White Peak Marathon, 19 May 2018

Sara Penketh

Having entered big city marathons in the previous two years I was looking for something completely different and this seemed to tick all the boxes. White Peak Marathon only has a few hundred entrants and is an off-road event on compacted limestone and cinder tracks so road running shoes are fine. It follows the Tissington and High Peak Trails through the Derbyshire Dales near Matlock and offers stunning scenery along the way. I was slightly concerned about the 500 feet elevation gain in the first half of the course but couldn’t really work out how hard that might feel. Anyway I was confident that the downhill sections towards the end of the course (part of the concurrent Swift Half Marathon) would make up for that.

Race day arrived and training had gone more or less to plan. It was another warm and sunny one and with an 11am start the temperature was really going to build up. There were 7 water stations along the route and I carried a small bottle of extra water in my belt which I could refill but didn’t need to in the end. Jelly babies were also on offer and the marshals were very friendly and supportive throughout.

We were taken by coach from race HQ at Cromford to the starting point close to Thorpe. This was a very different field of runners than I’ve experienced before. Most were chatting about the other dozen or so marathons they were running this year. One guy had completed over 450 in total and a women I spoke with was running number 272 today and number 273 tomorrow. There were some other “ordinary” marathon runners like me, but we were definitely outnumbered.

The start line was reminiscent of the WJ guesstimate with just a chalk mark across the path. The race director gave a quick briefing followed by a one minute silence in honour of the race founder who died recently. And then we were off.

Almost inevitably my pace was a bit fast in the first mile but then I settled into it with a group of 3 other runners. This was to be the biggest crowd I encountered all day. We were heading north for 11 miles along the Tissington Trail. The trail is a former railway line that has been converted into a route for walkers and cyclists. After a couple of miles I assumed the cyclist behind us was waiting to get past but then realised this was the sweeper bike. My heart sank to think I was right at the back but it certainly gave me the motivation to keep up with the group. However I soon outpaced them and by about mile 6 I never saw the bike again.

The trail was quite shady in places so good respite from the heat. In reality the elevation gain felt quite gentle, however I did find the cinder track pretty hard going as it sapped the energy in your legs, plus the many lumps and bumps made my feet pretty sore by the end.

But the scenery was absolutely gorgeous, even better for being such a sunny day. I had to keep reminding myself to look left and right and not just focus ahead up the trail.

At Parsley Hay we turned SE onto the High Peak Trail. This was where things started to get tough as the temperature rose higher but the shade became less frequent. It was the flattest section of the course but it didn’t feel like it. By mile 16 I was definitely no longer having fun and the scenery didn’t quite have the same allure as earlier. A section of the trail called the Ridgeway followed the side of a south facing hill and I was glad I’d used factor 50 sun cream.

Then came the three steep downhill sections at miles 20, 22 and 24. The last one is a 1 in 8 gradient and lasts for over a mile. As Shakira once said “the hips don’t lie” and mine were firmly telling me that this did not feel good.

Finally you see Cromford down in the valley and you’re almost finished. The last mile was along the side of a canal, beautifully shady and peaceful without another runner in sight. It gave me a brief moment to reflect on the race.

Had I made the right choice doing this kind of event? Yes. Had I underestimated how hard it would be? Definitely yes. Did I miss the crowds of runners and supporters? No, it was just me versus the trail. What marathon am I going to do next after this? No idea!