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Well just because we can’t run in groups definitely does not seem to stop GDHers getting out n about for good runs! Strava has been filled with big runs, short runs, fast runs, slower runs, scenic roads, road runs…..just about everything these last 2 weeks! Maybe it’s just that bit easier now it’s light around half 6am and you can still be without a headtorch almost 12h later? Or is it now that we know races might start to go ahead from as early as April that we are all getting that bit of race fever (panic?) that we actually MIGHT have to put some proper training in 😉
Well if the times for the Glossop 5 miler are anything to go by, looks like folk have not been slacking of late!
So without further ado, lets kick off this report with the news about the races that definitely WILL be going ahead in 2021 – it’s the GDH Virtual champs!
GDH Virtual Champs Launched Monday
So March is here with it has seen the start of the GDH Virtual Champs 2021
Served up first is the GLOSSOP 5!!
It’s been great seeing so many members having a good go at this already in the first week.
A gnarly ol’ road route sure to test everyone. If you’re unsure you can find the details here https://www.glossopdaleharriers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/glossop-5-route.pdf
After consideration the champs group have now included categories into the champs. This means we have around 40 prizes/mementos up for grabs:
Overall, MSenior, M40, M50, M60, M70,
Overall, FSenior, F40, F50, F60, F70
in The Champs, the Fell, the Road & the Trail.
NOTE: For the whole years champs please enter your category based on your age at 31/12/21!
All info on the champs and how to upload your results is available here https://www.glossopdaleharriers.org.uk/club-championship/ but if in doubt please just ask.
We’ve also now added the JustGiving link for Glossop MRT should any of you wish to make a donation in lieu of race entry fees you would have expended during the year.
Good Luck everyone and above all Enjoy ️
Champs Group
Kinder Dozen
I always think this sounds waaaaay easier than it is, thinking it’s maybe like a dozen km or something….how wrong can you be! Thanks to Ian for sending in this report:
Lance Hamilton Griffiths and I completed The Dozen in March 2020 in 8:39, and it was always the plan to have another go at this in Spring 2021, with the intention to go for an sub 8 hour completion – a time suggested as being the target for a Bob Graham Round (BGR) contender. Essentially, we had a score to settle!
When we first did it, we didn’t really know what we were letting ourselves in for, so the idea was simply to have a fun day, get round, and see what time we end up with. After the event, we were confident 8 hours was doable, just by putting in a little more here and there and by not stopping for a packed lunch! But most critically, we would make the time by eliminating a few small but costly route/line mistakes.
So with the forecast as it was last weekend, we made a late decision to go for it, technically qualifying as a Winter round, which seems ridiculous, as the weather was anything but wintery (we got sunburnt in February!). We again opted to start at the footbridge below the Snake Inn, which makes sense for Glossopians, but to legitimise this it necessitates a visit The Old Nags Head in Edale which is the official start/finish point.
Thankfully pretty much all went to plan, managing the route in 7:48, with which we are both really pleased (and somewhat relieved). The worst moment had to be the climb up from River Kinder to Sandy Heys Trig (Climb 11). Both struggling by then, and it’s such a rough climb. Cock up of the day came at the bottom of Blackden Clough (Climb 2) where we got into a bit of a pickle (my bad) ending up on the wrong side of a high drystone wall with barbed wire on the top. An attempt to scale it ended up with me teetering, before falling backwards and Lance having to catch me. Was quite funny, but it could have spelled the end of the attempt (and also cost us several minutes!).
For any would-be 8 hour contender, below are our actual splits, which would make a perfect schedule to follow. I had ranked the climbs in terms of the total amount of ascent, but you will quickly learn that this has very little bearing on the actual difficulty of that climb. For example, Nether Moor is ranked 12th in terms of ascent, but I’d put it 2nd in terms of difficulty. In other words, ignore the ranking system!!! This is a brilliant and genuinely very challenging local fell running route. I’d highly recommend it as a long social day out, or for any Harrier looking to test themselves against the 8 hour limit.
