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Week 39 - On Wheels

Level of Fitness
Black.  This is viewed as the toughest cyclo-cross event in the UK

The Experience
The 3 Peaks Cyclo-Cross is staged in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The Three Peaks, the tough testing course for the Dales walker were first conquered on a bicycle by a 14-year-old Yorkshire schoolboy -. Kevin Watson, of Ridgeway, Raikes Road, Skipton, a pupil of Ermysted's Grammar School, Skipton.

He rode, pushed and carried his bicycle 30 miles to the summit cairns of Whernside (2,419ft.), Ingleborough (2,373ft.), and Penyghent (2,273ft.). This was in 1959 and the first organised event was held two years later in 1961.

The first two places in the first Three Peaks Cyclo-Cross were taken by 21-year-old John Rawnsley of Bradford and Harry Bond, a 22-year-old Eccleshill plumber his Bradford R.C.C. colleague. They were close enough together to be credited jointly with the new record of 3hr. 21min. 35sec

Before the race started It was labelled "the most severe event in the cyclo-cross riders' calendar." Nobody quarrelled with that claim when it was over. Cramp-stricken Rawnsley said: "Each step up Ingleborough was agony."

Its reputation is unchanged today and it is still regarded as the toughest and biggest Cyclo-Cross event in the UK.

Have a go
The date for the 46th 3 Peaks Cyclo-Cross will be 28th September 2008

This is your only chance to ride to the top of the Three Peaks as most of the off-road sections are over footpaths and/or private land. This means that no training on a cycle is allowed on those sections - it is illegal to ride on their except on the day of the race.

To find out more and for details of how to enter, click here 

Find out more
Cyclo-Cross (often abbreviated to 'Cross) is generally an autumn and winter sport. Massed starts make for exciting races, usually no more than an hour in length - and shorter for juniors, women and veterans.  There are usually free-to-enter races for younger riders. Some organisers are now starting to run summer series, which are proving very popular.

Cyclo-Cross races are usually multi lap events, held on short (typically less than a mile and often less than half a mile), grassy courses, generally in public parks or on school playing fields. Less technically demanding than Mountain Biking, Cyclo-Cross often requires riders to dismount to clear artificial obstacles.

Cyclo-Cross machines look very similar to road bikes, with dropped handlebars and thin tyres - however the latter have a  knobbled-tread for grip, powerful brakes, low gears and better frame clearances to prevent clogging with mud, all of which adds up to make them easy to handle on the rough.