The Denby dash is just shy of 6 miles and described as and undulating trail race. There was a full compliment of entrants on the start line at 12 noon on a very hot bank holiday Monday in Upper Denby and the undulations were revealed fairly quickly; the first climb was out the way within a mile and a half. Two further significant climbs followed as did the temperature. Towards the later part of the event the temperature touched 35 degrees yet my follow runners were in good spirits as were the the many marshals and photographers that lined the route. I’d like to challenge the ‘undulating’ description considering there was just under 700 ft of elevation gain and my rather slow finish time but this did not stop the only other Strider entrant Andy Mace from getting a top ten (M40) finish in 57:30. Race HQ was in the beer garden of the village pub and alongside the usual pub offerings was live music, burgers and lots of cake. With junior races on offer before the senior one this event was a great way to spend a bank holiday day away from home.
