FRA Malham Fell Race

On Saturday my son and I drove over to Malham in Yorkshire for the latest FRA Junior Championship race hosted by Keighly and Craven Athletics Club. After a stunning drive through the Dales we parked in the beautiful village before hiking to the start:

Once my son was registered we joined the other families walking the course:

It was a scorching hot day and the under 9s were lucky to only have to run to the specially flagged turn:

I decided to film their race not far below the turn so stopped my walk here:

The under 9 race was for children 6 years and over and some of them found it extremely tough going:

When they had all gone back past me I moved further up the valley to film the older runners as they made the first tricky ascent. It was a stunning spot to spend several hours (although I should have reapplied the sun block more frequently...):

The next race was for the under 11s who would turn at the wall:

Then it was the turn of my son's under 13 race. A friend took a photo of him at the start:

His race went up to the top of the first hill before they returned past me:

This was the video for the race:

The fourth race was the under 15s:

Each race was getting longer and steeper which meant a more spread out field as they headed back past me. For the under 17s it was 3.8km with 220m climb:

For the under 19s they ran the full 5km course with 280m of climb! There was some amazing finishes:

Eventually the seniors tackled the same route:

I had walked down the valley a bit to film the return leg:

Then we walked back down to the village in search of cold drinks and a snack:

After that we joined several other families at the river so the children could cool off and the adults unwind:

Roll on the next race!