British Fell and Hill Relay Championships – Sat 17 Oct 2026

From Dan McKeown…

Photo credits Dan McKeown and Katie Poulter

The British Fell and Hill Relay Championships took place on Saturday at Centre Vale Park in Todmorden, with four Ilkley teams among the 200-odd entries. Our W40 team, which made the podium the previous two years, was joined by an open women’s team for the first time in a few years. We also had open and vet men’s teams.

Leg one (solo) was a very sociable (read: crowded) figure-of-eight via Todmorden Edge and the Lower Moor; leg two (pairs) was the Flower Scar race route; leg three (pairs) was the unseen nav leg, which criss-crossed the other courses, and leg four (solo) was a beeline up to the top of Tod Moor, with a corresponding thudding descent to rejoin the latter stages of legs one and two.  

It was all Ilkley on the first leg: Ben Rothery and Ellen Crombie sent their leg two pairs off in first place (hospital pass, no pressure). Ben gave the men a 25-second advantage on Calder Valley, while Ellen, who was in the top 30 overall for the leg, gave the ladies a 35-second advantage over Mercia Fell. As I chugged over the line several minutes back, Ben, with his doctor’s hat on, was in the medical tent administering first aid to another runner he’d beaten so badly, the poor lad was losing blood. Ellen, for her part, barely looked out of breath.

With the race barely begun, it was unlikely that either of these would prove insurmountable leads. Oli and Sam finished their leg in fifth place, sending Jonny and Forrest off on the difficult nav leg. Anchor leg runner was Samesh who took over in 21st place and improved a few places to bring our men home in 17th overall.

For the women, Holly and Sacha ended leg two in 13th place in the open women, Nea and Ann completed the nav leg in 16th, and Sara anchored them home to 18th place of 51 teams in the open women.

Both open categories were won very convincingly by Carnethy. I draw some personal comfort from the fact that Carnethy look like they’re about fifteen years away from being able to field a team in any of the vet categories.

On which subject, our vet ladies (L1: Rachel, L2: Jane & Kate, L3: Alison and Jann, L4: Katie) were there or thereabouts all day, but eventually had to settle for fifth place of 13 teams, bringing an end to their relay silverware streak. Well done to Wharfedale Harriers on their category win.

Our vet men (L1: Dan – that’s me, L2: Michael & Gawain, L3: Gibbo & Martin, L4: Big Dave Robson) hovered around the category top 10, but eventually finished 12th of 35 teams, with the highlight once again being Michael and Gawain’s strong run on leg two. The category winners were Calder Valley.

The good news is, thanks to the Ilkley Community Transport minibus, we were eligible for the organisers’ sustainability raffle, and we cleaned up! Two envelopes of cash, plus some running swag. Well done to Michael for organising the bus and thanks to the club for bankrolling it.

My homemade cowbell (fashioned from a couple of beer cans from Tod Aldi) also proved a big hit with runners on the latter stages of legs three and four.