April – night run in the demon valley

By Mary Jones (This article was originally posted in Mary’s Blog)

At the head of the Goyt Valley, towering above Buxton, lies Shining Tor. The Goyt Valley drops down to the east of the Tor. The Goyt Valley has always been a busy place, once it was a place of mining and industry; now it is a place for tourism and sailing. Families come to walk the paths around the two reservoirs which fill the valley, explore the ruins of Errwood Hall and buy ice creams from the vans which park in the many car parks.  If you drop down the western side of Shining Tor, the Cheshire side, you enter a very different valley. The hidden valley of Thursbitch, a quieter place; the demon valley; A place steeped in myth and legend. Made famous by the Alan Garner novel of the same name this is a place where, according to Garner, farmers lock their doors at dusk and the local vicar refuses to enter. It is a place of standing stones, ancient magic and pagan ritual. Thurs is the Old English word for demon so Thursbitch is quite literally the Demon Valley, according to the 14th century people who named it.  ...  continue reading

FRA Outdoor First Aid Course

By Helen Parry

Last weekend I completed the FRA recommended 2 day (16 hours) Outdoor First Aid course and I would highly recommend anyone who organises or marshals at fell races. In fact, I would recommend it to anyone who gets out and about ,enjoying the hills and mountains – running, walking, biking, horse riding, hang gliding………the list is endless. Whether you are on top of Kinder or a high Lake District fell, or just having a stroll up the Goyt valley, it can be invaluable. I was also not the only Strider on the course ….hello to Mark Richards who came all the way up from Oxford. ...  continue reading

February – The Long and the Short of it. A not quite race report

By Mary Jones (This article was originally posted in Mary’s Blog)

February is too short.

Our running club has set a championship challenge (in lieu of races) to run a fast 5k during February. The route choice is your own. Hence lots of Goyt Valley Striders have been throwing themselves off the top of big hills and hurtling down in an attempt to break the land speed record.

My first attempt was misjudged. I found a big hill, ran down it: I won’t bore you with the details but I still had a lot of 5km left when I got to the bottom. I ended up running back through the village at 6pm on a Friday night, dodging the socially distanced chippy queue, which must have cost valuable seconds. It was still my fastest ever 5k but I thought I could do better. ...  continue reading

AGM 2021: Club Championships Report

by Chris Bowen

2020 got off to a good start with three races taking place. We did the Meltham Tough 10k, the Marple Park Run, and the Haworth Hobble, and we had no idea that this would be the last of the championship races for the year. The committee started putting on a few challenges, suggested by various members, and asked people to record when they had taken part, the time taken not being important. The idea was to keep people running even when we couldn’t have club runs.

It gradually became apparent that races were not going to be held for the rest of 2020 and so we finished the year with 20 of our own challenges in all. These included some relay events, some local race routes, and some navigation challenges. Some of these challenges were charity events, with members being very generous in their donations – thank you everyone! A lot of people enjoyed searching the Goyt Valley for Joe Brown’s Numbers, and testing themselves on the 5 Trigs route – thanks to Pete Ambrose for suggesting these. Also thanks to Chris Tetley for designing the August navigation event, where we had to find the green ‘Peak and Northern’ footpath signs; and to Brian Holland for encouraging us to run Every Day in May (and November!), and for planning various relays. ...  continue reading

AGM 2021: Chairman’s Report

By Lucas Jones

The Chairman’s Prize: well done Brian!

I don’t need to tell you all how strange 2020 was!

Since March we’ve been missing a lot:
• races (although Aidan and me somehow managed to do a half ironman triathlon)
• parkruns
• our usual, brilliantly informal Tuesday and Saturday club runs
• and of course the pubs!

However, I am very proud of how the club came together in these difficult times. Starting with the relay in May, and continuing with the Mob Match, and all the events that comprised the Lockdown Championship. Thanks to everyone who suggested or helped to organise those events: I know they helped just about save my sanity last year. ...  continue reading