LADIES TO RUN THE 3 PEAKS RACE!!!

It's end of the year and  as always a time to dust the shelves in the office down and throw away a few magazines. During the tidy up I came across some old Athletics Weeklys.  The Letters pages are always interesting but one published November 20th 1976 particularly caught my eye. It was from D.A.Croft the Hon. Sec. of the 3 Peaks Assn. In it he states that previously the race has been limited to male competitors but "fell running is now, however, gaining increasing support from ladies" and he has "received a number of enquiries"  for ladies to take part.(!)  He went on to say that if a  Ladies' 3 Peaks race was to be held in 1977 it was likely to be a separate race.  Looking back to the full results of the 1977 race which I ran in I can see no evidence of runners denoted as FEMALE so can only assume that their participation continued to be unwelcome or ultimately there was a lack of commitment.
   I certainly would not wish to be up Pen Y Ghent, Whernside or Ingleborough today or indeed anywhere offroad as overnight snow
covers iced trails, made even more dangerous by  sub zero temperatures last night. As the snow continues to fall today causing chaos and upheaval to so many throughout the country, to their credit Bradford Met have been able to cope with the amount of snow falling in Wharfedale.  They even responded to emails and phone calls and sent a man on a mini tractor who gritted our road.   Thanks!
       Given open roads and better underfoot conditions, I would probably have journeyed over to Fewston on a Tuesday and covered 6.3 miles in about an hour, maybe more.  Forced to hit the road(s) again today I covered 7 miles in the hour; so the snow has some benefits!  I can't help but think that too many trail runs have taken some of the edge of my speed but they have been kinder on the joints.  

       It will be interesting to see what decision Aire Centre Pacers make about running the Chevin Chase or not. Some of the course must be just solid ice and lethal to run on. They must be praying for a thaw.
     I will leave you with some shots taken today at around 3 p.m.  A view of the COW rock.......whose face it that?........and the Wharfe valley including Beamsley Beacon (again) with the late afternoon sun just catching the highest point.