Sunday, November 27, 2011
THE unnerving sight of a giant bank of low-lying cloud concentrated over the north of the county was the first thing greeting anyone heading from Derbyto the 26th Clowne half marathon and I feared a soaking for the best part of two hours.
However, by the third mile of the race there was a fair amount of winter sunshine, a far cry from this time last year when icy conditions caused the race to be cancelled.
Another bonus as you hit mile three was that the wind was the fact that, there was a turn to the left and for two or three miles, runners had the wind at their heels.
The course itself is undulating rather than hilly with fields rolling away into the distance like the swell on a sea or green. Any steepish climbs were fairly short ones. A clear day, it was the polar opposite to the High-Peak relay where the fog made it feel like you were running through elephant-hide soup.
The Clowne half-marathon also takes you through a few pretty former mining villages with pubs bearing names like Black Diamond. Appropriately enough, around eight miles in, I was having to dig deep, having made the tactical mistake of playing an hour of frenetic five-a-side football on the eve of the race.
Cool and crisp, conditions would have been perfect had it not been for some strong breezes. High hedges and dry stone walls protected runners from their worst effects for parts of the race. That said, the end of mile nine and much of mile ten saw competitors running into a Viagra-stiff wind like an army of numbered Technicolor mime acts.
There was a bit of a climb prior to the run in which was draining but a sign signalling 800m to go galvanised the spirits of those with enough left in the tank for sprint for the line.
All in all, it was a well organised event, plenty of easy parking, about 40 minutes’ drive from Derby, top-notch changing facilities and if I’d known how nice the homemade biscuits were at the end, I’d have produced a much stronger finish.
Oliver Astley