Peak Rail 7 (aka Runner vs Train)
It sounded like a simple way to spend Easter Monday. Run 7 miles in the Peak District trying to beat a Steam Engine on a round trip. Sounded good but was rumoured to sell out quickly, so we were poised over the Enter button when the entries went live.
So it finally came round to actually doing the run. Not a bad drive over from Nottingham to Peak Rail’s Rowsley depot. Plenty of time to pick up numbers and visit the portaloos. Only slight issue was forgetting my Beeston AC vest. So I’m the on in a bright orange technical top hiding at the back of the team photo. Nice benefit of joining a running club is having people to hang around with at races
Quick warm up jog and then headed down for the race briefing. Where we got out first glimpse of our challenger. At one end a Huntley Austerity 0-6-0ST
And at the other end, Class 44 D8 Penyghent
A quick race briefing and we were off. There was some jostling for place at the front as some people were a little over confident in their pace. It settled down a bit as the path narrowed but wasn’t too bad.
The trail widened out after we’d crossed over the line on a road bridge. Good gravelled trail so speed was kept up, though I was starting to realise that 2 weeks off recovering meant I wasn’t going to keep it up for the whole 7 miles.
Coming into Matlock we moved onto the pavement next to the A6 to the turn point, then back along the River Derwent before a little cut back up some steps to cross the Derwent on a girder bridge (a metal running surface is new to me!) before getting back on the tracks.
From here we retraced the route back to the finish. By mile 5 I was grimly hanging on to the pace. The day was heating up and I’d not bought any water as it was ‘only’ 7 miles.
The last mile was a real strength of will as I could see the green engine sheds from a long way out, and as we entered the yard there was still a good 400 metres to the finish line.
Crossed the line at 46:29, 4th back in the Male Vets 40 category and 20th overall. Happy with that given the 2 weeks of no training and still finding my feet again.
Nice goody bag with a bottle of water, a banana, a bar of chocolate (donated to a team mate) and a nice microfibre towel that’ll be handy to keep at work for emergencies
Next run on the calendar is Kinder Downfall. Should be interesting!!
Credits
Photos of me running are courtesy of Bryan from RacePhotos, go there for more from the Peak Rail 7 (aka Runner vs Train).