Castle Carr fell race

24/11/2025

2026 is likely to see the last running of the Castle Carr races

I have been organising races for 23 years now and am ready to hang up my metaphorical starting gun.

But since this will be the last time, the full Castle Carr race, that has not been held for the last two years, will be resurrected for one final hurrah, alongside the half race.

Both the full AL Castle Carr and the shorter BM Castle Calf will be held on Sun 4th Oct 2026.

This will probably be your final chance to run these races.

14/10/2025

Photos courtesy of Zoe Brown:

13/10/2025

Found after the race: 2 pairs of waterproof trousers. Let me know if they're yours.

11/10/2025

The flags are out, the marshals know what they're doing and are raring to go, and the weather looks great. 🙂
Perfect for a race tomorrow.

7 mile West Yorkshire fell race through the stunning Castle Carr estate and surrounding moorland

01/10/2025

The Hare & Hounds is (hopefully temporarily) closed, so race registration, etc will be at Wadsworth Community Centre this year, just half a mile from the pub.
Please car share as much as possible.
Date: Sunday 12th Oct

With the change in venue, there will be a different route out and back onto the moor.

All details, including the new route map, are on the race webpage:

Castle C’alf 2025 sees the fourth running of Castle Carr's little brother, a superb race in its own right. This race covers the final stages of the full race, including passing through the stunning Castle Carr estate. BM- 12km (7miles) / 490m (1600′) Sunday 12th October 2025 - 11:30am   Faceboo...

11/09/2025

Castle Calf 2025 entries are now open:
https://www.sientries.co.uk/event.php?event_id=16325

Note: since the Hare & Hounds will be (hopefully temporarily) closed, the race will be based at the Wadsworth Community Centre, which is just 5mins from the start/finish.

The race route is unchanged.

7 mile West Yorkshire fell race through the stunning Castle Carr estate and surrounding moorland

11/10/2024

Race Report sent to Fellrunner:

The full Castle Carr race was not held this year - and may not be held again, mainly due to a race organiser who wants an easier life - but the Half race, now dubbed "Castle C'Alf", is going strong. Thanks to its inclusion in the Race The Moors championship, and also the continuing strength and presence of Leeds University Fellrunning club, there were a record number of entrants: 128.

The race has been held three times, and won three times by Martin Howard. Andrew Worster got closer to Howard than anyone yet has (and Worster is the only person apart from Howard to go under an hour), but even he was still more than 3 minutes behind.

The overall race records were not broken, but several age group records fell. Lindsey Brindle was first woman, just outside the women's record but setting a new wv40 mark. Jack Casey and Pippa Carcas, both from Leeds University, set new u23 and wu23 records. Jean Powell set a new wv50 record. Adam Storer set a new v50 record and Dan Gilbert broke the v40 record. Norman Hayhurst lowered his own v60 record.

The team points are calculated from the first 2 men and 2 women from a club. Unusually no team prizes were claimed by host club CVFR this year. Horwich RMI (Sam Fairhurst, Dan Gilbert, Lindsey Brindle, Alison Mort) were the winning team with Leeds University (Jack Casey, Luke Vinter, Pippa Carcas, Beth Dewing) in second place.

We have been gradually mastering the use of sportident timing dibbers and for the first time had things set up so that the results were instantly (well, within a minute anyway) updated on the CVFR website as soon as each runner downloaded. And with the control box on Rocking Stone set up to send constant information back to base, we could see immediately as each runner passed through that checkpoint.

Speaking of Rocking Stone, a tip for any readers who have got this far: local advice is to not take a direct line to this checkpoint. That way is strewn with rough terrain. Instead aim for the path over to the west. You will thank me.

04/10/2024

Flagging complete (mostly through the estate) ready for Sunday's Castle C'Alf race

17/09/2024

Entries for Castle C'Alf race on Sun 6th Oct are now open:
https://www.sientries.co.uk/event.php?event_id=14197

30/10/2023

After a lot of deliberation, I've decided that I'm going to stop organising the full Castle Carr race.

Despite organising 66 fell races and score events over the last 20 years, it doesn’t really get any easier. There are still parking headaches to consider, marshals to persuade into giving up their day to help, landowners to placate and sleepless nights beforehand worrying about the race.

I tend to organise the sort of race that I would enjoy running, but I am well aware that I am a little odd (!) and for the majority of people, the full Castle Carr race - with its requirements to be confident in navigating across the moor and the frequently changing ground & gradient - is not ideal.

I do, however, plan to continue putting on the Half race, locally known as Castle C’Alf. It is an easier race to organise and requires fewer marshals. It still enjoys the stunning views through the beautiful Castle Carr estate, while being a more obvious route and avoiding the worst of the ground that the longer race used to go on.

So I hope to see you at future Castle C'Alf races.
- Bill Johnson

18/10/2023

This is a brilliant video of Sunday's race by Olga Wo:

Castle Carr fell race is 14/15 miles long with approximately 4000 ft elevation. It takes place on West Yorkshire in Calder Valley and Luddenden Valley, which...

15/10/2023

Provisional Results from today:

Full: https://www.cvfr.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/castle_carr_results_full.html

Half: https://www.cvfr.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/castle_carr_results_half.html