Race Date: Saturday 21st June 2025

4 miles/1600 ft

Starbotton in North Yorkshire is the destination for the annual Unofficial Head Torch Group’s (UHTG) weekend away.

The group has been meeting in various places in the Peaks for nearly 10 years now and is an amalgamation of members from various different clubs or unattached runners, who are all good mates and want to run hills. We meet every Thursday at 6.30pm and everyone is welcome.

12 of us made the trip up to Starbotton this year. Friday involved beer, pizza and a lot of laughing. Saturday was a morning run in the hills then the main attraction of the weekend, The Buckden Gala. This year, the BBC were covering the gala so those of you who watch BBC News probably saw coverage of the event.

The fell race is the highlight of the gala, closely followed by the egg throwing competition. This year there were 47 runners completing the race, a far cry from the hundreds who did it three years ago when it was in the English Fell Race championships. The race is nuts. 1.5 miles up, 1 mile across and 1.5 miles down. It is VERY steep. This year the UHTG race was dominated by the Buckman brothers’ rivalry, with Rich determined to beat Joe but very concerned he wouldn’t be able to. As it turned out, Rich won easily but the battle was on for 25th place between Joe and I, with Joe constantly on my shoulder, not for the first race I hasten to add. Convinced he was going to pass me at the end, my downhill tactic was to slide on my arse as it’s that steep it seems quicker. Ignoring the stinging grass burns, I managed to fend him off and beat him by 12 seconds, beating my time last year by nearly 2 minutes, albeit in much more favourable conditions. Huge kudos to Andy Green for his debut performance. It was tough but he stuck at it and enjoyed the course and the adulation from his adoring fans on the hillside during his wonderful descent.

The male race was won by Callum Lambert of Settle Harriers in 40.51. The female race winner, and second overall, was Lex Whitaker of Ambleside AC in 43.40.

And now to the egg throwing. There may have been some disparity in terms of the competition but you can only beat the opposition in front of you. Strider Warren Brown and his wife, Gillian, managed to fend off all opposition, no matter how small, to take first prize and will a bottle of wine and a packets of Maoams.

The evening was spent in the pub, eating, drinking and doing Warren’s famous quiz. Much laughter was had. A wonderful weekend away with a great bunch of mates and we’re already looking forward to doing it all again next year.

Striders Results: