Along with 5 other MAC’s I made my annual New Years Eve pilgrimage to The Beehive in Glossop for the Wormstones Fell Race, 5miles and 1’200 feet, the last and one of my favourite races of the year.
It was a cool, breezy day and fortunately the rain held off as we tried to keep warm on the start line waiting for the record number of 280 starters to get registered, putting Des under pressure and delaying the start by 15 minutes.
Eventually Des arrived and after his briefing he jumped in his car, sounding his horn for us to start , and speeding up the road to block off a junction!
The runners also sped off on 500 yards of tarmac making a beeline for the bottleneck stile to avoid getting held up. Once over the stile a drop down a steep muddy bank caused a few to fall and then a single track climb up the other side and through the woods at Gnat Hole.
It was then onto the open moor and a mile long runnable drag up to the TP at Harry Hut. A very boggy slog to the start of the short paving slab section before a very, very boggy descent down to the shooting cabin. From here, lovely running down a track to the valley before an unwanted sharp climb then a couple of fields followed by a short, steep tarmac descent to the finish at The Beehive.
The race was won by Dan Haworth, Matlock AC in 32:58 and the first lady was Abbie Pearse of Steel City Striders, 19th o/a in 40:27
MAC runners were;
36th Bob Foreman 44:38 1st M60
65th John Thorpe 48:02
98th Gemma Cox 51:32
149th Mick Moorhouse 56:32
150th Gordon Cresswell 56:55
Another great event put on by Des Gibbons and a fantastic way to end the year. See you in 2024!
