17/8/25 Steel city trail 10 – Race 4 Chapeltown
REPORT BY RACHEL HOWARD
A welcome relieve this morning as it was slightly cooler than we’ve had of late and a slightly smaller crowd for the 4th race in the Steel City 10 series. Amy, Rachel H and a last-minute showing from Nick W made up team Stocksbridge.
The route started near the band stand, with a short lap around a field, then a large lap of the park before heading out into the surrounding woodland and TPT. This may have been one or two laps, I can’t remember and my Strava is just lots of squiggly lines haha. Up onto the old coal field past a burnt-out car and back into the woods, into the park back around the field to finish at the band stand. The hills were short but no less challenging, the descents were sharper than the ascents. The paths were a mix of tarmac, grass, woodland paths and some more challenging deep rutted trails with a surprising amount of puddles given the weather we’ve enjoyed recently.
With a small group of runners, it was easy to see that after the first lap I was in 4th female position, so I tried to keep 3rd place lady in sight, but she eventually left me behind and I was running on my own for a while. Heading up through the woods towards the coal field I was aware of someone closing in on me, but they kept on my shoulder for a while, they eventually levelled with me on the hill and it our very own Nick! Heading back down into the woods, I could see that we had closed the gap on 3rd lady. I asked Nick if he could run any faster to help me catch her up and he stepped up, turning into an ace coach. He got in front so I had a target to chase and talked me through the last lap of the park field. I didn’t have quiet enough to catch her, but we significantly closed the gap. Thank you, Nick, top team work.
From our position at the finish line, we could see runners coming along the top of the field, before they dropped down to the finish. I clocked a maroon shirt, we started cheering her in and taking photos, it wasn’t Amy, oops, delete photos quickly. Next maroon shirt was Amy, she had another lady close behind trying to chase her down but Amy finished strong to hold her off.
Official finish times: Rach 47:30 4th / Nick 47:32 10th / Amy 53:29 7th
This is a great series of races, getting out and about in Sheffield’s parks and raising money for local environmental charities. All todays entry fees have gone to a Trans Pennine Trail regenerate project.
