Bolton Abbey Solstice Saunter | 5 Mile Multi Terrain race | Sue Ryder

The Solstice Saunter 2024 is a five mile run on the trails of the breathtaking Bolton Abbey, organised by the Airedale Dodgers as a fundraising event for Sue Ryder.

The event is timed for the evening of the Summer Solstice, which because 2024 is a leap year, will be on Thursday 20th June 2024.

The Solstice Saunter is a circular route of five miles that starts from the Cavendish Pavilion car park and runs a clockwise loop up through the Strid Wood to Barden Bridge, then back along the river bank to the finish line at Cavendish Pavilion.

[Music] all you like Ted Le he please 398 I’ve got some thank you it’s not oh I see yeah hello good evening um right where are we we are at Bolton Abbey um and it’s Thursday the 20th of June which is the summer solstice and so I’m here for the solce sauna um it’s a su Rider event absolutely brilliant run is this um love it uh last couple of years unfortunately I’ve not been able to make it cuz I’ve been away with work but this year thankfully I got got back last night so I was able to make it today so I’m really looking forward to this one so if you didn’t know solsis uh is means that the sun has got as high as it’s going to do in the sky so unfortunately that means that this is the longest day and things are going to start getting shorter as we head towards winter which is really depressing cuz I don’t think we’ve had a summer yet so yeah that’s an interesting fact and another one for you is normally um the solver solce will fall on the 21st of the month but this year it’s a 20 the month due to the leap year and then over the next four years it’ll it’ll obviously Reign so there you go two interesting facts about the uh summer solsis I’ve got another little fact for you as well so even though the sun is at its highest point today actually I think it’s about just before 6:00 this evening is the uh is the actual time um the reality is is that it’s not the hottest day and the reason being is that during uh the the remainder of June July and August um the sun heats the Earth and then the two combined is what makes it that bit warmer so there you go we’re not at the uh warmest point of the year yet despite the sun being at the highest point run starts on this track on the way into where the uh I can’t remember what this is the uh where the coffee bit is anyway um and it actually so we set off down this road we head down there um in front of the coffee place and then out in the strid woods um I’m don’t know if you’ve ever heard of the strid before if you have you’ll know exactly what it is if you haven’t it is one of the most dangerous bits of river in the UK um and the reason being is is you’ll have seen just from some of my other footage there the river is quite wide with a lot of water flowing down it and just at the top of the woods there’s a section where it it it looks like you can jump across it and you probably could um although you mustn’t ever a try because it’s effectively the river that’s turned itself sideways uh cut through the stone so it’s really really deep and there’s some immense undercurrents um often there’s been numerous people that have tried to jump the St fallen in and that’s the less I’ve ever seen of them in fact I don’t know whe it’s right it might be old’s wife’s tail but anybody that’s ever fallen in there has never made it out alive so there you go don’t be jumping in and I certainly don’t want to be fallen in this evening c d Pavilion that’s the word I was looking for not Cafe although this is the cafe and the cafe is Pavilion so this is where you head out out up through these Woods here and you can see across the other side of the river is where they’re setting up the uh Finish Line I’m just going back to the river um and and what was saying about the strid this is how big it is quite a lot of water flow and you imagine that on its side going cutting its way through the stone it uh it must be quite uh a current underneath the water as it’s a summer’s evening um there’s uh Midsummer like I said there’s uh there’s some Savage absolutely horrendous I think they’re from the uh the tropical rainforest or something the midges around here um they’re just brutal so I am fully equipped I have absolutely lathered myself in some jungle uh jungle mid stuff whatever this stuff is here right we’ve got literally just 30 minutes ago before the start like I said they gather right over the other side so um bit of a work to get over there and then there’s a run brief which probably 5 minutes or so so but for get a little run in now probably a mile we’ll see um I’m not really not really feeling it at the minute but uh anyway we’ll see just get get the legs warmed up get the body warmed up and then uh we’ll head over towards the start line um and get ready for the uh for the main event so yeah it’s uh along along this main path to start and you divert off up to the edges where it gets quite hilly um and then back down onto the path you run all the way up to baren bridge um which is a little road bridge over there back down the other side of the river um you do at one point climb up onto a little road um and follow that for a while as well so I can’t remember what distance it is I think it’s about I don’t know five or six 5 miles is it 5 miles 5 miles away I love a look um I think last time I did it in 2021 I did it in 33 minutes and something whether it was near a 34 I’m not sure so it’ll be interesting to see how I perform tonight I do still have it’s Thursday and I do still have last weekend’s um kettlewell half marathon brutal event in my legs um I’ve not done too much this week done about um I think I did about a six uh 10K on Monday and then 5K the other days maybe a bit more so yeah but this is lovely right that is half a mile out so I’ll go back half a mile there we go one P Runners this and slow runners welcome thank you for supporting s ride the course is 5 miles exactly 8 kilm um the N section on B bridge is the only bit that’s on the road we have two Marshals there please listen to them stay behind till we get 3 2 1 go have a great race guys 3 two 1 go [Applause] one m in 548 third place we’re running right behind me that’s top of the climbing oh switch back and another oh oh 2.24 miles almost be nearly getting towards the turnaround well done right away you go thank you thank you sh right thank you that was emergency think I need an emergency on the path three miles thank you way which way my left I’m done you hold on hey wel buddy how you doing all right yeah good that were a good effort were you running last night yeah thought you were it was a mistake to do this as well w [Music] got jery would be really impressed bit of running fuel there oh what time did I get so I got 3121 so of course PB hbe you didn’t do that climb up on the road don’t know how that made any difference or not it was still tough and that last bit just goes on and on tomorrow oh look at the FES can you see them they’re still trying to get me even with that Jungle Juice stuff on ah I’m just recovering now I’ve had a glass of water and feeling a bit more normal again now just so walk back to the car so I can’t stop tonight and cheer people across the line I need to uh need to get back with me busy busy week um this run the medals are always fantastic so they’re always a a stained glass well I suppose it’s plastic but stained glass metal um and when you get it in the sunlight which it’s not really uh it’s not working is it but when you got the sun behind it it shines through and they look really good so yeah cracking medal brilliant run Great Cars um and a fantastic turnout I’m going to tell you I think there was around was an in tree of 800 I think may be 800 might be more might be th000 I’ll put it up here and up there how many entrance I was um and it sells out super quick so you’ve got to be quick in getting a place for this one uh like I say it’s a it’s always a sellout event and always sells out quite quick so if you’re fancy having to go at this one it’s one I would definitely recommend I recommend all of them I love running um it’s good for all abilities is this so it’s five five miles or that we just over I don’t know but there are there box 5 miles and they are happy for you to put an effort in and do 31 minutes or plot along at the back and do 3 hours the duck here um just turn up support Su Rider and uh have a great time right that’s me done I’m nearly back at the car jump in the car got to make my way back unfortunately I normally go up a bit of road that takes me probably 20 minutes to get home from here only at the minute well it’s been close since February so I’ve got to go a long way around which will take me considerably more but I’ll get back and have me tea and have a shower um and that’ll be me done so keep running I’ll see you on the next one see you