Race Reporting: Edale 2011

Report By Stu Hale, from the middle of the field looking up the hill...

Round 4 of the Peak Districts premier fell race series, the Gritstone Series, took place from Edale. The race begins in the field behind Edale and heads directly up onto Kinder Edge, passing Ringing Roger, before heading to Grindslow Knoll and a fast descent to the finish.
For the first time the starting field was graced with a junior race, which include one or two laps of a very ‘fell’ like field. Straight ‘up’ from the start line and a walk for most of these budding fell runners, before a gentle descent before a gentle run back up the hill to the finish, or for the 12 – 16 year olds, a second lap. By the close of the first lap 3 of the lads had gotten themselves clear with Thomas Slater and Ewan Stanard breaking away by the end of the final climb. Coming into the finish Thomas pushed hard with Ewan picking up the pace to pass him in the final metres, to win by the width of his vest. It was superb to watch such close racing and to see both youngsters straining for the finish.
In the U10’s race it was Lucas Parker and Grace Aspinall who took the honours by a clear margin.

For the seniors, the race started with the first drops of rain and before the race had concluded conditions had deteriorated to such an extent that the valley temperature was below 10’c. For both the men’s and ladies it was to prove to be a hard fought affair. First past the post was Dark Peak’s Stuart Bond, just ahead of a hard chasing Oli Johnston who had stayed in touch until the final plummet and run-in – 18 seconds separated them. Both runners had clearly worked hard and with Rob Baker finishing in 3rd it was a 1-2-3 for local club Dark Peak. A similar story unfolded in the ladies race with Judith Jepson (V40) leading until the final summit where by last years Series winner, Helen Elmore took the lead and finished ahead by a mere 20 seconds. Under 18 runner Tom Saville's continued improvement is also well worth a mention. He finished just outside of the top 10 and is currently giving the seiors a run for their money in the Series.

As seems to be the case in each of the Gritstone Series races held this year, that entries were up on previous years, in this case by a 100ish extra runners. Monies raised from the event are fed back into the Edale Country Day, St John’s Ambulance and Edale Mountain Rescue.

Both this race and Series is supported by Accelerate and Inov-8, plus a whole host of marshals and volunteers – we thank you all!
 

The Edale finish is all part of the country day...

The 2011 Accelerate Gritstone Series Partners

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