Three Peaks 20,000th Finisher Tomorrow

Press Release / 28.04.2017

It will be a bit like winning the National Lottery, but today (SATURDAY) some runner should become the 20,000th finisher in the Three Peaks Race in the Yorkshire Dales.

Provided the race, which has 942 entrants, has around 630 finishers, someone will go home with a small trophy to remind them of the part they played in the history of an iconic event which is being held for the 63rd time.

The Three Peaks is billed as “The Marathon with Mountains” because it takes competitors on a 23-mile route over the summits of Penyghent, Whernside and Ingleborough in the Yorkshire Dales, with a total ascent of 5,279ft.

In 2010 Jason King, then 32, who was from Sydney in Australian, but working at Carnegie College in Leeds, became the 15,000th finisher. He got a massive cheer for being an unlikely hero when he finished in 338th place.

The 2017 event, which has Inov-8, one of the world’s leading all-terrain footwear, clothing and equipment suppliers as its main sponsor, starts in Horton-in-Ribblesdale, near Settle, at 10.30am. The race record is 2hrs 46mins 3secs, set in 1996 by Andy Peace, of Bingley Harriers.

The ladies’ record is 3hrs 14mins 43secs set by Anna Pichrtova, of the Czech Republic, when the Three Peaks hosted the World Long Distance Mountain Running Championship in 2008. Today, a bonus prize of £500 is on offer for a male or female runner who can beat the respective records.