Knavesmire’s Summer of Fell Running Gathers Pace

Report by Neil Stabbs.

The NEHRA summer series continues on apace, with 3 races in the last 5 weeks, plus the Ravenscar Rumble organised by the National Trust . As ever, there’s been some good Knavesmire performances, some new runners trying out the fells and many more bottles of wine won.

Carlton Midsummer Meandering

Carlton Midsummer Meandering

The recent races started off with the Carlton Midsummer Meander, a short loop above Carlton in Cleveland including a couple of tough climbs up Cringle Moor/Drake Howe. By the time we reached the second climb up the moor, the leaders were well clear, but the team prize was up for grabs. Chris Roberts led the team home in 7th, with myself in 10th, Tom Ratcliffe in 14th and Giles Hawking in 16th. This was enough to take the team prize, narrowly beating North York Moors into 2nd place.

Chris Roberts nears the finish at the CMM.

Chris Roberts nears the finish at the CMM.

Next up was Cock Howe which starts with a long, hard climb from Chop Gate, followed by a loop over Bilsdale Moor and a flying descent back down the initial climb. This time out, we had a couple of new runners, with Harry Holmes and George Bilsby running their first fell races. Having spent most of the race chasing Harry, I squeezed past on the final descent to come home in 8th, with Harry 9th and Giles 10th. Tom wasn’t far behind in 18th, then George in 27th and Andrew Johnson in 43rd. This gave us another team prize, this time beating York Acorn into 2nd.

Tom Ratcliffe tackles the descent on the way back down to Chop Gate.

Tom Ratcliffe tackles the descent on the way back down to Chop Gate.

The following week was the Ravenscar Rumble near Robin Hood’s Bay. There can’t be many races with better views than this one, following the Cleveland Way along the North Sea coast, before a steep climb and some open moorland running takes you back to the finish. Harry was first home for Knavesmire in 4th, followed by Tom in 5th and George in 9th.

Last but not least was the Gribdale Gallop, one of the longer summer series races. This takes in Captain Cook’s Monument, Hanging Stone and Roseberry Topping with some good moorland running and a few stiff climbs in between. We had a strong team out again, with 4 Harriers up front for large parts of the race. The leaders started to spread out across Hutton Moor, but confusion reigned at Hanging Stone as various different route choices brought everyone back together, with Harry and myself leading the way up Roseberry Topping. Harry pulled away just below the top, before taking the wrong path on the descent and arriving back at the finish from the opposite direction, unfortunately missing the final checkpoint! This left me to finish in a very surprised 2nd, closely followed by Giles in 4th and Tom in 8th. Andrew Johnson completed the team in 52nd and Stewart Creasey was 69th in his first race in the NY Moors (in at the deep end!).

 

Stewart Creasey tackling the North Yorkshire Moors.

Stewart Creasey tackling the North Yorkshire Moors.

Over halfway through the series and we have a number of runners well up in the overall standings and in their respective age categories. The next race in the series is the Guisborough Grunt on August 20th, followed by Inclined to Madness on August 27th. However, before that on August 12th, we have the National Trust organised Tom’s Bransdale Race, in memory of Knavesmire Harrier Tom Watson. It’s an amazing race of about 7 miles around the moors north of Kirkbymoorside, raising money for the National Trust and worth entering for the post-race cakes alone!

 Tom’s Bransdale Fell Race – National Trust

For details of Esk Valley North Yorkshire Moors Race Series see :  Esk Valley

Photos from Esk Valley Club Image Gallery, taken by John Taylor, Rebacca & Thomas Aspin.