Spring Trail Run Series Round 3 – Tideswell

Date: 28^th April 2019

Round 3 of the Dark and White Spring trail run series took place in Tideswell and consisted of a 9.3 mile (15km) blast around the Wye valley, including a beautiful run through the tunnels of the Monsal Trail. Despite the torrential downpour in the days preceding the event, the day of the race was perfect running conditions with the sun shining bright, sparking a last-minute costume change. I did decide to keep the x-talons and was rewarded with a spectacular Olympic worthy slide, dive and tumble as I approached the wooden bridge at Millers’ Dale, straight from a fairly speedy descent; hitting the bridge at full speed was probably not the best idea in hindsight. Big thank you to the marshals for helping me back to my feet, and after a quick brushing down and using a buff as a makeshift bandage I was back on my way.

The race was a mix of road, track, Monsal trail and also a cheeky fell-esque climb which reduced most runners and myself to assume the popular ‘fell-walking’ position as the race approached the village of Blackwell. Runners were later rewarded with a thoroughly enjoyable descent back to Miller’s Dale which for me makes all the climbing worth it…almost.

As with all the series runs, the race employs a shotgun start approach, I imagine to reduce the disruption to the local area. This does give it more of a time trial feel than an actual race, but after a nervy wait at the finish (and people say I’m not competitive!) final results were posted and I was told I had completed the route quickest, and awarded 1^st place, in a time of 1:03:14, 14 seconds ahead of 2^nd place. The first female was Hayley Gill in a time of 1:11:45. 198 runners ran the long route, with a further 57 running the short (7.5km)

To my knowledge 3 Striders ran, although apologies if I have missed anyone as there may have been more owing to the phased start (no team photo opportunity!), and as the results do not show affiliations: