Cumbria Crack is building up a keen and capable group of photographers who are providing pictures from a variety of sports around the county – and beyond.
One of them is Elwyn Evans and this morning he spent a couple of hours with Cumbria Cycling Club Team X111 at Kirkland Leaps above Ennerdale.
They were marshalling the Fred Whitton Challenge when over 2,000 cyclists from across the country participated in a 112-mile event, covering the Lakeland Passes which is a daunting and gruelling test to say the least.
The morning started off well, dry and cool but disappointingly as the event and time progressed, the weather changed and made the ride more of an endurance challenge with torrential rain starting just before the climb up Cold Fell.
The Fred Whitton Challenge has been raising money for charity since it began in 1999, but who is Fred Whitton – and why is it named after him?
Until his untimely death in 1998 at the age of 50, Fred was an extremely popular member of the Lakes Road Club. Not only was Fred the main instigator behind all the clubs’ activities, but he was also always there on the club runs and training weekends.
Living near to all the big Lake District steep climbs Fred would have known them all, so the year following his death it was decided to cycle the route in his honour and use it as an opportunity to raise a bit of money for charity… 20 years later that ‘bit’ for charity is now reaching the £2,000,000 mark!
Here are a sample of Elwyn’s pictures from the Challenge taken from Kirkland Leaps, Ennerdale Bridge and Cold Fell.
He said afterwards: ”It was a great couple of hours and well done all the riders, volunteers and support teams. Certainly was hard work in difficult conditions.”
