The Trigger, Marsden to Edale 2020
“You’re not a proper fell runner until you do the Trigger.” J.H. Who else?! Twice I’ve spectated the “Trigger” – a race from Marsden to Edale, along parts of the Pennine Way, run in January each year. Advertised at 21 miles, but this year closer to 25, it crosses rough, boggy moorland, with runners picking their own route between checkpoints – visiting the trigs on Black Hill, Bleaklow and Kinder Scout. Conditions are notoriously cruel. In 2017 over 30 runners dropped out with early signs of hypothermia. Frozen, windswept, and soaked to the skin, I have admired the folk running it, but also questioned their sanity. Last year I was unashamedly outspoken about what utter madness it is – that I would never conceive of running that far, and certainly not in January. So what on earth made me want to enter this year’s Trigger? I don’t really know, to be honest. When in November the idea popped into my head, and lodged itself there inexplicably, I was as surprised as anyone. My lo