Hathersage Hurtle, 20 May 2023

The Hathersage Hurtle is a lovely 20 mile trail race in the Hope Valley. It has over 2500ft climbing, some famous Peak District beauty spots including Stanage Edge, Burbage and Padley Gorge, and free tea and cake at the end (the most important part!). I took on the Hurtle on Saturday 20th May, a very hot and still day.

We set off at 10am, doing a lap of the field to try to avoid the bottleneck at the first climb. Starting right at the back of the pack was a bad idea, as we ended up queuing for 5 or so minutes to get through the gate. However, with a long hot day ahead I wasn’t overly bothered about this. The route started straight into a 5 mile climb with beautiful views. I felt good for this, and ran almost all of it! About halfway up I met a man with a prosthetic leg. What a guy. If that isn’t inspiration to keep going, I don’t know what is.

Next was a fun gravel descent and then some flat trail. This part was a bit relentless, and my feet started to hurt. At just over 10k, I stopped to take off my running shoes to investigate, to find that I had a burst blister on my arch. I tried tightening my trail shoes in the hope it would stop my feet moving around so much. Started running, nope, too tight. Stopped again to loosen shoes; I was just going to have to grin and bear it.

Next up, a road climb to the start of the Long Causeway trail, an ancient packhorse route up to Stanage Edge. The views at the top were beautiful, and the boulder strewn path was a welcome change to the previously tame terrain. A curlew sang a song and I got a new lease of life. A quick half a banana at the trig, and then a long descent. Annoyingly I had a stitch about half-way through this, my feet hurt, and I was running into direct sunlight in the heat of the day. I usually love descending, but this was gruelling!

Finally I was into the Longshaw estate. I knew I’d love this part. Along a little shaded brook and into Padley Gorge, which is a magical deciduous woodland with lots of rocks to hop. I was in my element! Into Grindleford and I checked my watch for the first time all day: 2 miles to go! A couple of fields and back along the river to the finish, where I was pleasantly surprised to clock 3:32 and 22/225 women! I got myself an interesting combination of ice cream and a free cup of tea and lay on the grass in the shade.

What a fab event! So relaxed and well organised, and the marshals and aid stations along the route were fantastic. Definitely one to do again, although maybe a different pair of shoes next time as my blister/burn/hole in my foot didn’t allow me to run for 2 weeks post-race!

Georgia Roberts