Competitors grinning while they bear it on last year's event. Photo: Gordon Gibbons
Walkers and runners can help a Pennine mountain rescue team – and have a day out on the fells of the Peak District.
The Grin and Bear It event has three routes, ranging from 37km (23 miles) to a new 7¼km (4½-mile) family route across the high ground of the Dark Peak.
Proceeds from the event – which has a minimum £8 entry donation, will swell the coffers of the Woodhead Mountain Rescue Team, which operates in the Woodhead Pass, the north-east corner of the national park and the Pennine hills between Huddersfield and Sheffield.
Team secretary Phil Newing said: “It is a huge undertaking for us, taking up many, many hours of work. We receive no funding from Government; all our kit has to be paid for by donations from members of the public, legacy and fundraising.
“Supporting the team in fundraising is just as important as being on the hill doing the mountain rescue stuff. This is the sixth year we have run our showpiece fundraising event and it just keeps getting better.”
Three routes of 37km, 26km and 7¼km can be tackled, the last being a family route also suitable for less experienced walkers, with a pub break in the middle.
Route-finding skills using a route description and map and compass in poor weather conditions are essential for the longer, more challenging moorland routes. Clothing and footwear appropriate to the weather conditions are required. Well behaved dogs on a lead are welcome.
There will be refreshment points around the routes and the rescue team will be on hand manning checkpoints, giving directions and ready to respond if needed.
Walkers on last year's event. Photo: Gordon Gibbons
A free home-cooked hot meal and drinks are available to all those who finish the event, which takes place on Saturday, 2 October. Anyone raising £30 in sponsorship will gain free entry to the challenge.
Entry and registration forms can be found on the team’s website.
Starting point for the Grin and Bear It is the Crow Edge Community Centre on the A616 (SE 180 051).
Walkers will start at 8am; runners at 10am and the family walk starts at 11:00am. Entry on the day will cost £10.
The Woodhead MRT has 40 volunteer members and draws its staff from the towns and villages surrounding the headquarters. Formed in 1964, it played a crucial part in rescuing residents of Catcliffe, Middlewood, Rotherham and Millhouse Park, Sheffield in the 2007 South Yorkshire floods and also took part in operations following the Lockerbie air disaster of December1988 and the Kegworth air crash the following month.
