15TH November 2025 – REPORT BY RACHEL HOWARD
I don’t think I need to tell anyone about the weather this weekend; storm Claudia had left her mark on the drive over to the peaks and on the route itself. Thankfully Saturday’s weather was much calmer with a light drizzle but a cold wind on the tops. Most competitors wore waterproof jackets throughout the race, only the hardy, speedy fell nutters were in vest & shorts.
Both races set off together a nice big X across your number distinguished the beastier from the beast runners. This is the second year for the beast and the maiden outing for the beastier, it didn’t disappoint. The start is a short walk up from Bamford train station, it was a bit of a bottle neck with more runners than last year but you very quickly start ascending which spaced the field out. It was going to be an interesting race, even the start was more like a river then a road and that was pretty much the theme for the whole route.
As I got up onto Stanage Edge I was leading a little pack of 7 runners through the mist trying to pick the best route over the rock, mud and massive puddles. Dropping down onto the A57, onto the Strines road to start the ascent up to Derwent Moor. At a cattle grid the runner behind me just leapt and cleared the grid, I was mightly impressed. This fortunately put him in front of me; we arrived at what is usually a little stream & can be stepped over but not today. Our jumping bean attempted a leap and ended up in it up to his shoulders, I decided not to follow his lead and opted for some trusty tuffs of grass to use as steppingstones, nope, that was waist deep lol. Another guy face planted, it was quite the adventure, and we all were laughing and high spirits. It mixed our little gang of 7 up, so I got to chat to some different people.
Dropping down Ladybower tor we put our heads down, concentrating on foot placement on the steep rocky path, 3 of us missed the turning that brings you out by Ladybower Inn. After a glance at the reservoir, I realised our mistake and called the others back, so we only had a slight detour. The 3 of us were together for the rest of the race, up Parkin Clough climb of Winn Hill, dropping down into Hope and up the last “Short” compared to the other climbs but vertical route up to Shatton Moor mass for the final check point. It was all downhill from there; it’s a nice finish. When you get back to some houses, that’s it, cross the road to the playing fields and you’re done. 3’300ft of climbing over 14.6 miles, with plenty of mud, water, rocks and rivers, all in the name of fun, same time next year Beast.
