Derby Runner League (DRL) Cross Country (XC) 2026-27 Fixtures

This league is an informal winter cross country series contested by amateur running clubs from the Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire border — KADS among them, alongside clubs from Ilkeston, Long Eaton, Heanor, Ripley, Belper, Matlock, Mansfield, Sutton-in-Ashfield, Wirksworth and North Derbyshire. There's no England Athletics licence or pre-registration to run — just a club vest and a pair of trail shoes or spikes, which is part of why it has stayed the low-key, come-one-come-all fixture it's known as locally.
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It's sponsored throughout by Derby Runner, the local independent running-shop chain, which is where both of its names come from.

How the Season Works

• Just turn up. There is no need to register for these race and no race numbers are issued. You just turn up with a club vest or T shirt, run, get given a token at the finish tunnel which you hand to a club representative and tell them your full name and age.
• Five fixtures, run on Sunday mornings roughly a month apart between October and February.
• ~5 miles per race over grass, woodland trail and, reliably, given the season, mud.
• Each race is hosted by a different member club on rotation, so the venue and the marshals change every time.
• Men's and women's races are scored separately; results and season-long series standings are published on WebScorer.
• In seasons where team scoring has run, the format has counted the first 7 men and first 4 women per club toward the team score, with a combined mixed-team total on top — worth checking current-season rules before you race, as scoring detail can vary slightly year to year.
• Age-category prizes have typically required completing at least 4 of the 5 races; the minimum age to run is 14.

The fixtures for the 2026-27 season are listed below, more details to follow.

4 Oct 2026 Shipley Country Park

8 Nov 2026 Chaddesden

(the presentations of prizes from the summer league will be at this race)

6 Dec 2026 Ilkeston

17 Jan 2027 West Park Long Eaton

14 Feb 2027 Holmebrook Valley

​(confirmed moved to this date due to a clash with Nationals)