Race Report: The Cromford Double 2026

Myself, Dom, Sam and Dan B headed up to Black Rocks Parkrun for leg 1 of the 'Cromford Double.' We met Vicky at the start who was camping nearby. Nothing much to say about the parkrun other than it's got some lovely views on the way out and it's flat and fast. It's an out and back in one direction, an out and back in the opposite direction and the first out and back only slightly shorter. 
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But the real excitement is leg 2 of the double, The Cromford Killer. Whilst we drove the short way there, Vicky ran to the event! So she ran to parkrun, warmed up, ran parkrun, ran to the Cromford Killer start, ran the killer and then ran back to the camp site! 

The Killer starts at the village fete which is a fantastic community effort. The junior and full race both start at the same time so whilst there was a bottleneck in places passing kids, it was great to be able to give them some encouragement. After half a mile or so of climbing on roads, paths and various driveways the fields split.

The kids headed off on the flat, whilst the full race headed up the dreaded hill. It's grass, it's hilly and it's one of those hands on knees jobs, powering to the top which eventually brings you onto the High Peak Trail. It's roughly a 400ft climb over half a mile or so.

Now the fun part is heading down Cromford Junction before branching off into the woods. There's another bit of cheeky climbing through the woods before another bit of downhill under the junction. It eventually leads back onto roads with a small climb towards the end. The finish is on a sports field which has an uphill running track. No wonder those local kids are so good at running! 

For an entry fee of £4 which goes back into the community it's a fantastic little race over 3.2 miles and a good entry level race for those looking to dip into trail running. 
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The results page has changed several times due to errors but the final positions look to be....

7th Ryan 24:49 (3rd in age category)
13th Dan B 26:39 (4th in age category)
14th Dom 28:19 (5th in age category)
26th Vicky 31:58 (2nd in age category)
32nd Sam 33:13 (1st in age category F45)

Afterwards we frequented the village fete for food, the tombola whereby Dan and Sam took home wine and then the real competition began. The 2nd annual Cromford Ryder Cup, England represented by myself vs Ireland represented by Dom. 5 shots for £1 each. The local kids had laid out a putting mat and provided us a putter and ball. There was a lot of competitiveness in this, reading of the green, checking wind direction, analysis of distance etc. And after all that.. it finished 0-0. Nil sodding nil for the second year running it ended in a stalemate. 10 shots at glory and we flopped it. And we claim to be golfers.... 

The second competitive event was football darts. 3 penalties at the dartboard, 3 shots at glory for £1. This time it was Dom, myself and Dan who stepped up. Dom continued his trend of nil points (no wonder Ireland aren't at the world cup), myself I managed a paltry 6 (I think..) as controversially the final shot suffered a bounce out. Dan then stepped up with a miss, 51 and I have no idea about his final shot as I'd lost and stormed off like a petulant child :D! Dan B took the prize of a bag of sweets. 

I'd put that day up there as one of my favourite KADS days out (with Bushy and Dublin in a Day). We often just go to races, say a quick hello and then disperse after so always nice to have a chat with folk. There is rumour next year we may try and incorporate a KADS Camping weekend up there! 

​Ryan