A duo of MACs decided that 23 April was a nice day for a marathon, so taking advantage of some event going on down South, they snuck under the radar and headed for Ashbourne.
The Tissington Trail marathon is an out and back from Ashbourne to Parsley Hay – a steady ascent pretty much all the way out, but theoretically downhill on the way back. The consensus was that the ascent seemed more noticeable than the descent.
With fewer than 200 finishers, this is definitely an event favouring those that like their own company. The weather was perfect and polite encouragement from other trail users and a smattering of supporters along the way.
Hoping to take advantage of the small field and his newish age category, Andy Mellor had half an eye on the V50 prize. Sadly another old fella finished seconds ahead of him (876 seconds to be more precise). Happily, the swifter vet bagged the third place bronze, leaving Andy to shamelessly waddle away with the V50 prize (8th place overall in 3:15:26).
Marathon man Dan also had a good run, with this being his eight marathon (or Ultra) in eight months, clocking 3:28:27 and 17th overall.
Results available online: https://www.nice-work.org.uk/races/the-tissington-trail-marathon/2023
