Summer’s coming: Calder Valley and Tod mark solstice
CALDER VALLEY and Todmorden Harriers joined together to celebrate the shortest day with the now customary winter solstice run.
Organised by CV’s husband and wife team, James and Tamsin Cooke, runners met at the top of 100 steps early morning as the rest of Hebden slept.
About 40 runners turned up this year and snaked their way across muddy fields towards Raw Lane then steadily up the shoulder of Sheep Stone Edge before reaching Robin Hood’s Penny Stone in an attempt to witness the prehistoric alignment of the sun rising over Miller’s Grave on Midgley Moor.
Submerged in Yorkshire clag, the actual sunrise wasn’t very distinguishable but the camaraderie and hip flasks helped keep the cold away as the runners waited patiently to catch a glimpse of the rising sun.
Then it was downhill back to Hebden for a rewarding breakfast kindly provided by the Cookes as a fundraiser for a Coop charity.
For anyone who wants to experience the joys of running on the fells, come along to Calder Valley’s Resolution Runs, starting on Saturday January 4.
The group will meet every Saturday morning at 9.30am in St George’s Square, Hebden Bridge, to run off road for about an hour.
A great opportunity to find new routes, make new friends and see if fell running is for you. For further details contact Jocasta on 07939 668164 or Gill at gillhdickson@gmail.com.
TODMORDEN HARRIERS went on their annual Christmas Santa run in pursuit of the highest number of running Santas the club had ever seen.
With 76 Santas in action - and four dogs - it fell short of the previous record of 103 but was no less fun as a result.
Despite horrible weather the run was full of festivities, with mince pies and mulled wine provided by the Taylor family, a carol sing-song to the patrons of the Golden Lion pub, along with a mad dash through Morrisons before retiring back to the working men’s club for a few well-deserved drinks.
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