In addition to marshaling the Wakefield Hospice 10K race, which we have done for more years than we can remember, the fundraising event organisers at the Wakefield Hospice asked for our assistance for their Dark Peak Sportive cycle event which was held on Sunday 18th September.
The Dark Peak Sportive cycle event started and finished at Nuffield Health (Calder Island on Denby Dale Road) in Wakefield. The event had 3 different routes - 40km (standard route), 78km (hard route) and 177km (extreme route) and we had been tasked with marshalling some tricky points on the route which presented the biggest danger to the cycling competitors.
Steve, Chas and two Pete's met at the race start at the ungodly hour of 7:30 on the Sunday morning. We got quite a comprehensive briefing pack, which to some extent did over complicate what we were tasked to do (which was essentially marshalling a bad junction and section of road, at Holme Moss junction onto Woodhead Pass and a section of the Strines respectively). The 12 page incident report we had to fill in if there was any accidents was also a bit of a scary prospect, but is mandated by UK Cycling for all their events. We also had a problem initially trying to identify the exact spots they wanted us to cover, however, Chas stepped in and made some sensible suggestions and we set off at 08:20, soon catching up and passing the extreme route cyclists who had set off at 08:00 (the hard route start was 08:30 and the standard at 09:00).
Once in position, it was then a long wait until the first competitors got to us, but at least it wasn't raining. Steve and Chas marshalled the Holme Moss junction whilst the two Pete's covered Strines.
We were certainly needed as the Holme Moss junction is at an extreme angle, making visibility onto the busy Woodhead pass difficult. You just know it is a bit of an accident blackspot when you look behind the dry stone wall and see a huge collection of broken headlights, bumpers and other mangled car parts.
This was also where the extreme route parted company (by turning right) from the hard route, who took a left turn. On a couple of occassions we did actually stop traffic in both directions to allow groups of cyclists safe passage. The marshalling did work well and there were no incidents and all the cyclists were very grateful for the support we were giving them. We were pretty much done by mid afternoon as the last competitor had passed us, and could then take a pleasant ride back along cracking roads and spectacular scenery.
A huge thanks to our 4 marshals who helped make the event run smoothly and incident free.
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we have since received a note of thanks from the Hospice:
I just wanted to say a massive thank you for you and your teams support last weekend. Once, we got to the bottom of it, you all did exactly as required and we cannot thank you enough for that.
You kept the event safe and most importantly our riders. We have received feedback on your team saying the positioning was at the exact correct points and that they made the riders feel safe and supported.
Your support and help in invaluable and we appreciate it so much at the hospice.