DARK PEAK NEWS February March ...err October 2010 l Bourne supremacy – how Simon conquered the 15 trigs l Joss loss – Yates goes AWOL on the Naylor challenge l Trouserless Tim – Tett bares nearly all for your caption comp l Out, then in – top tips on breathing from barman Dave In this edition» est. 1976 www.dpfr.org.uk CRANKING IT UP FOR THE CHAMPS President: Eric Mitchell As another club champs approaches, Matt Speake tells how he found an extra gear to leave Rob Little Chairman Secretary and Neil Northrop trailing as he stormed to victory in Paul Sanderson, Rob Moore last year’s race. Gavin Williams also chips in with his 27 Milden Road, 2 Kerwen Close, perspective as race organiser. Wadsley Dore, Sheffield Sheffield Features, page 13 S6 4AT S17 3DF 0114 2206353 07766 520741 IS THAT MONT BLANC? [email protected] [email protected] Or could it possibly be Grindsbrook? We devote the centre spread to Richard Hakes’s stunning picture of Treasurer Membership club members contouring round a cornice as the Peak Lynn Bland, Gavin Williams District emulated the Alps during last winter’s cold 51 Hurlfield Ave 41 Frickley Road, Gleadless, Sheffield spell. Sheffield, S11 7EX The piccy in the middle, centre spread S12 2TL 0114 2309227 0114 2646409 [email protected] RAILWAY RELICS [email protected] In the second part of his occasional series, Mike Arundale explores the fascinating history of the old Clothing and Eqpt. Men’s Captain incline above Grindleford and Padley Gorge. Did you Richard Hakes Rob Little, 454A Loxley Road Flat F, know it was all to do with building the Derwent dams? Loxley 91 School Road Page 20 Sheffield Sheffield S6 6RS S10 1GJ LOOK, NO TROUSERS! 0114 2339912 07791 283861 [email protected] [email protected] Tim Tett reveals intimate details of his underwear as he stars in this edition’s caption competition. Can you find Women’s Captain Website creative inspiration in the cereal Kirsty Bryan-Jones John Dalton 2, Sunnybank Cottages, 1, Cannon Fields, packet that he’s clenching between Jaggers Lane, Hathersage, his teeth? Hathersage, Derbyshire Caption competition, Page 10 S32 1AZ S32 1AG 01433 650213 01433 659523 [email protected] [email protected] CUTTING EDGE TRAINING TIPS Dark Peak News David Holmes Leading bar worker Dave Gilchrist begins an exclusive 615, Loxley Road, new series for Dark Peak News in which he passes on Loxley, tips gleaned from years of philosophical pint pulling. In Sheffield, part one, he deconstructs a skill that goes to the very S6 6RR heart of good running: how to breathe properly. 0114 2344186 Page 30 [email protected] Dark Peak News March 2010 page 3 The bit at the front can still remember the A&E doctor’s exact words as he observed my trouserless bottom: “Do you know your bum crack has moved an inch to the left?” He was staring at a huge I festering abscess that had me on the verge of passing out, just days after another medic had dismissed it as an inconsequential side effect of flu. A few hours later I was under general anaesthetic, having 200ml of pus cut from my buttock. The saga had begun when I decided to do one last sledge run down Great Close Hill during Tim Tett’s “unofficial” birthday weekend. A few of us had got through the snow to Malham for an informal gathering, after Tim abandoned the usual family weekend because of the extreme weather. The sledging session had been exhilarating, with speeds getting faster and faster as the start line crept higher and the run got more polished. But that last run was such a mistake; the sledge went one way, I went the other, and next thing I was crashing arse-first into a rock at something like 30mph. The next I knew I was lying on the common room floor in a state of shock while friends piled carrier bags of snow onto a grapefruit-sized swelling. To cut a long story short, I was black and blue for weeks, then it went away, then I was bedbound for over a week with what I thought was flu until I finally walked into the Northern General in a state of worry and exasperation. None of the doctors could explain why a bout of severe bruising should throw up such a serious infection weeks later, but it meant long weeks of disruption that played havoc with my work life, and put me on the backfoot to such an extent that Dark Peak News fell by the wayside. I can only apologise for the magazines’s extended disappearance, and hope that perhaps its absence will make the heart grow fonder now that we are finally back in production. The hiatus has highlighted what a superb job John does with the website, which now meets our