Steve Chilton's Blog: Goodreads Author's Blog, page 2

Some thoughts on a rising star

[This article is jointly authored by Steve Chilton and John Clarke. The text in italics is from John, and the remainder from Steve.]

Club members will be aware that Jorjia March has had some outstanding results recently. But how has this come about, how good is she, and how good could she become? I hope to answer that first question, give my thoughts on the second and gently speculate on the third.
Jorjia March inherited good genes, with parents Jamie and Kath both being accomplished athle...

Two articles added to CV page

My eight-page article from the Spring 2024 issue of the Fellrunner (entitled: Celebrating 70 years of the Three Peaks Race) has been added to the CV page on this blog – where it can be read in full [PDF link].

Similarly, an earlier five-page article from the Spring 2023 issue of the Fellrunner is also online now (entitled: In profile: Shaun Livesey) can be read in full [PDF link].

The full CV is available at: https://itsahill.wordpress.com/curriculum-vitae/ – which includes a link ...

Dalesman article on the first Three Peaks Race

Around the publishing of my book on the history of the Three Peaks Race I have been writing a few pieces for various magazines. The April 2024 edition of The Dalesman magazine carried a 5-page article entitled: Race to the top, about the background to the event and tells the story of the first race (in 1954). You can read the full article here by clicking on the three JPG images, one at a time:

The book is ‘The Three Peaks Race: the history and c...

The Three Peaks Race – some stories behind the stats #4

Story #1 – the club with the most awards for finishing 21/15 times. Story #2 – the house with most wins. Story #3 – the families that have two generations of winners at the race. This story (#4) is about the growth of the race from its small beginnings.

The first Three Peaks Race (in 1954) had 6 finishers in, which increased to 16 the next year. The graph below illustrates the gradual increase in numbers starting (and finishing) the race over the years. There is a steady increase in numbers f...

The Three Peaks Race – some stories behind the stats #3

Story #1 – the club with the most awards for finishing 21/15 times. Story #2 – the house with most wins. This third ‘story behind the stats’ is about the families that have two generations of winners at the race.

During the research period for the book on the history of the Three Peaks Race I had many fascinating chats with people involved with the Three Peaks Race. One of THE best was an afternoon spent at Harry Walker’s house talking with him and his son David, along with clubmate John Calv...

The Three Peaks Race – some stories behind the stats #2

Story #1 was about the club with the most awards for finishing 21/15 times at the Three Peaks Race. This second ‘story behind the stats’ is about the household that can lay claim to the most number of wins at the race.

Whilst researching my book on the history of the Three Peaks Race I was invited to visit two elite athletes living in a quiet corner of Haworth to hear about their backgrounds, and their stories about competing in the iconic Yorkshire race. Pulling in to park, I was welcomed in...

The Three Peaks Race – some stories behind the stats #1

Having done a couple of book talks that were essentially about publicising ‘Voices from the Hills: pioneer women fell and mountain runners’, at the Bowness Book Club and the Armitt Museum (https://itsahill.wordpress.com/2024/02/13/three-book-chats-events-coming-up-in-march-and-april/) I am moving on to publicise my book on the history of the Three Peaks Race, due out in mid-April. I will be posting a series of blogs that tell the stories behind some of the stats that I have unearthed in my resea...

Three book chats/events coming up in March and April

In March and April I have got three different events where I will be talking about my various books and/or where folk will be able to buy the latest one, and the earlier ones too.

Firstly, I will be the guest speaker at the Bowness Book Club on Thursday March 7, at 10.30 am at the Burn How Garden House Hotel. I will be talking about my life as a published author, with a few anecdotes about things that went well and that didn’t necessarily do so, and discuss some of the issues women runners...

Blog 2023: most visited pages and most downloaded content

It is time to review the blog after another year. I did fewer blog posts over the year, as the blog seems to be becoming less used by me (and others). Two stats: referrals came from Facebook at a 5:1 ratio over Twitter/X. For Twitter I have one account, whereas I can post notifications in a number of FB Groups. Visitors came from 70 different countries, with USA and Germany being distant second and third places behind the UK, and Ireland fourth.

MOST VISITED PAGES

The third most visited pa...

Bob Graham Round data for 2023

The figures for Bob Graham Round (BGR) registrations, completions, male/female split, direction of travel, etc. for 2023, have been released on the BGR website. It always make interesting reading, and I have commented on it previously. [eg https://itsahill.wordpress.com/2020/01/08/bgr-completions-2019-update/]

I have updated my spreadsheet, and the graphs of several aspects of the data, which are illustrated below with a couple of comments on each.

This first graph shows the data just ...