Just another normal weekend…or is it?

Tis the season to be jolly!! Ok, no it’s not Christmas, and we don’t wanna get carried away, as it’s early days, but this weekend saw the 2nd weekend in a row where we had a return to racing….of sorts! And the weekly reports inbox wasn’t being repeatedly refreshed on the off chance someone had wanted to share what they’d been up to!

So without further ado, read on to see what’s been happenin’ this week!

Yorkshire 3 Peaks

No it’s not abroad – this is in fact England!

Thanks to Wendy for sending news of what some GDHers have been up to this week:

“Wendy Mcmahon & Nicky Pennington along with a couple of friends completed the three yorkshire peaks on monday.”

If Strava was anything go by, looks like they whizzed over these peaks pretty quickly! Nice one you lot, hope you had a great day!

Manor Park Marathon

Well, as sure as day follows night, you can be sure that some time in August there will be a bunch of Harriers going round, and round, and round, and round…(you get the picture) Manor Park in the wee small hours! This year, despite in many ways being VERY different to normal, was no different in this respect! MPM appears to be well and truly fixed into the GDH running calendar. Thanks to founder, fan, and ultimate MPM enthusiast Dan Stinton for sending in an update of the antics:

“It was never going to be quite the same this year with no parkrun to “look forward to”, but nevertheless Manor Park Marathon, along with its even more grotesque big brother Ultra Trail Manor Park, went ahead on Saturday morning.  It started really, really, really early in the morning for Guy Riddell and Bartek Verde who went for the now traditional midnight start.  An immediate route modification was needed to avoid the flooded duck pond meaning a significant amount of time was spent discussing how long the new lap was – we definitely needed Jeroen “Measuring Wheel” Peters out there to verify!

Ben Robertson and Tracey Robinson both joined for a few laps in the middle of night but at some point proceedings were disrupted by a young lady laying comatose somewhere by the parkrun finish line.  Presumably she had collapsed in awe of the mighty running feat unfolding in front of her.  GDH to the rescue of course and I believe she was escorted to her parents car…

I arrived at a slightly more sociable hour of 5:30am and set off with Steve Crossman aiming for the standard 27 laps which he definitely made me work hard for.  As light bathed the park more MPM’ers arrived; Ian Oates, Ian Crutchley, Pete Tomlin, Marie Williamson, Jayne Moreton, Immy Trinder and Dave Jowett.  Ben Robertson came out for a second shift in the morning too carrying his trademark tyre.  Most people were finished shortly after 9am, although there appeared to be an unofficial parkrun happening anyway with some makeshift course markers scattered around the park (no-one from GDH I should add).  Sikobe took on official photography duties and did an excellent job of lurking behind bushes and bins to capture the action.

Results… results…. With no whiteboard for the official lap totals, the results were something like this….

Laps	Name	Time
45	Guy Riddell	9:20:00
32	Bartek Verde	6:58:05
27	Steve Crossman	3:36:59
27	Daniel Stinton	3:37:00
14	Ian Crutchley	2:11:00
13	Pete Tomlin	1:58:42
13	Ian Oates	2:28:36
13	Marie Williamson	2:37:02
13	Jayne Moreton	2:37:02
6 (1st shift)3 (2nd Shift)	Ben Robertson	TBC
6	Immy Trinder	0:45:55
5	Tracey Robinson	1:09:35
3	Dave Jowitt	0:32:44
0	Paul Skuse (Emotional support and coffee drinking)	–

Well done GDH – quite the socially distanced turnout! Dan – can’t believe you let Crossman beat you by a second!! Also kudos to Ben Robertson who, despite racing Sunday morning, still got out for some laps!

Dig Deep Weekend

Rivelin Running Events happily took over the Dig Deep races when the previous organisers called it a day – relieved they were there to take over as there are a great variety of distances to enjoy, all starting from Whirlow Hall Farm near Sheffield, and they usually attract some GDHers to take on the various races! We’d obviously all wondered whether these bank holiday weekend races would happen at all, but a month or so back it became clear they would…albeit with some restrictions/alterations in place. Not gonna lie, that did mean a bit of panic when I reckon I can’t be the only one out there just enjoying their running and not training for anything in particular as assumed (hoped?!) stuff would be cancelled! Some had clearly not been so lax and had been putting in the effort…guess you can’t just wing it when you are running 60 miles eh!

