Ewan Crilley reports:
A traverse from Fairholmes, over nine gritstone edges (Derwent, Stanage, Burbage North, Burbage South, Froggatt, Curbar, Baslow, Gardom’s and Birchen Edge) to The Robin Hood Inn near Baslow.
On the hottest day of the year, three brave MAC runners Simon Hoggart, Scott Thompson and Ewen Crilley (sorry If more and I missed you out) set off at 10am in the blistering heat to tackle this 20 mile off road route traversing the high moorland and gritstone edges from Fairholmes to the Robin Hood pub near Birchen Edge.
The race starts out at the base of the dam wall and climbs up to the first Checkpoint at Bradfield Gate Head. From here you head along Derwent Edge and make your way down to Checkpoint 2 at Moscar Lodge by the A57. A welcomed water intake and cooling bucket to dunk my head into. Next up on to Stanage Edge and follow this along to Checkpoint 3 at upper Burbage. Crossing the road a nice decent is welcomed to Checkpoint 4 Burbage South. The route then takes your through Longshaw Estate and down to Haywood Carpark for Checkpoint 5. Froggatt Edge next is calling you in and by this point the heat is pretty much unbearable. Continue along Froggatt and Curbar to Checkpoint 6 at Curbar Gap. A brave face is put on as my little girl Mia is there cheering me on and asking me how I’m doing? A big hug was gratefully received and the motivation to continue as she shouts ill see you at the finish line!
A small section round Baslow Edge passing Wellington Monument takes you down to final Checkpoint 7 at Clod Hall crossroads. The final stretch now take you under Birchen Edge and through to the finish line at the Robin Hood Pub for your complimentary drink. I never thought I would make to here. Finally a welcome rest. (The talks around the pub was that 47 pulled out during the race, but unsure if actually true, many runners changes to walkers to set off earlier at 7.30am)
Well done to all that took part, and a massive thank you to Edale Mountain Rescue Team the organisers of this race. Each checkpoint had masses amounts of water, bananas and jelly babies to keep you going, and to all the volunteers they were checking every runner was good and well hydrated. There is also a bus put on to take you back to Fairhomes.
As a complete beginner to long distance runs, I had put in months and months of training and was really looking forward to this day and had a 4hr target in mind. Sadly I was beaten by the weather today and finished 5hrs 20mins. So now ill need to go back next year and get my target. No official times have been realised yet so not sure how my MAC colleagues got on. I’m sure they did well. I’ll update once I have the results – which should appear at https://edalemrt.co.uk/
