Liz Edwards reports
Dovedale dipper – on Saturday 2nd August my family and I took the short drive over to Hartington so that I could take on the Dovedale dipper – a 27 mile (ish) trail race which involves carrying kit and navigation. It’s the longest thing I’ve ever done, and it’s been some years since I’ve raced anything beyond the 20 mile mark, so this felt like a big deal for me.
The weather was kind, it was dry but not too hot (at least for the fist bits of the race).
I took on the mass start at 10am with around 60 other runners. I’m glad I did as this meant I could just focus on running rather than navigating for the early parts of the race, a few folk running had done the race before and knew the route – so that was handy.
By the first check point around 5 miles in along the Tissington trail, I was second lady and feeling good. From there the route cut across fields and minor roads, (dipping up and down) until we reached Longnor, the second check point. My family came to cheer me on here and I was still holding second place.
The middle section of the race was a mixture of grassy fields and tracks, this bit is where the big dipper and the little dipper (the 15 mile shorter version) came together so the route was beginning to get busy, thankfully these wasn’t too much waiting around to do at the stiles and gates.
After the 3rd check point at Revidge the route takes on some bigger hills of Ecton and Wetton (some walking was required on the very steep bits). The views were amazing. At the 4th checkpoint in Wetton I need to fill up water and re-fuel, this (plus a quick stop at the ladies) unfortunately, this meant I lost my position, but water was essential – the sun had come out and we were a few hours into the race – so it was starting to heat up.
The last section of the race followed the River Dove from Milldale back to Hartington. This was a steep sided limestone dale, very picturesque. My legs were very tired now, and my muscles feeling tight but I dug deep to keep running (with the exception of the climb out of the dale) all the way to the finish line.
I finished in 4hr 44mins, 4th lady in my category and 5th lady over the line overall. I missed out on a podium finish, but I am immensely happy with the result. I wasn’t expecting to be anywhere near the podium when we set off, so a job well done.
A great race, challenging but very scenic and a friendly atmosphere. And it does live up to its name – there are lots of ups and downs.
