Race Date: Sunday 25th September 2016

John Crossland and all the organising team would like to thank all the volunteers and everyone involved for making the day another successful one. I’m pretty sure all the runners would like to thank John and his team for putting on such a fantastic event – and what a thriller it turned out to be.

5 of us set off to do the Ultra at 6.30am and we were discussing when the first A team runners would pass us. It actually wasn’t until towards the end of leg 3 that Dark Peak A team flew past us with no sign of any others. As the Ultra runners were refuelling at the end of leg 3, the Striders A team shot past us, all of 6/7 minutes behind I would say. In my mind it was already a forgone conclusion so when I shuffled into the end of leg 5 and discussed victory spoils with John Crossland, I was amazed to hear that Striders A team had clawed the deficit back and managed to eke out an unassailable lead. Fantastic performance boys. I was also chuffed to bits to hear that the ladies A team had won as it wasn’t a foregone conclusion that they’d actually be able to put a team out due to bad luck of the health front. Thankfully all went well in the end with a couple of late call-ups.

Huge congratulations must go to Jennifer Rich and Sian Elizabeth from the Striders Ladies A team for a new course record on Leg 1, slashing over 3 minutes off the previous record. The men’s Striders A team also broke the course record taking almost 6 minutes off the previous best.

So a Striders clean sweep in both the ladies and mens races for 2016, a fantastic result. The Strider’s men’s B team also won the trophy for the fastest B team so success all around.  The other Striders teams, the Men’s C, Women’s B and the Headtorch team are also worthy of a mention for their performances and enthusiasm.

A record entry of 18 teams entered this year’s race, including 6 Striders teams. I’m pretty sure there’ll be an equally if not more competitive event next year so let’s save the date, Sunday 24th September 2017, and see if we can beat an entry of 6 Striders teams and retain possession of the trophies.

It would also be fantastic to see a few more entries to the Ultra. It’s not easy but it’s an absolutely stunning route and the support at the end of leg 3 and leg 4 makes it all the more worthwhile.

All historical records can be found on the dedicated Sheffield Way Records page.

The ultra race report to follow!

The Teams