Over the years, it has been extended to include men’s, women’s and veterans’ races, with a female over-40s category contested for the first time last year.
The Gawthorpe Maypole Committee organises the event every Easter Monday and it is a nod to Wakefield’s mining heritage, two men who survived the Lofthouse Colliery disaster in 1973 were invited to give out prizes.
The event involves men carrying a 50kg sack of coal on their backs and women must carry 20kg across a 1,000-metre distance. The race is timed by using an original pigeon racing clock and volunteers’ stopwatches.
Here are the best photos from this year’s event.
1. Gawthorpe Coal Carrying Championship
Competitors finishing the race. Photo: Gerard Binks
2. Gawthorpe Coal Carrying Championship
Gawthorpe Coal Carrying Championship. Photo: Gerard Binks
3. Gawthorpe Coal Carrying Championship
Gawthorpe Coal Carrying Championship Photo: Gerard Binks
4. Gawthorpe Coal Carrying Championship
Action from the ladies second race Photo: Gerard Binks
5. Gawthorpe Coal Carrying Championship
The winner of the first men's veteran race. Photo: Gerard Binks
6. Gawthorpe Coal Carrying Championship
Loading up with coal sack before the race Picture Gerard Binks. Photo: Gerard Binks