Ben Rothery on his Yorkshire Three Peaks win

English fell running champion Ben Rothery has worked with coach Sarah McCormack since 2022. Here he discusses his recent preparations for the Yorkshire Three Peaks fell race - a challenging 38km, 1400m fell race which consistently attracts top contenders from across the country and beyond. Ben came away with the win after a closely-fought battle against a prestigious field of international-level athletes.

How does Three Peaks differ from the races you typically compete in, and what made you want to race this event?

It’s probably a bit more “runable” and faster than most typical fell races but the second half feels more like a normal fell race so suited me well. It’s such a prestigious event with such great history so I think I would’ve wound up doing it at some point, but it properly made my bucket list after spectating the 2023 edition when it was the selection race for GB. I thought it looked like a good tough race, particularly after hearing so many people saying how hard it is, and how easy it to get the pacing wrong! 

Can you describe your build-up to Three Peaks?  What did a typical training week look like?

Training for Three Peaks largely  continued in the same vein after the good build up I’d had to Edale Skyline (the first in the 2025 English Champs series) - with probably the most notable session leading up to Edale being a fast solo effort round the Ilkley Skyline route (35km, 800m elevation gain in pretty horrendous conditions). After Edale, it was then only a couple of weeks until Newlands and then only another couple of weeks until the Three Peaks so I basically just had to keep the momentum going. Most weeks consisted of running 6 days a week, 1-2 sessions of either fartlek or flat and hill sessions, and a longer run. 

What were some of your most specific Three Peaks sessions, and how did they help you prepare for the demands of the race?

There was a lot of fartlek and tempo work to develop the leg speed & running economy for such a fast, runable race. One session in particular that stands out was a grass fartlek involving 10 min tempo at around 1h race pace, 3 min easy; 4 x (3 min fast/2 min easy); 5 min tempo at 1h race pace, 90s easy; 4 x (1 min fast/1 min easy). There was then also lots of combined flat and hill sessions.

One thing we focused on was road running at tempo pace on fatigued legs, which was really good conditioning for the Three Peaks. For instance, we did a hill-loop session where I ran hard up a steep climb for 8 mins, descended at cruising pace via a more gradual path, and then had 4 mins hard running on flat road before starting the climb again. Another session was simply an 80-minute tempo at a moderate pace, which involved three hill climbs and descents, with sections of road in between each. There was another similar session that I did in the Mendips (about the steepest hill I could find on my way to Cornwall!) around 10 days out from the 3 Peaks that was a good tune up. This involved 10 min hard uphill/easy back down; 10 min road tempo; 6 min hard uphill/easy back down; 10 min road tempo.

Going into the race, were there any elements that you were concerned about or that you felt required particular management?

I think the two things that I was most concerned about were the pacing and nutrition. Pacing as I’d heard from several people that “the race starts at Hill Inn” - effectively after the first two peaks are already in the bag - so I was nervous about finding that line between going out too hard and paying for it later versus being too conservative and not being in the race enough and leaving things too late. I was then also concerned about not being able to get enough nutrition in. I’m used to getting in nutrition at longer races but often in long fell races like Lakeland Classics there are periods where the intensity settles a little (steep climbs or long flowy descents early on), which makes getting gels and carb drinks in much easier. But at the Three Peaks this was a concern, as the pace in the first half was likely to be very fast and the intensity high - meaning getting carbs in would feel like hard work and trying to get in too much would run the risk of GI issues but too little would risk bonking later on. 

As a race of roughly three hours’ duration, the Three Peaks requires a strong fuelling strategy.  How did you approach fuelling for this race?

In training I’d been practising fuelling at around 110g/hr using a mixture of gels and carb drink mix. I kept an eye on the weather leading up to the race as I wasn’t sure how hot it would be and therefore how much fluid I was going to carry. In the end I wanted to strike a balance of fuelling enough to not bonk in the later stages of the race but not aim too high as to make myself feel sick etc early on in the race given the pace was likely to be very high. In the end, I managed about 106g carbs/hour for the 3 hours and a reasonable amount of salt tabs too. This was mainly in the form of 3 x 500ml drinks with 90g carbs in and then supplemented with gels. I found that just constantly sipping on the drinks worked well and was less faff than trying to get into gels. Overall the fuelling strategy worked well. I still got some cramp but was never completely derailed by it and I suspect that was to do with the intensity and the changes in gradient and underfoot conditions.  

