By Neil Stabbs
When I mention that I’m originally from Glossop, those that know the place usually tell me about the traffic jams they’ve sat in or how the front doors on the high street are unfeasibly small (seriously, check it out!). What they don’t say is that it’s the gateway to the Dark Peak, with access to some amazing running, biking and climbing. One of the races organised by the local running club (Glossopdale Harriers) is the Shelf Moor Fell Race, heading east from Glossop to the top of Bleaklow and back.
Instead of opting for the road half marathons of Major Stone and Vale of York, it was here I headed at the weekend for the 2014 edition of the race. After the familiarity of the North York Moors series, I was a touch apprehensive lining up with some new faces at the bottom of Doctor’s Gate. Dark Peak, Staffs Moorlands and Pennine clubs were well represented, but unsurprisingly only one Knavesmire Harrier! The race got underway with a couple of kilometres of steady climbing up the valley before breaking off the track for the main event – the climb of James’s Thorn. To put it simply, this starts off steep and gets steeper, gaining over 250m in about a kilometre. On its own, this would be a big climb in the North York Moors, but here there’s no respite as yet more climbing follows up to the trig point of Higher Shelf Stones – at over 2000ft, one of the highest points in the Peak District.
With the shout from a marshal that it was all downhill from here, I left the trig point in about 18th place, having steadily lost places in the second half of the giant climb. I latched onto the back of another runner across the technical and awkward terrain on top of the moor – alternating between heavy peat and rocks underfoot. This became a group of 4 as we caught a couple of runners on the final stretch before the descent of Lightside. At the top of the long descent, I let my legs go and went flying past the other 3 in my group in pursuit of a top 10 finish. The rest of the descent was flat out with no chance to look back, but by the bottom I’d pulled out a reasonable advantage, with only a short section of farm track remaining. A bit of road speed came into play here, as I chased down another 2 runners in the last few hundred metres to finish in 12th with a time of 51:46.
All in all, a great race and one to try again next year! Thanks to the locals/marshals for their vocal support and thanks to Alan Scholefield for the stunning photos.
