Race Report
Dear Competitor,
It has become a great pleasure for us as organisers to meet a lot of you on an annual basis, and to meet and make new friends. The atmosphere this year was probably the best yet, maybe the new facilities contributed towards this.
Each year the event has progressively quickened, but this year saw an amazing run from Dave Neill, who smashed 20 minutes of Mike Hartleys record time, for a first try at this type of event it was an incredible performance. The team record was broken by “Dark Peak Lutra Lutra XL Invaders” (this name had to be shortened to fit on the computer, but for those of us who didn’t take Latin, it means Dark Peak Otter 40 Invaders). The ladies team record was broken by a team from Stockport Harriers, it was nice to see a couple more ladies teams entered this year.
One of the best decisions we ever made (as far as we are concerned) was to knock 1 hour off the maximum time limit to close at 11.00pm. This proved worthwhile as the last person (Clive Graham) came in at 10.36pm, bettering his last years time by 35 minutes, so we were able to sit down and relax with the later finishers.
An area of great concern was the stretch between Cave Dale and Bushy Heath, where a series of 4 gates were left open allowing stock to move to new pastures. It took 2 of the local farmers 5 or 6 hours to sort out their stock. If anybody could throw some light on the reason why these gates were open, it would help us to clear matters up with the farmers. The last thing we want to do is to lose the goodwill of landowners and farmers around the course, as this could jeopardise the event in future years.
We have always invited constructive criticism and this year is no exception. We still believe there is room for improvement, and we always try to maintain the highest possible standards for you the competitor.
We would like to thank Lou Myers and the Biggleswade AC team for their impromptu presentation of a medal to Doris on behalf of the canteen staft for services rendered. We all know how much their effort is appreciated. Lou also brought a trophy from the National Veterans Athletic Club, to be presented to anyone who we felt deserved recognition.
It has been awarded to 2 of our oldest assistants, a man and wife team, who just turned up on the day and ended up assisting out on the course and in the canteen as if they’d been doing it all their lives, they are William and Marion Hampson.
We are now organising the event for the fifth time (we are hoping to have a few days off at Christmas), and hope to see many of you again on Saturday 22nd September 1990. Entry forms will be available from April 1989.
Best wishes,
Geoff and Helen
Results Files
Google Sheets Like: High Peak 40 – 1989 – Results and Checkpoint Timings
1989-results-booklet.pdf