JUST six people took part in the first ever Three Peaks Race, back in April, 1954.
Today it is one of the most famous events in the racing calender, attracting thousands of entrants eager to run the 23-mile course, taking in Penyghent, Ingleborough and Whernside.
In celebration of the 70th anniversary of the race, fell runner and writer Steve Chilton has written The Three Peaks Race: a history of the event from its early foundations, through two cancellations - one due to foot and mouth and more recently, the other due to the pandemic - to it being chosen as the venue for the World Long Distance Mountain Running Challenge and lately being nominated as a qualifying race for UTMB World Series.
The Three Peaks Race is the mountain race that UK runners, at all levels, want to compete in, in a similar way that marathon runners want to run in the London Marathon.
Often called the ‘marathon with mountains’, it is the longest standing ‘long’ fell race in the UK. At a length of more than 23 miles, and with more than 5,000 ft of ascent, it has grown from a field of just six entrants to an internationally renowned event with entry requirements to be met.
The endurance race attracts up to 1,000 entrants each year. Some want to do it just the once, others strive to do it enough times to get the 15/21 completions award, and a crazy few keep doing it until they are no longer fit enough to make the cut-off times.
In parallel with the detailed history of the race, the books explores stories of many characters from the seven decades of the race.
Historical accounts and contemporary interviews tell of the individual approaches and differing success levels of many participants. The interviewees include six-time winner Jeff Norman and five-time winner Victoria Wilkinson, but also extend to runners throughout the field, and also members of the organising team, past and present.
As well as the triumphs of race winners, accounts of perennial second-placers, and of running champions who never managed to win, there are stories of runners getting lost while in the lead, of being knocked over at a stream crossing, of stepping on a rock that turned out to be a dead sheep, and of stopping because they couldn’t take it anymore.
This is the history of the race and the many characters that have stood on the start line.
The book features more than 140 photographs of the Three Peaks Race, and the runners who have taken part in it, over the decades.
David Weatherhead, chair of the Three Peaks Race Association, in a foreword to the book, writes: “The Three Peaks Race is one of the earliest known long-distance fell races, certainly in Yorkshire. The first organised race was held in 1954. It has since become iconic, having a fell running ‘Who’s who’ list of winners and is a popular challenge for many outdoor enthusiasts.”
Boff Whalley, keen fell runner and former member of Chumbawamba, says of the book: “Thoroughly enjoyable tales of those incredible runners who have done battle over this gruelling route.”
Adds Graham Breeze, ten times Three Peaks racer and former chair of the FRA: “Richly evocative, inspirational and definitive.”
Steve Chilton is the author of five previous books on fell and mountain running, all highly regarded both inside and outside the sport.
He took up writing about the sport whilst still working in academia, as an Educational Development Manager.
His first book, It’s a Hill, Get Over It, won the Bill Rollinson Prize for Landscape and Tradition.
Steve is a long-time member of the Fell Runners Association. He has run in many of the classic fell races, as well as mountain marathons, and has completed the Cuillin Traverse and the Ridgeway 40.
Although never having raced the Three Peaks, he did have an epic banana-fuelled training run round the course one year with three club mates.
Steve is a UKA qualified middle- and long-distance coach and has coached and mentored many men and women, and young athletes, over the last four decades. He shares his life, and an allotment, with his wife Moira.
* The Three Peaks Race by Steve Chilton is published by Great Northern Books, priced £15.99.
It is available by calling (01274) 735056 or visiting gnbooks.co.uk
* This year’s Three Peaks Race takes place on Saturday, April 27. Find out more at threepeaksrace.org/
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