“Right, we’ve spent two whole days marking this course and nobody will get lost” bellowed the rather intimidating race director. “An arrow like this means left, an arrow like this means right, it’s not hard, any questions?”.
OK but why was he looking at me?
Predictably within the first mile I’d led the first half of the field the wrong way. Not again. Someone said that the arrow had fallen down but maybe they were just being nice.
By the time that we’d scrambled up the first steep hill away from the river, order had been restored. I was joined by a NYM athlete who I recognised as rather faster than me (I saw that he also won at Leek) and another from Nottingham. Together we quickly left the rest of the field out of sight behind us.
It was a long slog through soggy fields up to the masts at Alport Heights and I was slowly left behind. Finally cresting the hill I passed through 15km having lost visual contact and feeling rather dropped. Friendly marshals shouted support and offered boiled sweets (!?) but I faced running 15km alone. I picked up the pace and suddenly spotted my new mates only a single field in front. Even better – it was the wrong field! They wheeled back around and rejoined me on the marked route as I revelled in my navigational ability.
It began to feel a bit like a Sunday run as we chatted and tried to spot the next turn. The second half of the race consisted of a hilly section through Shining Cliffs woods followed by a long gradual descent down the Derwent Valley. The rough paths down through the woods gave me a chance to break away and soon I was 100m clear and feeling like it was my turn to leave them behind. Unfortunately my legs didn’t see it that way and I lost the advantage on the final climb out of the forest.
I initially managed to keep up with the pace down through the valley but as the road stretched on and on I began to slip back. A final effort brought me level as we hit the main road into Belper and surely we were now approaching the finish. Not a chance, we were directed back over fields to run the last mile back along the river. I watched the other two race away. I was just too tired to respond. My watch showed over 2 hours and as I jogged in I reflected on the fact that 30km is a long way.
Ian sprinted in after a Dark Peak runner who had chased him through the second half of the race. I’m not sure that I’ve seen Ian tired before but in this case his warm down run crumbled after the width of a rugby pitch.
We sat on the terrace eating bacon butties and clapping in the runners, each returning after their own epic. The race was all the harder because none of the gradients or terrain were too extreme – there was really nowhere that justified walking or stopping for a breather so you ended up running it like a hilly half rather than a long fell race.
The Belper Rover is a great race attracting a friendly crowd of runners, marshals and supporters – well worth a go next year if you like a challenge.
1 Nathaniel Williams NYM 2:08:31
3 Rob Downs 2:10:10
15 Ian Smallwood 2:26:23
249 finished
Full results at http://www.belperrufc.co.uk/RugbyRover2007/results.htm
Photos at: http://racephotos.topcities.com/belper_1.htm