Athletes from Australia, the United States and all over Europe – particularly Italians and Norwegians – will converge on the Dales village of Horton-in-Ribblesdale on April 26 for the 54th renewal of the Three Peaks race and the fifth running of the World Mountain Challenge.

There they will be joined by previous winners including the course record-holder Andy Peace and reigning champion Robert Jebb, both from Bingley Harriers, and several hundred British-based runners eager to take part in the biggest fell race of the year.

Such is the appeal of the Mountain Challenge that the maximum entry of 650 domestic runners was filled within 36 hours of opening. "We were completely surprised by the response," said Doug Croft, one of the organisers of the race.

"The limit was set with the safety of the runners as our chief concern and there are also environmental issues to consider, but because the race is part of the English Fell Runners' Association's Championships and several athletes competing in that event did not enter in time we have decided to allow a limited number of extra runners to take part.

"In addition, we have a special award for athletes who have completed 21 Three Peaks' races and again several people within one or two runs of the target did not enter before the list was full and we are trying to accommodate them. We have allowed for 100 entries from abroad and any shortfall on that figure will be filled from our reserve list.

"Those who have been coming for years are obviously loyal supporters of the race and we wouldn't want to let them down. We were simply stunned by the initial response."

With full support from the Yorkshire Dales National Park and Craven District Council plans are now well advanced for the big day and organisers are expecting bigger than average crowds to flock to the upper Ribble valley for the day. But everything is not yet quite resolved.

"We have been offered a mobile shower unit which will allow the runners to clean up after the race," said Croft, "but we have a problem with the water pressure, which is quite low in Horton-in-Ribblesdale. If we turned on the showers the village would be dry." He is now searching for a 5,000-gallon water tank which can be transported to the site.

The race will start in Horton and the runners will first tackle Pen-y-ghent, slog across the valley to the Ribblehead Viaduct, up the gruelling slope of Whernside then hurtle down to the Hill Inn at Chapel-le-Dale before immediately starting the stamina-sapping climb of Ingleborough with another testing descent taking them back to Horton.

Last year's Mountain Challenge was the Jungfrau race at Grindelwald in Switzerland where, as with the majority of races on the continent, the runners started at the bottom of the climb and finished at the top. The art of descending will be a mystery to many of those coming to the Dales from abroad and that could give home runners an edge as they aim to benefit from the £5,000 prize fund. Jebb, who has won the Three Peaks race for the past three years, is now back in training after taking a short break at the end of the cyclo-cross season – he is also a multiple winner of the Three Peaks on his bike.

"I'll be building up steadily over the next few weeks," he said at his home Staveley, near Windermere. "I'll get back into top shape then ease off for the last couple of weeks before the Peaks race. I'm looking forward to the challenge and the presence of the runners from abroad will give the race an extra edge."


Three Peaks Fact File


Date: Saturday, April 26.

Start and finish: Horton-in-Ribblesdale.

Course: 24 miles involving 4,550ft of climbing.

Records: Andy Peace 2:46.03;
Sarah Rowell 3:16.29.

Prize fund: £5,000.