An astounding 48 Buxton Athletic Club runners dominated the field at the local Taddington Lanes 4 mile race last week, and from a total number of 125, it was inevitable that the Club were the chief recipients in the prize-giving.
A short but tough little race, the course immediately heads steeply uphill to traverse Taddington Ridge, sorting out the field fairly early on, before speedily returning downhill to the village. A “sting in the tail” greets the runners by way of the aptly-named Hades Lane, before a sprint back to the village institute to the finish. In the first ten finishers, five were Buxton AC runners. Pride of place must go to Junior Lucy Bednall who not only was second female home overall, but smashed her own Junior Female record to boot in a cracking time of 27 minutes and 47 seconds. Second overall in the race was Jake Fearn, 3rd Ben Light, 4th Junior Sam Soles, 6th Rob White (and 1st Male Over 40), with Junior Elliot Meylan 7th. Samantha Willis and Tania Wilson had a close finish, with Sam just pipping Tania by three seconds in 30.17. Tania claimed the 1st Female Over 50 prize. A great evening for the Club.
At the Pilsley 6 mile fell race, now well established in the fell running calendar, the undulating route takes in some of the Chatsworth estate’s most beautiful views, enhanced last Thursday by a stunning rainbow as the runners headed towards Chatsworth House itself, reflected in the River Derwent. From a record field of 295 runners, Buxton fielded eight athletes, with Richard Bouglas leading the team home in 49th place in 46.43, followed by Kev Mottram, 62nd in 47.52, Dan Latham 80th in 49.03, Ross Martland 150th in 53.52, Pete Bailey 159th in 54.28, Sheila Bradley 187th in 56.56, Roland Meylan 194th in 57.22 and Wendy Bainbridge 260th in 64.14.
The Crowden Horseshoe, an 8 mile fell race with 1700 feet of climbing and out of Crowden near Glossop, runs across pretty bleak Pennine moorland, and is described as “technical”, which generally means running over rock face with sharp uneven surfaces, a testing run even for the 158 experienced runners who took part recently. Jon Sewell gave it his all, and was rewarded with a solid 34th placing in a time of one hour, 16 minutes and 17 seconds, while Dan Latham ran well on tired legs to finish in 68th, in 1.26.21. Tania Wilson was the sole female Buxton AC runner, and worked hard to finish in 111th place, in a time of 1.39.41.
Bakewell Parkrun had a mighty 254 runners last Saturday, a challenge for anyone taking part given the fairly narrow width of the Monsal Trail. Despite this, Ross Martland was able to find his way to 40th placing in 21.55, while Pete Bailey finished in 58th position in 22.45. Angela Bent ran a personal best on the course in 26.03, husband Chris once again race-walked the course in 38.43.
Over at Macclesfield, Paul Light claimed first Male Vet 55 placing at the Parkrun, finishing in 13th position and in a time of 22.50 on the hilly course.