| Name | Climb ft | Rank | 2021 Split |
| Snake Inn Footbridge | 00:00 | ||
| Seal Stones | 965 | 3 | 20:45 |
| Blackden Trig | 1019 | 1 | 01:02:15 |
| Crookstone | 835 | 7 | 01:37:50 |
| Nether Moor | 565 | 12 | 02:08:38 |
| Druids Stone | 895 | 5 | 02:41:53 |
| Ringing Roger | 767 | 10 | 03:16:01 |
| Grindslow Knoll | 1000 | 2 | 04:01:20 |
| Crowden Tower | 912 | 4 | 04:46:04 |
| Edale Cross | 650 | 11 | 05:18:17 |
| Kinder Low Trig | 797 | 8 | 05:55:36 |
| Sandy Heys Trig | 867 | 6 | 06:41:33 |
| Fairbrook Naze | 780 | 9 | 07:32:03 |
| Snake Inn Footbridge | 07:48:37 |
Great work Ian and Lance; great achievement!
Peak Running Challenge
Thanks to Marie Williamson for sending this report in:
Following the virtual spine in January, I felt the need to keep up some distance (with motivation) during February too. For the 268 mile Spine challenge, I’d logged my miles walked at work & dog walks on top of my runs (I average 8km in a 10 hour shift). I didn’t want to use my work/dog miles for February. The Peak running virtual ‘run for the trees’ challenge fitted the bill (it ran from 8th Feb-7th march). There was a choice of 3 distances to choose from 50mile, 100mile or 200mile. I wanted to do the 150…but there wasn’t one so, obviously, I had to go for the 200!!
Alongside the the total mileage challenge there were individual virtual race distances to have a bash at too. The shortest being 2 miles & the longest 100
I completed all the ones up to the marathon distance. I was tempted to go for the 33 but talked myself out of it. Some I plodded, just to go the distance or because it was too icy, but I put a bit of effort for the shorter ones. First time, since parkrun, that I’ve busted a gut running. So, today (Sunday) is the final day of the challenge & I need to clock up 13 point something miles to complete my 200 (sending this in on Saturday night so haven’t quite done yet). During the month, I’ve felt muscles I haven’t felt for a while & been out solo a fair bit too. I reckon I’ve made a groove round some of my regular routes. It’s looking very possible that actual events may restart sometime soon & I actually feel a little prepared this time now (unlike last sept/oct!!)…but, in the meantime, I’m going to try & not get lost doing some virtual champs races
Wow Marie – that is seriously good going and definitely stands in you in good stead for the likely summer events!! And…if i’ve found the right Marie on Strava…it looks like you have more than completed the 200 today by running about 20 miles not 13!
There’s a Batman about town…
Watch out folks, there’s a new super hero loose and he might be coming to a street near you…!
Thanks to Batman for sending this in:
Other a than a few short runs my highlights have been my run with my trail and coal dressed as batman then a dip in a river…
England Athletics Club Run Virtual Announcement!
In case you haven’t seen already, we are very pleased to announce the date of the first Club Run Virtual session is Thursday 18th March at 7pm!
The session will be run on Zoom, there is no limit on numbers and its open to all club members who are interested in attending!
The link for the meeting will be emailed round to you, and the session will last for 90 minutes.
Format – NURVV who’ve partnered with EA will give a talk about running technique and then will discuss the data collected from the runners who’ve trialled the insoles (more details to follow on exactly how they want this info)
Then there will be a short presentation from Chris Hollinshead (EA) coach followed by a Q&A.
As one of the most popular topics on the survey (i’ll share all result separately) was uphill and downhill running technique, we agreed this would fit in well with the talk by NURVV about technique more generally, so Chris will then focus on uphill/downhill technique. Please have a think about any burning questions you have on these topics that you want to ask him – it’s a great opportunity to pick the brains of a really experienced coach! You can ask questions in the chat box on Zoom, or can send them into Lucy in advance (via FB).
Now the moment you’ve all been waiting for….drumroll!!! Thanks to the 24 of you (16M and 8F) who wished to trial the NURVV insoles; sorry we haven’t got free pairs for everyone….but hopefully if you are the same shoe size as one of the 5 lucky names drawn out the hat first (google random number generator!) you can have a go with the insoles at a later date when they’ve had their fill!
