Despite the weather forecasters trying to scare everyone with their talk of torrential rain, thunder, lightning and gale force winds, Sunday morning was dry and bright with just a hint of a fresh breeze to sharpen the wits. Such unexpected clement weather clearly spooked the populace and numbers were quite a lot down on previous years.
None of this affected Matlock’s Billy Cartwright who had clearly come to own the course. And he did, coming home in 1:29:40 to take nearly a minute off Harry Holmes’ previous course record. Since this race started, the record has been broken every year and Billy was the first to take us under the 90 minute mark. It was not a day for the inexperienced on this challenging course with 2nd and 3rd going to V50 competitors. Greg Spellman of Wellingborough and District AC came home in 1:44:43 and was followed by Andy Shaw of Wirksworth RC in 1:47:25. Greg’s time set a new mark for the V50 category.
Making it Matlock’s day, Hayley Gill brought the Ladies home and in doing so brought the LV40 mark ever closer to 2 hours with a time of 2:01:12. Hayley was followed in by Catherine Williams (2:10:10) and Ruth Keeley (2:17:34) both of Belper Harriers.
So, lovely weather, a blistering new course record and 2 age group records. A great day and hope to see you all again in just over 3 weeks for the Stuart Learmouth Memorial Undulator. Entry forms for that one will be going live this week.