Anyway, thanks to Emma Rettig for sending in this report from the 30 miler:

“The Bank Holiday weekend brought 3 races for GDH – the Dig Deep 60 and 30 on Saturday and 12.12 on Sunday.

I’d signed up for the 30 at the start of the year and promptly forgot about it in the COVID19 madness. A email from the organisers a few weeks ago with race day details set off a mild panic and after initially offering my place out I was persuaded to give it a go. 

Starting at Whirlow Hall Farm near Sheffield, the event was really well organised and safe. For example, runners were given a 15 minute start window with staggered set off times and clear instructions to not hang around at the end. While these measures are obviously necessary in the circumstances part of the joy of racing is definitely lost. 

Pete Wallroth and I were both running the 30 and the organisers sorted us out with the same start window so there was at least a little GDH camaraderie at the start of the race. After kit check and instructions, we both dibbed in and set off. 

Pete was aiming for under 6 hours and I figured about 7.5 hours would be realistic due to a lack of any specific training. Pete soon disappeared from sight and given the staggered starts I settled in for a long, lonely but hopefully lovely, day out. 

The 30 route is a big loop taking in some Peak District beauties. Stannage and Bradwell Edge feature and climbing Parkin Clough 12 miles into the race to the top of Win Hill is a particular delight! (Ed – it’s what nightmares are made of during a race….!)

Five years ago, the hubby and I had completed this event, power walking our way through it, so I had a vague memory of the route. Plus the organisers insisted on everyone having a gpx download so nav wasn’t an issue.  However, one thing I had forgotten from the previous event was how much of the route was very runnable paths and roads. As a result I got through the first checkpoint at Upper Burbage car park way ahead of schedule and then motored along to the second checkpoint at the bottom of Parkin Clough. I wasn’t getting ahead of myself too much though as the bigger climbs were all in the second half of the route and at this point there was still a long way to go! 

After a water top up and quick snack I steeled myself for the climb. I followed two other 30 miler runners up the hill and we ended up crisscrossing for the rest of the day. Being able to have a few chats and sharing some encouragement along the way made for a much more pleasant day out.

After Win Hill the route drops down into Hope and then takes you along to Bradwell. The cement factory looms large in the landscape for much of the route but at least you always know roughly where you are as a result. 

Coming into the third checkpoint in Bradwell I was with a small group and we encountered a cow on the path. There were a few hair-raising minutes as it stopped and stared us out but eventually it found a way back into the field. Phew! 

A little over half way at this point I began daydreaming about sub 7 hours, especially as there’s a lovely, flat, runnable section along the River Derwent at about 20 miles. The rest of the race went by in a flash of snacks (a nut and Skittle combo was particularly delicious rocket fuel) and chat and before I knew it I was on the same paths we’d come out on and the finish was only a parkrun away. Barring disaster sub 7 was in the bag and I set my sights on under 6:45 to push me to the finish. 

I completed the event in 6:40 and 4th female. Delighted and I promise I wasn’t sandbagging initially my estimated time. Pete had an awesome race too finishing 8th overall and smashing his sub 6 target with 5:32. Top work and a great day out.

I’m sure the other Dig Deep racers will fill you in on their exploits and adventures.”

Wow well done you both, absolutely cracking times! And glad to hear you both enjoyed it – must have been nice to at least see some other runners, as I’ll agree with Emma, it was a bit weird not seeing anyone at the start etc and thinking it would be a lonely run! Massive well done to Pete W for getting his first sub 6h 30 miler….fair smashing it out the park i’d say!! It can’t have gone unnoticed he’s been racking up some good runs, strength training and good miles since we all last raced…all that hard work is defo paying off!!

