Sole mates

The novelty of a neighbourly running group prompted another feature for The Dalesman:

At this time of year many of us look to the coming months with thoughts of a fresh start. Sadly, as many of us know, the best intentions about improving mind and body start in a pub on New Year’s Eve and do not get beyond the end of January. The slimmers, non-smokers and gym bunnies often fall by the wayside, their resolutions crumbling like icing on left-over Christmas cake.

However, one group of determined Dales folk came up with a bright idea which gathered pace and is still going strong. They were looking for mutual support in their pursuit of good health and started a community running group. And what they lacked in fitness they more than made up for in modesty, calling themselves The Cowgill Shufflers.

As the name suggests, the Shufflers, are more sedate than the pace-setters who gobble up the miles with one eye on a fitness app and another on a protein shake. These Sunday morning plodders are more of the ‘use it or lose it’ variety who are quite happy to notch up no more than 30 minutes of vigour up and down Dentdale in good company.

Some Shufflers would even argue that health and fitness is not the group’s primary function, putting the social aspect of neighbour meeting neighbour regularly as its mainstay. The occasional post-shuffle bacon butty en-masse in a member’s garden, while raising funds for the Air Ambulance, adds credence to this theory.

“It’s another way to keep the community connected,” said teacher Honor Coombs, a keen tri-athlete who was one of the locals who first inspired the ‘get fit’ resolution on New Year Eve 2019 in The Sportsman’s Inn, or the ‘cow dub’ as it is known in these parts of the former West Riding. Honor and husband, Colin, are the ‘organisational force’ behind the group and are always on hand on Sunday morning to advise, cajole and generally get things going.

“I enjoy going along to run on a Sunday morning, chatting to neighbours, and meeting new people who have moved into the dale,” she added.

Since that night when the idea was first mooted the Shufflers have been turning out in all weathers to pound the lanes and footpaths of Dentdale with the only excursions beyond the scenic valley being Yorkshire Day when they gather on the fellside to ‘shuffle’ to the old County Stone, marking the boundary where the old West Riding met Lancashire and Westmorland.

Those early days of community ‘shuffling’ almost came to a grinding halt when Covid restrictions put a stop to all sorts of organised sports (although the Shufflers shun the idea of becoming a formal club). With a bit of organisation, including printed maps, they turned their ‘shuffles’ into orienteering courses, running as small or family groups while following clues which took them from point to point. Each group set off at intervals to collect answers to questions on the course while maintaining spacing to adhere to the Covid rules. The children loved the ‘hide and seek’ challenge to it.

         With the emphasis on being open to beginners, the Shufflers welcome all abilities and split into differing groups to cater for all-comers. Some residents are happy to maintain a walk-run routine while others set targets: the original ‘couch to three mile’ goal being successfully met in their early days with the proud achievers serenaded at the finish line high on the fell by the dale’s resident bagpiper. Some shufflers were happy to stay at that three-mile limit while others pushed their boundaries further to complete eight miles of the annual Dent Run, a regular event of the North West club-running calendar.

         Other shuffles are organised with children in mind; the Easter egg hunt being a popular one as the children of the Dale ran through fields and splashed across streams to a well-deserved treat at the finish line. Occasionally, some of the smaller youngsters accompany their parents on bikes while the more ambitious ones keep up with Mam and Dad.

         With an eye on the social side, the shufflers leap at the chance to be informal. Thus, Christmas jumpers and running tops decorated with tinsel are de rigeur when the season demands while the height of summer saw a dozen or so perspiring Shufflers taking a post-shuffle dip in one of the many pools of the River Dee which winds through the dale.

Honor added: “Some people in the group are quite fit already, being farmers, active runners and the like, but others have more sedentary lifestyles. We all appreciate that a bit of sociable exercise on a Sunday morning feels good and helps us to improve our general fitness.”

New Year resolutionists take note – why not chat to your neighbour for some mutual support? Meanwhile, if you are ever out and about in lovely Dentdale on a Sunday morning, drive carefully, and give those shufflers a wave.