The finish line at The Old Nags Head in Edale
When: 10th September 2016
Where: Hope Valley, Derbyshire
£: Entry costs £80 per team
What is it?
The Great Kinder Beer Barrel Challenge is a unique fell running event which takes place on 10th September in the Peak District.
The challenge sees teams of up to eight people, compete to be the quickest to carry a beer barrel from the Snake Pass Inn in Hope Valley, to The Old Nags Head in Edale village.
The Great Kinder Beer Barrel Challenge began in 1998, with a bet between a shepherd and the local pub landlord. The pub had run out of the shepherd’s favourite beer, so the landlord challenged him to fetch a barrel from the pub situated over the other side of Kinder Scout. The shepherd is said to have rounded up twelve people to help him win the bet, and the contents of the barrel.
This bet turned into one of the area’s toughest and craziest challenges, with teams hauling full seventy-two pint beer barrels up and across the high moorland in the Peak District National Park. Kinder Scout, the scene of the mass trespass in 1932, helps to create one of the most gruelling fell running events of the year. The winners are rewarded with a barrel of beer and all the competitors get a bottle of ale for taking part.
The barrels used in the challenge are actually filled with water, not beer, and the barrel and carrying apparatus can weigh more than 120lbs. At least two team members have to be touching the barrel at all times (so no one can cheat by rolling the barrel down the hill). The highest point of the challenge is 636m or 2087ft, so competitors need to be pretty fit.
This year, The Old Nags Head will be hosting a family fun day with a BBQ, live music, and stalls. Locals and visitors are encouraged to go along and cheer on the challenge teams.
Kinder Scout is a moorland plateau, located in the Derbyshire Peak District. The area is popular with walkers, and several aircraft wrecks can be found on the plateau.
More info: www.kinderbeerbarrel.org.uk and www.the-old-nags-head.co.uk