 |
Ancient...
|
The Dash was organised between 1976 and 1987 by John Welch
of Derby Mercury Running Club. He has contributed the following notes on the
history of the event.
"The first Dovedale Dash was held on the Bonfire
Party Weekend at Ilam Hall in 1953 and was a challenge race between the
cyclists and the walkers of the Derby Mercury Running Club. It was intended
to run off the excesses of the party and in the first race there were about
15 runners. The course was from Ilam Hall Youth Hostel, down the path
alongside the church to the village, over the river bridge, alongside the
Rivers Manifold and Dove to Coldwall Bridge, over the bridge and back
alongside the River Dove to cross the river by the stepping stones,
returning to Ilam across the fields to finish up the drive to Ilam Youth
Hostel.
Over the following years, other hostellers asked if they
could join in, and the numbers gradually grew with runners coming on the day
just to take part. Inevitably, some of the cyclists, or walkers, or
climbers, would also be runners and so the word spread through the running
fraternity. Most of the top local runners came along and some of
international standing. One such runner, George Rhodes, ran for England on
many occasions and won the Dash 3 consecutive times. For this achievement he
was allowed to keep the original trophy, presented by our club president
Eric Thompson. In reply to this gesture George Rhodes gave the club a cup,
the George Rhodes Trophy, to be competed for in future Dashes.
One year, probably in the late 60s, Edgar Smith, the
Youth Hostel Warden would not allow us to use the Hostel, so the race was
run from the village. As far as I can remember, this is the only year when
it has rained for the event. Due to pressure from the villagers, we were
back in the hostel the following year.
As the popularity of running increased, so the numbers in
the Dash increased until, in 1977 the Youth Hostel Association would not let
us use the hostel again. As that was to be the 25th anniversary Dash, it was
decided to investigate holding it from Thorpe Pastures and to decide the
future on the outcome. The event was a success from our point of view, but
with over 700 runners, the farmers were concerned about the stiles and
hedgerows. The 4 farmers involved agreed to open suitable field gates for us
involving a slight modification to the course, but being a great improvement
all round.
In 1986, the ownership of Thorpe Pastures changed from
Fitzherberts of Tissington to the National Trust and the nature of yearly
negotiations changed."
Alan Gifford has sent us some photographs of the first
race.
Relations between Derby Mercury Running Club and the
National Trust deteriorated and the club gave up the event, feeling that they
could raise the money they needed more easily from club subscriptions.
Despite ill feeling surrounding the end of the Derby
Mercury's association with the Dash, John Welch has been extremely helpful to
us. He has written
"It has been both a memorable and satisfying
association and we genuinely wish the villagers of Thorpe every success in the
future. We'll be there!"
Derek Frith, who farmed at Thorpe Mill Farm, through his
connection with the Thorpe Pasture Gait Owners meeting held with the National
Trust, was aware that Derby Mercury was giving up the event, and that other
clubs were interested in taking it over. It was clear that the event had the
potential of raising anything up to £1000 which could be used for local
causes. As a result of Derek's initiative, a meeting took place in January
1988, and by May, a committee was formed which negotiated with the National
Trust for a licence to use the Pastures for the event. This committee is
called "Dovedale Dash 88" to distinguish it from any previous
organisation.
In 1988, with the help of information from John Welch, the
event was organised by that committee, and a large number of villagers
volunteered (or were volunteered) to help. The event took place on a fine and
sunny 6th November when 1200 people entered and 600 cars arrived. The
arrangements proved reasonable successful, and they formed the basis for
future organisation.
Sadly, Derek Frith died in 1995. He is greatly missed, not
only because of his work with the Dash, but also because of his many other
activities locally.
-
Drowned Dashes - The Dovedale Dash has been cancelled three times, in 1998, 2000 and
2004
"Are we just
getting softer or is the weather really changing - as far as I know this is
the 3rd cancellation in the last seven years after nearly 50 previous
dashes. When I was a lad etc etc..."
The things that have changed are -
1) The number of runners has increased since the race was first run in 1953,
and hence the number of cars that have to be parked has risen to about
450-500.
2) The relationship between the race organisers and the owners of the field
where the race starts and finishes has changed. The National Trust now owns
Thorpe Pastures which is the best place for parking - there is plenty of
space and it's near the start. We have had our knuckles rapped about the
number of cars in some wet years, so we have erred on the side of caution -
not that we could have parked 600 cars on the pastures tin any of the years
when we had to cancel the event.
3) We tried very hard in 2004 to avoid cancellation by looking seriously for
alternative parking. Unfortunately the Dovedale Car Park, which we had hoped
to use was very wet and parking there was restricted to about 250 cars.
There is little room in the council car parks in Thorpe and the usual
parking site on Thorpe Pastures was so wet that it is doubtful if we could
have got more than 50 cars on there. Well, we could have got more cars on
...
We could not go ahead with the race knowing that there was insufficient
parking for the number of runners who would probably come. We're afraid that
our concerns were borne out by experience on the day. A fair number of
people came either because they hadn't heard about the cancellation, or
because they wanted to come for a run anyway. The way in which some of those
people behaved by parking irresponsibly was depressing. It is not acceptable
to block narrow village roads or to park on verges outside people's houses.
4) We have considered many possibilities and there have been suggestions
from some would-be runners. Moving the parking to Ashbourne and bussing the
runners in; covering the parking area with matting; moving Bonfire Night to
August; moving the venue to a location where there is more reliable parking.
There have been other suggestions as well, even less practical. The Dash is
the Dash because it happens when it does, and because it is a relatively
informal event, intended to be fun for everybody - including the organisers.
The best chance of a successful Dash is for a period of dry weather in
October - there was four inches of rain in Ashbourne this year (2004) and it
is wetter in Thorpe than it is there.
Follow this link for a
picture of the floods in 2000
|
