I received a Christmas email from Howard Swindells about the same time as I was booked for some surgery which, (the surgery not Howard's email), is bound to at least temporarily put a stop to any ambitions of ever attaining a level of fitness I enjoyed that year.
Beyond the fitness however is certain longing to once again just show up at the Sportsman, don a headtorch and follow with blind faith over the moors. It's an experience I have tried to recount many times with dismal success. Somehow cold rainy nights and running in the dark over remote tracts and has failed to enthrall the local audiences. On Dec. 22 I convinced a small group of running friends to trudge with me up a local hill. It was a clear night and we sipped some whiskey on the top though we did not sing Christmas Carols. Somewhere in a drawer I have a picture of the Wednesday before the Christmas of 92 and a group of Dark Peaker's in fine vocal form, I believe at the "Cakes Of Bread".
I've visited your website and am glad to see that your continued existence is at least confirmed in cyberspace. I noted with particular fondness that the next run is Jan.12 out of the Sportsman. I rather doubt that any of you would remember a Canadian that sifted around in your midst that year, but be assured I have inspired countless yawns in the past two decades recounting my experiences with fell running and Dark Peak!
I hope to visit the Peak District and the Sheffield area in the spring of 2012. The Sportsman on a Wednesday evening will be prominent on my itinerary!
Ray Rogers