Race Date: Saturday 16th March 2024
Race Report by: Ash Mellors

Free parking, free unlimited tea/coffee, free biscuits. What more could you ask for? Anyway, more on that little nugget later.

I’ve been eyeing up this event for a few years now but as it always falls on a Saturday, parkrun or family commitments have scuppered any chance of me taking part. Until this year. A rare, free Saturday so I jumped at the chance of taking part. Why have I been so keen on this event I hear you ask? Because it’s the village I grew up in and lived in for over 25 years.

A little village in North East Derbyshire with a population of around 6’000 people (it’s a rather large village actually), that has two primary schools. One of which was the starting point of the race, Deer Park. I on the other hand attended Hunloke Park, so there was a small part of me that felt like I was stepping into enemy territory upon arrival at the school. Bag drop was a free for all, leave at your own risk situation in the main hall of the school, where I saw there were refreshments, soup (post race) and a raffle. Whilst fastening my race number to my shorts I got talking to another individual in the hall who turned out to be the only other Strider taking part, Dawn.

The event itself is a 4.66 mile mixed terrain, undulating race that is put on yearly by the local running club Wingerworth Wobblers. The race briefing was delivered by an individual up a set of step ladders who was wearing a cow like head garment (I think unless my eyes deceived me). His description of the course was hilly and very muddy as the previous couple of weeks had delivered a lot of rain.

We promptly set off at bang on 10:30am and headed up a very familiar road as it was part of my walk to school over 30 years ago. The first mile I spent observing my surroundings to see what had changed, or not in most cases. Then we headed off road and that’s when we got our first taste of the mud. The very boggy areas easily covered your shoes but there was something very satisfying running through ankle deep mud and puddles. We ventured through fields, woodland and even encountered some cows who were not at all bothered about what was happening in their field. It was very well marshalled with volunteers from the local running club scattered around the route. The last 100 yards or so are uphill through a final bog. I had heard before starting that someone lost their shoes in this section last year. I can confirm no shoes were lost this time round (well, I can only speak for myself).

Post run was a short walk back to HQ at the school to collect my belongings. Before heading into the building I took the opportunity to use a hose pipe. Despite being freezing cold water, it was much needed. Back in the main hall, all belongings collected, I headed over to get some soup but to my disappointment, it was cash only and so were the refreshments and raffle. D’oh! But my disappointment soon shifted as I was promised other goodies back where my car was parked.

So, back to my opening line. I had my own allocated parking spot and once I was parked up a couple of individuals said that I was welcome to tea/coffee and biscuits once finished. Thanks Mum and Dad, the drinks and biscuits were fab.

Despite the results only showing myself running under SCS, Dawn Jackson also ran as a Strider too. Here are our results: