Symonds Wins 3 Peaks Race

News Release / 03.05.2012

A Scottish runner with a growing international reputation beat world class opposition to win the Three Peaks Race at the weekend but set himself another tough challenge in the process.

Joe Symonds, 28, of Hunters Bog Trotters in Edinburgh, finished the 23-mile race over the summits of Penyghent, Whernside and Ingleborough in the Yorkshire Dales in 2hrs 55mins 58secs.

Now he must win the race, which has Salomon as its principle sponsor, twice more to equal the achievement of his father, Hugh Symonds, of Kendal Athletic Club, who won in 1984, 1985 and 1987.

They are the second father and son to win the Three Peaks Race. Harry Walker, of Blackburn Harriers, won in 1977, 1978 and 1981.  His son, David, of Clayton-le-Moors, won in 2003.

Joe Symonds’ father was not there to see him beat some of the race favourites, including last year’s winner Tom Owens, of Shettlestone Harriers in Glasgow.

After finishing the race at Horton-in-Ribblesdale, near Settle, Symonds was not able to get a mobile phone signal to tell his father of his success. Joe said: “When I contact him he will be quite happy. In fact I think it will make his day.”

But it later emerged that Hugh Symonds, who was in New Zealand, was monitoring his son’s progress via the SPORTIdent website on the Internet and knew he had won. Joe said: “It’s nice that they were taking such an interest on the other side of the world.”

After several days of heavy rain, Saturday dawned dry, but there was a bitter cold easterly wind and the temperature barely lifted above three degrees on the summits. The 745 starters from an entry of 1,000 found themselves battling against showers of sleet.

Symonds, who finished ninth in the Three Peaks in 2008 when it incorporated the World Long Distance Mountain Running Challenge and retired at the Hill Inn checkpoint last year suffering from blisters and what he described as “a lack of fitness”, was modest about his success.

He said: “The Three Peaks has a reputation for toughness, but in some ways you have to be fortunate to win it. If you have anything wrong with you on the day, you will get found out on this course.”

The Three Peaks is billed as “the Marathon with Mountains” because of its 5,270ft of ascent. Symonds, whose wife’s parents were on the summit of Ingleborough to support him, added: “I was lucky. I felt I was running really well and I won it. Whether I can come back and do it again, we will have to see.”

In the 2011 Gore-Tex Trans-Alpine Run, Symonds and his teammate Jethro Lennox, who won the Three Peaks in 2008, finished only 17 minutes behind the winners, the Spaniards David Lopez and Miguel Caballero. In eight days of trail running, the winners covered 273.73 kilometres and 15,436 metres of ascent in 26hrs 37mins 51secs. Symonds and Lennox were second and won the final stage.