We did most of the Skyline route, only missing out the out and back to Grindslow Knoll. The run seems to really begin in earnest with the ascent of Lord’s Seat. Brown Knoll lures you in and seeps away the energy. Beautiful to walk, treacherously deceptive to run. At least, the frozen surface offered us a sporting chance of avoiding the shoulder-deep bogs, sometimes..

Swine’s Back, and some winter atmosphere, with low cloud, cold and poor visibility. Tingling surreality, as rock shapes took a more solid form, and we found ourselves in the centre of the Woolpack.

Back to Ringing Roger, tired, cold and happy.

If Carlsberg did fell runs…..

Consider this as an aspirant fell runner: 11.5 miles and 4500′ ascent. The road runner focuses immediately on the 11.5 miles and equates this to a comfortable half marathon. The experienced fell-runner would probably divide the ascent by the distance and nod sagely. Hang on?? Where exactly is all this ascent fitted in? On my stamping ground (Peak District), to achieve this amount of ascent would require a run of 20 miles+ (albeit with different demands, bog, groughs etc.)

Well, the LMV is a jewel of a run. Nothing much (in terms of physical demand) happens until CP5 at the base of Windy Batch. I had been warned to save my energy for this point onwards by Hel, and like some prescient Macbeth-ian witch (sorry Dave!), as I was taking in the scenery at CP5, Dave F from Mercia FR, galloping past, warned me of exactly the same – “Toil and trouble”, I think! We had a fine natter, both of us fully immersed in the surroundings and atmosphere. Then, nagged by his dog, he left me to it.

Three interesting climbs and three even more interesting descents later – back at Cardingmill and that intense feeling of having done something special.  A fine winter’s day – take nothing for granted in these wonderfully characterful and atmospheric hills; few people, and an absorbing switchback route. Will I be back for the race in 2012? Probably.

Photos Nokia N8

A special ‘treat’ to take Kate (from Queensland) on a quest for snow. The walk was up Grindsbrook and back along the edge to Ringing Roger. Kate borrowed my walking boots, and I forgot my fell shoes and did the walk in my ‘Clarks’! Not recommended..

Photos by Kate: Canon EOS 500D

Langdale Recce

Initial plan was to do Langdale – Helvellyn – Angle Tarn, but deteriorating weather and a wimpy mountaineer altered it to a out-and back Langdale – Dollywagon Pike. Lots of atmosphere, few people, and 16 miles/ 5000′ ascent made for a rather nice day.

GG Recce North

GG Recce South

Finally, we have a chance to fit in the much requested GG recce on Feb 6th. Run start at 8.00am.
As I’m keen to make this a training run and not a draining run (catchy, eh?) we have a choice of:

Option 1 Full Route (21 Miles). Runners Confirmed:

Option 2 Start/ Finish Baslow (12.3 + 5.4 miles Tempo) Total 17.7 miles. Runners Confirmed: Karl Atton, Krish Mahadevan, Andy Rose, David Riach, Suzanne Sharman
Start at Baslow and run to join the GG route at Froggatt. This allows us to time all the sections of the GG except for the first stage: Grindleford-Eyam and the last stage; Baslow-Grindleford. We can miss out the rather crippling Baslow Bar. May I suggest that we do a brief stop at Hassop Station Cafe (approx 12.3 miles) for a cup of tea etc. and then do a tempo session for the last 5 miles back to Baslow?

Option 3 Baslow – Hassop (12.3 Miles). Runners Confirmed: Ian Hays,  Andy Parkin, Steph Ilsley
Those doing the Stamford 20 may like to leave a car at Hassop Station, be ferried to Baslow and run with us for the first 12 miles

All three choices can be accommodated, so let me know which you will be running, and I’ll try and co-ordinate car share.

A fine morning, with conditions still quite dry underfoot. A good sustained climb up to White Edge, with a fast return from the Grindleford end. A final diagonal climb along Gardoms Edge and back to Robin Hood Inn. Runners: Karl Atton, Simon Merwood, Craig Allen and Krish Mahadevan

The 8 mile starts at Alsop Station Car Park, next to the High Peak Trail, North of Tissington. Start time is at 8.00 am. The route looks to be scenic and relatively flat, a novelty for us!

After this loop, some of us will be running back to Middleton Top, via Parwich and Brassington, which is rather more hilly. This adds 9 miles, making a total of 17.

The 17 milers will be leaving our cars at Middleton Top, to be picked up by Simon (en route to Alsop), at 7.30am. Let me know if you intend to do the 17, as we need to confirm availability of car spaces.

Maps of the routes:

Unforgettable camaraderie

And then the sun turns its attention to this reverie. Evaporated.

A mixture of Beau Geste and Lawrence of Arabia shimmers throught the heat-haze: the promise of a distant oasis, 26 miles away. Radiant heat reflects from the path, other runners, limestone walls, everywhere. Running in a microwave, dial turned to high, and someone’s just pressed the start button.

The sub 6 minute plan is quietly shelved. Gebrselassie heaves a sigh of relief. He is safe for another year. Sub 7.30 is more the order of the day, in fact, just staying alive seems to be coming (rather too) quickly up the agenda.

