The first section was a quite rocky descent, followed by a nice grassy track through a small valley. I set off a little too fast, partly to enjoy the techy downhill through a short rocky section and partly so I wouldn't get stuck behind anyone who isn't used to technical;
Then past a sewage farm and onto a road for a few metres, turning off left to climb up a byway towards Hartington;
I took a few people here, both going up and down the other side. The byway led to road, the route turned left and then left again up another byway and another short climb and drop. Crossing a road we headed down another byway, which got nice and techy although I wouldn't want to try and descend fast in the wet, limestone being rather slippery when damp. Part way down a rocky section the route took us through a gate and across a field;
And after a short climb we headed through a gate and onto a riverside track down Wolfscote Dale. Now it was just a case of following the water down through a very pretty valley;
There were a couple of bridges and quite a few gates to slow us down. The biggest obstacle however was a stiff climb heading up left. I ran the first third, taking small light baby steps, but soon had to walk. This climb took us into a field which in turn led us onto the Tissington Trail, a disused railway line which ran from Ashbourne to Buxton. Old railway lines aren't neccessarily flat, in fact it was mostly climbing for this 4k section before we left the trail and dropped onto sheep fields for the final short stretch.
A good race, I finished in a time of 1:28:09 which I'm very pleased with, especially as I came in 50th place overall out of 196 runners, 15th out of 35 in my age group.
The pretty photos of the course were taken on the 18th of April whilst recce'ing.
Paul.
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