Club races are either on access land, or following public rights of way. Club races are put on solely for the enjoyment of club members and do not charge for the privilege of racing. As such, these are not organised events per se, any more so than a club run is.
Club races normally involve some rough terrain and navigation and with increased risk presented through running individually rather than within a group run. It is recommended that non-members who are interested in joining Dark Peak come along to one of our club runs in the first instance before trying a club race.
There are a variety of club races both on Wednesday evenings and at other times, including the annual club championship race.
There are a number of annual classic races, some with a fixed route, some which change year on year. These are typically run on a Wednesday evening or a weekend morning. Please see the calendar for details.
In summer there is a series of races on Monday nights organised by Willy Kitchen that are highly recommended. The routes are relatively short but cover rough terrain and require navigation skills. Details of these appear on the Calendar.
Attending a club race
When attending a club race please locate and add your name to the sign in sheet which will be provided by the race organiser. You should do this regardless of whether you want your result to be recorded, unlike club runs when we run in a group, on races it is easy to find yourself split from a group and it is key we keep track of all runners coming back safely. Please don’t be too precious about recording your result, even if disappointed. We all have bad days!
There are typically a number of staggered starts to club races. Please choose the appropriate slot based on your expected time. If in doubt choose an earlier slot. Often small groups of runners choose to go around race routes together, this is encouraged to help build confidence of navigating and running in terrain. That said, racing under your own steam is encouraged!
Runners should equip themselves according to the guidelines on the Safety page.
Note that dogs cannot be accommodated on club races.
Crossing of walls and fences, and gate etiquette
Wherever reasonably practicable, use stiles or gates to cross fences, walls and hedges, and plan your route for this. We acknowledge that this may not always be possible and climbing a wall or fence may be the only reasonable means of achieving the route within access land.
Do not damage any walls, fences, hedges, stiles or gates (in line with the CROW Act), and shut all gates behind unless these have been purposefully left open by the farmer.