Groovy Kinder Love

                 

Groovy & Baby Kinder Love

An ALI have added the option of running a shorter version of the Groovy Kinder Love with a totally uninspired name "Groovy Baby Love". Both races start together and follow the main race route to Jacob's Ladder Top CP 4 (the baby bypasses the down-and-up to Jacob's Ladder Bottom CP 5) and splits again at Broad Clough ford CP 7. The "baby" crosses the ford and goes over the stile while the main race turns right to follow the fence-line/Broad Clough for 30(ish) metres before going through a gate to climb back up to the three knolls path. The baby continues around to briefly meet the main route again at Benny's bridge/bottom of Sandy Heys CP 10, where the baby turns left to climb up to the Shooting Cabin CP 12, while the main race climbs up William Clough. Both routes then meet again for the final descent from the Shooting Cabin CP 12 to the finish. There are instructions in the attached "Baby" PDF and and some route notes at the bottom of this page.

2024 was the first year running the two options, it worked OK(ish). The idea of the "baby" was that it was meant to be an easier alternative to the main race, but in retrospect there was not enough of a difference between the two options. The "baby" is still a hard race and anybody who could do it would also be capable of doing the longer one, so in effect they were in competition with each other.

There are changes from 2025. South Head CP has has been removed for both races to remove confusion with trying to get some people to bypass it while sending the Groovy over the top. The main change will be removing the Jacob’s Ladder CP for the baby. That removes 2Km/170m climb.

The stats for each race will then be:

Groovy (AL) 24.5 Km 1290m 

Baby    (BM) 15.5 km    650m 

There is just a single entry for both races (so you just enter the Groovy Kinder Love). You can decide at race number allocation which route you want to run. The race limit of 200 then covers both races so there will not be 400 running. 

Google Drive link to a PDF and PNG of the full race map.

The introduction of the second race  has necessitated  moving the  Broad Clough and Sandy Heys Bottom CPs.

The Broad Clough CP has been moved back down to the Broad Clough Ford as that is where the races split and the marshal can ensure runners go the correct way.

The "Bottom of Sandy Heys CP  will be by Benny's Bridge as the baby will be coming around the side of the hill to briefly meet at that CP before spliting again. 

Groovy Kinder Love race map PDF file

Groovy Baby Love PDF file

GPX should be available here. PlotaRoute GPX

You can watch a YouTube video showing a little dot doing the entire course in about two minutes here.
It makes it look very long😅
Interactive 3D video: Groovy Kinder Love recce

Sat 6th Sep 2025 – Groovy Kinder Love (R) (24.5 Km, 1280 m)

It will be the "2020" route as outline below

Click here for the 2021 Winners Strava Plot

This will make for an ideal first AL for anybody wanting to give this category a go as it is right down near the minimum acquirements for this category.

Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)

This area is a SSSI, which does limit where the race can go. Hence there are a lot of checkpoints, to stop people going "off-piste", which would endanger getting permissions for future events. The CPs are not set in stone but the route will be more of less what is shown below.

 This is the route details that have been agreed with the NT and have been submitted to Natural England

Route Detail

This is a fell race to there is little or no route marking. A number of people went badly wrong in 2024 becaue of heavy route marking for a trail race that also went through the area.

The two races split at three different locations. So be careful at these three locations that you do not blindly follow somebody on a different course.

1    CP4 Pennine Way Jnc./Top of Jacob's Ladder

2    CP7 Broad Clough

3    CP 10 Bottom of Sandy Heys/Benny's Bridge

Groovy Kinder Love Start Valley Road, Finish Scout Hut

Start to CP 1 (Christine's Gate)

CP 3 South Head has been retired so ignore that CP.

                                         

Remember CP 4 Pennine Way Jnc/Top of Jacob's Ladder is the first split.

Jacob's Ladder to Edale Rocks & Broad Clough.
The consensus seems to be that the longer way is actually faster.

Broad Clough to Kinder Downfall. CP 7 is the second split.
A number of people went wrong here in 2024 so be careful.

