Race Date: Sunday 25th January 2026

Race Report by Laura Rangeley

I love doing a race the weekend before my birthday, for some reason, and for the past few years have undertaken the Meltham ‘Tough’ 10k – one of my favourites! This year, however, there was a PB itch that a somewhat lacklustre performance at Percy Pud hadn’t quite scratched, so I decided to seek out something a bit less hilly and see what I could do at Stockport – a route I could find very little information about, so it was a bit of a gamble really, but at least I’d get a course PB…! I’m about a third of the way through an ultra training block too, so with my mileage picking up I felt this was my last chance at having a really good go at a shorter race until the summer.

It was an early start – and a very foggy drive – to get across to Stockport in time to collect my race number, but this allowed ample opportunity to browse the farm shop by the registration desk. Sausages for tea and a spectator Scotch Egg acquired for Jim, quick warm up and off we went. I managed to set off quite near the front, which worked well as I heard there was significant congestion for the first few km further back, but did mean I had the rather demoralising experience of people passing me for the entirety of the race.

The first 2km went like a dream, the pace felt great and conditions were perfect. I was thrown off track a little by a surprise trail section which took us down onto the oh so scenic Manchester Airport Link Road, but a quick check of my watch showed this hadn’t been as disastrous as it felt, and until 7km I was feeling strong – a marked improvement from Percy Pud just 7 weeks before, when I’d only made it to 3km at goal pace (to be fair to myself, I had been recovering from injury, as opposed to overly ambitious!). Kilometres 3-8 were all on the aforementioned link road, so this is one for the dual carriageway fans! From the 7km marker to the end of the race was where the wheels came off for me – 7-8 was a gentle drag uphill, right at the point where things were starting to feel tough, and my pace slowed quite spectacularly. With around a mile to go we finally left the link road and back onto the smaller lane we’d come out on. By this point the sub 50 A Goal dream was gone, but I realised if I kept pushing I could still get the sub 51 PB I’d been so hoping for. The one real hill of the race was cruelly placed from about 9.4 to 9.8km, and I had a bit of a meltdown along with the realisation that if I carried on running I’d throw up, so had to do a walk of shame despite it being a spectator heavy part of the course and so so close to the finish. I could have cried, especially when I spotted a photographer who’d captured my low point perfectly, I shall not be attaching that one to this report! As we neared the corner at the top of the hill, finish line almost in sight, I had a Strong Word with myself and mustered up a sprint finish, where I was pleased to pass a number of the people who’d chugged up the hill ahead of me – so maybe that walk didn’t lose me too much after all.

I crossed the line in 50.49, an 11 second PB and 41 seconds faster than Percy Pud. I didn’t feel like I’d executed the race particularly well, but took a lot from it, and hey – a PB is a PB! I probably wouldn’t do this one again, the route isn’t particularly characterful but also not particularly fast, but I would still recommend it – well organised and a pleasant atmosphere, plus decent value for what you get – a cute medal, a pair of Hilly socks, and a goodie bag with shower gel, chocolates and a big bag of Drumstick Squashies.

1825 runners completed the Stockport Daffodil 10k. The race was won by Joe Monk (Blackburn Harriers) in 31.37, and Rachel Rozhdestvenskaya (Sale Harriers) in 37.41.

Strider Results