This year’s race had a very strong men’s field including Olympic triathlete Alastair Brownlee, fellow Team GB mountain runners Brennan Townshend , Chris Holdsworth and Ricky Lightfoot, and the elite French contingent of Clovis Chaverot and Noel Yannick, among others.  What was your plan going into the race, and did you have to adjust anything on the fly, or did it unfold more or less as you’d hoped?

Yes if I’m honest I knew about the likes of Brennan and Chris (Holdsworth) but I only found out about the French Inov8 contingent and Ali Brownlee about 3 days prior. My initial reaction was that I felt a bit miffed as I was really hoping to challenge for the win and this made it decidedly more difficult. But then very quickly I realised this was a huge benefit as it was a win-win regardless of the outcome. Racing against really top athletes including a double Olympic gold medalist - how many people get to say they’ve done that!  

Going into the race I knew that I had to run my own race. Sarah and I had a chat about race tactics a few days out and we agreed that the first half I just needed to stay in the mix and keep things controlled but also not feel like I had to cover every move. The second half of the race is much more my kind of terrain so I just needed to get myself to the Hill Inn in one piece! I think that’s what I am most proud of with my Three Peaks race. I stuck to my race tactics and kept things controlled and the pace at a level that I knew I could maintain. Even when Chris and Ali overtook me and Brennan shortly after coming off Pen y Ghent (the first summit), I didn’t try to hold their wheel - I let them both go (and subsequently Clovis as well) and slowly reeled them back in heading away from Ribblehead up to Whernside. I’d seen that Ali was obviously really strong on the flats and the climbs but noticed that he wasn’t too comfortable on the descent from Pen y Ghent, so coming off Whernside I used my fell running experience to descend quickly but keeping things controlled and this was enough to put some daylight between us. The ball was in my court and I just had to keep pushing to finish (although that descent from Ingleborough could do with being about half the distance)! 

You and your wife Abbie had a little boy roughly six months before the event.  Can you describe how you and your coach adjusted your training to accommodate for the big lifestyle changes this incurred?

Yeah it’s been big change but to be fair it’s been a blast. Finlay’s great - it’s been really fun. Well initially when he was born in the first few weeks I basically did no real focused training, just getting out when I could just to get some fresh air. As things became a little more stable we worked out a way of working around childcare needs and my job. Hours-wise I would say I train slightly less than most at the same level (usually 7-10 hours a week) so it’s definitely a case of getting the most out of this time. I would say the hardest thing has been sleep and trying to recover after each session/ long run. There’s a lot of communication and adjusting on the fly because with work and having a new baby there’s a lot of dynamics to play with! I often train early in the morning to minimise the impact on the rest of the day. My wife Abbie obviously plays a huge part of this and does a lot to make it work so that I can get my training in. I rarely have to miss a run or training session because I don’t have time (and when I have it’s usually been either bad planning on my part or unforeseen circumstances).

How does Three Peaks fit into the bigger picture of this year’s racing plans?  What are your main targets for the rest of the year, and how do you and your coach approach planning for a long season of fell racing?

It fit in really well this season. It’s one of the reasons I hadn’t managed to do it before as it’s a long race to squeeze into an otherwise busy race season. It also really suited the training I would be doing anyway for the other races I had prior (Edale, Newlands). For the rest of the season I’m mainly focusing on the English Champs fell races and then probably a smattering of more low-key races. At the back end of the season I’m going to be representing GB at the short trail race (44.5km, 3657m) at the World Trail and Mountain Running Championship in Canfranc. This is a bit of a step up in distance from representing GB at the Europeans last year in the classic / up+down race, so I’m really looking forward to seeing how I get on over that distance against some world-class competition. At the start of each season, Sarah and I have a chat about the focus for the season and effectively try to loosely plan the races for the year. This can obviously be changed as things develop - particularly as there’s often trial races during the year that will potentially add in extra opportunities depending on the results. It’s really important that we both know what my aims and “A” races are so that these can be targeted and training can be planned around it. We also discuss any holidays or other life events that might have an impact on the season so that we have everything in the table. 

Would you return to Yorkshire Three Peaks again?  If so, where do you think you could make gains for a future PB over this course?

I definitely think I’ll be back to the Three Peaks. I really enjoyed the race and the challenge of it. The competition this year made it particularly interesting. I feel that there’s definitely some room for improvement and I would perhaps dare to go a little harder on the flatter section to Ribblehead. That being said though, there’s always that risk of overcooking it too soon and the second half of the race really packs a punch.