Kinder Downfall to William Clough Climb

CP10 (Sandy Heys) has been moved back down to Benny's Bridge
as the baby will be coming around the side of Sandy Heys.

William Clough, Mill Hill, Leygatehead Moor

Shooting Cabin, Snake Path

Snake Path to Groovy Kinder Love finish by Scout Hut

Groovy Kinder Love - SSSI Notification

                          Route Notes
Note 1 Mount Famine to Pennine Bridleway

Take particular note of the three CPs where the races split.

The race is pretty straightforward until you descend off Mount Famine onto the Pennine Bridleway below South Head. The route has now changed in that CP3 (South Head) has been retired so you just continue along the bridleway for another 300m until you see the green footpath sign where you branch left to head over to Brown Knoll. If you start to descend steeply on the Pennine Bridleway you have gone too far!  Likewise after leaving the bridleway your start to bear left and descent then you have also gone wrong.

Leave the Pennine Bridleway

Note 2 Pennine Bridleway to CP4

You now have a long flat section to CP4 (Pennine Way Junction)  This is the first location where the routes split. The Baby (Short Course) just continues straight up to Edale Rocks; while the Groovy (Long Course) turns right to descend to Jacob's Ladder. Hopefully the marshall will have one of these signs stuck in the ground to remind you which way to go.

Note 3 Groovy Only - Jacobs Ladder
The Groovy decends to this cairn at the top of Jacobs Ladder where you turn right to descend the Mountain Bike track. The bike track is very rough with a lot of loose stones so be careful on that descent. Once you exit the gate at the bottom of the bike track turn left to reascend Jacob's Ladder. You do not need to visit CP4 a second time - you can bear right to follow the Pennine Way up towards Edale Rocks.

Jacob's Ladder Cairn

Note 4 Edale Rocks

Follow the stone path up to the rocks and look out for the trod breaking to the left just before reachng them. The CP is below the rocks on the left hand side in the picture.

Edale Rocks

Note 5 Kinder Steps

Leave the CP and continue to follow the trod to the Kinder Low End Flag Stones. 

It is your choice now: 

1    follow the easier/longer way along the flags to Kinder Low End steps below or

2    leave the flag stones early to cut a straight line over rough ground to Broad Clough                                            

Kinder Steps

Note 6 Broad Clough

Once again the race splits at CP7 (Broad Clough). Both races cross the ford; the baby then goes through the style and climbs up through the field. The groovy follows the fence line/Broad Clough to the right for 30ish metres before going through a gate and then climbing the Cluther Rocks track up to CP8 (Red Brook). 

Baby (yellow) over style. Groovy (green) through gate.

Note 7 Red Brook 

After the CP just follow the Pennine Way to Kinder Downfall and onto CP 9 (Sandy Heys). Then the steep descent to CP 10 (Benny's Bridge).

Note 8 River Kinder

Groovy Baby Love only - instructions for getting from river Kinder to Sandy Heys

After leaving CP 7 climb up though the field and pass through the gate at the top and turn left. Follow the track and then a trod around the moor to drop down to the kinder bridge below.

River Kinder Bridge (Baby Only)

Cross the River Kinder bridge and follow the path to the left.

Climb to the wall corner and then follow the fence line towards the reservoir and onto CP10 (Benny's Bridge). N.B this is different to the 2024 version. There is now no need to go to Hollin Head.

Note 9 Benny's Bridge 

At CP10 the two races both go over the bridge. The baby (yellow) then climbs steeply to the left up to the wall corner and onto CP12 (Shooting Cabin) The groovy (green) turns right to follow William Clough back up to the Pennine Way. Turn left and follow the Pennine Way to Mill Hill.

CP10 Benny's Bridge (Groovy: green; Baby: yellow)

Note 10 Mill Hill Groovy Only

Be careful here as from the summit cairn the red trod is actually the more visible one. But do not take it as it just disappears after a couple of hundred metres. You actually turn slighly back on yourself to follow the yellow trod that brings you all the way to the shooting butts.

