Llangynhafal Loop

Race: Llangynhafal Loop fell race (7.6km/533m)
Time/Position: 45:17 (20th from 140)
Still tired after the marathons, with a damaged right knee, and no fell races since November: I thought it prudent to start well back! Although I struggled greatly on the descents with my knee, however, this could have been worse and my time was less than a minute slower than last year. I picked up a few places on the fast, flat valley running up to Nant y Ne, and continued the slow plod up the valley towards the gully. Felt reasonably good on the climbs, which was surprising given the road focus of the last few months. But suffered on the descent from Moel Famau, and continued to suffer on the peaks and troughs of the ridge over Dywyll. If memory serves, I went over the top of the final climb last year in second or third place: this year, with a much stronger field and me a minute down, was a different story. A painful and very slow final descent - after which I carried on jogging back to the village to meet Kate at the pub.