Grindleford Gallop (21m and roughly 2500ft)

(Another report from the Cake Monster)

It was an early set off for this one. The local landowner had reneged on parking in his field at the last minute, so spaces near to the registration/start and more importantly the finish were going to go quick. 21m was enough for one day, particularly as the weather forecast was looking a bit grim, 7C, heavy showers and 18mph winds.

The route from Grindleford goes anticlockwise and south via Eyam, Gt Longstone, Bakewell (about halfway), and then north through Chatsworth Park, Baslow and Curbar & Froggatt Edge. It was pleasing to note that my translation of the written instructions onto the OS map duplicated the route map on display. The tricky bit, mine was spread over 3 sheets of A4 paper. Swapping them over and keeping them in my plastic bag was going to be interesting, especially if it was going to be as windy as promised. Sheet one had the start and finish bits on it.

It was a bit of a squash at first getting everyone through all the stiles/gates/gaps. One bloke getting very exercised about queue jumpers within the first mile. I think a fair proportion of people in the race were road-runners and have yet to learn off-road racing etiquette!

It was a nice, scenic, runnable route (except the very steep bits I had to walk) and a good choice of cakes at the two food CP. I thought it'd all be gone when I got there. We had to cross Bakewell Golf Course at one point, announcing our presence to the Golfers by bashing a big bell. Bet they were having a field day in the club-house keeping a tally of the strikes, probably one point for a walker, two points for a runner, bonus points for a ricochet!

In the 4hrs 15mins I was out (my most miles yet) I only felt a couple of spots of rain, it was a bit blowy on the hills and not nearly as muddy as I was expecting. It could of been a lot worse. The post race nosh was soup & bread - not nearly as good as High Cup Nick but made up for by a (another!) large piece of cake.

Unfortunately my race stats are a bit sparse this week as I've yet to see sight of a full set of results. For information purposes last years' winning time was 2hr 34mins and the slowest 5hr 33mins. Based on last years' results I'd estimated about 5hrs for me - think my calculator needs some new batteries!

TF

Is this distance an off-road record for a Salford Harrier?

Ed.