The small but iconic Roseberry Topping, the crown jewel of the Cleveland Hills, offers itself as the venue for what many consider to be an annual spectacle of human folly: a race up and down its steep slopes, commencing from the village of Newton-under-Roseberry. This brief but brutal course, infamous for its lung-searing ascent followed by a descent that only the truly reckless would call running, has been a perennial test of endurance and agility.
The participants were greeted at the start by a generous shower of rain—a seemingly refreshing prelude to the task ahead. By the time the final competitor staggered towards the finish, the sun had decided to make a last hurrah, casting a golden glow on the summit’s crag. Whether any of the runners possessed the energy or presence of mind to appreciate this charming vista is another matter entirely.
There are whispers of a similar event in 1953, coinciding with Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation, though I haven’t been able to verify it. The next documented event surfaced in the 1960s, orchestrated by the Middlesbrough and Cleveland Harriers, with a certain Jed Belord, a Redcar policeman, setting a record time of 12:20 in 1968. The Cleveland Mountaineering Club also used this unforgiving route for their private torment sessions.
The race became somewhat more official in 1980 when Mandale AC began organising it under AAA rules. The National Trust continued with the organisational duties for this year’s race. The current records, set in the 1990s, remain unchallenged: Robin Bergstrand’s absurdly swift 10:20 in 1992, and Gilly Hale’s 13:36 in 1990, are still the times to beat.
This evening’s victors, Lee Kemp and Poppie Phillipson, clocked in at 13:18 and 15:01 respectively—slower than the records, but not surprising really. The rain had thoughtfully turned the course into a sticky quagmire, ensuring that any thoughts of glory were swiftly mired in mud.
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