I was stood outside the Village Hall in Warslow having just picked up my race number when a lad on a bike, carrying a large rucksac pulled up. We started chatting and he had travelled from Manchester to Buxton by train and then cycled to Warslow for the race. He looked familiar and then I realised that it was Joe Steward who had won the Hope Wakes on Wednesday breaking the record by just under 3 minutes. I later learned he is also the reigning Northern XC champion and had recently returned from the World Mountain Running Champs in Austria where he finished 8th.
He asked me what the navigation was like on the course and I told him that it was partially marked but plenty of potential to go wrong! Dan Howarth then arrived and I knew that there would be a good fast race at the sharp end.
It was warm with a refreshing breeze for the low turnout of 86 runners on the start line but still a mad dash down the first fields to avoid getting held up at a gap stile. Once through this there is plenty of room for passing on the four main climbs and descents, two of which are nice and steep.
The first runner home was Dan Howarth in 50.28 followed by Joe Steward 25 seconds behind him. The first 4 runners broke the course record with Dan smashing it by over 5 minutes and even with the course being 400 yards longer due to the start/finish changing slightly. The first lady was Helen Elmore of Dark Peak, 32nd o/a in 69.46. I was 31st in 69.02 and 1st M60. The first man/lady prize was a nights stay in The Greyhound, the very nice local pub. All other prize winners got beer festival and barbeque vouchers.
Once finished I got stuck into the beer festival with Dan, Joe and Joe Oldfield who had finished 3rd. All four of us were camping so gallons of real ale was quaffed in our 7 hour beerathon which included a hoedown in the Village Hall to a Country and Western band.
During the evening the tale of the race was discussed with much hilarity. Apparently Joe was well in the lead but gifted it to Dan three times by getting lost. The first two times he managed to claw his way back in front, but the last time Dan, having followed him the wrong way realised their mistake first and turned around, shouted to Joe that he had gone wrong but as the finish was only half a mile away Joe was unable to overhaul him a third time.
Dan magnanimously conceded that Joe would have probably won by a couple of minutes without the nav errors but hung on to the night in The Greyhound!. Joe Steward has not done many Fell Races but plans to do more and if he can find his way around the hills I think we will see him winning many races.
A fantastic day and evening out. This great, village, old school type race deserves a much bigger turnout and the RO Nick Pope and Staffs Moorlands must be thanked for taking it on. They have a licence for 3 years and next years race is on Sat 6th July.
Don't forget to bring your tent!
Reply With Quote
)
Originally Posted by anthonykay
