Duergar Night Crawler, 10th February 2024

Less than a week after completing the Hardmoors Saltburn Trail Marathon, Simon Lowe was back racing on the trails. This time he was running for 10 miles around the Simonside Hills in the dark! I did say that he liked a challenge!

The race publicity for this event explains where the name comes from thus: “The dwarfs of Simonside, or Duergar, are rumoured to take great satisfaction in leading travellers astray after nightfall. Lighting their torches, they stay ahead of confused visitors, leading them deeper into the often pitch black Northumberland wilderness until they fall into a bog or plunge from a precipice to their demise.” And still people enter!

In his own words, it was “Horrible – couldn’t see a bloody thing due to fog”. Still, Simon finished in an impressive 8th place in a time of 1:31:00. Well done!