The High Peak Trail on the day

We couldn’t be in better hands than Ian Milne and the organisers and helpers from Matlock AC. Plenty of water and much more support than expected around the course. Alsop, Hartington, Parsley Hay, Friden are heaving with cheering crowds. Steve Holt, and his melt in the mouth jelly babies (actually, they were just melted anyway) at Gotham. A rather disinterested chap at Alsop will never know just how close he was to having his Cornetto pinched – I daresay he would have quite easily caught up with me, so I hastily abandoned my cunning plan. Target a toddler next time, must make a note.

The ever present Tommo and Karl (Ripley), a  jigsaw of faces, cheers, mile markers, very familiar paths, perfect perspectives off into the hazy distance. Longcliffe; runners slowing, window shopping at drinks stations, browsing, can’t decide; orange or water? 6 miles to go. Hopton Incline, oooh! sub 7.30 pace, then back into any rhythm that suits. The wonderful cool tunnel requires immense willpower to leave.

Middleton Top and the great freewheel into Cromford.  A freewheel, apart from Cromford Canal, that seems to exist in some perverse temporal spasm. The mile that isn’t. The camber that shrugs off weary runners into the canal. The bodies taking life at an easier pace, some compliant, moving thoughtfully aside, others inert and oblivious. Helen will tackle this problem with her Tourettes Gun. Finally, the little bridge that signals the turn into the short finish, and the cheer from the NDRC group having taken up station at this point. The gazelle like finish has morphed into a shuffling sweaty, nearly blind and deaf shambles, lurching towards a rather blurry finish line.

And the Oasis? The Rugby Club Bar, and a pint of Ice Cold in Alex, of course.

Cheers!

Belper Harriers take a terrific triumph on the Teversal Trail !

By Steve Winfield

What a performance it was last night in the second race of the Summer BDL series – where Belper Harriers took a well-deserved first place…

Belper ladies – outright winners on the night!

Belper men – a creditable 3^rd place!

Belper combined team – a clear win by 2 league points!

It was certainly ‘Ladies Night’ at Teversal as our scoring team reigned supreme after heading second placed Long Eaton by 70 position points! Great to see such an improved turnout on the girls side too – with eight of them contesting the race. (My pre-race e-mail comment about our ladies team joining the list of prize winners at the conclusion of the current summer series might have been prophetic!)

With three of our four top ladies in action last night, there was always the chance of something special. After SHARON MELLORS led the counting three home in an excellent 76^th place (4^th in the ladies race) it was down to the ever-consistent STEPH ILSLEY in 100^th (and first VL45 once again) and the returning to form THERESA HEMPSALL in 123^rd to consolidate the victory for our girls. Congratulations to the whole ladies’ team, all of who contributed to this victory – counters or not!

On the men’s side, we saw five of the counting runners from the Denby race make the seven-man scoring team once again. DALE ANNABLE, with another superb 7^th place, was our first runner to cross the line. Then, a minute or so further down the field came a group having experienced mixed fortunes last night: BEN HUMPHREYS, ALEX DUTHIE and GEOFF LOWRY were separated by just 7 seconds in 21^st, 22^nd and 23^rd positions respectively. The evergreen MARK RICHES followed them in around 30 seconds later in 28^th place.  A solid run by the continually improving ANDY FOOKES saw him improve from 45^th place last month to 33^rd this time to earn his place on the scoring team. PHIL CONROY ran strongly to finish 7^th counter in 37^th place.

There were numerous other creditable performances amongst the 37 strong Harriers team last night, many of which will certainly have contributed to the results through pushing rival runners down the finishing order. In terms of debut performances for Belper, AMER ARMOUSH (part of the famous Armoush running dynasty!) joined wife Jane on the team for the first time – securing a pleasing 77^th place.

In terms of numbers running last night; having set the record for the largest turnout at a BDL race last month, our Denby Pottery total of 277 was eclipsed at Teversal, where 282 runners finished the race. (50 more than last year’s event!).

Claiming the top spot on the night has now moved our ladies up to head the league standings after two races – 4 points clear of 2^nd placed North Derbyshire!! The men remain in 3rd place - having extended the gap over their nearest challengers - to a comfortable 4 points. Overall, the combined Belper team now stand in 2^nd place in the league; level on 39 points with leaders Heanor. Contrast this year’s standings with those from the same stage last year – when we were still down in 6^th place (Men 4^th/Ladies 6^th) – and it can clearly be seen that we are definitely in the running for three team trophies at the end of the summer season!

 As for last season’s trophies… following the race, a significant number of our team attended the presentations of the awards from the cross-country league in the Teversal Grange Inn. As well as winning the following team trophies for last season…  Men’s team – 2^nd; Combined team – 3^rd;  five individual trophies** were awarded (to rapturous applause from the Belper throngs) to… 

 Dale Annable – 4th in the Senior Men category 

Krish Mahadevan – 3rd in the VM45 category 

Geoff Lowry – Equal 1st in the VM45 category 

Malc Weir – 1st in the VM60 category 

Rosemary Arris-Pratt – 2nd in the VL45 category

(**Best four scores out of the five race series.)

 Congratulations and well done to all five Harriers!!