Race History Part 2
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Race History Part 2
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White Peak Marathon History the first 10 years 1977 - 1986 Under the direction of Ian Farrand who would mastermind the race for some years the basic problems were addressed satisfactorily and the inaugural race was held in May 1977. The jogging boom was not even on the horizon and only the hard men (there were no women in this first event) ran the marathon distance. Consequently the club was not disappointed to have a field of only 19 (of whom almost half were from Matlock AC) who nevertheless produced some lively battle for first place with Chris Bent of Salford securing victory in the final stages in 2:45.45 from Matlock's Clive Russell who completed in 2:50.18. Clive had been progressing through the field rapidly in the later stages and he maintains to this day the no one has ever run the 5th stage faster. Certainly it was here that he overhauled Brian Whittaker of Rotherham, a top class cross country runner in his day, who clocked 2:51.43. The vet's prize was awarded to fell runner Ted Dance of the Rucksack Club and he finished 7th in 3:01.45. The 1977 finish list reproduced below illustrates how, with a small field, we were able to give split times for each stage and provide all runners with full results. Our aim has always been to make it a runner's event concentrating on their main priorities, but in later years, with large entries, the logistics have made the provision of such detailed results an impossible luxury.
Another requirement of a point to point course is to get the runner's kit from the start to the finish. We achieved this by bussing competitors from race HQ one hour before the 11:00 AM start and sending their tracksuits back on the empty bus. They got all this for the princely entry fee of £1.00. Our experience gained from the first race encouraged us to try another one. 1978 (34 entries)
1979 (35 Entries)
Entries still small but the race was becoming well known as a rather different event. Before the start the runners could look forwards to patting the "Radio Controlled Horse". Two decades before the advent of mobile phones this horse was ridden by a Peak Park Ranger in radio contact with HQ in case of emergencies. It was fortunate there weren't any as the rather elderly nag had a job to keep up with the field. 1980 (77 entries)
The largest entry yet and an overall higher standard with 21 runners inside 3 hours. This in spite of a temporarily modified course which probably made running even more difficult. The rebuilding of bridges near Ashbourne had necessitated the moving of the start four miles up the trail with an extra loop inserted on the Buxton section of the line to give the correct marathon distance. Brian Howitt recalled that the surface of this section was particularly rough going and hard on the feet. We now had our first female competitor as the jogging era began to dawn. 1981 (73 entries)
This was the race that nearly didn't take place. Bridges were still incomplete on the Tissington Trail and another on the Middleton incline just before the finish was down. In spite of the efforts of our man on the inside, Clive Russell, to design bridges against the clock, he couldn't get them built in time and we again had to reroute. The course reverted to the original start at Ashbourne, the finish was moved to Middleton Top and the Parsley Hay loop was again revised. Runners had to accept some temporary going near some of the unfinished bridges. Still our troubles were not over as late April saw a freak 72 hour blizzard sweep the Peak District and completely fill the deep cuttings on the trails. With less than two weeks to go miles of the central section were not runnable. Every time you entered a deep cutting you faced anything up to 20 feet of snow littered with fallen rocks, broken trees and dead sheep for good measure. It was only when a final reconnoitre nine days before the race revealed that only one cutting was still snowbound that the decision was taken to send out programmes saying the show would go on, but with a warning to runners to be prepared for tough conditions. On the day, May 16th, hot sunny weather must have made runners think we had been fantasising, but for anyone still in control of the faculties at 23 miles the sight of a melting snowdrift in the Longcliffe cutting gave proof of our earlier predicament. 1982 (68 entries)
Back to the original course with the first three finishers inside the old race record. This was particularly fine running in view of a gale force headwind over the first 13 miles which they covered in 1:20.18. It has always proved faster to face a westerly on the way out when fresh and have the benefit of it on your back when you encounter "those endless miles after Minninglow" as they were feelingly described by Tony Berwick to whom we owe the maps of the early course. This year the leading trio ran the second half faster than the first though there was a series of mini blizzards after the turn which caused a number of runners to judge it wiser not to continue beyond the 19 miles checkpoint. 1983 (56 entries)
Results for 1983 are sparse with no Vets or Team places appearing to have been recorded. Entries were slightly down although quality was very good with 19 runners breaking the 3 hour barrier. 1984 (50 entries)
The increasing number of veteran entries led to our introducing vet prizes in all categories, presented this year by one of the finest marathoners of all time, Arthur Keily of Derby. His opinion was that in view of the running surface he would place the race in the cross country category. This was George Kay's first marathon victory in 109 races. Only 6 runners under 3 hours this time, which reflected the very hot conditions and the many miles of loose gravel on the newly surfaced Tissington Trial. Up until now we had scraped together a little sponsorship in the form of prizes donated by local businesses which we acknowledged in the race programme. This year we benefited from a more professional approach by new member Roy Mason, the National BOF secretary, who secured the sole sponsorship of John Smedley Ltd. as part of their bi-centenary activities. 1985 (116 entries)
Alastair Keen ran away from the field into a stiff breeze and was well clear by 10 miles. A 2 hour 17 marathon runner on the road, his time seemed to confirm that the White Peak is 10 to 15 minutes slower than a road course for the top runners, and other evidence suggests that 3 hours is a realistic target only for the better club runner. This year we stopped giving split times which the larger fields had made unrealistic. During the running boom everyone wanted to run marathons and since the trail authorities had placed a limit on us, we were now restricting entries to 200, although we knew that a good percentage of them would not turn out on the day. 1986 (109 finishers)
Roland Gibbard clinched victory this time by a good margin. Unfortunately the race was marred by a dispute. In the final stages one of the leaders inexplicably ran off course and finished on a road adjacent to the Trail and was adjudged to have gained an unfair advantage, thus leading to his disqualification. His mistake probably occurred as a result of the "brain dead" state we have all experienced towards the end of a marathon. This is reinforced by Neil Forrest nearly doing the same thing a little later, in spite of his being the very person who put out the marker flags the day before on a course he been running for many years. The next year we put a marshal at this point to ensure an incident as unfortunate as this did not reoccur. Safety considerations were now being addressed via the help of REACT, a group of CB volunteers who were in radio contact with HQ from start to finish. The horse had been replaced as sweeper by members of Matlock Cycling Club who reported that riding 26 miles slowly in 5 hours was more tiring that a stage in the Tour de France. Prizes were presented by local MP Matthew Parris after himself turning out in the race as he frequently did. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Matlock Athletic Club
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