When you think about fell running, you tend to think about the West Yorkshire moors; the south and west Pennines around Lancashire; the Lake District; the Brecons and Snowdonia; or the Cairngorms and Trossachs. But where is the south of England on the fell running map?
Fell running has its origins in the Old Norse word fjal, meaning hill or mountain – but here in south Devon, the landscape is more hobbit-like: a patchwork of farmer’s lanes, high hedges and a myriad of fields and wooded combes. To stretch your horizons, you have to look up to Dartmoor, the 954-sq-km (368-sq-mile) expanse of moorland, wooded valleys and weather-sculpted granite tors. Beyond this, further north, lies the bracken and heathered uplands of Exmoor and its narrow sloping valleys, straddling north Devon and west Somerset.
We hobbits don’t travel to the Pennines too often, but we do have moorland landscapes on our doorstep. Is it possible that fell running will take root here, or across the uplands and ridges of south-east England?
There are a number of trail-running events on the South Downs and in the New Forest, but these appear to lack the height requirements or barren topography to qualify as fell. I asked Richard Askwith, the author of Feet in the Clouds, why he thinks the sport is traditionally a preserve of the north. “There are historical reasons for the difference in attitudes between north and south,” he said. “There is a culture of fell racing in the north that goes back at least 150 years, whereas I’m not aware of anything comparable in the south. So if you live in fell country, it seems natural to run on mountains: everyone else is doing it. But elsewhere, it probably seems a bit crazy.”
He believes that access to the moors may be another barrier: “There are so many little lanes and hedges and enclosed fields. If you have to run two or three miles from your front door before you can even start your open moorland run, then you may conclude that it’s simpler to stick to the lanes.”
But there are signs that fell running may be starting to take root in the south, at least judging by the number of people entering Fell Running Association events. In the south-west, the Drogo Ten at Castle Drogo near Exeter is a Grade B classified fell run (A being the most difficult technically and C the easiest). It attracts approximately 500 runners and has been going for about 10 years. The view from the top, looking down on to an ancient wooded valley, is stunning.
Then there is the much bigger and more gruelling Grizzly, based in Sidmouth in Devon, which sends 4,000 runners along the shingle coastline and inland over fields for 20 miles, and the Exe to Axe, another 20-odd-mile coastal race from river to river.
The most southerly fell race in the country is the Charmouth Challenge in Dorset, which runs over the Golden Cap, the highest point on the south coast (all 191m of it). Last year the event was staged in the middle of a heatwave and grateful runners weredoused in buckets of water by the local fire brigade. Not your typical northern fell running scenario.
In the south-east, you can find a sprinkling of fell races on the Isle of Wight and in Surrey, including the popular Box Hill series, which is one of the highest points in the area. On the Isle of Man, a popular Wi Manx league releases runners on the steep countryside looking down on to the Irish Sea.
Top British fell runner and Inov-8 athlete Ben Abdelnoor is optimistic about fell running’s prospects in the south: “There’s a long history of fell running in the north of England and Scotland, particularly in Cumbria, but there’s no reason for it not to grow in parts of the country that have at least some suitable fell terrain. By this I mean something more demanding than footpaths and well-trodden routes.”
On 1 March, the largest night-time fell race in the south, the 10-mile Wild Night Run, takes place on Dartmoor. Last year’s event attracted 170 runners and there are signs this year will be much bigger. As a resident of hobbit shire country, exiled northerner and one of the organisers of the Wild Night Run, I have several interests to declare. But I would shamelessly like to issue a challenge to our northern brethren: why don’t you come down and give the south a try?
If fell running is a tribal thing, then we are in the same tribe. Over to Abdelnoor: “Fell running is a small sport; every race I go to I’ll recognise friendly faces from previous races or local clubs. Each weekend it’s a chance to catch up with mates and find out where they’ve been racing, what training they’re up to or what they’ve got planned in the season.”
So come on you northerners, the gloves are off.
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