Lessons to be learnt from the Mark Parrish Round

Living in the Calder Valley, I’d had it in mind for quite a long time that we should have a 24hr peak bagging alternative to the Bob Graham in our local hills. I have come across the 39 trigs before, but to me this looked to be much further than a 24hr challenge for most people (I’m not sure if there has been a sub 24hr round?) and the route just doesn’t really grab me, so I began planning my own. I had a bit of a criteria that it had to fit also:

1.      It had to flow well (i.e. I didn’t want to be doing weird hill reps up the side of the valley just to get arbitrary ascent in)

2.       I wanted it to visit ‘summits’ or significant hilltop features. I didn’t want checkpoints to be random features like wall corners or farm ruins etc.

3.       It needed to cover proper fell terrain.

Anyway, after several draft, I came up with something that I really liked the look of. It flowed well and it had a lot of rough, off-piste sections that should be a real test for most fell runners and mountain marathoner types. Only 2 things left to do…

1.       Give it a name.

2.       Actually give it a go

In January 2022, my dad was admitted to ICU with Covid Pneumonia, in which we came very close to losing him. We would video call with him every day and I just couldn’t even begin to imagine what He and all other ICU Covid patients were going through. My dad has always had a positive mental attitude and I do believe that his mental endurance was one of things that helped him get through it. It was with this that I decided to name the round after him and also raise money for NHS Charities.

I planned a supported attempt for 4^th September 2021, with my brother looking after road support and several runners interchanging between different legs to look after me.

Leg 1. Todmorden Town Hall to Ponden Reservoir

Waiting to start...

I decided to set off at 2am as I felt there was a potential for tricky navigation on the 2^nd leg, so wanted to be hitting that as it was getting light in the morning. With Rob Holdsworth and Jonathan Moon, we ran out of town away from drunken revelers and into the quiet of the night. Heading up to Bridestone we were moving well and I was in a comfortable rhythm, arriving at the trig point 5 minutes up on schedule. The next few summits were routine really, with a fair bit of road and easy terrain which put me up on schedule for a while, given a bit of buffer before hitting rougher fell terrain later on.

We dropped to Gibson Mill and found the tiny summit of Hardcastle crag, which is a lovely viewpoint usually, but maybe not so much in the early hours of the morning. I guess we had a job to do anyway. Again, it was routine going over Shackleton Knoll and over to Walshaw Dean reservoirs and then up and over to the trig point at Withins Height. I tucked in behind Jonathan and Rob and they purposely slowed the pace down as I kept pulling away on some sections.

As we crest the hill and dropped towards Top Withens, the clag had dropped and Rob was getting a little concerned we might miss the turn off at Top Withens. I was a little more Blasé about it, thinking it would be impossible to miss. I couldn’t have been more wrong really as if it wasn’t for a tourist info sign we would have missed it completely.

At this point, I started getting a little obsessed about time, which was stupid really as it was far too early. This did cause me to start ramping up the pace ever so slightly. The guys told me to get a grip as it was too early to even be thinking about splits. Jonathan told my leg 2 pacers to simply ignore me whenever I tried getting an update on time.

Leg 2 – Ponden Reservoir to Cornholme

I pretty much ran through the change over at leg 2, picking up some rice pudding and cracking on. I was joined by Ben Beckwith (who turned up after a busy night shift policing the streets of Halifax), Pete Rolls and Ian Symington. The first climb up to Little Wolfstones felt a little quick, I think with fresh energy gained from a change of pacers. I just tried to ease my pacing, trying to ensure it was I who dictated the pace. We left Ben at the summit and carried on down Coombe Hill before crossing the road and heading up to crow hill. Pete kept stopping to bury his head in the heather, enjoying the aromas at this time of year. I was a little confused by this, but he replied “I just love the smell!”.

Being led over Coombe Hill by Ian Symington

I think from this point is where the round really starts to kick up a notch as from here on in it’s a lot of classic, rough, pathless Pennine terrain. From Crow hill it’s a straight line across the moor to Boulsworth hill. If you’re lucky you might find an intermittent trod but we had no such luck.

We carried on ticking off summits and moving well. Ian kept shoving food and water in my hand at every opportunity and the pace was strong. We were moving over the long drag from Gorple Hill towards Hoofstones when Dan Taylor’s unmistakable, booming voice appeared out of the mist like a damascene moment. This was a great boost and inevitably the pace ramped up a little again. Ian spotted this straight away and pulled me back as Pete and Dan ran ahead a little, chatting away.

Leg 3 – Cornholme to Summit

Being well looked after by my supporters

The changeover at Cornholme was done very professionally by my team. I have to give a big shout out to Ambi Swindells who sorted my feet out for me.

