Mow Cop Killer Mile 2010: running up that hill

Sometimes you need friends to get to the end

Mow Cop is a Staffordshire Moorlands village perched on an isolated hill.

Each year it plays host to one of Staffordshire's unique and eccentric events - the Mow Cop Killer Mile.

Basically, hundreds of people from Staffordshire and South Cheshire decide it's a good idea to run up a really long, steep hill as fast as they can.

The event was spawned from the running boom of the early 80s when the likes of Seb Coe, Steve Ovett and Steve Cram dominated middle-distance races.

The first race took place in 1982 and was won by Martin Bishop.

The course record, which was set in 1991 by Bashir Hussain of Stockport, is a time of 6 minutes and 12 seconds.

Our reporter, Dan Tierney, was persuaded to join the field on behalf of BBC Radio Stoke.