This is a 20 mile linear race along most of the gritstone edges of the Peak District, organised by Edale Mountain Rescue Team. The route starts at Fairholmes (between Derwent and Ladybower Reservoirs) and finishes at the Robin Hood pub just east of Baslow.
Busses are arranged to get you back to your car at Fairholmes, but we’d had to travel in two cars as I needed to go to Manchester straight after the race, so I dropped my car at the Robin Hood and jumped in with Dave and Ned to go up the the start – all the time thinking “I’ve got to run all this to get back!”
After a midgey start, I realised my water bottle was leaking badly, so drank all I had before any more was lost! The 1000ft climb up to Derwent Edge wasn’t (quite) as bad as I expected, and I was up at Checkpoint 1 at 35 mins. This was the only significant climb in the race and it was great to run down along the slabs past all the tors. We then swung east towards the second checkpoint at Moscar Lodge, before crossing over onto Stanage.
Even this long section whizzed by (I’m quite seasoned to maintaining flat speed after my 2 Glasgow-Edinburgh canal races!) and I got to the Fiddler’s Elbow Checkpoint at exactly 2 hours into the race, stopping briefly to guzzle some jelly babies and water.
The track just below Burbage was another gentle descent, but I did start to tire going through Longshaw and along Froggatt and Curbar. At this point, the end was near, and it was nice to get a cheer from clubmates Paul and Roger near Wellington’s Monument. A final uphill push up to the bottom of Birchen, and then down through the bracken to the Robin Hood, where we were issued with our free drink voucher, and, more to the point, finished running!
Post-race rehydration!
I met Dave and Ned and got my pint, happy with my time of 3 hours 38 – especially as this took the pressure off my airport trip later in the day. There was a great atmosphere at the end, as well as during the race, as it was nice to say ‘hi’ to all the walkers who had started before us. Dave was pretty impressed that some do a climb on all of the edges (adding distance and climb) and still finish before he did!
Well done! That looks like a good one, you’ll have to remind me to enter it next year! 😀
Yes! Good time of year + downhill course. I managed to get through on the waiting list!
great read were can i download that map from 🙂
Hi Bryan, best mark it up on a printout from Bing maps. I see this year’s race is Sept 23rd and entries are open at: http://www.edalemrt.co.uk/ There’ll be a route description there too. Good luck!
Yes I’ve already entered ..thanks for quick reply . I never thought of bing maps .. I did hathersage hurtle a couple of week back and some fellow runners said I would like this one.. Thanks again