Lucky recipients are:
Luke Holme, Lance HG, Sean Phillips, Wendy Trelease, Vicki Hamilton
Let me/Pete Wallroth know if any questions, it’s all still a work in progress as it’s pretty new for EA this as well! Hopefully lots of you can make it There will then be 2 more sessions – be interested to hear your thoughts, they can do one a month (session 2 April, and session 3 May) if thats what we want – figured could be a good idea before summer kicks off and we can all get proper running/racing again and don’t want to sit indoors on Zoom? If people prefer, we can do that more frequently than this – whatever works for everyone. Please please do let us know so that we can get as many of you along a possible!
Not the Coached Session L3W9
Cannot believe we are already in Week 9 of the NOT sessions during this 3rd, and hopefully, final lockdown. Preparations for restarting the Coached Sessions are going well so keep your eyes and ears open for an announcement, certainly in the next couple of weeks.
Until then, you will have to make do with self-motivation. If you are struggling with that, and frankly, who is not, at least from time to time, one way to help you going out and do these sets, is to tell some people that you are going to do these and when and ask them to enquire after the due date. Next time you see them, they will want to know how you got on and surely you do not want to let your nearest and dearest down by admitting you did not. That may be enough motivation to go out and do them at the time you promised yourself you would. A little self-guilt-tripping.
So what will you be telling your friends you are doing this week?
* 4x 400m, a little faster than 10K pace or 7/10 RPE. Take a minute rest between each 400m and 3 minutes after #4.
* Then run 2 or 3x between 2 and 3K at a similar pace with 4 or 5 minutes recover after each.
* Finally, repeat the 4x 400m from above.
As you can see, there is some flexibility in this set, both in number of reps and distance. Judge wisely and do not push you body beyond what it is capable of, based on your current fitness level, rather than what you would like it to be. This set will take a little longer than what we usually can fit into a Coached Session so make the most of it while the “NOT” sessions last.
As to preparing for the main set, as regular readers, you know the drill. Do not start this until you have completed a thorough warm-up. Minimum 10 minute easy jog/run followed by another 10 minutes of warm-up drills and exercises. Include butt kicks, skips, carioca, arm-swings, high knees, back pedalling (running backwards) and maybe 4 or 5 (short?) strides.
Coach J
Committee Corner
So it sounds like it’s been a busy few weeks in committee land since the AGM! As we are on a bi-weekly report, please see below for 2 updates from the committee on what they’ve been up to since the AGM:
“The committee met on Friday 26 February for a short lunchtime meeting. We discussed progress on the survey, constitution and the “ground rules” document. New items included considering eligibility criteria for members who are keen to undertake leadership training and we also had an update from Kate (welfare officer) on an EA focus group meeting she had attended earlier in the week. We will need to do more work in this area and we are very grateful to Kate and Ben for their continued enthusiasm. Finally, we were able to have the first discussion of the return to formal club training, and Andy Brack (Covid officer) will join a future meeting for a review of the covid documentation. From what has been published, it looks like things can start to happen after 29 March 2021. Who knows, we may take up Guy’s suggestion for a committee meeting on the hoof!”
A quick summary of recent committee meetings (we are meeting weekly at the moment, Friday lunchtime zooms!) with the aim to reduce to a more sensible once a month soon.
- We have agreed a “behaviours and ground rules” document for the committee (which includes a pleasing acronym of RACES). This is so that committee members are accountable to each other for working together collaboratively and considerately, in the best interests of the Club. Expert input from Jude Stansfield appreciated.
- Work continues on getting the survey and draft constitution finished, Zoe and Matt leading on these two respectively (with help from Caity Rice and Rick Gwilt)
- We are also close to finalising an interim communication protocol addressing the motions raised at the AGMs in 2020 and 2021. This is “interim” because it may well be updated in due course once we have the outcomes of the survey.
- We noted the enthusiasm around the launch of the Virtual Club Championships and approved a prize fund of £200. Guy Riddell is the elected member with responsibility for linking with the Champs Sub Committee.
- Eligibility criteria for leadership in running funding: Jeroen is drafting these for review, with input from Charmayne Brierley
- Kate Bowden attended one of the meeting, and highlighted some welfare areas we need to look at including safeguarding and mental health.
The notes of committee meetings are available on the website.
Think that just about rounds everything up for now! Thanks to everyone for their contributions -have a good 2 weeks running, keep getting out logging those miles and we’ll see you back here for the last report of lockdown in 2 weeks time….!