Members of Richmondshire’s racing community were among 100 people who came together to take on the Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge in aid of Racing Welfare.
The challenge was sponsored by Tote bookmakers and bloodstock auction house, Tattersalls, and has so far raised in excess of £50,000 for racing’s people.
The challengers last Saturday morning ready to tackle the three peaks of Ingleborough, Whernside and Pen-y-Ghent in under 12 hours.
After completing their first peak, Ingleborough, just a couple of hours after setting off the walkers refuelled at their first checkpoint along the route.
However, threatening thunderstorms and lightning strikes forced event partner, Large Outdoors, to advise the group against travelling to the top of the two remaining peaks.
York racecourse’s clerk of the course, Anthea Leigh, said: “We should all expect weather to get in the way – it’s part and parcel of our sport. Myself as a clerk I have to make those difficult decisions, that’s just it isn’t it.
“We had some lovely conversations with people from other groups at the stopping points. It was a fantastic thing, and terrifically well organised.”
Despite most of the group not completing the final two peaks on safety advice, the walkers still completed a gruelling hike of around 20 miles, covering challenging terrain and more than 3,000ft of ascent in less than favourable weather conditions.
A varied group of individuals took part, from racecourse and racing yard employees to members of the media and racehorse owners, with many participants commenting on the positive benefits of connecting with other like-minded individuals during the challenge.
Matthew Robinson works for event sponsor, Tote.
He said: “I really enjoyed the day and thought it was excellently organised. Although it was disappointing not to climb all three peaks, I still got to spend the day with some amazing people and enjoy the beautiful sites of the Yorkshire Dales and won’t change that for anything.”
Racing Welfare’s chief executive, Dawn Goodfellow, said: “Despite the initial disappointment of realising that we weren’t going to make it to the top of Whernside and Pen-Y-Ghent, the group showed incredible team spirit and resilience to adapt to the change of plan and keep pressing on.
“The route was a lot tougher than a lot of us had expected, and even without the final two peaks it remained a gruelling test. We are so grateful to everyone that worked hard to train for this challenge and, importantly, helped us to raise such a brilliant sum to support Racing Welfare’s work.”
Anyone that would like to support Racing Welfare’s Three Peaks Challenge should text PEAKS and their donation amount eg. PEAKS10, PEAKS20, PEAKS30 to donate £10, £20 or £30 respectively.
Alternatively, donations can be submitted online here: https://racingwelfare.enthuse.com/pf/team-racing-welfare.
