Race History Part 3
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Race History Part 3
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White Peak Marathon History the next 10 years 1987 - 1996 1987 (110 finishers)
Fine weather and a record number of entrants saw new course records in both the Men's and the Women's races. Roger Edward's time is still the fastest recorded. 1988 (200 entries/147 finishers)
Very warm sunny weather and a headwind after the turn caused times to be 10 minutes down on the previous year. Nick Stone of Buxton led until the turn and then dropped out. Bates led at Middleton Top only to be out sprinted by Battye at the end. 1989 (165 entries/124 finishers)
Peter Bates of Bury AC a great supporter of the race over the years in second again and having to wait a while longer for the inevitable win. 1990 (137 finishers)
Another win for Andrew Battye in a slightly slower time. In a thank you letter after a race in which only 10 runners broke 3 hours one runner commented on the "terrible weather conditions". Another letter expressed the wish that it will not be "so hot" next year. The distance was now certified as accurate after Les Sims of the AAA had spent several days measuring the course in minute detail. John Smedley Ltd. did us proud this year by giving high quality T-shirts of their own design to all runners. Unfortunately they had understood that all runners would wear these during the race. The fact that this did not happen may have been a contributing factor towards their subsequent withdrawal of their sponsorship of the race. 1991 (number of finishers unavailable at this time)
These are derived from a summary written for the prize giving on the day. It must have been bad weather as the sheets are covered in mud. If anyone has a copy of the results please contact us to enable us to update this history. 1992 (185 finishers)
This was a watershed year in several ways for the race. Having not had a main sponsor for some time we were financially stretched and questions were asked as to whether we could afford both the money and the effort which only a small number of members now seemed prepared to put in. Mike Flint acted as caretaker race director for the one year. For the first time no race mugs would be given out to finishers as souvenirs of the race. This was a great pity since an all time record turn out, with the perennial Peter Bates at last achieving his ambition of winning the race. There were 185 finishers but this was not without its problems for runners and organisers alike in view of the appalling weather conditions. With a time differential of 2 and a quarter hours between first and last runner and horizontal icy rain driving into our faces over the last 10 miles as we splashed through inches of muddy water there were several ambulance cases of hypothermia and undoubtedly dozens of undiagnosed cases too as a result. All this lead to a radical rethink before the next year. 1993 (200 entries/157 finishers)
For all but a single year the race had finished at Black Rocks. After the conditions of 1992 we began to wonder if it was sensible to have hypothermic runners crossing the line not far below the summit of the local fell race and waiting to be transported in relays to the Anthony Gell School in Wirksworth for showers, followed by refreshments and the prize giving in a local pub. Our rationalisation was to start the race at the Thorpe access point to the trail and to finish nearer sea level on Cromford Meadows outside the Rugby Club. Runners could then collapse straight into the showers or the bar as their preference dictated. After the changed course had been remeasured by the indefatigable Les Sims for a new AAA certificate, we decided to give it a go. Times remained very comparable to previous years in spite of losing a few miles of the early climb and gaining the extra descent of Sheep Pastures incline, and no one, not even the triathletes, took up the option of swimming the last mile along Cromford Canal. The success of this modified event marked a good start for new race director Randall Tassell. 1994 (152 finishers)
With a falling membership at Matlock AC this year's entry represented a good effort from a small number of officials who coped with a large entry and a course issue. The Hopton tunnel had collapsed prior to the race and a slight detour had to be arranged to get around it. Nevertheless the times appear good. 1995 (136 finishers)
No record of any team awards survive for this year. The race though had a new sponsor: Twiggs of Matlock. A new individual record time (the slowest finishing time so far) was set of 5:15.38 which proved difficult to cope with for officials with a non road course. 1996 (128 finishers)
Another 10 years concluded and many more to follow. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Copyright © 2006
Matlock Athletic Club
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