Results:

8th – Pete: 5h32m46

20th – Emma:6h40m19

Dig Deep 60

Luke and Jason can be forgiven having run 60 miles yesterday and FB shows Luke is out on a hot date, so will write something for them 😉

Dig Deep got rid of the 50 mile option, so now if you want an ultra it’s the 30 or 60 to choose from. Jason has done the 60 on at least one occasion (and i’m guessing a few more?) so full well knows what to expect (despite the odd bit of course change)…so he clearly loves this as a race, cos there is just under 3000m ascent in the whole thing, so it is a challenge for sure! Think this was Luke’s first stab at the 60.  Both did absolutely brilliantly:

8th – Luke: 12h41m28

18th – Jason: 15h23m26

Dig Deep 12:12

So having decided that 2019 would be the year I didn’t do an ultra, and failed miserably…2020 has definitely been the year for no ultras, or races obvs!

I hadn’t entered this until I saw the race was going ahead and fancied a go, especially since Mandy Beames raved over it last year despite the weather! So we both entered this one, however Mandy decided that cycling 120 miles would be more of a challenge 😉 so sensibly sat this one out and worked on getting her legs cycling ready! Happily Ben Robertson was quick to snap the place up, so it was Ben and I who headed over to Whirlow today for a 12 mile jaunt through the Limb Valley (great trails), round Lady Cannings, up Burbage Valley (thankfully no cows this week), over Higger Tor (doesn’t get easier, does get muddier – and Ben found himself nearly faceplanting on a rock), skirting off downhill before Carl Wark to perhaps the muddiest and boggiest I have ever seen that section – think we did well if arrived at the bottom still wearing both shoes – and then back to the finish retracing our steps past Lady C and into Limb Valley.

Great route, if a little challenging with the head wind at times, but brilliant to be back out pushing it on a race! Did feel a little strange not seeing anyone until went past runners in the later waves as we got back onto the route where you go out/back. You have to keep reminding yourself you aren’t just out for a run! Low key finish, but we made the most of the trip over and sampled the delights of the gourmet burger van based at Whirlow…rude not too right?!

Results:

8th – Lucy: 1h48m56

18th – Ben: 2h03m33

Well done GDH! Something funny going on with the 8th/18th places…!

Beehive 5

David Chrystie-Lowe (and in fact the rest of the C-L family) are still busy burning up the tarmac on the Derbyshire Level on the Beehive 5 route…if you haven’t yet had a bash, give it a go! It’s a cheeky little 5k this…but what goes up has to come down (and back up again) so you get to enjoy the long descent down past Hurst Villa (my dream house….anyone got a spare million and a bit quid they can give me?) onto Sheffield Road before properly killing the quads going up Cross Cliff!

Club records and achievements

Dan S has been beavering away collecting and collating club records for the various race distances for the website/archives (I picture some time capsule-esque container with a piece of old parchment in it, prob stashed in the parkrun shed). Thanks Dan for taking the time to do this, it’ll be great to have a record of some cracking GDH achievements! Dan has sent in this:

“Thanks to everyone for their contributions to the records and achievements page https://www.glossopdaleharriers.org.uk/club-records-achievements/

I’ve added a few extra things ready for upload but am still missing any women’s HM, 10km, 5km fastest times.  I can only add them with your help providing the specific details to include.  I’ll do another update in a week or so if anything else comes in.”

Chairman Update

We are sorry to report that due to an admin glitch with documents that the return to groups of 12 coached session will be delayed for a week or two.

What else has everyone been at?

Chris Jackson finally saw the error of his ways and purchased some win sticks.

Will Mather has been annoyed at the tourists on Snowdon, whilst he was…ermm…also on Snowdon.

Rachel W, Kate B and co saw the big vulture

Pete T smashed 15 min of his half marathon PB, all whilst casually running around Manor Park!

Well that’s about it for this week folks, some big miles all round! Good work, now rest those legs…but not for too long! And don’t forget, don’t set your alarm for your bedroom-kitchen table commute tomorrow….it’s bank holiday! Enjoy!