This year’s Great Bakewell Pudding Race
took place on Sunday 1 July, with an excellent turn-out despite the mixed weather
conditions. After several years of very
good weather, we had a very cloudy day with some drizzle, with this following
several rainy days – so the course was wet and the river was high! Whilst the temperature was ideal for running,
it was muddy underfoot, particularly where tree-felling works have disturbed
the ground on parts of the course. We
also had a route finding problem because of someone altering the directional
signs on the morning of the run and removing sections of tape – we will review
how we avoid this next year. As a result 21 senior runners missed a section of
the course over Ballcross. These are
shown in a separate results table.
Fortunately some runners who know the course realised that this had
happened and a marshal directed the majority of runners onto the correct route.
The turn out was good, almost exactly on our
target of 250 in total for the two runs.
There were 172 participants in the senior fell run, many of them
experienced club runners. The Senior
Fell Run is 10.4 km (approximately 6.25 m) and follows paths up through the
woods to Ballcross, to the top of Coombs Road, down to the river and then
through the showground and back into the Recreation Ground. As with the last two years we took runners
across the River Wye at the “big bend”.
Last year this was welcome refreshing dip because of the heat – this year
it was an opportunity to wash off the mud!
All runners see this as a welcome addition to the route, reducing the
amount of road running to a minimum – we have now made it a permanent part of
the course, depending on weather and river conditions.
The Junior/Fun run had 70 entrants, with a
wide range in age and many family entries.
This run is 4.2km (approx 2.5 miles) and follows part of the Monsal
Trail before coming back along the river to the Recreation Ground.
The Senior Run was won by Mick Stenton of
Dark Peak Fell Runners in a time of 46.05, a good time given the route problems
and poor conditions. Mick was also first
to the “top of the hill” and beat Matt Jones (Ripley AC) and Craig Jeffrey
(Staffordshire Moorlands AC) into 2nd and 3rd. The first
woman was Abbie Hull of Quakers RC in a time of 49.34, just beating Liz Wild of
Hallamshire Harriers, with a time of 50.34. Tamsin Boam won the intermediate girls for
the second year in succession, this time with new course record of 16.53.Lauren
McNeil came in second overall and first junor girl, in a time of 17.06. Seb Cooke was third overall and first
intermediate boy (18.51) and Lucas Parker first junior boy (19.05) and forth
overall. All the runners in the
Junior/Fun run chose to come through the river – a brave decision as it was
higher and faster flowing than in recent years – it is well marshalled and
everyone seemed to enjoy it!
All entrants received an excellent
Bakewell Pudding from the Original Bakewell Pudding Shop. A big “thank you” to
the shop, which is now the sponsor of the race. We are also very grateful to
the local businessman who sponsored the trophies, but wishes to remain
anonymous. Thanks also go to Up and
Running and Oldfield Design for their sponsorship.
Once again, the organisers, John Scott and Joe Oldfield, would like to thank all
those helpers who make it work on the day – without you it wouldn’t
happen. A particular mention to the
ladies on the desks, plus all marshals and helpers, many from Bakewell
Mannerians Rugby Club. A final thanks to
Bakewell Carnival Committee for their assistance and St John Ambulance for attending.
A sad note to finish on was that we
observed a minute’s silence in memory of the Norman Taylor, who has provided a
running (no pun intended Norman)
commentary for many years. Sadly Norman
died this year and will be missed by many. I have described him as
“incomparable and entertaining” in previous reports – he is certainly
irreplaceable. If you represent a local organisation that
requires funds, please contact John Scott. We currently have some money to donate to
worthy local causes, so please write or call.
For details please see the pudding race
website at “www.puddingrace.org.uk” or contact John
Scott on jrsco@btinternet.com
(new address) or 01629 814217.
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