Our Fell Race Secretary is Dave Bish

Beeston AC take part in Fell Races in the Peak District between March and October on weekday evenings with some weekend races.

Fellrunning is sociable, fun way to run in beautiful places. Races tend to start on a village playing field or pub car park, up a big hill, along a bit, before speeding back down again. An ideal way to spend a summer evening.

We know it’s not the most accessible kind of racing – because there’s a fair bit of travel and a bit of kit involved (See below), but it’s by far the most enjoyable and sociable!

Your race entry (usually about £5) raises money for local schools, pays for village defibrillators and supports mountain rescue.

Kit

You’ll need some fell or trail shoes – something with a bit of grip.

Increasingly races advertise as requiring full FRA kit – though very few midweek Peak District summer races will actually make you carry that on the night if the weather is good, because you’ll never get more than a couple of miles from the village so the risks are minimal. Long races or spring/autumn/winter you’re more likely to be required to have kit.

Kit to get is: full waterproof body cover with taped seams (incl. hood), hat, gloves. Longer/non-summer races may also require a whistle, compass, survival bag, emergency food, water. A small rucksack or bumbag is the best way to carry your kit. This at the discretion of race organisers on the day, depending on the weather – details on FRA Event page and usually on social media. You can put the basics of this kit together fairly cheaply from Decathlon or other retailers.

Races are governed by the FRA (Fell Runners Association). You can join the FRA for £16 a year which supports their work and gets you their magazine three times a year. You don’t need to join to run fell races.

Calendar

In 2023 you can count any 8 FRA Races as results toward the Beeston AC league, as long as you run in your club vest. From each result you’ll get a Age Category related score out of 100 – a percentage of your time vs. the first person in your category. Separate leagues for men and for women. You can score races from Wolf’s Pit on March 19th until Baslow Bolt on November 25th. Trophies at the BAC Christmas Party in December.

We have a Fell Liftshare WhatsApp. Contact Dave Bish to join via the Contact page or Facebook.

Results from the list below will be automatically checked, if you want to score from another race contact Dave and send a photo of yourself in club kit at that race. If Age Graded results aren’t published for any particular race we’ll try and figure something out. This scoring system encourages you to turn up, to push yourself against other runners, and to encourage others to run well. The strongest runners over eight races should come out on top, but please remember fell racing is the most fun kind of running so please don’t be aggrieved if the system doesn’t go in your favour!

In 2022 John Evans and Salome Maybanks won the titles, succeeding 2019 champions Greg Hopkinson and Holly McCain. Who will win in 2023?

Suggested list below… and look out for others. More races at fellrunner.org.uk. We scored results for BAC runners in Wales, the Lake District, Yorkshire, some place down south, and the Peak District in 2022. This list are all in the Peak.

Sun19 Mar Wolf’s Pit (County Champs, pre-entry from February)
Sun ?? Apr Kinder Downfall (pre-entry from February)
Wed 26 Apr Tigers Trail (pre-entry from February). More like a trail race. Starts and ends with a downhill mile on the road. Uphill woodland trail in between. .
Tues 9 May June Burbage Skyline, pre-entry. Technical and tough, with bog and bulls.
Thurs 18 May. Park’s Life, Belper.
Tues 23 May Totley Moor, pre-entry online. Hills, more hills, and another hill at the end!
Mon 29 Jun Bamford Sheepdog Trials, entry on the day (1pm, Bank Holiday). Up and down Win Hill from the Sheepdog Trials.
Thu 16 Jun Grindleford, pre-entry. Two river crossings!
Tue 20 June Riber Run (Lea, Matlock) – entry on the day. Downhill start to a bottleneck, tricky bit through the woods and up and down the grassy hills to the castle.
Wed 21 June, DRCO Dash, pre-entry online. Hills south west of Castleton.
Wed ?? June, Hope Wakes (Win Hill), entry on the day. Up and down Win Hill from a different angle.
Fri 30 June, Weaver Hills, a short sprint, up a really steep hill, down it, sprint back. Oatcakes and Ice Cream at the finish. Well worth it!
Wed 12 Jul Black Rocks (Cromford), pre-registration online. Canal Path, the High Peak Trail, and a Trig point.
Thu ?? Jul Blacka Moor (Totley) – entry on the day. Hills and hills, from Totley.
Thu ?? July Brassington Hill. Up and down a hill!
Tue 1 Aug Parwich Panoramic. Like a summer cross-country race, non-technical.
Thu 10 Aug Ricky’s Race (Darley Bridge), pre-entry online. A great race with a ridiculous hill at the end. 7pm start.
Tue ?? Aug Eyam, pre-entry online. Classic, non-technical race from the sports field. Often a BBQ afterwards.
Fri 1 Sep Great Longstone Chase, end of evening race season pre-entry online. Up onto the ridge and back down – tricky descents but fairly accessible and some good running.
Sat 2 Sep Longshaw Sheepdog Trials, pre-entry online. Similar to Burbage route, some scrambling over rocks, from the sheepdog trials.
Sun 3 Sept Exterminator, 16 miles (Totley), pre-entry online. Bit of everything, you need to be able to navigate / recce the route. The best of the Totley, Burbage, Longshaw and Grindleford races combined. Crazy third race in 3 days if you’re so inclined.
Sat 9 Sept, Nine Edges. Does what it says on the tin. The Exterminator is great, but this would be the recommended Long race to do in September. Pre-entry from April 14th.
Sat 7 Oct Curbar Commotion, 12 miles. Up to Curbar Edge and down.
Sat 25 Nov Baslow Bolt. Like Curbar but the next bit along. Totally runnable race. It snowed in 2021. Pre-entry from September.

BAC at The Nottinghamshire AAA Fell Championship history.

In 2022 Caitlin Bradbury won the Women’s County Championship and so ran in the Inter-Counties in Wales. We picked up the Women’s Senior Team Gold (Caitlin Bradbury, Elaine Clifford, Chris Bexton), Men’s V45 Bronze for John Evans, Women’s V60 Silver for Chris Bexton.
In 2019 Greg Hopkinson won the Men’s County Championship. Women’s V35-44 Silver for Em Bish.
In 2018 Chris Bell won Men’s Silver and V35 Gold. Jackie Welburn got Women’s V35 Bronze. Geoff Pennington got Men’s V45 Bronze. We also got Men’s Team Gold (Chris Bell, Andy Hunter, Dan Rawson) and Men’s Team Silver (Geoff Pennington, James Isherwood, Dave Bish).
In 2016 Andrew Stuart won the Men’s County Championship.

National Competition.

We entered the British Hill & Fell Relays for the first time in October 2019.