"Two local GPs, Dr Myrfin Jones and Dr Rob Haworth, first came up with idea for the Three Peaks Race. One of them pointed out one day that the three highest peaks in Wales, England and Scotland (Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis) are all fairly adjacent to the sea, and it would be great to go from one to the other by boat - and climb them all! The other added that this would make a great race. And so the first one was held in 1977.
Seven boats took part in the first race, with Dr Rob Haworth himself in one of the teams. There were a few teething problems, and not all the boats reached the end, but it was a success. The first ever winner was John Chawner, a surgeon from Bangor. Medical people were always quite keen to get out to sea, because in those days you couldn't be contacted by telephone out on the waves.
The race always starts on the closest neap tide to Midsummer's Day. The race starts at Barmouth. The yachts then sail round to Caernarfon, where the competitors run over to Snowdon, climb it, and get back to the boat as quickly as they can. There's a maximum of five on each boat. If the wind isn't right, they might end up rowing part of the journey
There are two kinds of runners who take part in the Three Peaks Race - fell runners, who like running up mountains, and road runners, who like running on roads. Not many runners like doing both!
Competitors used to arrive about a week before a race to fiddle around with their boats, to get the seats right for rowing. These days they arrive later, because it can take quite a long time to get your boat up from its usual mooring, compete in the race and sail it back to its berth.
The record for the fastest race is about two days and three hours - but that's extremely fast. One competitor started with everyone else on the Saturday, but had to give up by the following Saturday because he had to attend his daughter's wedding!"
your comments
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Gareth, llanmartin
I did the three peaks on my own, it took, with driving, 36hrs 26mins, but u did it the right way, seeing them in the light, mine was personal, but this year the mountain in the dark. scarfell pike was the grimmess even in the light, horrible mountain, horrible in fact. U wanna climb after the three peaks, try hellvelyn in the lake district, its fab
Mon Jul 28 10:18:25 2008
Colin Ricketts, Topsham
Each section of the race is not too hard, it's just when they are stacked up into the same event it becomes a problem! The last two years there has been roughly 18 to 20 hours between finishing the run on Snowdon to getting started on the Scafell leg, when the legs haven't even started to recover! It's good fun though, the organisation is really good as well.
Fri Nov 28 09:49:57 2003
Tell us your tales from the race.
