The Tinker Cup

The Driving Academy are delighted to be sponsoring this years Tinker Cup, which is celebrating its 105th year of running and is the longest running race in the Holmfirth Harriers calendar.

We hope you have a fun and successful day. Best wishes to the Winners of the Prizes in the Tinker Cup Event.

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2025 Event (105th running) - Saturday 20th December 2025

First run in 1908, the Tinker Cup Handicap Trophy is the oldest race in the history of the Club. The race also incorporates the Norman Haigh Memorial Trophy, for the fastest female competitor, and the Ian Roberts Memorial Trophy, for the fastest competitor overall.

This challenging cross country handicap race of approximately 6 miles, requires competitors to negotiate walls, fences, gates & Wickins Dike, along a route from Honley Cricket Club via Netherthong, Hill Lane (checkpoint), Upperthong, Upperthong Lane, Binns Lane & Hill, before returning to the Cricket Club.

A map showing the approximate route is shown below and will also be on the noticeboard at Neiley Pavilion (the Club HQ) from early November. Runners are allowed to make slight deviations from the official route, and those with previous experience of the race may be able to gain a few seconds at some points, which is all in the spirit of the event. However, some sections of the course will be marked with flags placed on the instructions of the landowners, and in these sections, the route must be strictly adhered to. All competitors must pass the checkpoint at Hill Lane on the way out and on the way back. Marshals will be present at all road crossings.

Please note that last minute course variations may occur if landowner permissions change.

Click on route map for interactive version.

Registration and changing is at Honley Cricket Club (HD9 6NS) from 12.45pm. Registration closes at 1.30pm.

The Race starts at 2.00pm.

Entry is free but donations are welcome. Please collect your race number on the day.

Bar, refreshments and presentation after the race. Contributions of food and prizes would be appreciated.

Don't forget to also book your place at our evening Christmas Social on the same day.

History

Our most prestigious race is the Tinker Cup, this year being run 115 years after the race was first contested in 1908.

The Tinker Cup was provided by Henry William Cossart Tinker, who was a founder member and Vice President of Holmfirth Harriers AC when the club was formed in 1907. He donated the “Tinker Cup” trophy in 1908 when he was 23 years of age. The first race took place on Saturday 26 December 1908 and has been contested annually ever since apart from two years during the Great War, nine years during World War II and immediately afterwards, one year in the early 1950’s when there were no competitors and in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Across the 104 races held to date, 76 different runners have claimed victory, with seventeen people winning the event more than once. The first triple winner was Frank Beaver in the 1920s. A replica of the trophy was specially created and presented to him, and after his death it was returned to the Club. Today, it is awarded to the handicap winner of the Club’s Summer Championship.

Three other members have since matched Frank’s achievement with three victories each: Bob Asquith, Les Bailey, and Trevor Ramsden. However, the most remarkable record belongs to Laurie Liles, who won the trophy an unprecedented six times during the 1950s. Although fields at that time were often in single figures, apart from his first win in 1950–51, when 11 started and 10 finished, Liles also recorded the fastest time on eight occasions, confirming his status as a worthy champion.

The race’s first female winner of the Tinker Cup was Helen Berry, now Club President and, at the time, Ladies Captain, in 2002. In 2024, Hannah Austin became the sixth woman to lift the trophy.

In 2013, Katie Walshaw made history by becoming the first lady to run the fastest overall time, clocking an impressive 46:05. This achievement is equally as remarkable as the fact that she has won the Norman Haigh Memorial Trophy for the fastest female competitor on no fewer than 12 occasions since its inauguration in 2006.

The only athlete ever to win both the Tinker Cup and the Ian Roberts Trophy for fastest time in the same year is Mark Buckingham, who achieved this in 2003. His time of 40:42 remains one of the quickest ever recorded on the course. That year he also became the race’s youngest winner at just 18 years old and has since gone on to win the Ian Roberts Trophy 13 times.

The continued popularity of the event stands as a testament to the strength of the Club and its commitment to preserving its heritage. Since the turn of the millennium, the race has averaged 66 competitors each year, with a record 114 runners taking part in the 100th edition in 2019.

Congratulations to everyone who supports this historic event, both those who take part and the many who work behind the scenes to ensure the event’s enduring success and its important place in the Club’s history.