Once at the butts/stream-bed follow that downhill until the path become more established/you can see the white cabins off to you left.  

Mill Hill

Note 11 Shooting Cabin 

From the cabins (groovy: green) just continue to follow the path to CP12 (Shooting Cabins) by the green sign below.  The baby (yellow) will be arriving at the same CP from the left. 

CP12 Shooting Cabin (Groovy: green; Baby: yellow)

Note 12 Final Descent

From the CP follow the path to Hayfield (not Glossop). There will be about five gates to go through before hitting the road in Hayfield.

The route to the finish is detailed in another page.

CP 12 Footpath sign by the Shooting Cabin

Groovy Kinder Love Results

Kinder Provisional Results	Baby Provisional Results
2025 Results	2025 Race Report
2024 Results	2024 Race Report
2023 Results	2023 Race Report
2022 Results	2022 Race Report
2021 Results	2021 Race Report

Race Report 2025

That is No. five finished and the highest number of runners to date with 133 pre-entry and 17EOD, but 24 "no-shows" brought the start list down to 50 Baby and 76 Kinder. I was amazed by how many no-shows there was and asked about it on the FRA Race Organizers Facebook group to be informed that twenty percent no-shows from online entries is typical. I was disappointed by only having 63 runners last year for the first attempt at hosting the two races. But after this one I am glad. I did not appreciate just how much time it would take to clearly identify who started each race.  It was only at number allocation that people stated which race they were running so that it had to be cross referenced against the online entry list and then the 17 EODs as well had to be included. Abbi and I were still deep into cross checking our start list to be informed that the Baby winner had arrived.  In 2024 the baby was won in 1:45 so I estimated that taking Jacob's Ladder out would knock 15ish minutes off that so maybe 1:30 winning time.  Josh Williams came home in 1:12 and nobody was there to meet him. The first aider came in to tell me the winner was here so we had to get Josh's time from him and quickly get the finish-tunnel manned. At least three clubs had the Baby on their club championship. Glossopdale obviously had some top runners out with taking five of the top six positions, with only Dark Peak's Laurence Piercy in third spoiling the Glossopdale party. My son Tim (3rd in the Kinder) is doing his sales job over in Sheffield and in 2024 got the Kinder winner Tom Perry over. Tom came over again but things did not work out for him but his car passenger Abbie Walker did the job coming home female winner and seventh overall.

The Marshall only barely got to the Shooting Cabin before Josh

So bar the mishap of Josh being too fast the baby went very well and I got a lot of very positive feed back about the course. So pretty sure the baby will continue to live.

Groovy Baby Love 2,1,3

Glossopdale party time

Groovy Baby Love Winner

I am going to have to rethink the computing. The baby finishers were coming in so fast I was flat out inputing the data. I was totally ignoring the WatsApp group so had no idea what was going on out on the course and there was a lot going on!  As it turned out I had an excelled group out there and it was only when things were finished that I could read though the entire conversation history. The volunteers were fantastic in the way they kept track of what was happening and took care of the runners who switched races and retired, which included going back down the course to find runners and walking them to safety.

First and First

Groovy Kinder Love 2,1,3

I have to say the phrase "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink," comes to mind. My race blog is full of route information and how the race numbering works so it is obvious from your number which race you are in. But still I had the winners of the two races racing each other to CP4 where they realized they were on different races. I had some runners take in South Head. Others went anti-clockwise around Edale Rocks despite the correct path being flagged and the marshall shouting at them. I believe someone fancied having a look at Park Hall before changing their mind (the blog does say their are five gates to go through descending the Snake Path).  I had others mess up the finish as they missed the path under the bypass. That is the same path they walked though in the morning going over to the start. There is a photo of it on the blog.

The Long Climb up from Jacob's Ladder.

Getting a well earned cool down at Benny's Bridge

I have mentioned in reports from earlier years that I have been dissapointed by the number of female entries. The creation of the baby was partly to address that. Last year the baby was almost evenly split between male and female. It was also very good this year with a M/F 31/23. I am especially pleased with having 22 women on the Groovy.

