High Peak Marathon (Derwent Watershed)
Another One Night Stand
Tim Fairbrother - Team SleepMonsters.com / 09.03.2005
Some might say we like our one night stands but such were the circumstances for our third High Peak Marathon. Having a different female each year so far was simply out of necessity, with Heather Dawe ably taking up the place this time around, though even she was saying towards the end, “never again�!Driving out to Edale via a back route from Sheffield, it was already becoming evident that conditions where going to be somewhat interesting underfoot. Despite no heavy snow for over a week, we still found one road impassable. Hopefully the going would be more feasible on foot.
We were seeded fifth, meaning a start fifth from last with the only concern for the mixed title being Tom Gibbs and Astrid Wheatcroft\'s team (Mawn y Wrach) starting two minutes behind us. Chasing we thought, they would always be in with a chance.
No sooner had we reached the climb to Hollins Cross than the underfoot snow had started. Fortunately, here at least, it was hard packed from the already constant passage of feet. Continuing over Lose Hill the going was somewhat easier, especially in descent for those who just ‘went for it’. A slightly altered route down to Hope and we were soon on our second ascent up Win Hill.
We still hadn’t caught sight of any of the teams starting behind us, including Sir Ranulph Fiennes team \'Poles Apart\' and recent winners \'The Rolling Stones\'. A quick descent off Win Hill, passing several teams and we continued on to Moscar picking off several more.
Soon after Moscar, the first refreshment point and a quarter of the way round, it became apparent that we were already sixth in the race. It was hard to believe that we had already passed 49 teams in just over two hours!
Pushing on northward along Derwent Edge, the ice cold northerly winds picked up. The snow pack helped at times but feet were penetrating the fragile crust on many occasions making the going both difficult and frustrating. Dropping into Sheepfold Clough we caught the first glimpse of \'Poles Apart\' catching us, but managed to stay ahead.
Rounding the northernmost part of the course, dawn called soon after Swains Head and flickers of light from two teams were seen far ahead approaching Bleaklow Stones. Some time later we reached the stones ourselves to find ourselves in third place behind \'The Rolling Stones\' and their challengers \'The Incredibles II\'. This we maintained across Bleaklow and down to Snake Pass for the second refuel though several chasing teams were still in sight.See All Event Posts
