Tackling the Tigger Tor as fell season begins

Sunday saw the 34th running of Tigger Tor - so named as the route starts from Tigers rugby club and includes an ascent of Higger Tor - in the hills off Hathersage Road near Sheffield.

The race starts and finishes outside the rugby clubhouse, which on race day, always has a great atmosphere.

Set in a beautiful winter landscape, for many runners this is a challenging and enjoyable curtain raiser to the fell running season.

Checkpoints were marked on the race route map, which all runners carried along with a compass, and had to be visited in numerical sequence.

Competitors had to find their own way to each checkpoint without external assistance.

Marshals will do no more than indicate the general direction in which they should proceed on leaving a checkpoint.

John Burton had done this run a few years ago and went this year with fellow Bostonian Tanya Knight – her first fell race.

All runners had a pre-race kit check before the start to make sure they had survival clothing packed should the weather suddenly change.

The 9.7-mile route had a total climb of nearly 1,600ft.

John and Tanya had a good run and finished the course with a clear round having navigated through all the checkpoints correctly and finished in a time of 2 hrs 8 mins.

“Tigger Tor was amazing,” Tanya said.

“We managed a clear round with lots of laughs. I’m sure there was more tripping and flying than running, it was totally different to road running, but what an experience.”

Tanya and John will be back out with the other Community Runners at their club nights on Tuesdays for coached track sessions at Princess Royal Sports Arena and Thursdays for the clubs social runs from Peter Paine.

The sessions are open to all abilities and anyone is welcome.