Race Report: Peak Raid AnyTime Event at Great Longstone

 The pandemic was so detrimental in so many ways but the anytime orienteering event is something I am so grateful for. I am sorry that its another orienteering review, but once I get Brighton Marathon out the way I will be back out racing in the hills (I hope). Peak Raid actually hold some mini mountain marathons in the Peaks but sadly I have never done one (so many events, so little time, and dog care). However, at some point in the pandemic, they came up with the idea of using MapRun technology to hold orienteering events that people could do separately and yet still competitively. A few groups have done this, and its brilliant. And now Peak Raid hold a spring series of four events that starts in March and runs until August. I have done a few of them (I wish I had made more but life...) including Danebridge and Rowarth and we have had a fab time. 

The guys from PeakRaid had organised to be outside the pub at the start point of the first event for half an hour of the first day of the Great Longstone event and I figured that this was worth making the effort to say thank you for holding events I can take my dog to as well as exploring more of the Peaks via. I'd never been over to Great Longstone so I asked what was worth seeing on my run, explaining I wasn't out to be competitive. I was told to head for the edge. It was a two hour point score course giving us plenty of scope of exploring. So loading my app, grabbing my purchased paper map and off Oscar and I went off up the hill. 

The start point was the cross at the centre of the green. The village has two pubs and a small shop. It is traditional white peak stone and has both posh houses and proper farms. It also has a surprising number of churches given its small size, like most British villages. 

Longstone edge and Longstone moor sit above the valley that contains the Monsal trail and Bakewell. It affords amazing views towards the edges and dales of the Peak District. But first we had to run up a bit of a road, past a campsite (first control punched, wahey) and across some rather soft sheep fields. Fortunately the dog was on good form so we climbed relatively quickly. There had been a few groups of walkers in the village but it was quite quiet as we headed up the moor, punching controls as we went. Navigationally, it was relatively straight forward and we entered the moor via a footpath. I decided to ditch a layer but keep the waterproof which was a bit of a time waster in the short term but given the rising air temp and the April showers, proved the better decision in the end. 

As we hit the top, the rain swept in, adding to the drama. Initially we headed north across the moor, picking up a few easy points off good footpath but then we hit a tussocky footpath which I hoped would get better. I picked up a few controls on this section, and bumped in to a few other orienteers who commented on the bumpiness, but it was slower going and meant I decided not to head down the otherside of the hill. The dog was not enjoying trod hunting in the heather and with him, going heather bashing straight across was a lot more tricky (and more importantly not good for flora or ground nesting birds). So we headed out back towards the edge and suddenly, despite the passing rain shower, the view opened up.

Its hard to capture in a photo but the White Peak opened up below

The next section was on quite good footpath along the edge and we made reasonable progress until we hit the road. I gambled on a good footpath to do a short out and back to grab a control or maybe two, but I was time aware and so I left the second one, as the footpath deteriorated through the gate (in hindsight, I had the time). Instead went back on ourselves and across the stile only for me to realise we were on a tiny section of the Maverick Peak X route. And I thought I had never been here before! I also had a very brief discussion with another orienteer about how much fun we were having. I wasn't lying; I was loving it! 

The next section had a more diffuse network of paths and I intermittently got myself in a tizz that I was on the wrong one, despite very reasoned choices. We were heading east, and then down. The dog was definitely tiring and intermittently getting under my feet. I had a vague route planned in my head and was sure we'd get around that but it didn't have any obvious extras we could pick up if time was kind, which was sort of sad. We trotted through Rowland, and then I got myself in a tizz somewhere on hardrake lane (I think it is called) despite reasoning in my head that I was going the right way, I couldn't  quite believe myself and slowed to a walk to make sure. A control punch made me more confident again. It was classic limestone walks in fields with cows and sheep. 

I'd been told that the area around this certain check point was worth seeing. Oscar was trying to eat a lot of poo and we weren't moving efficiently but it wasn't terrible. We bumped in to the couple we had seen at the top (not for the last time!). Suddenly we emerged in to a small dale and I could see why they had sent us this way 

Then I managed to just miss a punch and ended up and running up and down the field through some sticky mud for a good few minutes trying to find it, confused by a water feature that turned out to be duplicated slightly to my right. Eventually tripping the punch, I headed back to the village where to the dog was definitely over this run. We headed to a last punch across an extremely muddy out and back in some local livestock fields that I assume had been emptied with the arrival of spring. Then we dashed back to the village and through the ginnels back to the finish at the tennis courts where the organisers from Peak Raid were waiting to ask how we had gotten on. I told them what a great time we had had and briefly found myself at the top of the table due to being one of the first to go off and so one of the first back. 

Looking at the results later, I had almost 8 minutes spare, and so could have probably been a little more ambitious somewhere, as well as trusting my nav a bit more in the latter half. But it had been a great run and the dog was nice and settled for the rest of the day so I certainly wasn't complaining. We stopped briefly at the very busy Monsal head for lunch at the dog friendly Monsal Hotel before heading back to Manchester for tea with a friend. The Peaks is already gearing up for a busy spring and summer season but with the number of the daffodils waving from the road side, it is no surprise people want to visit.