For a while I was hoping to have won by virtue of no other competitor having arrived, but in the end seven individuals made themselves known in the wilds of Rivelin for this 25th anniversary running of Not The Nationals, including Tim Spencer, who some had thought retired from fell running.
The route having been exceedingly well-marked by club chaplain and course consultant Alan Yates, there looked to be no possibility of error, but, even only a couple of minutes in, eyebrows were raised by a shortcut by Gavin Williams alongside the river that may or may not have constituted an infringement. After this point the clump of runners began to break up, each man finding his own rhythm, but nobody able to keep up with Rob Little, who swiftly became a speck on the horizon to return a formidable time of under 35 minutes (is this a record?), thus making him the undisputed Dark Peak Cross Country Champion of 2013.
The weather was unseasonably cold, but as a result the ground was firm. The dusting of sleet that came in during the latter stages was not a great challenge; nonetheless, I blame it for impeding visibility such that I took the lower rather than higher allotment path at the back of Den Bank and therefore can't declare that my victory over Richard Hakes was authentic. Prizes in the form of my wife's hand-crafted 'Rivelin' ceramic tiles were duly dispensed and a merry few retired to The Cobden View for Farmer's Blonde.
Here's to next year's meet - this characterful race deserves to be an annual event once again.Simon B
[Ed. - thanks are also due to Simon for organising, and Sue B for expert time-keeping. Rob's is the quickest time and hence a record, but only definitively for the revised 2008 course, the intricacies of which the Club Chaplain and Chairman will respectively be very happy to appraise you of, should you be silly enough to ask. I attach, for the record, my own track, betraying a minor error of my own at the far eastern end of the course on lap one, where flour was temporarily replaced by red and white tape as a means of course marking; this categorical shift was clearly too much for my tiny brain to comprehend, allowing young Mr Irving to steal an additional march on me, and thankfully sparing me the effort of having to try to keep up with him any longer.]
| Position | Name | Club | Class | Time | Comment | Bonus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rob Little | Dark Peak | M | 00:34:56 | ||
| 2 | Gavin Williams | Dark Peak | MV50 | 00:42:19 | ||
| 4 | Willy Kitchen | Dark Peak | MV45 | 00:46:13 | Long Course | |
| 6 | Tom Westgate | Dark Peak | MV50 | 00:51:51 | ||
| 7 | Simon Bacsich | Dark Peak | M | 00:53:49 | Short Course | |
| 8 | Richard Hakes | Dark Peak | MV55 | 00:54:21 |