We were blessed with ideal conditions for the annual Cressbrook Crawl Fell Race held on Saturday 13th May. This fell run is over a glorious but tough route covering 10km across the unique Derbyshire countryside, along limestone lanes into the depths of dales, over steep tricky limestone rocks and along woodland paths onto the Monsal Trail. After passing Cressbrook Mill, the winding uphill slog finally goes round the hairpin bend towards the finishing line for a well earned pint of Swift Nick. The turnout was amazing – exceeding our 150 limit and the decision was made not to accept more official entries. Quite a few disappointed runners had travelled a distance to take part and accepted that they could not be part of the insured race and chose to run alongside the event as it is held on public footpaths, but made sure they did not go through the finish funnel. Many gave donations anyway and complimented the community effort that had made the day such a good natured event. Possibly the Peak Ales beer and wonderful home cooked food influenced their judgement.
First runner home Alasdair Campbell of Buxton AC at 42:23 knocked nearly 2 minutes off his winning time last year and was closely followed by Billy Cartwright 45:18 (Matlock AC) and Jake Fearn 45:56 (also Buxton AC). In fact Buxton AC put in a large field and had a good day winning the team prize with the 1st, 3rd and Rick Aldred at 18th place. First female runner, 25th overall was Judith Jepson in 53:37 (1st FV50 Dark Peak) followed by Katie Arnold in 46th place 58:19 (Stamford Striders) and third female Sarah Jones-Morris 52nd at 58:58 (1st FV40 Penistone Footpath Runners).
In addition to the 30+ residents and friends of Cressbrook who sorted car parking, marshalled, ran the bar or provided lunch for the event, a runner’s daughter Ellie kindly helped by taking the results sheets, Buxton AC and Mountain Rescue provided marshals, as did Litton Mill residents for their section.
However, next year we have decided on pre-entry only. This enables us to uphold our strict 150 limit as our small village venue and the very special flora/fauna of some of the ground crossed, will not allow for a larger field. We trust runners will respect this in order to keep happy the landowners and footpath users of this unique route. Keep on running and see you next year – remember pre-entry!
Photos can be found on our club website www.cressbrookclub.org.uk/fellrace.html
Caroline Brunt, Race Organizer