Photo: Andy MutleyRace date: 3 August 2024

Race distance: 15 miles (website)/nearly 16 mile (official GPX route)

Race report by Elin Reeves

In my usual “I want to do a race but I won’t do any training because my hip is knackered” way, I was browsing the Striders local race calendar (excellent resource: https://www.steelcitystriders.co.uk/local-race-calendar/), and landed upon the Dovedale Dipper – mainly because it had an icon of a bird and the organisers had a chirpy way of defining distances (there’s a ‘marathon-ish’ or ’15 mile-ish’ option to choose between).

Being not fit enough to tackle ‘marathon-ish’, I figured that 15 miles or thereabouts would be just fine!

Race day rolled around on Saturday 3 August. Matt Broadhead and I travelled by car (he drove; I pointed out the fowl-based hazards on the country roads as we got nearer to the little village of Hartington).

Having parked up in a field at the top of the village with time to spare, we did a check of our mandatory kit (waterproof jacket felt like overkill given the glorious blue skies and predicted temperatures, but rules are rules!) and then sauntered down to the village hall for our race numbers and said hello to another fellow strider. A small food-based panic set in for me (nothing unusual – I always need to know where my next meal is coming from) and we spotted a nice little village store with sausage rolls and tray bakes. Second breakfast consumed, it was time to get ready for the off. What felt like a small group (the marathon-ish distance runners had already left, as had some of the folks who were opting to walk the course) was corralled into the garden at the back of the village hall, waiting for the church bells to chime 11:00. As the bells sounded, we were off!

My memory of the route is a bit sketchy (route on the website: https://www.peakrunning.co.uk/dovedaledipper) but I know that I must have said “look – it’s so beautiful” about a thousand times. After about 5 km, the man who was running in front of us finally decided he was warm enough to take his waterproof jacket off, as the temperature definitely crept over 20 degrees. At the first checkpoint at about 7 km, our route joined up with the marathon-ish runners, who all seemed fairly chipper still. I was absolutely delighted with the snack offerings, which included slices of pineapple! Buoyed by the refreshing fruit, we set off again. At this point, we ended up running with another group of people who had better map-reading skills than us (or who seemed familiar with the route), so it was nice to just be swept along without having to think too much about going the wrong way.

At around 10 km, we passed a gothic-looking house (that had a blue plaque that said “nothing of interest happened here”) and then there was a massive uphill section which was quite evil. We lost sight of our seasoned map readers so had to pay attention to where we were going again. A few more kilometres ticked by, and we ended up with some downhill (finally!) into Wetton village, running past a tantalising ice cream shop and a pub to the second checkpoint at around 14 km. My trail shoes had started to feel a bit heavy, there was the start of a blister somewhere, and I definitely felt a bit lacking in energy at this point, so I drank some pop and snaffled a Bakewell tart which cheered me up no end.

We continued across fields, squeezing through ever-slenderer stiles, and eventually, mercifully, it felt like we’d stopped climbing and the route was getting a bit flatter alongside a river. We knew there was another checkpoint at around 19 km and it took us a while to spot it at the Fishpond Bank. We gratefully trotted towards a very well dressed lady and gentleman – almost wedding attire – which made me think I might be hallucinating. They reassured us there wasn’t much longer to go and we headed off along the valley floor, with the river to our left, glinting playfully in the sunshine. There was another painful, but brief uphill section, that took us out at the top of a hill, with the village of Hartington laid out below. The end was in sight! We pushed on, heading back into the village, and finally dibbing out where we’d started.

There was a jacket spud with bean chilli and soured cream ready for us, with a slice of something for pudding (included in your race fee!).

I was slightly disappointed not to get a medal (I was hoping for something bird-themed), but actually the achievement of finishing was enough. I personally found it quite challenging given the amount of elevation and the hot weather on the day, but I’m sure I’d want to do it again. And, of course, despite putting sun cream on most bare skin, I forgot the back of my neck…!

The 15-mile race was won by Adrian Payne (club name is just “BADGERS”) in 2:11:42 and Laura Davidson (West End Runners) in 2:50:17. The long course was won by Tim Brook (Holmfirth Harriers) in 3:51:05 and Jenny Laing (South Derbyshire Road Runners) in 4:50:30.

Striders results