Yorkshire Gold

“There must be something in the water, that and the Yorkshire pride”

- Mick Hill, Jessica Ennis's javelin coach -

Our fancy was tickled this week - along with many other people’s, judging by the tongue-in-cheek chatter online - by a comment made by Yorkshire Radio reporter Jonathan Buchan, ahead of heptathlete Jessica Ennis’s Olympic victory on Saturday.

Jonathan said on Twitter that if Yorkshire were a country it would currently be 11th in the medal table.

This was all down to the number of Olympic competitors from Team GB who actually hail from our region.

This fun stat – at that time Yorkshire athletes had achieved four golds, two silvers and three bronzes - placed us above the likes of Australia on the virtual chart!

Medallists include rower Andrew Triggs-Hodge, raised in Hebden right here in the National Park, and Alistair and Jonny Brownlee, triathlon champ and bronze medallist respectively, from Leeds.

Bradford-based climber John Dunne
at Malham Cove



In The Guardian newspaper, the Brownlee brothers credited the natural training ground of the Yorkshire Dales as one of the reasons for their burgeoning success, and raved about their outdoor gym on Chris Evan’s BBC Radio 2 breakfast show. We hope to see them running on the fells again soon. 

We had a great live chat with local legend, climber John Dunne on Twitter last Friday as part of National Parks Week 2012. John has been our sporting ambassador for this year’s celebration of Britain’s beautiful winning landscapes and was there to answer all your questions. 

He told us his most thrilling climb was being the first to free-scale Malham Cove – ‘pretty special’. And his most useful bit of kit? Well, a flask of Yorkshire tea was right up there along with good rock shoes!

And we’ve a few ‘champions’ amongst our very own team. Cathy Bradley – Access Technician and fell runner – blogged earlier this month about how training here exhilarates and inspires her, while Recreation and Tourism Manager Mark Allum described how he prepared for a recent cycling trip to the Pyrenees in his beloved Dales hills. Click on the links on the right to read their experiences.

National Parks were created for the fantastic health and recreational opportunities they offer so it’s no wonder they are being used to such success as a green gym.

With summer finally arrived, now is the time to take in a few gulps of Yorkshire’s award-winning, champion-building air. We’ve got loads of ideas for getting active whether hiking, horseriding, climbing or caving is your thing.

The glorious 52 mile Yorkshire Dales National Park section of the Pennine Bridleway - the first National Trail designed specifically for cyclists, horseriders and walkers - opened this summer so be among the first to try it out. And for a breather you could take in the ‘Sporting Spirit’ exhibition at the Dales Countryside Museum in Hawes - which we’re excited to learn features the Olympic torch carried at Aysgarth Falls. It runs until 4 September.

The gold post box honouring Andy Triggs-Hodge's
Olympic win in his place of birth, Hebden in Wharfedale

In the meantime look out for this freshly painted golden post box in the lovely village of Hebden in Wharfedale when you are next out and about. This is where Men's Coxless Four Rowing gold medal winner Andrew Triggs-Hodge grew up. Well done, Andy, you did us all proud!

A good spot for sport

While many people throughout the world are excitedly awaiting London 2012, at the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority we’re excitedly awaiting National Parks Week.

Kicking off on 30 July – only three days after the Olympic Games’ opening ceremony – National Parks Week will run to 5 August and is a time for the nation to celebrate and enjoy the best of British countryside.

Team GB, in this case, is made up of the 15 national parks across England, Scotland and Wales, and each will run a series of special events and activities throughout the week so that people can experience the uniqueness of these protected areas.

In 2012 we will be holding up a torch to national parks as Britain’s ‘winning landscapes’, exploring their long connection with recreational pursuits and competitive spirit. Our beautiful winning landscapes have inspired mountaineers, sailors, cyclists, runners and Olympic athletes to aim higher and train harder – sometimes to record-breaking effect.

A quick count in and around the Yorkshire Dales uncovers upwards of 35 high-performing sports people – retired, active or stars of the future – who have a connection with the area.  From horse riders to wind surfers, footballers to skiers, many undoubtedly have taken to the hills, roads and water of the National Park to improve their fitness and hone their skills.

Known as ‘green gyms’, national parks provide considerably more interest than the four walls of your local fitness centre or professional training facilities. Both may improve physical fitness, but research shows that exercising in the natural environment could also improve mental fitness. Those that choose the outdoors may experience greater feelings of revitalisation, increased energy and positive engagement, together with decreases in tension, confusion, anger and depression. With winning being as much about mental attitude as physical ability, it is little wonder so many sports people are training outdoors in national parks. 



Maurice Collett on relay day (20 June 2012)

Exercising outdoors is not a modern trend. For generations the competitive spirit in the Yorkshire Dales has come to the fore at the many annual shows, festivals, sports and events. This year’s summer exhibition at Dales Countryside Museum in Hawes explores the subject further and will be looking at the people and communities who have used the rugged outdoors to challenge and inspire themselves.

Also on display at the ‘Sporting Spirit’ exhibition, which runs from July 7 to September 4, is the Olympic Torch that carried the flame through Aysgarth and down to the iconic falls. It was kindly lent to us by Maurice Collett, the 89-year-old Kendal man who carried it in the Yorkshire Dales National Park stage of the torch relay.

You may also wish to join us on Twitter.com/yorkshire_dales during National Parks Week where we will be hosting a live chat with climber extraordinaire John Dunne, who learnt his craft and blazed new trails up many of the limestone and gritstone rock faces of the Dales. Thursday 2 August 2pm to 4pm, mark your posts #yorkshiredales

More information, including a list of National Parks Week events, can be found at www.yorkshiredales.org.uk/winning

Read articles like this in our monthly ‘National Park Notes’ column in the Darlington and Stockton Times.