Challenge Stu

Chris Bonington (Apologies, SIR Chris Bonington) is a true British mountaineering legend... His list of first ascents spans at least four decades and includes numerous big Alpine routes, Himalayan peaks of over 7000m, and even the Old Man of Hoy in 1966.  Myself, Lorna, my brother Ed and Mum and Dad all attended a talk by Sir Chris on Friday night, at the Sheffield Uni Octagon centre. It was a great talk, with photos and videos covering his whole life, from growing up in London, climbing at Harrison rocks, then working as an Outward Bound instructor before (after a short stint working at Unilever!) starting a career in expedition journalism, followed finally by becoming a professional mountaineer. However, for me the best bit was after the talk. I had brought an old book called "Quest for Adventure", written by Chris Bonington and published in 1982. It belonged to my parents and I remember this book being on the shelves in my room growing up, though I don't thin...

...well not exactly new, but I haven't done much marshalling. However, I decided it was time to contribute a bit to a race rather than just running them all the time, so I volunteered to marshal at Sunday's re-arranged Edale Skyline fell race. I was positioned just after the Brown Knoll summit checkpoint, which if you know the course is about 3/4 of the way round. It was a great point to watch the race from, and after I'd set up my tent and placed a few flags (to guide the runners down from the summit to my stile) I awaited the leaders... Not a bad spot to spend a few hours!  They arrived after about two hours of running, Simon Bailey and Morgan Donnelly at the front, followed two minutes later by Stu Bond, Rob Hope, Rhys and Lloyd Taggart. By the end things had changed though, with Simon winning by a minute from Rob Hope, and Rhys a few seconds behind. Lloyd was 5th and Stu B 6th, easily winning the team prize for Dark Peak. Simon and Morgan lead the way The r...