Report by Dave Beech

Race Date: Sunday 28th January 2024

Congratulations and well done to Strider Giulia Neri who competed, and was first female finisher in, the marathon distance race in a super time of 3 hours 38 mins 22 secs. Some context is required here – this was no ordinary, mass participant, flat marathon on roads, rather it was consisted of 5 hilly cross country laps of 5 miles plus a mile and a bit loop at the end. Each 5 mile lap consisted of a mix of footpaths, woodland trails, waterlogged fields and 250’ of climbing, together with gates, stiles etc meaning it was quite technical in parts and very strenuous. And with most of the runners opting to do the 5, 10, 15 or 20 mile races Giulia had to run the last part of her race almost solo. So a fantastic achievement Giulia.

Great run Giulia!

I did the 15 mile race for the third consecutive year, so just the three laps. There were two other South Yorkshire runners in the 10 mile race: Debbie Richards from Sheffield RC and Louise Taylor from Kimberworth Striders.

Louise, Debbie and Dave

This Grim up North event took place in and around the Frickley Country Park on a cold, but dry, mid January day. Boasting 70,000 planted trees and 7 miles of paths and trails, the Country Park was developed on the site of the former Frickley Colliery in the years following its closure in 1993. The colliery, named after the nearby Frickley Hall not the local town (South Elmsall), was opened in 1903 and at its peak employed over 4,000 people. Now the major employer in the town is Next who have two giant Fulfilment Centres which dominate the landscape in the same way that the pitheads would have done in yesteryear. Each finisher got the usual large blingy medal plus this time a range of tarts, home made flapjacks, chocolate and a drink.

One post script to note is that for this event the GRIM team put on a separate canicross 5 mile race (“for our 4 legged friends and their human owners and to allow for the main races to be dog free”) starting one hour before the main races. If we must allow dogs in races then this seems to be a sensible way forward. So imagine my surprise when on lap two I caught up with a competitor running with a dog. Giving him the benefit of the doubt I enquired as to whether he had missed the doggy race earlier in the morning. “No”, he replied, “5 miles isn’t long enough for my dog so I’m doing the 10 mile regular race”. “But the whole point of having a separate doggy race”, I started to explain, “is to…..”  At which point he had to stop to let his dog go to the toilet and I never saw them again.

For the marathon race:
Dominic Wynn (Unattached) won the race in 2:53:06, Giulia Neri (Steel City Striders) was first female in a time of 3:38:22. Striders results were as follows: