Ilkley Moor Fell Race 2026

Today I went out for my first ever fell race. I've run plenty on trails, footpaths and bridleways and spent some time running around Ilkley and Burley moor. I've also run various races, road 5ks and 10ks, half-marathons, trail half-marathons, trail 50ks, that 25k up Yr Wyddfa too. And maybe UTS 25k is actually the closest thing to this fell race, because boy was it hard.

The Ilkley Moor fell race is an annual race run by the Ilkley Harriers run under FRA rules. It comes in as a FRA category AS race meaning S for short and A for hard and takes on a 8km route with 401m of climbing. As someone who hadn't run the course before, navigation wasn't a problem because of all the runners and the excellent marshalling at the race. The weather was also very kind, after weeks of rain the week beforehand was mostly dry and delightfully dry on the day with a little sunshine. The moor was still pretty boggy in places (one chap lost his shoe at one point) but things weren't reduced to chocolate sauce levels of mud as it has been in some places this year.

I was not quite prepared for the mindset needed for this sort of race. I've spent the last few years working my way into ultra distance races where you're not going fast, you're going long. You need to be able to roll with the hills so as not to blow up when you're only 25k into a 50k race. Today was fast and furious and the most time my heart has spent in zone 5 continuously for a very long time. One thing I definitely don't get enough practice on is stonking 18% climbs through mud and heather for the best part of a kilometre. This leaves me in situations where I redline too hard, too early and have to slow it right down even after the climb just to get running again. Plenty of the other runners clearly either get this practice or are far more experienced at managing their effort at such a high intensity and it is, quite frankly, jaw-droppingly impressive.

Once you've climbed onto the moor, heart banging, calves burning, you get treated the delightful view back over Ilkley town. Where today if you're lucky you can see the punters enjoying the market on The Grove. At least the idea of a farmer's market lunch reminds you why you're up here. Eventually though I manage to get my effort right after hiking and descending and careening over rocks and bogs. This leaves the absolute treat of descending to the finish over the last 2km which is finally an opportunity to really send it.