An epic tale of youth vs experience on Ilkley Moor
'The Curse of the Badger Stone'
Starring (in order of appearance) :
Ryan & Michael Dransfield
Emma & Edward Wilkinson
Matthew & Chris Jones
Act 1 - In the beginning...
The concept was simple; a relay race that matched a team of parents against their offspring to find out who would win. Simple eh? The event we chose was the “Badger Stone Relay”, an annual fell race held at Ilkley. Rumour has it that one of us (might have been Chris) had a navigational disaster at the same event last year causing the Spenborough trio to finish in last place?
Act 2 - The curse strikes once...
The first attempt to run the race in 2008 was back in April with a line-up that included James and Martin Thompson. However, we arrived only to find the race had been cancelled at the last minute. Still we had an enjoyable training run, and Michael got the chance to try his hand at bog snorkelling.
Act 3 - The curse strikes twice...
Not to be put off, we decided to try once more at the re-scheduled event on 24h May. But this time, James Thompson, was unable to take part due to injuring himself in a bizarre shopping trolley accident. This effectively ruled out both James and Martin, due to our parent/offspring competition rules. Undeterred, we found two willing and capable substitutes in Emma and Edward Wilkinson, and the race was on once more!
Act 4 - The curse strikes thrice...
The teams were there, the weather was good, and the race was on! Ryan v Michael on leg 1, Emma v Edward leg 2 and Matthew v Chris on leg 3.
Ryan got off to an early lead ahead of Michael, but it was close, and no-one was prepared to accept my bet that Michael would win-out. They disappeared out of sight, and when they re-emerged on the descent, Michael had pulled out a lead, handing over a 30 second advantage to Edward.
Edward set off with intent, but Emma was in hot pursuit and closing him down. Again they disappeared from view, and it was some time later, we were all surprised to see Edward on the descent but no sign of Emma!
Unfortunately, Emma had made a wrong turn on the unmarked course during the descent, and lost valuable time. Consequently, Chris had a big lead on Matthew, which meant that it was always going to be an uphill (joke) battle for the youngsters from there on.
So experience won out over youth this time, but how long can it continue?
Sweets for the youngsters (1st junior team) and beer for the parents (2nd vets team), and a fun afternoon out for all. Watch out for a re-match in the near future!
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