Knock Pike and Memories of Youth and Reckless Ambition

A brief pause en route to a few days of damp splendour in the Lakes. This is Knock Pike, an outlier on the Pennine chain.

A 1950 article in the Penrith Observer caught my attention¹“UP KNOCK PIKE” Penrith Observer – 30 May 1950 https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002296/19500530/074/0006. It detailed the results of a “Guides Race,” a professional fell race to the summit of this and back, starting from the village of Knock. The victor? The illustrious Bill Teasdale of Caldbeck—or “J. Teesdale,” according to the paper, which presumably employed typesetters with a flair for fiction. Bill completed the course in 10 minutes 34 seconds, marking the first time the race used Knock Pike instead of Dufton Pike, where Bill, naturally, had also triumphed.

Teasdale, a shepherd and fell runner of legendary repute, reigned supreme over northern England’s masochistic footraces during the mid-20th century. He shattered records with the same ease that lesser men sprain ankles, including slashing six minutes off the Ingleborough Mountain Race time in 1952. A paragon of gritty endurance, he dominated the Kilnsey Crag Race seven times, occasionally whilst injured, and once unofficially humiliated the field at the Vaux Lake District Mountain Trial in 1954. Bureaucratic red tape kept him confined to local events—though one suspects this did not trouble the “King of the Fells,” as he was dubbed. An M.B.E. later crowned his exploits, and he departed this life in 2023 at the ripe age of 98²Ingham, Roger. 2023. ‘Obituary: Legendary Fell Runner Bill “King of the Fells” Teasdale’, Craven Herald <https://www.cravenherald.co.uk/news/23258574.obituary-legendary-fell-runner-bill-king-fells-teasdale/> [accessed 28 December 2024].

Reading this conjured recollections of my own fleeting dalliance with professional athletic glory. Picture a village fete in the 1970s, where my friend, the late John Williams, and I graced the sports field under the cunning pseudonyms of Smith and Jones. We entered every event—100-yard dashes, laps round the field, and so forth—on the understanding that victories would be distributed in strict rotation. The cross-country race, however, was a free-for-all, and John, being far superior, naturally claimed victory.

Our winnings, little brown envelopes of cash, went directly to my wife at the time, bypassing my fingers entirely. My conscience remains unsullied. I believe the spoils were sufficient to procure an LP—a tangible reward for our deceit. Had the AAA discovered our antics, we would no doubt have been cast out in shame. Ah, the joys of youth and reckless ambition.

• 1
  “UP KNOCK PIKE” Penrith Observer – 30 May 1950 https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002296/19500530/074/0006
• 2
  Ingham, Roger. 2023. ‘Obituary: Legendary Fell Runner Bill “King of the Fells” Teasdale’, Craven Herald <https://www.cravenherald.co.uk/news/23258574.obituary-legendary-fell-runner-bill-king-fells-teasdale/> [accessed 28 December 2024]