Burbage Baffler

A note on race categories here

Burbage Baffler on Wed 29th Jul 2026

I've been threatening to organise the Burbage Baffler for a few years now but found it difficult to pick a date. Dark Peak's 50th year seemed a good time to get organised and bring back the baffler!
I was unaware of the history behind this race and it's unique format but it was an absolute pleasure to meet and talk to Martin Spence, the mastermind behind the baffler, after this years race. There is far too much to write here but it might be one for the next news letter. 

We had perfect weather and an excellent turnout of 37 runners. Organising a rabble of Dark Peak Fell Runners is difficult at the best of times but we soon got everyone registered and teams formed. I then scientifically assigned batons based on what I could find in my garage and which teams looked like they needed slowing down. As I didn't want to be accused of fixing my own race, my team unfortunately got a 1kg door stop as a baton. Everyone seemed to understand the rules and how the race worked and so at about 7pm the Baffler was started.
9 runners set off from upper Burbage Bridge at the same time, but in the opposite direction to another 9 runners who where carrying random objects.
All whilst another 19 runners watched and everyone else in the area wondered what was going on! 

It was about 20 minutes between changeovers, and from the start/finish you got a good view of the northern runners returning up the green drive. Changeovers were just a chaotic blur but a massive thank you to Jenny and Hannah for timekeeping. (and to Michael for manning the stop/go sign, though I'm not sure how impactful this was). 

Congratulations to team Devil's Spawn (Despina Berdeni, Tom Moss, Ethan Butler, and Adam Samuel) for taking the win, stretching out a lead of about 2 minutes on second placed team HOTT Quads. Not far a drift was Kinder Stout filling out the podium. 
A special mention to Tom Perry of team Quadrilles (autocorrected from Quadzillas?) who failed to recognise his partner and decided to run reps of Higger Tor for his sins. This plunged his team into last place just before the final lap. Yes, a Pertex nomination has already gone in.

It was a fun race to organise and be part of and I hope everyone else enjoyed it as well.

Tom

Sally Fawcett has taken on the challenge of organising the next Burbage Baffler, probably in summer 2027 so get training!

Teams:
This is an event for teams of four.
Teams should comprise of: 1 female, 1 veteran (V40+) , 1 wart and 1 superstar (apparently by definition warts are not superstars?).
As warts seem scarce (and somewhat antisocial) these days teams can substitute in a new member (<1y) / recruit / under 20 / Dark Peak fledgling.
Roy kindly let Richard join his team as a sub for lap 2 so everyone got a run. 

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Lap times:

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Lap splits:

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