Marsden to Edale Trigger

12 January.  Marsden to Edale 'Trigger' fell race.  5 Wilmslow runners signed up for this event, but injury afflicted two,leaving three intrepid souls to cover the 20 miles (plus 4,500 of climb).

(Ian Smallwood was the other one, but doesn't appear in the photos!!)

Ian writes:-
An early start 8.30am on a Sunday morning in Marsden, not the best time and location for a one way race to Edale.

Somehow I got a good start and headed up towards Wessenden head. There was a split in the field just before we reached the Isle of Skye – it did not make much difference as when the field merged together again I saw the same faces around me. At this stage Jarrod popped up from nowhere, and we joined forces.

Black Hill was a grind but quickly we were over the worst and headed across the Sliddens Moss towards Crowden. Here I took my first dive, straight up to my thighs in bog and my feet had not reached the bottom! I quickly recovered and promptly took a second plunge up to my knees in mud. Oh the joys of running the Peak District! We eventually arrived at Crowden, where Jarrod headed off at great speed towards Lawrence Edge and Bleaklow.  I struggled up the climb but managed to eat some energy bars on the way to recharge the batteries.

On Bleaklow, I caught up with Jarrod and we swapped places regularly as we tried to find the quickest line. We soon arrived at Higher Stones, after which it was cross country to the Snake Road. Jarrod was struggling now and I went on ahead. We were now following the Pennine way which is a line of flagstones. The head winds and slippery flagstones made it very hard and surprisingly slow going. Onwards to Kinder Downfall where the river was being blown upwards and landing as ice – it was like running through a hail storm as we crossed the river and headed to Kinder Low End. This was the final checkpoint, and you had to make a critical route choice….do you drop down to the valley and run to Edale along well marked paths (which is longer) or do you stay on the Kinder plateau, put up with rough ground and go direct to Edale? I went for the plateau and made a mess of the navigation, Jarrod took the valley option and Andy went along the correct plateau route.

 Overall it was a grand day out on the hills topped off with some excellent cake and tea at the finish.

1  Neil Northrop (Dark Peak) 3:36
7  Jasmine Paris (Carnethy) 3:51
109 Ian  Smallwood 5:21
114 Jarrod Homer 5:23
128 Andy Watts 5:34

There were 190 finishers, with the last few finishing in the dark having been out over 8 hours!