Report By: Mandy Taylor

Race Date: Saturday 24^th September 2022

Tissington HM is set on an old railway path that joins Parsley Hay to Ashbourne.  As such the start and finish lines are in different places. The race was a two day event, with an identical half marathon run on Sunday 25^th September.

The registration is at Ashbourne and runners are then ferried up to Parsley Hay – the start line.
The route itself is used by many walkers and cyclists with car park points dotted along the way.

The ground is fairly level and made up mainly of fine gravel. It is recommended that trail shoes are worn but road shoes manage just as well. Apparently the route is downhill all the way… though this isn’t blatantly obvious. It looks flat and feels flat (but then I haven’t run it in the opposite direction!)

I had previously heard about this being a flat route and tried to get into this race a few years ago but found it difficult.  So when I received an email last September – while bed bound and morphined up due to a foot op, it seemed like a good idea to strike while the iron was hot and secure myself a place.  The idea was to start training in the new year which would give me 9 months… (visions of maybe a new PB!).

Things never go according to plan.  In order to get my mojo back into running I booked a few ultras, the long slow plods and sadly the HM got overlooked.  Speed training just wasn’t in my agenda.

The mileage didn’t faze me – definitely could do this. The course didn’t faze me, I don’t mind long runs straight runs, or going round in circles. But I started playing the numbers game in my head. Realistically I was never going to get a PB.  So it was a case of just go for it and see what happens.

The day arrived, I got there early, I travelled with friends to help with the spectating so went straight to the start. I’ve never been to Parsley Hay so took a little look around while waiting and was slightly impressed with the stone Storm Hut at the back of the car park, looks well kept and clean.

The runners arrived, some wearing the fashionable black bin bags worn poncho style as it was a chilly start, and eventually we were asked to line up.  I only spotted two other Striders as we were getting ready for the off so didn’t get chance to have a chat or photo!  Managed to say hello to Paula (Croft) who has joined Tues-Millhouses group sometimes, but runs for a different club.

The weather was great for running, the sun shone, but wasn’t too hot, slight breeze that didn’t feel cold once running and the views were brilliant. The route went across open fields and occasionally through tree lined sections giving bits of shade.

Mile 2 saw the first small section of spectators to cheer us on, and at this point I realised that I was going a little faster than I’d planned, but didn’t want to slow down and reasoned with myself just go to mile 5, or perhaps half way then take it easy. At mile 3 there was a water station – which I decided to breeze straight past.

Mile 7ish saw the second water station with jelly babies on offer, at which point Paula sailed straight past me. Knowing how good she is I tried to keep her in sight – this wasn’t too hard as the long straight stretches you could see for some good distances (but she did get smaller😊).

I spoke to a couple of other runners as they passed, people were encouraging others on, which was needed as there are large sections that saw very little foot traffic. A few cyclists were also encouraging as they went past. So not totally isolated.

Simple maths while running appears not to be my forte after all, at mile seven I calculated I only needed to maintain this pace for 5 miles, wasn’t till mile 8 I realised I’d still got 5 miles to go.  At least it was flat! The 3^rd water station mile 10ish also had sweets that I stopped for (who can resist jelly babies!) And was cheered on from spectators as this also was placed at a car park.

Doing maths from here was pretty easy – 3 miles to go, just a park run, and checking my time saw that at 1hr 20, even if I slowed to my usual plod of 9min miles – 27 mins I was going to reach my revised target of 1hr 50.

The finish line was in sight and I was so pleased to see it. The large bright digital clock confirmed that I had smashed my target time by just over 6 mins.

It was a very informal finish, medals on a table for you to collect, cups of water handed out and disappointingly the biscuits had gone soft.

Think I was disappointed as my support crew were still tucked away in a café and missed my finish!

The presentation was delayed, glitches in the computer system, I stayed as I thought Paula might have won something, sadly she missed out by a few seconds.

I came in 4^th in Age Cat (55-59) but unusually the first two also came 1st and 2nd female overall.  The 3^rd female was actually a male as there had been a blip in the system, so I was awarded 1st in Age Cat.

A trophy…. But this is also to be short lived, looking at the final results I have been moved to 4^th place again as another female in my cat seems to have appeared. (Making me 2^nd?) Now I have a trophy that I have not earned.
(Ed: Mandy would have been first in her age category in Sunday’s event so I think she can keep her trophy.)

There were a total of 364 finishers on Saturday.

Saturday results;

1^st male  – Benjamin Bereton  –  Newcastle Athletic RC – 01:14:17
1^st Female – Lorraine Beesley – Aldridge RC – 01:34:37

Striders