Race Date: Sunday 6th November 2016

The final race of the Striders fell race calendar attracted a bigger than use attandance to these types of events. In Andy Buck’s words, ‘it’s nice not to be the only Strider here’.

3 hours of running across the hills above Glossop looking for 15 different controls with an accumulated total of 500 points available. It was a lovely day to start with, the sun was shinning over the Snake as we drove over and we set off in pretty good weather. However, 30 mins into the event, the snow started and then it really started. A full on blizzard put down a blanket of cloud and about 2 inches of snow. Joe Buckman and myself, working together as a pair, congratulated ourselves when we followed a bearing of 240 degrees in a complete whiteout and we walked straight into the trig point we were looking for. Maybe I can navigate after all!

The late penalties on the Peak Raid are extremely harsh, (50 points for every minute or part of) so it really wasn’t worth risking over stretching ourselves so Joe and I worked out our best route and came in with 14 minutes to spare. Already in were all the other Striders except for Naomi who sufffered from the harsh penalties and lost all her points for being 3 mins late.

The good thing about these events is you can do as much or as little as you wish in the 3 hours. You can take risks if you wish or play it safe. I would highly recommend anyone with a love of fell racing to give events like this a go. Great for improving navigation skills with no pressure at all.

There were 112 finishers, be them pairs or solos. Unbeliveably, 2 runners managed all 500 points in the 3 hours allowed. One other got all 500 points but lost them all as he came in 11 minutes late!. The event was won by Jonny Malley of Ambleside AC who gained all 500 points in 2.48.15.

Striders results: