Marathon  

Course Details and further information

The marathon starts at Thorpe and follows the Tissington Trail, up the dales to Parsley Hay, whereupon it does an about turn to follow the High Peak Trail. It undulates but is almost level as it joins the half marathon part of the route near Friden. After this commencing at Hopton it descends in three stages, at about 21, 22½ and 24½ miles, the latter descent being about 1 mile long down the steep incline to the Cromford canal at High Peak Junction. At this point it turns over the canal and left along the tow-path. The finish is in Cromford Meadows, approximately ¾ of a mile from there.

Please note that there are limited points of access to the trail throughout. For this reason it is difficult to monitor the condition of competitors, so to help with safety and security, competitors who have not reached the 10 mile point at Parsley Hay within 2 hours will be asked to retire. We also rely upon runners who get themselves into difficulty to advise the race marshals at the access points so that they can be picked up. Last year we had one competitor who completed the first 13 miles in 1 hour 30 minutes, and took an additional 4 hours for the remaining 13. Although we follow the race by bike, we can only follow the last few runners, so we did not pick up this person until the rest of the field had passed him, by which time he was in a state of total exhaustion. So we really need people to be sensible. No navigational skills are needed for the event and there will be 7 feed stations spaced out as evenly as possible along the marathon course.

At the finish the rugby clubhouse will be open for changing and showering, and there will be a bar and TV. We hope also to provide catering both before and after the race. The half marathon prize giving will take place just before the first marathon runners are due, at about 1.30 pm, and the marathon prizes will be given out between 3.30 and 4.00 pm.

Follow this link for an aerial view of the trail from the start of the Marathon Race.  You can follow firstly the Tissington Trail in a generally northerly direction to Parsley Hay and then turning in a south westerly direction follow the High Peak Trail to High Peak Junction where we have the "Canal Turn."  Finish is at grid reference SK 304 568.

Copyright © 2006 Matlock Athletic Club