, any extra ascent will just be loop backs picking up those BRRs still behind!
Maybe use this opportunity to seek out some new (and quiet!) hills. Stay safe, keep to social distancing rules and watch out for cars etc… Let’s see some photos of people toughing out the hills as well…
Personalised certificates for everyone that comes along…oooooohh!
Week one starts tomorrow, Monday 6 April: its Pen-y-ghent week! See you at the top next Sunday!
Rebecca Bateman took some time off from perfecting her headstand to lead Tuesday Training from her back garden with a session of running drills plus some coordination and strength. The video is saved on the group Facebook Page.
Martin Pipet was the first BRR to complete Bys Vyken Events’ Laps on Lockdown which involves a run, walk or crawl of 5K, 10K, half or full Marathon, with a minimum of 5 laps in the route. Martin was overtaken by the invisible man and finished second. https://bysvykenevents.vpweb.co.uk/v-i-laps-on-lockdown
Loving the tee shirt Martin
Claire Barlow ran 13 times around the block for her Laps on Lockdown challenge, turning round half way. “Ran past the same people several times! First in the age category! First female and 1st Overall! Go me 😅 🥇 whoop whoop! ”
Nichola Sinclair‘s doggies are no longer talking to her after a 10.3 mile run
Nicky
Claire Barlow discovered Tik Tok and went back for third helpings of Virtual Insanity
Claire
Lesley Taphouse and Katrina Verran received medals for challenges completed last week
Lesley Taphouse
Katrina received her Hopwarts Harry medal
BRRs have been seeking out the hilliest routes they can find this week, as part of Tom Sparkes’ 3 Peaks Challenge. Not difficult to find hilly routes in Cornwall and the BRRs have managed to find some real corkers.
Damian Philp ran “Eleven Hills of Damn Right Stupidity”
From Emma Stephens “Good people of Bodmin, I present to you… THE HELLANDBRIDGE HELLER. The hill to end all hills, almost 2 miles of constant climb. I found this beauty when pondering how to complete Tom’s climbing challenge. Just turn right when you get to Hellandbridge on the Camel trail and keep going all the way to the T junction. You can then turn right again and come back into Bodmin on the old A30. How about giving it a go? I’ve created a segment on Strava. It’s a great time to do it as the lanes would ordinarily be busy with drivers taking the shortcut to Camelford. Happy Easter all 💙”
Rebecca Bateman did “Lloyds bank steps reps and Crinnicks to really finish me off”
Louise Richardson “count me in. I’ve not got any option but to run hills from my house 😜”
Andrew Ross “did a little prep on Tregullon (Gail’s favourite) yesterday”
Gail Hartill has running the Hills of Hell and found “it’s better in the dark as u don’t see the big hill.”
In other news
Craig Welch and his son Jack have been working out to Just Dance and doing roly polys down Bodmin Beacon
Stephen Woodard‘s been working on his juggling skills
Jane Stephens has been making pasties
Emma Stephens has been trying to teach Ben Crowle to play the piano