daily communication needs so well. But people have said they’ve really missed the more extended digest that the mag provides. That is certainly the (somewhat accidental) flavour of this edition. With so many interesting pieces and photos “in stock”, I had to decide whether to bin them, or to publish them as an ad hoc resume of the year. I opted for the latter. So please think of this in part as a special “annual” edition, and in part as a foretaste of the splendid things that we hope lie in store at the club champs and through the winter. Apologies to those whose fresher pieces have been held over, but they will be along very soon in the next edition that will appear shortly after the club champs. If I could be excused one final thought on my bottom, it is that my cleft-like scar now reminds me how lucky I was to emerge fit and more or less intact. I know that there are many friends and colleagues in Dark Peak who are going through far worse at the moment: Dave Markham, Ken Jones, Trevor Milner, Chas Hird and Joan Waller to name but a few. When you suddenly find yourself on your back in a hospital bed, it makes you realise how precious and ephemeral are the times that we share on the hills. If that thought chimes with you, please accept an open invitation to write about your special times and share them with friends in the next edition. Dave Dark Peak News March 2010 page 4 News Tim triumphs on world stage DARK PEAK now has a world champion among its members. Tim Tett won the M50 sprint race final at the World Masters Orienteering Championships in Switzerland in August, finishing 12 seconds clear of his nearest rival on the two kilometre course around the streets and parks of Neuchatel. Tim also picked up a bronze medal in the long distance finals at the same event. Pete Gorvett took part in the event too, and Dark Peakers Matt Speake, Rachael Elder and Oli Johnson have also been performing at international level in the recent orienteering world championships at Trondheim in Norway. It seems the traditional fusion between South Yorkshire fell running and South Yorkshire orienteering remains as strong as ever. ...but it could have been so different TIM’S success was all the more welcome given the injury he suffered just before the championships when he put his foot in a snare while out on a club training run. It happened on the banks of Oaking Clough on the Hallam Moors, as a large group of runners was making its way between the Headstone and the conduit. Tim gashed his leg badly after failing to notice a string of wire snares that had been laid out by the gamekeeper. This was in daylight, on open access land. The club has since raised the issue formally with the Peak Park, but has received a disappointing response in which national park officers essentially wash their hands of it and point out that the landowner was doing nothing illegal. Club officers are now considering an appropriate response to the whole matter. We’ll have a full report on the saga in the next edition of Dark Peak News. Lloyd pipped at the post MEANWHILE, spare a thought for Lloyd Taggart, who missed out on the FRA English Championship by just four seconds in the deciding race at Shelf Moor earlier this month. Lloyd lost a sprint finish to Rob Hope from Pudsey and Bramley, leaving him joint second in the series, but comfortable winner of the V40 series by nine points from Ian Holmes. The club have also taken the women’s team championship, and finished runner-up in the men’s team series. The victories reflect an exceptionally strong performance across the board, with Lloyd, Stuart Bond, Jon Morgan and John Hunt all finishing in the men’s top 20, and Nicky Spinks, Liz Batt and Pippa Wilkie all achieving equivalent success in the women’s. Also achieving top ten placings were Neill Barton (MU23), Steve Bell (MV45), Keith Holmes (MV55), John Armistead (MV65), Judith Jepson (WV40) and Julie Gardner (WV50). Next up, at the time of writing, was the British Championships, with the final Black Mountains race due to take place in Snowdonia on September 25th. Lloyd Taggart and Judith Jepson were both holding the lead in the V40 categories, so let’s hope they managed to clinch it. STOP PRESS: THEY DID! Full report in next edition. Full details of all the championship placings can be found on the FRA website at: http://www.fellrunner.org.uk/ championships.php?year=2010 Dark Peak News March 2010 page 5 Eric recovers from heart op OUR CLUB president, Eric Mitchell, is on the mend after undergoing major heart surgery earlier this year.