Darley Dale Trail Run.

Yesterday saw me taking part in my first race of the year, a 15k trail run organised by Dark & White Events down at Darley Dale. Although the day was mild and dry the recent wet weather (that'll be Doris) had left the ground rather muddy. So rather than my usual trail shoes (Saloman Speedtraks) I wore my rather more aggressive Inov8 Mudclaws, which although would be overkill for a fair amount of the course did give me grip and confidence on the rather slippery and boggy sections.

The few few kilometres shadowed Peak Rail's line from Darley to Rowsley, no trains running unfortunately, on tarmac and hardpack. On reaching Rowsley the course joined a farm track towards Stanton Woodhouse. I started out at the back of the pack (it was a staggered start) keeping a reasonable pace and only overtaking when neccessary. Soon we were climbing, which meant that I could move up a few more places, and once through a farmyard we were into fields at last.

We passed a feed station on the entrance the the abandoned Stanton Quarry, I grabbed a couple of gels quickly and carried on climbing, past old quarry buildings and unfinished quern stones through ankle deep mud and over roots. Through a gate and onto Stanton Moor we went, passing the Nine Ladies stone circle, good running ground with a few rocks and a cracking downhill section.

Off the moor and onto a road, I saw a group of about 8-10 runners coming downhill towards me and a marshall in a van pull up, someone had moved a sign and sent quite a few competiters on an extra loop. I'd recce'd the course previously so knew the route but others weren't so lucky. It seems that some idiot on a mountain bike was responsible. Ho hum. This next section of course took us down passing a campsite on a slippery path, my choice of footware saw me able to run quickly past others who were sliding around all over the place. Once past the campsite (where I once had to go to sort out a young person who'd kicked off and injured one of her carers when I worked and a residential care worker, funny how certain places bring back memories) we had to negoitiate some very muddy fields before turning onto a wide green lane. Running along here wasn't particulary interesting, or pleasant, and it was along here that I got overtaken by about a dozen other runners. Whether they were from a later start or had been redirected by the misplaced sign I don't know but it was rather disconcerting to be overtaken by so many at once.

Through a gate next, then into woodland at Darley Bridge. More waterlogged ground and more sliding around, and a steep climb that had me (and most others) walking. We were nearing the end now, a little roadside running and a few more paths led us to a river bridge (also a popular put-in for canoeists and kayakers) which we crossed before heading across the final field of the day. Now after a short road section (past Slaters Plastikard) we followed the railway line once more back to the start.

I finished in a time of 1:30:58, which I'm very pleased with. My overall position was 71st (out of 231) and I was 21st in my age group (out of 37).

By the way, apart from the race number all photos were taken whilst recce'ing the route.

Paul.