The Three Peaks Race
Owens Wins, but Bagley Holds the Trophy ... 57 Years Late!
Race Director Paul Dennison and Brian Dooks / 09.05.2011
Owens finished in 2hrs 53mins 34secs, which was 2mins 41secs ahead of Robbie Simpson, of Deeside Runners, with Ben Abdelnoor, of Ambleside Athletic Club, third in 2:59:37. Lennox, who beat Owens by 37 seconds in the 2008 Three Peaks, was fourth in 3:00:29.
After three weeks of sunny weather, the chairman of the Three Peaks Race Association Committee, Paul Dennison, thought the chances of a good race day were slim. But sunny it was, with a cool wind down in the valley at Horton-in-Ribblesdale and gale force on the tops. The organisers could not have asked for more.
A record number of 765 starters set off from a full entry list of 999, which included five former men’s race winners and five in the ladies’ category. It was an impressive start with the top seven in the men’s race reaching the summit of Pen-y-ghent in 30 minutes.
Then the race for Ribblehead was on. Owens and Lennox were the first through the checkpoint separated by only two seconds. As they started the climb up Whernside they were just over a minute ahead of the chasing pair of Simpson and Abdelnoor. The leaders were working together to combat the gale force winds.
Only two seconds separated them at the Whernside checkpoint and they were still together as they came into the Hill Inn, having opened up a two minute lead on Simpson and Abdelnoor.
The climb up Ingleborough saw Owens take over a minute’s lead on Lennox, who was starting to feel the pressure. On Ingleborough summit Simpson was only 22 seconds behind Lennox and everything was gearing up for a great race to the finish in Horton.
It proved to be very close with nine runners home within 15 minutes of the winner. The first three all finished in under three hours, but were well outside the race record of 2:46:03 set by Andy Peace, of Bingley Harriers, in 1996.
In the ladies’ race Anna Frost took an early lead on Pen-y-ghent and slowly increased it as she went along, but as she was coming off Whernside Helen Fines, of Calder Valley Fell Runners, started to catch her.
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