On Saturday 9th July, after a week of injuries, 4 teams from Matlock Athletic Club competed in the Derwent River Relays at Belper on an oppressively hot, sunny and dry day.
Each runner completed a single lap of approximately 5.5k, starting next to the Meadows clubhouse, adjacent to Belper Town FC, heading into the fields following the footpath along the riverbank towards Morrison’s and through the supermarket car park. The course then went by the rugby club, down Goods Road before crossing the river and taking in the glamour and smell of the sewage works, and then back along the far side of the river. However, in a change from previous years, as the footpath next to the river, approaching the East Mill was badly damaged, the route climbed to Farnah Green before heading back down to the Mill before returning to the Meadows clubhouse.
There were some great performances on the day by Matlock Runners. In the Mixed Senior Category, team ‘The Chain’ were 6th overall with sterling performances from Luke Beresford who recorded the fifth quickest time of the day overall of 20:15 and Shelley Fairey was the fastest lady in a time of 21:19. Despite this, the team finished as second mixed senior team by the closest of margins of just one second as they were pipped on the line, still finishing 6th overall.
Two teams were victorious in their categories though, with ‘Gold Dust Women’ comprising of Louise Rowley, Club Captain Lottie Riddle, who took a tumble, picked herself up and pushed on, Lisa Jones and Amelia Corke winning the Female Senior team prize. This success was matched by team ‘Don’t Stop’ who won the Mixed V50 category. Both teams walked away with miniature bottles of water taken from the River Derwent. The final Matlock team ‘Go Your Own way’ finished 32nd overall out of the 51 teams competing.
Fantastic running everyone!