14th December 2024

“Who ate all the pies?” (at the PieAthlon)

This is a race that will appeal to some given it’s pie theme. There are a variety of sweet and savory pies at aid stations over a 6km trail run.

Sadly the results don’t include pies eaten so we can only guess at the answer to the above question.

Laura has added the following more detailed report but she doesn’t clarify who ate all the pies.

The PieAthlon is a 6km trail race, which promises 3 feed stations of pie en route (multiple variations of pie are available) and additional pie and peas at the finish. Surely, here was where my ultra training of 2024 would truly come into its own. Running from the Dusty Miller pub on the outskirts of Huddersfield and with a very reasonable 11am start time, it also provided the perfect opportunity to fit in a spot of Parkrun tourism before hand, thus ticking off my New Year’s Resolution of reaching my 50th venue with a couple of weeks to spare (as an aside, Huddersfield Parkrun is to be thoroughly recommended, it’s absolutely lovely – even if it does only get an honourable mention in Michael’s wonderful weekly tourist reports!).

We arrived at the pub to collect our numbers layered up against the chill of the day. I fell in love with a ridiculous Babycham mirror on the wall of the pub before being ushered across the road to our start point. The race organiser ran through a brief description of the route but assured us it was all signposted, save a section through the farm where the farm owner had decided signage on the public right of way through their land was some sort of blight and taken them down. The canicross runners set off first, leaving the rest of us to follow the woofs.

The first km or so was on the road with a gentle climb (the “Pie Way To Hell”) leading us to the first pie station! We both selected a miniature pork pie which we munched on as we clattered down a rocky path and the first bit of trail. So far, so good. Next up was a less gentle climb across a golf course – I took the opportunity to have a little walk and let pie #1 settle. Approaching the top of the hill I looked back and couldn’t see any other women on the way up, meaning I was in 2nd lady position! Despite it not really being a competitive kinda race, I was still keen to maintain this. We followed a ridge along a couple of fields before following a sign pointing us straight on into a field which had a path to the left, or one straight-ish-and-also-a-bit-right directly up an extra hill. I dithered, while Jim’s more roving legs dashed to check the easier route to the left, spotting a sign and getting us on track. Phew!

Anyway our confidence in the route was short lived as we soon came to another junction with no sign. Setting off down a public bridleway we could see the runners ahead of us at the bottom, but it looked like they’d come from further along the valley. Rather than plough on down the hill, we took a punt and retraced our steps before we got all the way down the hill, heading instead through a few houses and down a grassy bank covered in spiky plants, emerging in a housing estate. By this point we knew we must have gone wrong, but with no proper map or GPS we had to just trust in our sense of direction and wove round the streets before finding a public footpath and sighting a table covered in pie. Success!

Annoyingly the path we’d come down a bit of had been the right way, but it hadn’t been clear and we’d have risked missing a pie stop and cutting off a corner, so I think we did the right thing by choosing the longer route – this did mean we’d added on about 800m plus a couple of minutes of navigation time, and now had no idea if I was still in 2nd place! Apple pie was our choice this time which we enjoyed whilst traversing the “Bog of Doom”. Definitely a bog but not too much of a challenge to one hardy fell runner (Jim) and one slightly-less-intrepid woman with a gung ho attitude (me). A quick downhill down a quiet country lane brought us to the third and final pie stop of the route, where a mince pie was selected by us both – tis the season, after all. This was the entrance to the farm that we’d been warned wasn’t signposted, but we made it through with no drama this time, following our noses back in the direction of the pub that marked the finish line. A keen sense of the closest pub is a mark of a true beer professional. One last climb through some woodland and we were back on the road we’d started on, so a final blast to the end.

We finished in 6th and 7th place, and Laura had held on to 2nd lady – as it eventually transpired, most of the runners continued on up the hill we’d initially been confused about, adding on a lot more elevation and over a mile extra. No prizes for a podium place but we did get a very nice pie themed medal and pie, peas and a pint in the pub.

Overall, the race itself was a bit of a shambles but it was good fun, the marshals were lovely and the scenery was absolutely gorgeous – we really enjoyed having opportunity to run somewhere new. And there was, as advertised, pie.

43 runners and 4 dogs completed the Pieathlon (sadly I don’t think the dogs got any pie). The race was won by Richard Greenhough in 35.28 and Ciara Ellis in 35.31.

Striders results:
6 (2) Laura Rangeley 53.45
7 Jim Rangeley 53.46
28 Amy Pollitt 1.21.07

Full results

https://www.runable.co.uk/e/the-pieathlon-11241/results/31586#anchor