OMM Lowther Hills

A disappointing experience in my first mountain marathon over the weekend. It had all gone pretty well, really enjoyable, with my navigation standing up to the test in some pretty bad conditions later in the day - mist, rain, gales - and a great, interesting route through a suitably obscure area (the Lowther Hills are north of Dumfries). But after a long haul from checkpoint 9 to 10, with tricky navigation, we failed to find 10 along with a big group of other teams. We did eventually find it in the wrong place but by the time we came to the final checkpoint my partner Gary had slowed dramatically, and was obviously starting to suffer, unable to make the steeper ascents at the end (we were on the B course, 25k, 2000m climbing over a few of the main peaks in the area including Green Lowther and Lowther Hill). So we didn't start day two. A real shame, the first time I've had to abandon anything - particularly galling as I was really enjoying the challenges of the event. Still, there are plenty of events to go at next year, and at least one full day is better than none.

Pen y Cloddiau

No racing this weekend, as I wind down before the mountain marathon in Scotland. Instead, spent the weekend with the children in St Asaph. The weather was, of course, perfect: as it invariably is when there is no chance of doing anything more ambitious. Still, we had two nice outings - one in the hills above Llanfair TH, then up Pen y Cloddiau with Morgan, Eve and Katharine on the Sunday. Some reasonable training runs, too: about 34 miles last week.

Eglwyseg climbs

Took advantage of the last vestiges of evening light, and the slight indian summer, to meet Alwyn for rock climbing at Trevor last night. Managed rapid ascents of a number of routes I'd targeted on my last visit. Cluedo is a good, quite delicate steep slab on good compact rock (f5+). We then did a couple of trad routes on Railway Buttress: Puffing Billy a good, though short HS 4a lead, a sharp positive crack with perhaps the best, roughest rock in the valley (previously seconded). Then came Over the Wall, a very good traverse line on the Compact Wall with a technical but brief f6a crux right at the top. Also led three easy sports climbs: Hot Dog, K9 and Deputy Dog, and seconded the trad severe Ivor the Engine. Lovely evening sunshine and a very pleasant atmosphere, so much so that I ran along the Panorama in the fading light to finish.

Prestatyn border league

A race of two halves yesterday at the first Border road race League fixture of the season in Prestatyn (5.1 very flat miles by the sea). Was going very well, feeling strong, until the last half mile or so when I began to lose it quite badly. I held on, struggling, for 40th place from the usual strong club field of 265 in a time of 30:15 - but may have lost as many as 10 places in the last half mile. The margins are so tight in these events that any kind of slackening is likely to cost a lot of places. Still, 40th is my best finish in the league - in this, my 10th Borders outing. Presume Buckley did quite well overall, but not sure if we won the team event. Next day, had a nice early morning run from Loggerheads along the Alyn to Cilcain then over the hilly bridleway below Ffrith back to the car park. Falling leaves, sunny spells, still not much mud, very therapeutic.

Tryfan

A drizzly, rather unpleasant trip up Tryfan today with Rich. We wanted to do one of the harder scrambles, so went up to the Heather Terrace with climbing gear. But the cloud was low, the rock streaming, and prospects grim. So we continued to the summit and pelted down the west gully back to the car without further ceremony.

Sandstone Trail race, Penmachno mountain biking

A rather strenuous weekend, culminating in the 28k/17+ mile Sandstone Trail race yesterday. This is a tremendous event, brilliantly organised, covering new territory for me. It started from the woods on Bickerton Hill in magical conditions of light mist and sunshine. The race then covers fell-running territory over the main ridge of the Peckforton Hills, beautiful and exhilerating in the early sunshine. It then traverses Beeston Tor to switch to flatter terrain over farmland, with the ground rearing up again to a difficult finish past Kelsall and up through the tracks in Delamere forest. I had nowhere near enough mileage in my legs and inevitably suffered over the final five miles, losing lots of places to finish in 2:21 for 32nd place. Still, I had no plans to really race this event so am pretty satisfied with an enjoyable and unusually varied outing. Travelled to the start with Dave and his Penny Lane club mates, which was nice: also good to see Dave B from Buckley at 13 miles. I'd had a terrible night's sleep on Saturday which didn't help, particularly as it followed an excellent mountain bike trip around the 22km Penmachno circuit with Rich in perfect weather on the Saturday. Great riding, particularly the initial triple singletrack descent and the final rocky descent towards the head of Cwm Penmachno. Seems to be taking off as a venue, which will be great (I hope) for the village, my paternal ancestral home...

Mold 10k

Broke 37 mins for the first time yesterday at the Flintshire 10k in Mold. A pleasing performance, particularly as I felt relatively comfortable and controlled throughout. Was concentrating on 6 minute mile pace: inevitably lost some time on the hills but kept pushing at sub 6 minute pace for 36:53 - over a minute quicker than my previous Market Drayton pb set in May - for 17th place from 321. After a quick bacon bap at Llandegla cafe, I warmed down a little more intensively than planned (!) with a blast around the red mountain bike circuit with Rich. The new bike again making this a lot more fun than it used to be.