August 3rd 2024

I’m at the point in my running “journey” where I’m doing a 30ish mile race as a training run, followed by a long run the next day, and it was during this race that I realised that I think things may have gotten slightly out of hand. The Peak Skyline race is a 30ish mile fell race from Buxton taking in 3 Shires and about 7 hills (covering about 2000m of up) through ancient woodland, bleak moorland and cattle strewn farmland. It’s based around a challenge called the Five Trigs Round. There is also a half option of 14.5 miles with 900m of ascent, which Laura took on to keep herself amused while I was out on the hills (note subsequently added by Laura: this was not an amusing race).

Both races set off at the same time at just after 8am, with ultra royalty and Spine Race record holder Jack Scott toeing the line with us. By the time the majority of runners had lapped the first field and climbed into the woods he was a mere speck flying up towards Solomon’s Temple at the top of Grin Low.

The route itself is pretty hilly to get going but on reasonably runnable trails, not too technical but could no doubt get boggy should the weather take a turn for the wet. The first 6 miles was the same for both races, through Grin Woods before a slog of a steady climb to Burbage Moor, summiting Cheeks Hill before a descent to Three Shires Head, where Laura turned right to cut off a big corner, following the River Dane through a bog for a bit before a “disgusting” climb past the Danebower Colliery ventilation chimney and heading towards the Cat and Fiddle pub where our routes rejoined.

After the races split the full distance runners headed south, over Axe Edge towards the start of the Roaches and the Ghibli-esque named Hen Cloud. The Roaches are a wonderful set of craggy rock prominences that jut sharply along the skyline, then give way to paving slab path. Heading around Luds Church, down over the river Dane and into Gradbach Mill, I timed my arrival into the Mill with a bride walking down the aisle which covered the same stretch of public footpath as the race route. We had been prewarned that this may happen and politely requested not to photobomb her, so I took a pause to put some suncream on as the sun was high by this point. You’ll be pleased to know that I did forever hold my peace and the wedding continued without interruption.

Leaving behind the nuptials and climbing out of the valley Shutlingsloe came into view. Having climbed this hill in the past on a previous race I knew what to expect. Described as “the Matterhorn of Cheshire” it’s a 17% climb for about 1km. So I preloaded with a few mouthfuls of sweets and a gel, washed down with a sip of coke.

Half way up Shutlingsloe I was asked by a very pleasant walker “so, why are you even doing this?” “For the pint at the end” was my flippant retort, passing them to finish my climb. But as I continued back down the out and back I started asking myself the same, again and again over the final 13 miles.

It’s difficult to question your motives, training and future race plans mid-race, even after topping up on sweets and having the energy to keep the body moving. Normally I’m pretty in the moment and am able to fix problems as they occur, as follows:
Feeling sluggish? Eat something.
Big hill? Eat something.
Shoelace coming undone? Eat something.
But this felt a bit different – for sure I was eating and my energy was decent but my excuses to walk were regular and repeated and I was struggling to shake the cloud, even on a day as warm as it was. Climbing up to the Cat and Fiddle and the final check point (of three), I was greeted by a bowl of restorative pre-peeled satsumas which helped a little before the final out and back to Shining Tor.

The final lump came to get back into Buxton, I passed some walkers heading up to Burbage Edge (no not that one) from Goyt Valley and thought “why are they up here, it’s not that interesting” which quickly moved to “why am I even here, why are you even bothering”. But before I knew it I was back on the road we’d left Buxton on 5 hours prior and I was back at the school to little fanfare and the face of Laura who presented me with a can of beer (she’d spent the time after finishing her own race enjoying the Redwillow Tap, but kindly brought me a takeaway) and a Mr Kipling blackcurrant pie. Neither of which touched the sides.

According to the Austrian philosopher Victor Frankl, “challenging the meaning behind one’s suffering can lead to an ultimate sense of purpose and fulfillment.” The meaning behind my suffering was I signed up to run 3 ultras in 3 days and it’s my own fucking fault that I need to train for something so stupid. But Courtney Dauwalter, arguably the greatest American ultra runner, said “your best bet is to barrel forward, I like going into those dark moments and learning something from them. You don’t get to summon those whenever you want, you’re doing something really difficult, and that’s how you grow your capacity to endure.” Hopefully after barrelling through this race my capacity for strife has improved to the point where I’m ready for the upcoming Ring of Fire.

The race organisation itself was a bit of an odd one. It was pretty expensive for such a low key fell race, sponsors like Buff and an energy gel company, Torq, imply an offering from those companies which wasn’t present. Similarly Ornua, the people who market Kerrygold, were sponsors and as a large butter advocate I was a little disappointed not to be plyed with even a single serve pat. There were 3 manned feed stations on the long route and several virtual check points monitored by the team using individual trackers, and it was well marked but with no marshals out on the route, we both felt one or two at key points such as the split between the 2 races wouldn’t have gone amiss. But for something so lowkey the price of £42.50 felt a little steep, although one thing we did get was “entertainment ” in the form of a bagpipist serenading like a screeching siren from just in front of Solomon’s Temple. There was no goodie bag, although there was a kitchen so you could make yourself a cuppa at the end and the leftover food from the checkpoints was available along with the aforementioned sweet pies. Medals cost extra, they looked good quality but I’m personally not bothered and Laura was put off from buying one as they had all of the hills of the full route on them, some of which her route didn’t cover. The organisers were nice and friendly though.

The race was won by Jack Scott (of course it was), who took 8 minutes off the previous course record, itself set by Kim Collison who’s also a legend in the ultra running community. Jack finished in 4.02.25. First female was Stacey Sangster in 6.17.34. Both events come with a strict 8 hour cut off.

Results for the full skyline can be found here: https://www.peakskyline.co.uk/results-2024/#1_7AAEAD and the half here: https://www.peakskyline.co.uk/results-2024/#2_50D290

Striders results as follows:
Peak Skyline:
37 – Jim Rangeley 6.42.34

Peak Skyline Half:
58 – Laura Rangeley 3.28.46