Report by: Darrel Porter

Date: 26th January 2025

Do you like to keep your feet dry, and preferably mud free? Well if that’s the case this may not be the race for you, if on the other hand you are part of that select group that enjoys ankle deep, freezing mud for miles on end… well this is the race!

Tigger Tor Fell race is a category BM race that’s about 9 miles with approx. 500m of climbing, it’s the first race in the Totley Fell series and one of the first races of the fell running season. This year the race HQ was at the Fox House pub with the race start at the base of Houndkirk Road near the turnoff for the outdoor centre. Barring a small mandatory section on Houndkirk Road the route is self navigated with 12 checkpoints to reach charting a rough oval from Houndkirk hill to Lady Cannings, over Burbage Edge, Higger Tor, Carl Wark and back to Houndkirk Road.

The days leading up to the race had been pretty soggy, but the night before was very cold and as I walked down to meet Michael Raynor who had kindly offered me a lift I slipped on a patch of black ice. As we drove to the Fox House we couldn’t help but notice the increasing amount of ice on the road… it was going to be interesting conditions.

Arriving at Fox House Michael wisely decided to avoid the parking scrum and headed straight to Longshaw carpark, from there it was a short cold jog to registration where we debated whether or not to start with jacket on or off. Registration was smooth and well organised, we got our number, timing band and headed to the kit-check tent. I was surprised but quite pleased to see that they were checking everyone, that was until halfway through my check I realised that at some point the whistle had fallen off my bag, after a frantic moment of checking the various straps of the bag and imagining the shame of be disqualified at kit check I remembered that the first aid kit that I’d brought (funnily enough, not on the mandated list) had a space whistle in, phew, kit check passed!

With a bit of time to kill it was time for a warm-up jog and toilet break, there were toilets at the Fox house, but the queue was very long, there were also toilets at the Longshaw estate, which made for the perfect warm-up jog.

We arrived at the start line in time for the race briefing, I took up a place a few rows from the front and quickly decided that it was jacket off temperature. Race briefing done with, the race started in typical unceremonious fashion! Immediately I found myself caught behind slower runners and had to leap onto the grass at the side of the trail to get forward a bit as I know the route quickly becomes single track through heather with limited overtaking opportunities.

As predicted the line of runners banked to the right and started pummelling through a very narrow single track. The ground was already muddy and the tightly packed runners made it hard to see rocks on the trail. Quickly the pace dropped to a walk, so I decided to use my long legged advantage and struck it out through the heather until I found a gap I was happy with.

Back on the trail the pace was decent to Checkpoint 1 at Houndkirk Hill, the trail was narrow and very technical in places with plenty of mud, but it was the type of running that I love. Over Houndkirk Hill we had to scramble down some rocks and then it was a gentle climb back up to Houndkirk road, some runners went wrong here where they tried to short-cut towards checkpoint 2, but this would have taken them out of bounds, most (including me) turned back, but I’d only just started off the main trail so I didn’t have far to go. Once we hit the road there was a fast descent to CP2 and then a steep climb back up to CP3 which I walked having twisted my ankle just before CP2, it was bad enough that I though I may need to retire at CP3, but the walk up the hill sorted it and by the time I reached the top I was running again. The next section was a long, slightly climbing slog over to Burbage edge through open moorland. The trail was narrow and very boggy, if your feet weren’t wet by this point, there was no avoiding it now. The mud and peat with a crust of ice made for some energy sapping running, but I just got my head down and followed the Totley AC runner ahead.

After an age we reached CP5 and then scrambled down Burbage Edge and then the breakneck rapid descent to Burbage Brook, I got to stretch my legs a bit here and flew past a few runners who were taking the mud a bit more cautiously. I had to screech to a halt at the bottom to avoid sliding straight into the Brook, here the mud was slick and deep and on a 45 degree angle, carefully picking my route a leapt the Brook, passed CP6 and looked up at the very steep climb to Higger Tor and CP7. But before all that there was the trudge through and icy reed bog, this seemed specially designed to drain your legs of all energy and ensure that your feet were properly soaked for the long climb ahead.

Finally reaching Higger Tor, I’d lost a few places to runners with stronger legs, but in the perfect position to see a Totley AC runner choose the perfect line through the rocks at Higger Tor I followed and duly clawed back a few places. From here the race really opened up for me, long technical down hill sections allowed me to get into a fast running flow, broken only by the climb to Carl Wark a few more bogs and the finally the climb back over Burbage. CP 11 passed and I was starting to feel the cold again, I’d spent most of my energy and was beginning to flag. We only had one more crossing of open moor left to CP12 and then the final spring. I got my head down and slogged on. The final moor above Parson House was hard work, again it was technical single track, slightly uphill and very boggy, every step was an ankle deep battle which I was engaged in (in a very polite manner) with a Totley runner. As we got close to the wall of the Parson House field I realised there was probably around one km and I found a extra gear which was previously hidden and picked up my pace dropping the Totley runner. I made it to CP12 and then it was a final downhill sprint to the finish. I crossed the line in 1:21.28 in 55^th overall. In truth, I loved this race it was a great challenge and test of endurance, and really fun!

First man was Steve Franklin (Totley AC) in 01:02:16 and first lady was Poppy Wardley (NA) in 01:18:33.  There were 257 finishers including 5 Striders.

Full results here.

Striders results: