Friday 28 August 2026
What a day we had in West Yorkshire! Mytholmroyd played host to the fifth adventure race of our summer series and the surrounding hills played havoc with people’s race plans!
It was our first visit to the area but, given the terrific adventure racing terrain on offer, definitely not the last. The course was the brainchild of Paul Taylor who worked with Joe to put on a brilliant course taking in the area north and north east of Mytholmroyd. From the racer-perspective, the course was probably one of the toughest yet with a mixture of hilly terrain, tricky navigation and some technical climbs and descents on both foot and bike.
Once again, the sun shone all day but with cooler temperatures than we’ve had recently it made for pretty much perfect adventure racing conditions – clearly enjoyed by racers with penalties for being late far outweighing rewards for being early! We had some impressive individual penalty performances with four teams joining the 100-penalty points club (a record?) and The Accidental Athletes (Demi Yip, Bartosz Tomaszewski and William Miles) racking up a brilliant 255 penalty points!
I know a number of you were once again very appreciative of the free energy drinks provided by our sponsor FIXX Nutrition which no doubt helped to soften some of the hills!
Out on course, at around 50km and just over 1,000m of climbing, the bike leg was a tough one! Despite this, both Campbell Walsh (3:16 at 2.34 points per minute) and Team Tom & Mark (Tom Gibbs and Mark Clarkson; 3:28 at 2.21 points per minute) managed to clear the course and Nick Gracie (3:35 at 2.09 points per minute) got close dropping just one checkpoint and these three teams also had the most profitable bike legs. In the Mixed Teams category, Type 2 Fun (Alistair Morris and Kim Spence) had the most profitable bike picking up 1.77 points per minute and Katherine Hargreaves did the same in the Female category picking up 1.58 points per minute. In the Novice category, Nuno Cerqueira had the most profitable bike at 1.7 points per minute. In the Duo category, The Arctic Animals (Lee Speight, Justin Taylor) had the most profitable bike picking up 1.6 points per minute.
The run route was a biggie at around 25km and with over 700m of climbing. This was always going to be impossible and made even more so given that most teams started the run on tired legs having biked first. In a reflection of just how tough the course was, Parkwood Panic (Fred & Jennifer Parkwood) came closest to clearing dropping just three checkpoints in a time of 3:49. Team Tom & Mark (Tom Gibbs and Mark Clarkson) had the most profitable run picking up 2.62 points per minute followed by Steve Burnham (2.53) and Campbell Walsh (2.52). In the Mixed Teams category, Type 2 Fun (Alistair Morris and Kim Spence) had the most profitable run picking up 2.34 points per minute with Katherine Hargreaves picking up 1.98 points per minute in the Female category. Martin Hartley had the most profitable run in the Novice category picking up 1.98 points per minute, PPPGR (Andy Berwick and Luisa Dalla Riva) did the same in the Duo category with 1.49 points per minute and the Jebecki Duo (Jenni Boocock, Becky Howell) collected 1.84 points per minute in the run-only category.
At around 6.4km, the kayak was longer than normal and lead to a few ‘should we/shouldn’t we’ decisions by those teams wondering whether it was possible to clear or not. In all, eight teams managed to clear the course with Campbell Walsh paddling like a fiend to clear quickest in a time of 53:37 followed by Tom Hards (54:02) and Team Tom & Mark (Tom Gibbs & Mark Clarkson; 54:12). Team Gill (Emma & Richard Gill; 56:11); Rose & Dad (Rose & Simon Jennison; 56:53), Steve Burnham (56:54), Eddie Winthorpe (58:24) and Nick Gracie (58:41) were the other teams to finish. Remarkably, there were no teams who collected penalty points by going over the hour time limit but Michael Alexiou came remarkably close finishing just 17 seconds inside the time limit after what must have been a furious paddle back to transition!
Becky Scott and Lucy Noble had the most profitable kayak picking up 2.84 points per minute, followed by Campbell (2.8) and Tom Hards (2.78) and No Bruch Bar Left Behind (Robert & Charlotte Griffiths; 2.77). In the Novice Category, the Histon Hobblers (Catherine McGinnity, Natasha Lott, Jan Watt, Caroline Clarke) had the most profitable kayak picking up 2.59 points per minute followed by Nuno Cerqueira (2.49) and Linda Cairns (2.48).
The kayak leg proved to be the most profitable with teams picking up an average of 2.3 points per minute compared to 1.6 points per minute on the bike and 1.3 points per minute on the run – lower than normal and an indication of just how tough the course was.
Campbell Walsh took the overall win on 870 points with Katherine Hargreaves winning the female category on 635 points.
As ever, the race base was abuzz with stories of adventure and misadventure at the finish including many a tale of navigation woe up on Midgley Moor!
All in all, it was another amazing day of racing and a huge thank you to everyone who came out to take part and support at our event and helped to make it such a great day, we know that some of you travelled great distances including Michael Alexiou who joined us all the way from the US and Jamie Van Der Ham who joined us from Canada.
Huge thank yous as well to Charlie, Colin, Debbie, Hilary, Jerry, Jim, Joe F, Paul, Robert, Stephen, Stu and Tom who volunteered as marshals, Andy and Aaron our medics and Rob and Rich out on course providing excellent media coverage. Thank you to our local adventure racing ambassadors Jackie and Phil Scarf and James Williams who came out to support our newbies to adventure racing or those who wanted some extra tutelage on course. A special thanks as well to regular racer Paul Cantrill for helping out with set-up and Campbell Walsh and Lee Ciancamerla for helping with pack away and to Ross (Cyclexperience) who always provides bikes for those who need them! Thank you everyone!
For us, our attention now turns to our last Summer Series race in The South Downs September before our 25-hour anniversary event on the weekend of 24 and 25 October.
Full results can be found here and pictures here (where you can search using either a selfie or your bib number and download high-res images for free). A summary of results is below.
Run Only
All our runners went out in pairs and made the most of the course with penalty points far outweighing the bonus points for timing (-16 to -88 points!!). In third place were Kirsty and Becky (Kirsty Shires, Rebecca Goldsack) on 161 points. Just pipped by The Generation Game (Amy Gilpin, Richard Woodcock) by just one point – 162points. To top the podium, we had Jebecki Duo (Jenni Boocock, Becky Howell) with 219 points, a very impressive score in such a short time span.
Duo
Pairs made up this category too, with the Watt Bros (Michael Watt, Mark Watt) in third with 330 points but even more impressively in EXACTLY 5:00:00! That is definitely worthy of the timekeeper’s prize – well done! PPPGR (Andy Berwick, Luisa Dalla Riva) came in second with 345 points and The Arctic Animals (Lee Speight, Justin Taylor) with 360 points.
Trio Novice Mixed
Triple H (Emma Hillam, Gary Hillam, Matthew Hillam) came in with a score of 276 points and ahead of them Havin’ a Laugh (Andy Lawrence, Susan Lawrence) with 357 points.
Trio Novice Female
In third place were the Cumbria Lasses (Kate Stonehouse, Beccy Greaves) with 301 points. In second, Linda’s first adventure (Linda Cairns) – a woman who knows adventure racing, but usually from the other side having volunteered and marshalled at various adventure races around the country, but for this first time getting in the racers’ shoes (and on the podium) – with a fantastic score of 310 points. The Histon Hobblers (Catherine McGinnity, Natasha Lott, Jan Watt, Caroline Clarke) came, they saw, and they conquered in their first adventure race. With a score of 365 points, they now have a score to beat and will no doubt be back to smash that next time!
Trio Novice Open
With only 21 points between third and first, this category was close at the top!! Richard Willis came in third with 436 points. Just ahead with 445 points was CAB Clube Aventura Barirrada (Nuno Cerquiera). And to top the podium was No Country for Old Men (Martin Hartley) on 457 points. A fantastic showing on such a big tough course!
Trio Masters Mixed
Loads of fun was had by these teams, so much so we had our biggest time penalties in this category Fren and Jennifer Parkwood were out for an extra 27 minutes for a time penalty of -135 points, Louise Battey and Jeremy Dyke for an extra 35 minutes with -175 penalty points and to top that, Demi Yip, Bartosz Tomaszewski, William Miles were having so much fun, they didn’t want to stop and were 51 minutes late back with a time penalty of -255 points! They may have set a new record, but from pictures, it looks like they had the best time out there…maybe we need a 7-hour event! Overall, in third place was York Alpine Club (Simon Caldwell, Carmen Elphick) on 544 points, Team Gill (Emma Gill, Richard Gill) with 662 points, and in first Type 2 Fun (Alistair Morris, Kim Spence) with a very impressive score of 732 points.
Trio Masters Female
The ladies were out for some points with the Mad Old Tarts (Maggie Salter, Liz Jones) coming in third with 525 points, Rosemary Boyle with 537 points for second, and Katherine Hargreaves with a very solid score of 635, even coming back early to get the full 15-minute time bonus.
Trio Masters Open
Always our biggest category, we had some very close scores! Campbell Walsh certainly had to work to get his win this weekend with 870 points as Team Tom & Mark (Tom Gibbs, Mark Clarkson) were hot on his heels with a score of 862 points. To top out the podium, we had Tom Hards with a fantastic outing on 805 points.
Vets
In the Vets Open category, Tom Gibbs took the overall win with an adjusted score of 914 points, ahead of Nick Gracie (839) with Steve Burnham finishing in third (810). In the Female category, it was a really close battle for the podium with just ten points separating third and fifth. Emma Gill had another brilliant race to finish first on 692 points, ahead of Liz Jones and Maggie Salter in second place on 651 points, with Carmen Elphick in third on 650 points – just one point behind!
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