Race Date Sunday 8th March 2020

Report by Mark Platton

We now had 3 hours to visit as many of the 16 check points as we could with a total of 500 points available . After a quick look at his map, Andy was on his way so, after a quick discussion, we were off to check point 3 a straight-forward path along the River Derwent. About 9 minutes later there it was – and our first 20 pts . The plan now was to follow the path to Offerton hall then up to check point 13. After a steep climb we reached the hall and after another map check, we headed along the path to Offerton. As we ran we passed our own Andy Buck coming in the opposite direction, so we knew we were getting close. Before too long, there it was- checkpoint 13 and another 20 pts. We quickly retraced our steps back to the hall and another map check for the best path to 12. We were off again, following the path for Callow Wood and another 30 pts. We were feeling a lot more confident by this point so the route to check points 10 and 8 went quickly with no real problem. We’d been running for just over an hour as we set off along the path past Mill Wood to the ford at Abney Clough and check point 15. This was to be the first mistake of the day for us so after about 20 minutes wandering off course we decided to retrace our steps back. Luckily for us, we used a runner coming from the woods to get us back on track and finally found check point 15. The obvious choice was now check point 2 and the big 60 pts. A check of the map and we were off again -the path through Bretton Clough being the obvious choice. This was a hilly section so 20 minutes later and some hard climbing we were there 60 pts . We’d now been out just under an 2 hours and we suddenly realised we had a bit of a slog to get back . The obvious choice now was a direct route so the path to Abney, then a time check, was our plan . We were off again and feeling rather pleased with ourselves. After a short time we were there and as we followed the road out of Abney we picked up the path on our left up to the sheepfold at Smelting Hill and check point 6 and another 30 pts . We’d made good time and now had to decide whether to take the harder route to check point 11 then back to check point 5 or take the easier route straight to 5 and back to the finish. As we were chatting, Andy caught us up. Without too much chit-chat, we were all off again along the path towards Wolfs Pit . Decision time was looming and we knew what Andy was going to do. We took a team decision to take the easy option and straight to check point 5 and a steady plod to the finish . We watched Andy head off for check point 11 and claimed our 40 pts before a nice descent back to the finish with about 10 minutes to spare. It was only a brief walk back to the event centre where we were greeted by Jennie and Kev and soon joined by Andy where we took full advantage of the free tea and cake , well it would be rude not to 😊