I have made a couple of donations to Kinder Mountain Rescue and the National Trust
Following a suggestion by one of the volunteers I also made a £100 donation to the Manchester Outdoor Education Trust that helps young people experience our great outdoors.

I paid a bit extra to Hayfield Scouts £70 and £100 to Hayfield Paris Council for the carpark.

Results2025

               
Groovy Kinder Love September 6 2025 Results Summary

Male Senior 1	Joe Mercer		2:12:14
Male Senior 2	Fraser MacDonald Oulds		2:24:57
Male Under 23	Tim Barry		2:31:00
Male V40	Duncan Steen		2:32:57
Male V50	Simon Pickard		2:46:15
Male V60	Paul Rowland		3:35:00
Male V70	Graham Barnes		4:02:00
Women Senior 1	Joanne Mosley (CR)		2:48:00
Women Senior 2	Rachel Steen		3:09:00
Women U23	Amy Whelan		3:12:00
Women V40	Lisa Davies		3:15:00
Women V50	Helen Elmore		3:16:17
Women V60	Carolyn Tregaskisl		3:54:36

Pos	Gen- der Pos.	Age Cat Pos.	Name	Club	Category	Time
1	1	1	Joe Mercer	Pennine Fell Runners	MSEN	2:12:00
2	2	2	Fraser Macdonald Oulds	Chrolton Runners	MSEN	2:24:00
3	3	1	Tim Barry	Pennine Fell Runners	MU23	2:31:00
4	4	3	Dom Leckie	Todmorden Harriers	MSEN	2:32:00
5	5	1	Duncan Steen	Pennine Fell Runners	M40	2:32:10
6	6	4	Ben Blosse	Todmorden Harriers	MSEN	2:45:00
7	7	1	Simon Pickard	Stockport Harriers & AC	M50	2:46:00
8	8	2	Steve Brown	Glossopdale Harriers	M40	2:48:00
9	1	1	Joanne Mosley	Pennine Fell Runners	WSEN	2:48:10
10	9	5	Robert Watson	Pennine Fell Runners	MSEN	2:49:00
11	10	3	Ross Litherland		M40	2:50:00
12	11	4	Gavin Peach	Goyt Valley Striders	M40	2:52:00
13	12	5	Andrew Sutton	Macclesfield Harriers & AC	M40	2:54:00
14	13	6	Benjamin Brown	Chorlton Runners	MSEN	2:57:00
15	14	7	Andy Brown	Glossopdale Harriers	MSEN	3:00:00
16	15	6	John Perry	Wharfedale Harriers	M40	3:00:03
17	16	2	Steve Lomas	Macclesfield Harriers & AC	M50	3:01:00
18	17	7	Alistair Palmer	Wargrave & Twyford Runners	M40	3:01:19
19	18	8	John Tullis	-Individual-	M40	3:03:00
20	19	8	Mathew Street	Pennine Fell Runners	MSEN	3:07:00
21	2	2	Rachel Steen	Totley AC	WSEN	3:09:00
22	20	9	Peter Hill	Hillsborough & Rivelin Running Club	M40	3:10:00
23	21	9	Sam Threadgill	Todmorden Harriers	MSEN	3:10:10
24	3	1	Amy Whelan	Buxton AC	WU23	3:12:00
