Fell races: The Trilogy

[Tindersticks]

Admittedly a trilogy usually refers to works of art like literature or film but I'm using poetic license to slightly deviate from the norm.

That said, I can't mention trilogy without thinking of The Godfather, Original Star Wars, The Lord Of The Rings, The Matrix, Die Hard, The Evil Dead.....the list goes on. But the top trilogy of all must be Back To The Future?

Marty Mcfly and the Doc were essential viewing back in the day. I remember affectionally calling my first car the Delorean in homage to the time machine. Truth be told my first car was an Austin Allegro and it was a piece of shit that would often struggle making it off the drive....time machine it certainly wasn't. Like the Doc I should've tried running it on plutonium instead of Leaded fuel, unfortunately they didn't sell plutonium at Tesco....they still don't.

The film did leave a lasting impression on me though: Whenever we have a mechanical break down at work and the maintenance lads are called out, I can't help myself from saying "I think it's the flux capacitor." After all these years you'd think I'd have got bored of saying that....I know the maintenance lads got bored of it years ago...."For the last time Darren, it's not the f*ckin flux capacitor."

I once did three fell races in a day but that wasn't a trilogy, it was torture....not to be repeated. I think it would've been more pleasurable standing on an upturned plug.

So how does a trilogy of fell races work?

Back in 2012 Simon Fox of Darwen Dashers came up with Mr Sparkles Dark un which has become a regular fixture in the fell calendar. It's a quirky little race in that's ran on a friday night in the dark....hence the name Dark un.

If you race on friday night it's rude not to do your usual saturday race also. The Dark un is usually followed the next day by Bleasdale Circle and Flower Scar, the choice is yours, they're both fantastic races. Then on sunday its usually been a choice of New Chew and Cunswick. However in the past High Cup Nick and Ilkley moor have been part of the trilogy but in recent years they've been a week later.

This weekend it was the turn of Dark un on friday: Bleasdale circle on saturday: Cunswick on sunday....A great trilogy of races, many thanks to all involved in all three events.

Keep your eyes open to see what trilogy gets thrown up next year.... it's good early season preparation for the summer months when you can race almost everyday....no longer a trilogy, more like a boxset...beltin.

[Derby Tup]

Great post Darren, you nutter!

[mapper]

Daz ~ you've still got that Troglodite on the brain from last week!

Anyway, another Nutter here..........

Back in 1987 when I was getting into fell racing I managed 3 races in 2 days.

15 Aug - Witches Clough. A 4 miler from Sabden which went up to Spence Moor on Pendle and back.
16 Aug (morning) - Barnoldswick Weets. This was the original 6 miler from Rolls Royce Sports Club and was then part of the Burnley and Pendle grand prix. I won half a dozen eggs as a spot prize!
16 Aug (afternoon) - Wadsworth Village - a 4.5 mile blast (or so it should have been, but I was too knackered) around Wadsworth and over Midgley Moor above Hebden Bridge.

Sadly, none of the above races exist so that particular trilogy can't be repeated. That's not a bad thing as there's NO WAY I'd do it again.

It would be interesting to see if anyone else is in the 'Trilogy club'.

[Tindersticks]

Daz ~ you've still got that Troglodite on the brain from last week!

Anyway, another Nutter here..........

Back in 1987 when I was getting into fell racing I managed 3 races in 2 days.

15 Aug - Witches Clough. A 4 miler from Sabden which went up to Spence Moor on Pendle and back.
16 Aug (morning) - Barnoldswick Weets. This was the original 6 miler from Rolls Royce Sports Club and was then part of the Burnley and Pendle grand prix. I won half a dozen eggs as a spot prize!
16 Aug (afternoon) - Wadsworth Village - a 4.5 mile blast (or so it should have been, but I was too knackered) around Wadsworth and over Midgley Moor above Hebden Bridge.

Sadly, none of the above races exist so that particular trilogy can't be repeated. That's not a bad thing as there's NO WAY I'd do it again.

It would be interesting to see if anyone else is in the 'Trilogy club'.

I like the sound of those races Mark, pity they've disappeared but we can't complain we really are spoilt for choice on the fell scene.

What's good about last weekend is to my knowledge it's the first chance of the year for some race trilogy. All thanks to the Friday night Dark un.

Like I say on the original post, come the summer months the choices are massive. Two in the same day and countless back to backs. My wife calls the summer my crazy season when I seem to be out racing everyday. She's obviously exaggerating as the best I've managed is about 15 in 13 days....unfortunately work gets in the way.

There are official race trilogy in the calendar where your combined results go towards a final 3 event placing.

CVFR used to do the excellent Midsummer madness, unfortunately no more due to land issues if my memory serves me right.

Still going strong is 3 days in May: Consisting of Friday's May Queen: Saturday's Mount Famine: Sunday's Lantern pike dash....last year I also squeezed in West nab after Lantern dash.

The Isle of Wright fell weekend is also a good trilogy. They're not the purist of fell races but it's a cracking event and fantastic organisation....well worth doing.

We really are spoiled in our wonderful world of fell.

[dantodman]

I have previously done Race to the Summit followed by Hyndburn Cross Country, with Withins Skyline on the sunday (which was a good performance).

Dan

[DaveB]

There is always the Hayfield 3 days in May: http://www.t42.org.uk/hayfield/

[ChevinbyTorchlight]

I did the Inov-8 iRoc event a few years ago which was based in Weardale, North Pennines.

The Saturday involved a tough medium fell race (13km/900m), followed by a long-ish linear orienteering course. Once the sun set we had a score orienteering course, then an MTB time trial followed finally by a trail race which started about midnight.

On the Sunday there was a 4hr MTB race. So, 6 races in 2 days across 3 disciplines. Great concept, shame it didn't carry on, there were even bands and beer at the event centre, but mostly I was buried in my pit trying to sleep or eat between races!

[fishbulb]

Nice work Darren and thanks for the plug for the Dark Un!
Chevin - I was at the iroc too. In fact I won the hotly contested singlespeed mountain bike category. (There were 2 of us).