What a great route, with tough climbs and descents and an energy sapping traverse over tricky peat bogland in the second half. Nav skills and local course knowledge also play a part in having a successful race here.
For some bizarre reason I haven’t done much fell running over this way, with only the 2013 Hope Moors and Tors on my list of races in the High Peak. That day it was so foggy on Kinder, I could have been anywhere, so a recce of the route was needed before race day!
A couple of weeks back, Andy J and I headed over to Edale to run the course and iron out any route questions with a steady pace recce. We had a great day, the weather was clear and sunny, but the wind was gusting 40-50mph and made the homeward run from Losehill a bit of a battle, literally blowing Andy off his feet at one point! Serves him right for being a race whippet I say, speaking as someone with a little more ballast….
The Spartan entry for the race was myself, Andy and Ben. I spent most of last week with an eye on the Met office weather charts, which were definitely showing a mixed bag of snow, hail and significant windchill from northwesterly gusts. Its a long race on exposed ground, so getting the kit right would be important.
Thankfully, as we arrived into Edale early on race day, the weather was not as bad as forecasted and the kit list was relaxed to standard FRA minimums. Out went the bivvy bag and spare clothes, making the pack weight far more manageable.
We jogged up to the start field, activated our dibbers and stood around, waiting for the off, looking at the climb up Ringing Roger looming ominously directly in front of us. The first mile of the race is a 940ft direct ascent straight up onto the Kinder plateau, so my usual ‘pull the pin’ plan was in danger of being modified today. Good excuse for me to post the elevation pics that I love!
With that in mind, I hung back a little and after the marshal shouted GO! 330 runners all made a bee line for the gate at the top of the first field. From here, its a zig zag steep ascent to the top and I immediately regretted hanging back, as I spent most of the first climb trying to edge past folks that were in the way.
Over the top of the climb and we headed at a fair lick towards Win Hill, with the strong breeze at our backs on the eastward leg. I put in a couple of 8’s and a 7 min mile and the field stretched out a bit. It was hot work with the sun out and off came the hat and gloves.
The route turns off the tops at Crookstone Hill and drops towards the woods past Hope Cross and then climbs steadily to the trig at Win Hill and the first dibber point. The pace here was steady over decent ground and I focused on making the most of it before summiting Win Hill and looping back along Hope Brink into the head wind. The revised route then plummeted straight down the hillside and onto the Hope road, about 600ft in less than a quarter of a mile, through the heather and bracken.
Steep descents are where my ankles and ruined knee are exposed the most and I lost a handful of places to folks that I had left behind on the ups, as they all flew past me through the bracken. Grrr. Still, better to get to the bottom and continue, than hammer it and have my knee flare up and hobble for the rest of the race.
I dropped onto the lane and pushed harder on the final drop down to the main road to claw back some of the lost places, dibbed at the checkpoint, ignored the water station and then headed out of Hope and onto the Lose Hill climb.
Having just descended almost 1000ft from Win Hill, the next mile claims it all back immediately with a 1000ft plus slog to the top of Lose Hill. I got my head down and marched upwards, digging out the hat and gloves as the wind blasted into my face. I also emptied my gel flask and had a drink of my flat coke.
Once over the summit, it’s a long undulating ridge run over Hollins Cross and Mam Tor to the timed cut off checkpoint at Mam Nick. The head / cross wind was really blowing me all over the place up here and I remembered Andy being blown clean off his feet on our last visit, but I managed to keep a pretty good pace up, not really enjoying the hard pavement sections which were battering the soles of my feet in my Mudclaws.
I dibbed in at Mam Nick in exactly 2 hours which I was pleased with, having set a vague goal of about 2.15.
More flat coke to fuel the climb up onto Rushup Edge, which was extremely hard going as the full force of the gusting wind took effect. The odd hail shower was also sandblasting my face, so I pulled my buff up as protection for a little while and headed for Lords Seat and the dreaded run over the peat towards Brown Knoll.
This section to Jacobs Ladder is basically about 3 miles of energy sapping swamp diving. The terrain is basically patches of freezing cold ground water and sections of deep peat bogs, some of which support your weight whilst others consume you, swallowing your legs with a suction that takes some effort to climb out of. The wind was also now blowing directly into my face over the featureless terrain, accompanied by the strongest hail shower of the day. Hats off to the two marshals braving the elements at the Brown Knoll checkpoint, not a nice place to spend your Sunday.
Finally leaving the bog section was a huge relief and I wobbled over the stile, or was it just a wobbly stile? My feet were totally numbed from the soaking and freezing they had just enjoyed and I slapped along, wooden legged along the pavement section to Jacobs Ladder and another cp.
My hands had been soaked in my efforts to extricate my legs out of several bogs and in the cold wind my hands had then frozen solid. As I climbed upwards I exchanged gloves, glad that I had brought my new Montane Prism windproof gloves. It took me most of the climb to Edale Head struggling to actually get them onto my frozen hands and as I turned eastwards, the impact of the strong wind was thankfully left behind and I began to warm up as the sun popped out again.
My legs were now pretty battered and the first twinges of cramp were appearing. Hamstrings, quads and most unusually and painfully my adductors, probably a consequence of the effort spent in the crossing of Brown Knoll.
The last section of the race was painful but uneventful and I tried my best to keep the effort up. I made it to the cp at Grindslow Knoll and turned for home, with just the remainder of the Kinder rim to endure back to Ringing Roger and the return descent down to the field. No directissima for me from here that’s for sure!
I hadn’t taken any notice of my watch since the Mam Nick cp, but as it bleeped 19 miles, I realised that with a bit of effort I could break 4 hours, which I had not really expected before the start in what was an unknown race for me.
One mile to Ringing Roger at a reasonable pace on heavy legs over trippy ground, I dibbed in for the final time and clambered down over the rocks to start the zigzag descent to the finish. As I picked up the pace, my cramping legs bit back in style, plus my feet were finished by now, making for an uncomfortable teeth gritted slog down the rocky path, but the motivation was high and I ploughed on. The last zig zag was completed with a final ‘lovely’ departing blast of hailstones to blind me, then into the field where my legs found a finishing pace from somewhere and I sprinted to the line to finish in 3:57, job done.
My legs did a pretty good Shakin' Stevens impression, which brought out a welcome bag of Jelly Babies from the finishing marshal and so I sat on the grass, munching on sugar and savouring a solid days work on the hills. The sun had returned again, so I waited for Ben to finish and we headed off to find the whippet, who then appeared, walking back up the field towards us.
We swapped stories of bogs, hail storms, grouse attacks (!) and cramp as we trudged back to the Village Hall, where I handed in the dibber and received my time sheet. From 330 starters, I finished 102nd place out of 301 finishers. Respectable enough first attempt in a quality field.
Special mention to the great Dark Peak race organisers and marshals for putting on this extremely well run and friendly race. We scoffed a lovely free pie, peas and gravy nosh, before getting changed and heading to the pub for a very well earned pint.
A date for your diaries next year Spartans. Get your qualifying races completed in good time, (its two AL’s or equivalent experience as an entry requirement). Fabulous!