25	22	10	Luke Jones	Kimberley & District Striders	M40	3:14:00
26	4	1	Lisa Davies		W40	3:15:00
27	23	10	Luke Donald	Chorlton Runners	MSEN	3:15:00
28	24	11	Sam Higgins	BelleVue Racers	MSEN	3:15:14
29	5	1	Helen Elmore	Dark Peak Fell Runners	W50	3:16:00
30	25	2	Hamish Douglas		MU23	3:20:00
31	26	3	David Whitfield	Bollington Harriers	M50	3:21:00
32	27	11	Ben Faulks	Todmorden Harriers	M40	3:21:21
33	6	3	Eleanor Barber	Unattached	WSEN	3:24:00
34	28	4	Ian Pudge	Fellponies	M50	3:24:25
35	29	12	Richard Dixson	Pennine Fell Runners	M40	3:25:00
36	7	4	Danielle De Simone	Team Derby Runner	WSEN	3:26:00
37	8	5	Eleanor White		WSEN	3:27:00
38	30	5	Paul Barton	Goyt Valley Striders	M50	3:27:27
39	31	6	Matt Yardley	Bollington Harriers	M50	3:28:00
40	32	12	Mathew Hendery	Ashbourne Running Club	MSEN	3:29:00
41	9	6	Sarah Warhurst	Pennine Fell Runners	WSEN	3:31:00
42	33	7	Bruce Humphrey	Chorlton Runners	M50	3:31:31
43	34	13	Chris Randall	Buxton AC	M40	3:32:00
44	10	2	Catherine Litherland	Unattached	W40	3:33:00
45	35	1	Paul Rowland	Pennine Fell Runners	M60	3:35:00
46	36	14	Ian Crutchley	Glossopdale Harriers	M40	3:37:00
47	11	2	Naomi Coverley	Tideswell Running Club	W50	3:40:00
48	37	2	Mick Cooper	Todmorden Harriers	M60	3:41:00
49	12	7	Katherine Heylen		WSEN	3:43:00
50	38	13	Thomas Bibby	Todmorden Harriers	MSEN	3:46:00
51	13	8	Suzy Hill	Chorlton Runners	WSEN	3:47:00
52	39	14	Elliot Drummond	Chorlton Runners	MSEN	3:49:00
53	14	1	Carolyn Tregaskis	Rossendale Harriers & AC	W60	3:54:00
54	40	15	Matt Broadhead	Steel City Striders RC	M40	3:54:12
55	41	1	Graham Barnes		M70	4:02:00
56	42	16	Simone Capponi	Bowland Fell Runners	M40	4:04:00
57	43	8	Paul Neal	-Individual- No club	M50	4:12:00
58	44	15	Iain Fairnington	Sinfin Running Club	MSEN	4:19:00
59	45	9	Daniel Bastide		M50	4:27:00
60	15	3	Hannah Newcomb	Chorlton Runners	W40	4:27:10
61	16	4	Karin White	Chorlton Runners	W40	4:27:20
62	17	5	Catherine Lawson	Pennine Fell Runners	W40	4:29:00
63	46	10	Simon Bray	Sinfin Running Club	M50	4:30:00
64	18	6	Hannah Carrington	Razzer's Runners	W40	4:39:39
65	19	2	Hilary Hallen	Alsager Running Club	W60	4:42:00
66	47	17	Robert Goralski	Razzer's Runners	M40	4:51:00
67	48	18	Nicholas Brough	Razzer's Runners	M40	5:00:00

