Edale Skyline fell race

Race: Edale Skyline fell race (21m/4500ft)
Peaks: Ringing Roger, Win Hill, Lose Hill, Mam Tor, Lord's Seat, Brown Knoll, Grindslow Knoll
Time/Position: 3:37:46 (65/264)
A tremendous day out yesterday - perfect clear, sunny conditions for this classic race. Driving over Mam Nick in the morning sunshine with Vic, the challenge was brutally obvious. It's an irresistably compelling route taking a complete elongated loop of the ridges encircling the Edale valley. I had a reasonable race, starting deliberately slowly on the steep climb up to the rock garden of Ringing Roger. Then fairly easy running with perfect crystal clear views led to the top of Jagger's Clough and fast, grassy descent down to Crookstone Barn. Then came the delightfully gentle climb up Win Hill, entirely runnable. From the summit, though, the rest of the route looks frighteningly distant! A good descent down to Hope, still taking it easy, through the edge of the village to the steep climb up (through trees initially) to Lose Hill. This is probably the toughest climb of the race - but very scenic, now in the limestone of the White Peak (an intriguing contrast with the Dark Peak bogs and grit outcrops along the rest of the route). Walked a bit of this climb, then descended through trees to the easy-angled climb up paving slabs, past hundreds of tourists, to the top of Mam Tor. Feeling OK as I reached the cut-off at Mam Nick in 1:51. Then the race really starts, with a boggy haul over Lord's Seat - and very boggy trudge through the energy-sapping peat hags to Brown Knoll and Jacob's Ladder. Some of this terrain was familiar from a previous trip. My low point came shortly afterwards, for the long slog over the Grindslow Knoll across very awkward peaty terrain. I certainly felt the proximity of last week's Rhayader 20 mile race on this section! I perked up a bit for the rocky path along the edge of the escarpment back to Ringing Roger. Managed a decent final descent, passing at least five runners. A great event, made hard by the boggy terrain and the sheer length of the route - rather than the modest climbs and descents.

Rhayader 'round the lakes' race

Race: Rhayader 'round the lakes' 20 mile
Time/position: 2:22:38 (33/376)
A beautiful spring day for my second consecutive running of this enjoyable race on the 21st. Rather like a fell race on tarmac, it's a nice challenging course in a remote, scenic area. Had no real intention of racing, given Edale's proximity, but did want to maintain a brisk pace throughout. The long (1000ft?) climb from Rhayader to the pass at Penrhiw Wen went quite well, slightly hazy but clear blue skies. Kept it comfortable and found myself in the top 30 as we began the exhilarating descent down to the lakes in a cool wind. Went through 10m in 1:12, enjoying the shade of the trees at this point. A negative split is not hard to achieve on this race, as the second half is merely undulating apart from the nasty hill at mile 19. Slowed dramatically on this, but just managed to keep things going through to the finish and a reasonable position. Recovered quite well, after a fairly good week of training (50 miles). Morgan did his first fell race next day, above Llanarmon yn Ial.

Deeside border league

Race: Deeside 4.5m (border league round 6)
Time/Position: 26:10 (36/256)
Needed a decent outing at the penultimate BL race on Sunday, given the fact that the final fixture is a few days after London. Sadly, it was a very short course, and a pretty strong field, so I struggled slightly and remain in 11th place (despite being around 40 points better off than last year, when I finished 9th!). Went well up the steep Kelsterton hill after a circuit of Deeside College, but then inevitably lost places to faster runners on the descent back to the College and a final sprint around the running track. Jogged round the circuit again to warm down, to bring the weekly mileage up to 45m (after a run up Famau from Cadole on Friday night). Trying to push the mileage slightly now, and last night joined Jez for an excellent run up and around Hope Mountain - in springlike conditions as the sun set - via a really good new route from the church.

Brenig/Alwen giant loop

An excellent hard training session yesterday, and a valuable long run in preparation for forthcoming events. Neil and I had been planning to do a double loop of both lakes for a while, and conditions were ideal yesterday: mild, overcast, light winds. We began with an exact copy of the Brenig race route, a comfortable largely off-road clockwise circuit, which we pleasingly completed in 65 mins. This was only 4 or 5 mins slower than my race time (2007?). We then continued up the hill, over the road and through the newly laid out forest path down to the Alwen dam. Still felt quite comfortable, and really enjoyed the path - new territory for me - out towards the wild NW end of the lake in the heart of Hiraethog. Over the bridge and a cruel climb up to a miniature windy ridge. Started to suffer slightly, but recovered to maintain the pace as the route gradually descends back to the dam. A hilly slog back along the track and road back to the Brenig car park. Exactly 2:30 for the round, perhaps a tad over 20 miles. Eased tired limbs with a lunchtime jog up to Frodsham crags today, a brief but good bouldering session - one route, along with some harder low-level traverses.

Dash in the dark, race 3

Race: Dash in the Dark, race 3 (4m/750ft)
Time/position: 28:20 (4/18)
Rather tired after a fairly tough training week, including a longish outing on Thursday from HK to Hope Mountain, Caergwrle and Caer Estyn, followed by a Friday night jog up Ffrith Mountain from Cadole - so I struggled a bit in the third and final Dash from the Llandegla MTB centre. Almost a minute down on my time in the first race. Went off quite fast in light rain, then slowed on the descents and slog round the lake (boggier than last time). Couldn't catch the third placed runner, so settled for my 4th position and virtually jogged in.

Anglesey runs

A very enjoyable weekend on Anglesey, with a nice hilly road running circuit today. From Beaumaris across to Llanddona, then very nice running on small coastal roads above the sea back to Llangoed and Beaumaris. A blend of sunshine and coastal mist.