OVER THE EDGE
One of the most notable achievements of this club has been the running of the ‘Over The Edge’ charity ride which, organised jointly with the British Heart Foundation and Rochdale MBC, became an annual event and one of the BHF’s largest events in the North of England. With it’s three routes – gold, silver and bronze, there’s a ride to suit everyone.
The open charity event has been currently suspended whilst the BHF have moved onto larger and more wildly appealing events, mostly elsewhere. However, in its last year of running (2014) and despite dreadful weather conditions, we still managed to raise more than £6,000 making a grand total, since we started, of £180,000.
The event was based at Hollingworth Lake Visitor Centre and all three versions took the riders straight up Blackstone Edge for a view back down to the start point, over Rochdale and over Manchester.
The Bronze Route turned left after the summit, to freewheel down Cragg Vale to Mytholmroyd. then it was a flat valley road to a feed-station on the edge of Hebden Bridge. After re-fuelling, the riders would continue along the valley road to Todmorden, turn left bound for Summit, then Littleborough, under the railway bridge for the final gentle climb back up to The Lake.
The Silver Route started as the Bronze, but continued “Over The Edge” to the quiet lanes above Ripponden and Sowerby. A landslide closed the original route necessitating a detour up the appropriately named Steep Lane to rejoin the Bronze Route halfway down Cragg Vale.
The Gold Route follows the Silver Route as far as Hebden Bridge where a further loop takes the riders up past Heptonstall onto The Long Causeway to the windfarm and on towards Burnley. It joins the main road at Cliviger to return to Todmorden. For a while, we even ran a Gold Variation (the Platinum Option) to return via Mytholmroyd and to climb Cragg Vale back up to the top of Blackstone Edge!
