This coming weekend if you happen to be in Ventnor, you might be wondering why so many people seem to be in rush.
Those in the know, will realise that the runners are taking part in the Annual Ventnor Fell Run.
The idea for a fell run was conceived many years ago through initial discussions between Ventnor resident Louis Lawrence and estate agent, Mark Rhodes.
The idea arose when trying to come up with a special event that could put Ventnor on the map, whilst making use of the special characteristics of the town. Apparently, well before our time and Louis’, there used to be a fun run up to the top of Ventnor which featured a giant banana!
This led Louis to contact the late Ed Leal of Ryde Harriers and they started tracing out a possible race route through Ventnor.
The late Brenda Lawson was then responsible for organising, what has since become, an annual event in the Fell Racing calendar with runners from all over Britain taking part.
They might not be as fast as Jesse Owens in the 1936 Berlin Olympics pictured here, but their track is pretty gruelling. Anyone who knows Ventnor can imagine that running through town might be hard enough, but these runners have to battle running up to the Radar Station (775 ft), as well as conquering the ‘Ventnor Horseshoe’ (1500 ft) and the Wroxall Round ( 1500ft).
If you’re planning to drive through town, please be patient if you’re asked to stop for a moment or two as a group of sweaty runners thunder past.
To read more about the Ventnor Fell run, why not pick up a copy of ‘The Town of a Thousand Steps’ by Louis Lawrence? It’s a great little book with lots of interesting facts about Ventnor and can be purchased from ‘Seasons’ in the High Street.
We’ll be reviewing Louis’ second book in the series, Ventnor: A Town of a Thousand Curiosities in the near future.
Image: Public Domain: Ping News
