Dewsbury 10k

Sunday 2nd February 2025 | Dewsbury | Author Dan Atkin

Picture the scene, it’s 05.59 on a cold, early February morning & all across Dronfield & the surrounding areas,  a swarm of Bees are tucked up cosily in their beds, dreaming peacefully of Barnard Loops, clubs grades & Cobnar Climbs (ok, maybe not the last one!) when all of a sudden, the tranquility is shattered by the shrill of the alarm & they begin to drag themselves out of bed & downstairs for an early bagel or bowl of porridge whilst trying not to disturb the rest of the household before driving up the M1 for an hour.

Now, many would ask, why would someone put themselves through this & believe me, I’ve had that conversation with myself on more than one occasion, well, let me tell you, it’s for the opportunity to race the famously quick & even quicker to sell out, Dewsbury 10k & of course for the chance to own a phallically themed race tee.

This race is generally regarded as one of the most PB’able of the local 10k’s due to the nature of the course, an out & back which is ever so slightly up hill on the way out & naturally the reverse on the way back in, giving rise to the ability to get one’s foot down as it were after the turn. To look at the elevation profile on Strava, you would think it’s crampons & ice axes on the way up & skis on the way down but with just 57m of climb across the whole thing it’s pretty much perfect for a fast 10k.

Arriving in Dewsbury for just after 8 & parking in the handy & well sign posted Sports Direct car park, I was greeted by the sight of club runners from all over the region, some already in full warm up mode, some getting changed & the most sensible ones sitting in their car with a coffee & the heat up full blast scrolling through Instagram reels.

This car park is around a 10 minute walk to the race start, so I headed off not long after arriving, past the sports centre, across the shopping area & through the market where the Sunday traders were just in the process of setting up for the day. As I walked, I picked up more & more runners all heading in what they assumed was the right direction to the start, like a herd of migrating Wildebeest, if Wildebeest wore Vaporflys & Lycra.

As we rounded the final corner & the start / finish arch appeared, all thoughts of “why am I doing this” disappeared & the excitement of a race morning kicked in. Personally, I absolutely love semi deserted pre-race streets, populated only by runners, who, though our end goals for the morning may be at opposite ends of the scale, are all having the same thoughts as we head towards the start, “Am I wearing the right shoes?” “What should my pacing strategy be?” “Have I got time for 6 wees between now & 9 o’clock?”.

The organisation here is great, lots of portaloos at the start, plenty of marshalls on hand to answer questions & a good stretch of road at the back of the start line to warm up on. There was a bit of confusion on the bag drop this year & it had completely changed location & was now in a pub up near the station but again with the help of a couple of marshalls I found it no problem. I did think it was on odd decision by whoever was running it to not put any lights on inside the pub other than a multi coloured strobe which gave it the feel of a warehouse rave from 1992 but it all just adds to the flavour of the event.

So, to the race itself, conditions were pretty much perfect for racing, dry, clear & bright & fresh rather than cold. I lined up at the start with not much in the way of expectations, knowing I’m not currently in PB shape but wanting to give it a bit of a go in a tempo-ish kind of way. The pacer times were a little random, as well as the usual 40,40,50,55 etc minute splits, they also had them for 47, 53 & 58 minutes. I tucked in behind Mr. 47 minutes alongside a couple of Striders pals with the plan being to sit with him until the last couple of k & then see if I felt I could push for the finish.

At the stroke of 9 the gun went & we were off, cheered on enthusiastically by a good-sized crowd & to the accompanying sound of the obligatory cow bells as we turned under the bridge. The congestion at the start didn’t seem anything like a much as it had been for the past couple of years & I quickly settled into my stride, making sure to keep an eye out further up the road to ensure I avoided the oncoming concrete islands.

For a relatively small town, this is pretty well supported race with decent pockets of crowd throughout, including a steel drum, guitar combo who were knocking out a very passable version of “Killing Me Softly” when I passed them.

With this being an out & back, it wasn’t long before the pace car came past on the opposite side of the road, followed swiftly by the absolute flying machines at the sharp end & this is where these races can help if you’re ever starting to feel the pinch during those middle kilometres as you spend your time flicking your eyes to the right to spot a familiar face or vest & giving & reciprocating words of support & encouragement to your pals. Although every so often you’ll hear “gu on Dan!” & have no idea who shouted it & have to respond with a vague thumbs up in that general direction.

The turn on this race is a hairpin & for me, others may disagree, I don’t think you actually feel the benefit of the downhill until you hit the water station which is a few hundred metres down the road, however, once you’ve refreshed yourself (or managed to get half a cup up your nose!) all bets are off & if you’ve paced the 1st 5k well this is the chance to open the taps & push for home.

I stuck just in front of Mr. 47 until the last mile or so & then pushed on looking to land somewhere in the mid 46’s. I’m sure, that before I’d ever raced here, someone once said to me that they’d never been as happy to see a Lidl as they were at the end of this event & that is absolutely bang on the money, the relief as the road curves & you see that red, yellow & blue sign is palpable & you know you’re almost home. I put my foot down for the last few hundred metres, tried to look good for the finish photo (failed miserably) & crossed the line in 46:27 which for where I am at the minute I’m delighted with.

A quick sit down to gather myself & then it was time for a catch up with the solid DRC swarm in attendance & the mood was certainly a positive one, there were PB’s for Emma Birtles, Amanda Towers, Dave Marley with a monster 36:28, the skipper Lucy Taylor crashing through the sub ’45 barrier with a storming 44:41. For those of us who weren’t on the PB bus it was still a wholly positive race with pretty much everyone showing improvement against recent 10k performances & putting good solid markers down at the start of the year.

On the walk back to the car, we noticed a queue of people waiting to have their photos taken with the Dewsbury sign in the same way people wait in line to be pictured in front of the “Welcome to fabulous Las Vegas” sign surely an indicator that running puts places on the map.

Happy running bees!

Dan. x