The Holmfirth 15 Road race was first run on a Saturday in 1968 and the last race was run on 21st October 2018. The route changed slightly over the years largely due to increasing problems over traffic on the roads and this was in the end killed the race. Road closures would have been too expensive for this low cost, grass roots event on a tough two lap course around the Holme Valley. Some top runners have completed the course and on the last and 50th running of the event the day started with sunny, dry, calm weather and excellent conditions for running.
The 15 mile course consisted of a small loop around the high school and two large loops around the New Mill, Honley and Holmfirth “circuit”. There were 112 finishers. The winner was Josh Sambrook from Cambridge, running for Leeds University in 1:28:41, second place was the event organisers, Cannonball's John Lloyd finishing in 1:32:06. Isabel Rea (West 4 Harriers) was the first female in 1:43:14. Taking nothing away from Josh his winning time would have not have got him in the top 50 on occasions in the first 25 years of the race, giving an indication of the quality of the field in those early years.