I set off on this Leg with Ambi, Jon Wilson and Dan, who continued along for the ride. My knee started giving me a bit of pain on the outside on my left leg. It wasn’t terrible at first but it was a bit of a nuisance. I had hoped to shake it off over time so I kept on going. We made it up Flower Scar in good time and dropped down to Bacup road and straight up Midgleden bank and started on the long drag up to Trough Edge End. Things were going pretty well still, but the pain in my leg was starting to become more prominent. I necked a couple of ibuprofens and cracked on with it, hoping that it would ease off. It wasn’t really affecting my climbing too much but the descents were becoming a bit grim. Trough Edge End to Rough hill was a right slog!

Dan Taylor taking up navigation whilst Ambi kept me fed. Photo by Jon Wilson

I enjoyed the section around Watergrove Reservoir. We were picking off the nice little summits one by one and I started to pick up again. It was a nice boost when Andy Ford appeared to run some miles with us and things were looking up again.

Trough Edge End

Brown Wardle Hill

Leg 4 – Summit to Mytholmroyd (cut short at Crow Hill)

Unfortunately, this is the leg where things fell apart. The changeover was pretty grim as we were just covered in midges so I wasn’t hanging around for long here. I set off with Aaron Hargreaves, Nathan Watson and Andy Ford. The first hill, Snoddle Hill, was a bit crap. Just full of tussocks but fortunately it was over pretty quick.

I was starting to feel extremely low now but grimly tried to keep the pace going. Andy peeled off at Blackstone edge road and the rest of us continued over Stormer Hill and over to Lode nab and Blackstone Edge. I was still climbing well and was managing to just about keep a jog/shuffle going. I really enjoyed the climb up Blackstone edge, taking a direct line up from Lode nab, which is a small hill sat amongst the large amphitheater that is Blackstone edge and Clegg Moor. However, arriving at the top this is where the knee really started to give up on me. I couldn’t really run anymore so I was having to hike the long flat section over to Dog Hill, inevitably losing time. I was gutted when I climbed to what I thought was the summit, only to find the actual summit was probably another kilometer ahead. Aaron was slightly ahead and Nathan saw my disappointment and just let out “its not fair is it mate”.

We took a poor line off Dog Hill as I tried to shortcut from the trod. Here I was starting to talk about dropping out, but the guys kept reminding me that my climbing wasn’t suffering and I was still close to schedule. I flew up Manshead end so hoped to hike round and just accept a slower time but as we reached crow hill at Sowerby the knee just gave way completely and wouldn’t let me go any further. After I called off the attempt, I rang my wife, Alice, crying down the phone to her about how I felt like a let down. I’d been on the move for 14 hours and other than the leg I felt so strong and so fit, so to go out like this was hard to take. Fortunately, Crow Hill is close to a nearby road, where Mandy Goth, Kevin Robinson and Natasha Butterfield (along with my brother), who were due to help on leg 5 came to meet me and console me.

Crow Hill - unfortunately this would be the last summit of the day

My brother drove me home and I just wallowed in self-pity for the rest of the evening whilst family were over for tea. My dad got all teary eyed when he told me how proud he was, although I wasn’t feeling too much pride in myself at the time. I had dragged people out to help with my little pet project and I’d failed. I’d run for 57 miles / 14 hours straight but none of that really mattered to me (at the time) because I didn’t finish.  

So what have I learnt?

I’m revisiting this article 7 months later, after not a lot of running and months of rehab. Its been a frustrating time but a time in which I have learnt a lot about myself and how I might do things differently:

1.       Actually train on the route – I was very complacent about this and just figured I knew the route, but didn’t factor in the effect of the terrain underfoot.

2.       Strength, Strength, Strength – I think in future I would sacrifice running miles for more strength and conditioning for this kind of thing.

3.       Remove the pressure – I think the charity aspect, the tracker, the social media song and dance, the strict schedule etc. just piled on the pressure when really its just a day out in the hills.

But the biggest lessons I’ve learnt are just to have fun, don’t get bogged down by injuries and set-backs as that base fitness doesn’t just disappear and remember that these things aren’t always cut and dry, but that’s the exciting thing about a project like this. It’s taught me more about myself than I could ever have imagined and isn’t that why we run anyway?

Unfortunately, I have an overwhelming urge to have another go at some point. Whenever the time feels right, I think I’ll just be keeping it pretty low key and under the radar, probably carrying more of my own gear and just linking up with a couple of people along the way and not worrying as much about time, focusing on just getting round and completing the loop.  

On a final note, I would like to say that I am fully behind anyone else who wishes to have a go and would love to support an attempt. I am not precious about being the first completer, and I know its not tradition but I’d like to keep it named after my dad as he gave me the inspiration and the confidence to put myself out there and have a go.

And finally, a big thank you to everyone who donated and supported in any way big or small. I managed to raise about £1400 for NHS Charities together so I really appreciate that. 

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