Seven hundred and four athletes finished this years Three Peaks Race which covers 23 miles over Penyghent, Whernside and Ingleborough. Ricky Lightfoot won the Race impressively by three minutes in 2:53.16, with team mate Tom Owens in second place. Victoria Wilkinson won the Women’s Race in a time of 3.21.32 which was the fourth fastest time ever recorded by a Female athlete in the Race.
Photo’s Courtesey of ‘Mick Kenyon racingsnakes.com’
Full Results HERE
There were some terrific runs by the Harriers too with ten of them competing. The Women’s Team of Helen Leigh (3.55.27) and 2nd Woman overall, Sarah Caskey (4.14.37) 1st FU25 and Beckie Taylor (4.29.07) 3rd FU25 had a cracking day taking the 2nd Women’s Team Prize. Helen, who knocked 5 minutes off her previous best from last year, said afterwards “What a fantastic race. Lessons learned from last year I ate and drank enough and stuck to my plan, I arrived at Ribblehead a little quicker, but having paid for my quick first half going up Ingleborough last time, I eased off, and it paid off leaving me able to run most of the flags leaving me some beans to come down Ingleborough with. Head down and brakes off I just went eyeballs out ’til the end. Passed quite a few guys on the run down, won’t mention any names I was pleased with my time in the wind and sticky underfoot, but there’s no excuses when Vicky Wilkinson took the women’s title in 3.21. Super impressive. Already planning next year’s assault. If I can make my climbing match my descending I’ll be cooking on gas! Lovely to get 2nd team with Becky and Sarah, great efforts”.
Sarah was equally excited about her Race and that of the Team, telling us “Although I’m suffering now due to lack of training, it was the funnest most awe-inspiring race ever. The scenery was breathtaking and despite the pain, it was an amazing experience and has inspired me to train and better my performance next year. Unlike any other race, every step was an adventure and the atmosphere and event organization was fantastic. To top it all, it was an honor to represent Blackburn, run alongside two amazing athletes, Beckie and Helen and come second. Well done girls- bring on next year!”
Beckie really seems to have taken to the Race and commented “It was much harder than I expected and really made me realise the amount of training required to get round this sort of distance. It is by far the longest I have ever ran for and I am extremely proud I managed to get round it in under four and a half hours. There is much more room for improvement as I was one of the youngest in the race. I tend to put myself under pressure and believe I should be keeping up with women a lot older than me, but as I came to the first check point and heard my announcement ‘Beckie Taylor is only 20 years old, one of the youngest in the race’ and the loud cheer and support I got, I realised I am under no pressure and I have many more years of improvement yet. It was a fantastic experience and great to win second team along with my team mates Helen and Sarah. I am definitely looking forward to next year and hope we can get first team this time”
Matt Nuttall led the Harriers Men home in a really good 41st position (3.38.11) and 11th V40 out of 260 V40’s in the Race; just seconds behind came Shaun Livesey who is in a really good vein of form at the moment in 41st place (3.38.39) and 12th V40. Gary Pearse broke the four hour mark to finish 138th (3.58.43) and the three of them took a second Team Prize on the day with 3rd V40 Team. Next home was John Sutton 171st (4.05.16); Jonathan Bridge 444th (4.44.43) and John Orrell 622nd (5.14.49).
