11/01/26 – RACE REPORT BY RACHEL HOWARD
I had some challenging weather conditions on the recce so I knew it was going be a tough day with the weather conditions over the last week.
The race was fully subscribed at 230 participants, 181 showed up on the morning, 77 DNF meaning 104 participants managed to complete the race only 13 of which were female.
It was snowing on the morning, as Adam, Anne our support crew and myself arrived at Marsden cricket club carpark, which was frozen solid and also the start! We completed the kit check, picked up our trackers and check point dabbers. The snow had turned to rain, so I decided to put my waterproof trousers on as well.
The start through the carpark, across the dam wall and the track up the side of the reservoirs was mainly frozen, you could find a route through but it was the slowest start to a race I’ve ever known.
The route up to Black Hill was snow covered but good going. On top and coming back down to Crowden was all snow covered, not too deep here and the front runners had made a good track that us back runners could follow. The wind also wasn’t too bad at this point, we were moving at a good pace, were warm and loving life. Anne met us down in Crowden carpark, I swopped my gloves and water bottle. She said Woodhead pass was hard driving so she wasn’t going to meet us up on Snake pass, which was a good call. The snow & fog up there, would have made driving difficult.
Around Torside reservoir is where we started to see the Spine runners, absolutely amazing work by them in the conditions that I was just heading into. We headed up Torside on the Pennine way but then you had the choice of staying on the Pennine way or cutting across the moor to save about 3 miles. On my recce this was the worse section in terms on peat bogs and navigating but with the frozen conditions and snow, it was a good option so we decided to follow the tracks across the moor. That’s when the wind kicked in big time, no mud but the snow and heather with the wind was energy sapping. My legs were heavy, I was falling over all the time and I’d had enough. I had lost Adam at this point, his long legs were definitely an advantage over this terrain. When suddenly the trig & check point came into view, which lifted my spirits again. Off I moved to the next check point at snake pass which I knew wasn’t too far away. I managed to catch Adam back up, he was finding this section quite hard and had slowed down. At the check point Adam wanted to put an extra layer on as he was getting cold, I assisted a bit but I started to drop in temperature & he told me to go. I just assumed he would catch me up as that is what had been happening throughout the race so far, however that was last I saw of him until the finish.
From Snake Top you follow the Pennine way for a while until you cut off down through the heather to snake path in the valley, the calm before the storm! Check point 6 in the bag, it was time to climb again. Up onto Kinder Scout for the final check point which was at the top of the ascent. This is where the wind really kicked in. apparently 40mph with gusts even stronger, I don’t know where they guys at the end got that information from but it definitely felt it. It was hard to stand up never mind move forward, really challenging, slow, hard going. Still contending with the snow, ice on the rock which were hard to avoid as you got blown it in them, I have never known conditions like it, it really felt like I was in the artic.
When I finally made it off the top, it drops slightly onto open moorland again. This was another peat boggy area on the recce but again the ground was frozen. Although I was still battering the wind, the going was easier and managed to pick up the pace again. Turn left at the falls and on the home straight towards Grindslow knoll. The wind had easier here but was still very strong, I had caught up with Coralie and Dominic, just two other runners, we were about the same pace so stuck together until the end. The drop down into the village which is a steep rocky path, was all ice, you know I like a good downhill run but that was tip toeing and sliding down. Knowing we were nearly there kept us all going. We made it down onto the field where the snow & ice had all melted from there all the way down to the finish. It was so lovely getting on to the road and being able to move more freely. The best sight of all was Anne at the finish line. What a crazy ride it was, I enjoyed some of it at the time, hated other sections, the weather definitely has a massive influence on this race.
In summary this would be a great race in the summer, beautiful scenery, great views and a great route. The snow actually helped with navigation, it was easy to follow the tracks, but by god it was hard.