 Groovy Baby Love September 6 2025 Results Summary

Male Senior 1	Josh Williams		1:12:55
Male Senior 2	Alec Burns		1:23:29
Male Senior 3	Laurence Piercy		1:28:00
Male V40	Jamie Helmer		1:29:40
Male V50	Ben Allen		1:55:50
Male V60	Paul Adams		2:00:02
Male V70	Chris Horsfall		2:34:00
Women U23	Abbie Walker		1:36:00
Women V40	Rachel Munday		1:46:07
Women Senior	Aimee Baines		1:55:10
Women V60	Jane Crowson		1:55:30
Women V70	Beryl Buckley		2:39:12

Pos	Gen- der Pos.	Age Cat Pos.	Name	Club	Category	Time
1	1	1	Josh Williams	Glossopdale Harriers	MSEN	1:12:55
2	2	2	Alec Burns	Glossopdale Harriers	MSEN	1:23:29
3	3	3	Laurence Piercy	Dark Peak Fell Runners	MSEN	1:28:00
4	4	4	David Curington	Glossopdale Harriers	MSEN	1:29:00
5	5	5	Khem Sattaur	Glossopdale Harriers	MSEN	1:29:30
6	6	1	Jamie Helmer	Glossopdale Harriers	M40	1:29:40
7	1	1	Abbie Walker	SHUOC	WU23	1:36:00
8	7	2	Daniel Stinton	Glossopdale Harriers	M40	1:39:28
9	8	3	Matt Gittins	Didsbury Runners	M40	1:41:00
10	2	1	Rachel Munday	Macclesfield Harriers & AC	W40	1:46:07
11	3	1	Aimee Baines	Glossopdale Harriers	WSEN	1:55:10
12	4	1	Jane Crowson	Dark Peak	W60	1:55:30
13	9	4	Peter Nicholson	-Individual- No club	M40	1:55:40
14	10	1	Ben Allen	Handsworth Roadhogs	M50	1:55:50
15	5	2	Ro Cole	Glossopdale Harriers	W60	1:56:00
16	6	1	Rachel Sproston	Glossopdale Harriers	W50	1:57:00
17	11	5	Paul Hawdon	Handsworth Roadhogs	M40	1:57:20
18	7	2	Amelia Brown	Glossopdale Harriers	WSEN	1:57:40
19	8	2	Kelly Buckley	Macclesfield Harriers & AC	W40	1:57:50
20	12	2	Steven Gavin	Sale Harries	M50	1:57:55
21	13	3	Alan Billington	Belper Harriers	M50	1:58:00
22	14	6	Matthew Snarr	Unattached	M40	1:58:10
23	9	2	Esther Broughton	Belper Harriers	W50	1:58:30
24	15	4	Aaron Jackson		M50	1:58:40
25	16	1	Harry Kneen	Manx Fell Runners	MU23	1:59:00
26	10	3	Sophie Vincent	Derwent Valley Orienteers	WSEN	2:00:00
27	17	1	Paul Adams	Chorlton Runners	M60	2:00:02
28	18	5	Chris Gilbert	Belper Harriers	M50	2:00:04
29	11	3	Jennifer Hulley	Stockport Harriers & AC	W50	2:00:20
30	19	2	Robert Murphy	Glossopdale Harriers	M60	2:01:00
31	12	3	Bryony Bell	Chorlton Runners	W40	2:04:00
32	13	4	Caroline Burrell	Wirksworth	W50	2:05:00
33	20	6	Ian Jackson	Glossopdale Harriers	M50	2:07:00
34	21	7	Phil Kitchman	Glossopdale Harriers	M50	2:08:00
35	22	8	Alan Woods		M50	2:09:00
36	14	4	Olive Bigmore		W40	2:09:03
37	15	4	Samantha Vincent		WSEN	2:09:40
38	16	5	Hannah Greenlee	Chorlton Runners	WSEN	2:10:00
39	23	3	Michael Richardson	Handsworth Roadhogs	M60	2:11:00
40	24	9	Chris Rogers		M50	2:15:00
41	25	7	Andy Horsfall	Handsworth Roadhogs	M40	2:21:00
42	26	10	Andrew Allan	Pudsey Pacers RC	M50	2:28:00
43	17	3	Mary Jeal	Glossopdale Harriers	W60	2:29:00
44	27	1	Chris Horsfall	Handsworth Roadhogs	M70	2:34:00
45	28	8	Peter Smith		M40	2:37:00
46	18	5	Lucie Macarthur	Ripley RC	W40	2:38:00
47	19	6	Nicola Clifford	Ripley RC	WSEN	2:38:00
48	20	7	Jane Scanlon	Glossopdale Harriers	WSEN	2:39:00
49	21	1	Beryl Buckley	Glossopdale Harriers	W70	2:39:12
50	29	6	Tobermory Carswell		MSEN	2:41:00
51	22	5	Rooth Tuesday		W50	2:41:41
52	23	4	Lynn Andrews	Long Eaton Running Club	W60	3:39:00
53	24	6	Tracie Stevenson	Long Eaton Running Club	W50	3:39:40
54	30	9	Richard Van Berkel	Razzer's Runners	M40	4:00:00