Race date: 7 June 2019

Castleton Fell Race is a 6.7 mile / 10.8km fell race on a classic route taking in the Peak districts ‘Great Ridge’. On a very wet evening the number of people with a slightly warped sense of what fun was nearly reached 200. Nigel and I were wondering what we were doing driving out to the Peak District with the windscreen wipers on full on a Friday night. The temperature was cold and the clag was down.

Once registered all the runners were crammed into the small cabin in the rugby field just outside of Castleton sheltering from the rain until we were ordered to the start line. The route heads North East up to the top of the ridge before running along below it and joining the steep path up to the top of Loose Hill. Once at the top, the wind (and rain) was behind us as we ran along the rocky and rolling technical ridge connecting Loose Hill with the trig point on the top of Mam Tor. I got a good view of the lead runners descending out of the cloud from the top of Mam Tor, and eventually made it to the trig point myself. From this point it is a cracking descent (and a little slippy in the wet) as you descend back down from Mam Tor to the ridge – cheering fellow club mates on along the way. At Hollins Cross, you turn back down a  narrow technical path towards Castleton, finishing back in the rugby field.

The waterproof served me well. I think we all felt like it was a good start to the weekend. Shout out to Rich Taylor too who was running this as one of his first fell races following the introduction to Fell running course. Obviously he likes to throw himself in at the deep end going up a big hill in the rain and clag.

191 runners finished the race.

The winner was Dan Haworth of Matlock in 00:42:02
First female was Ellen Downs of Sheffield University in 00:51:32

10 Striders ventured out to the race

First Strider Male was James Rose in 00:49:30, with Alison Barrett coming first Strider Female in 1:00:50

Well done to everyone!