Heading towards “Fall Back”: The last of the light evenings

It is another short Sunday missive after yet more days of nearly no racing.  That said, the Harriers are still collectively putting in lots of miles mainly around our local roads, trails and fells with some people venturing away from the shire to find bigger hills, longer trails, wider horizons and usually also cake.

For some of us, one of the biggest challenges of October seems to be working out where we stashed all of the stuff we need to allow us to run safely and cosily through the chillier and darker months…..head torch, hi vis anything, merino everything and, of course, Roosters for the hardy souls planning to venture out into the increasingly deep and chilly boglands.   Pete Tomlin appears to be compiling the ultimate A/W kit list on Facebook if you find any gaps in your running wardrobe over the next few weeks 😉.

So, based on two emails and some social media stalking, these running related things have happened over the last few days….

Kate’s September Charity Trig Challenge (courtesy of Kate B, unsurprisingly)

When I decided to try to raise some money for Crossroads Derbyshire by visiting as many trigs as I could in September, I didn’t really know what I was letting myself in for.  It’s been amazing to discover so many new places in the Dark Peak and begin to get a new sense of our beautiful and dramatic landscape.  

The challenge started and finished with a stunning sunset run to Cock Hill followed by a moonrise swim in Swineshaw, with a notable drop in water temperature over the month! Other highlights were navigating myself back from Fairholmes to Glossop via 3 trigs (Alport, Higher Shelf Stones, Cock Hill) in the clag when Sikobe hurt his ankle and couldn’t meet me – the best learning happens when you’re thrown in the deep end and I certainly learned a lot that day; then mid-month the ‘Trig Trog’ was an extended version of the Kinder Trog but included 6 trigs  (Lantern Pike, Harry Hut, Kinder West, Kinder Low, Brown Knoll, Chinley Churn) – the longest route but best ‘mile-to-trig’ ratio by far; and month end saw the ‘Crowden Triangle’, an extension of the Crowden Horseshoe race route including 3 trigs (Featherbed Moss, Black Hill, Hey Edge) and incredible views over Woodhead reservoirs.  Other highlights included Snailsden and Dead Edge End with the lovely addition of a swim in Winscar reservoir, and the Howden Edge Trio (Outer Edge, Margery Hill, Back Tor) with a dip in Slippery Stones pool for the interpid! I also loved watching the sun set over Stanage Edge at High Neb trig.  

 I had intended to include a 2-day Dark Peak 15 Trigs round, and although I was initially disappointed about missing this out, I am happy to have visited them all one way or another. Mind you,  now I’ve endured 3 hours of heather-bashing hell trying to work out the best ‘line’ to/from Emlyn trig, maybe one day …… 

Best of all, I’ve had amazing company and fun with everybody who has joined me and kept me going and between us all we’ve raised £400 to spruce up the women’s refuge garden, which is brilliant! 

>> Well done, Kate!!

Social Media Snippets

For those on Strava:

Peak Raid:  Earlier in the week it looked like Rachel W. and John S. were planning to take part in the next race in the Autumn Peak Raid Series however, on closer examination (triggered by Rachel’s strava route and lovely photos), it appears that the race was unfortunately cancelled at the last minute due to rain-related parking issues.

Marie W. was doing her marathon thing again, this time racking up a whole pile of PRs at the Yorkshire Cakeathon … which was sadly cake-free this year due to Covid restrictions.   

Not parkrun Corner (sent in from ‘anonymous’):  Off the back of her September Trigs training – Congratulations to Kate Bowden for a Glossop NOT parkrun 5k PB of 24:02 (being >70% age grade) this Saturday on a wet course.Who says that one can’t excel long on the fells and the short on the trail / in the park. Not-quite-content-Kate was heard to say – ‘if only i had run 3 seconds faster’… 

News from the Committee

The committee is delighted to announce that Vicki Hamilton has volunteered to become our new Membership Secretary.  It’s great to have members stepping up to help run our club. Please help us to welcome Vicki in her new role.

As always, if you have any running-related exploits to share, we would love to hear from you at gdhweeklyreports@gmail.com.     

Happy autumnal running!