Calder Valley Fell Runners hit heights to support Halifax Homeless and Community Kitchen

Calder Valley Fell Runners haven’t been racing or running together since the Covid-19 lockdown began but they have nevertheless devised novel challenges to keep club members active.
Gayle Sugen and Jo Buckley approaching Dow Crag, one of the Lake District Wainwrights, in the 2015 Duddon Valley Fell RaceGayle Sugen and Jo Buckley approaching Dow Crag, one of the Lake District Wainwrights, in the 2015 Duddon Valley Fell Race
Gayle Sugen and Jo Buckley approaching Dow Crag, one of the Lake District Wainwrights, in the 2015 Duddon Valley Fell Race

There has been very little for club members to do as a group, socially and physically, so a new hill climbing challenge helped to address the problem.

The challenge was to find as much climbing as possible and to create the toughest category AS (up to 10k), AM (up to 20k) or AL (up to 30k) race.

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Another target for club members was to run the equivalent of the height of all 214 Lake District Wainwrights from sea level, a total of 453,000 feet.

Calder Valley sponsored the event and donated £1 for every 1,000 feet climbed by club members taking part, with funds going to the Halifax Homeless and Community Kitchen.

Halifax Homeless and Community Kitchen runs in the town centre every Sunday, serving meals and providing food, toiletries and clothes to those in need. It has been closed during lockdown but the project’s volunteers have delivered food to those in need across the town.

Calder Valley's statistician Andy Wright has been delighted with the club’s efforts in raising money.

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He said: “As well as giving me lots of excuses to play with spreadsheets, it has been rewarding to see the effect this has had on our members.

People are chatting to one another about their runs, pushing themselves outside their comfort zones, talking about the mental effect that lockdown is having on them as well as competing with one another to see who can come up with the ugliest, hilliest courses.”

After a close week the club’s runners produced some impressive climbs on the final day of the challenge to beat the Wainwright target with a huge combined total climb of 486,151 feet.

The total running distance covered was 2,054 miles, thus raising a total of £486 for Halifax Homeless and Community Kitchen.

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Nicola Freemantle, from Halifax Homeless and Community Kitchen, said: “The challenge looks amazing and the mental well-being and how people are talking and getting involved and feeling better is amazing.

“This money will go towards feeding more than 500 people a week: That is three meals a day for seven days.”

The routes with the most climb for each distance were as follows: Short distance (under 6.2 miles) - Darren Kay with a leg busting 4,321 feet climbed; medium (under 12.4 miles) - Matt Kay with 4,656 feet climbed; long route (under 18.6 miles) - Stuart Russell covering an impressive 7,709 feet.

The steepest routes overall were Darren Kay’s run at 697 feet per mile, followed by Holly Page’s route up and down Hardcastle Crags at 552 feet per mile. Calder Valley’s men’s captain Shaun Godsman covered 527 feet per mile.