British Fell Relays

Race: British fell relay championships, Llanberis (Leg 2, 15k, 1000m)
Time/Position: 1.33 (40th from 180)
Peaks: Moel Cynghorion, Foel Goch, Foel Gron, Moel Eilio
Buckley's third appearance at this great team event - which this year came to the hills west of Llanberis and was therefore virtually home territory. As usual, our small club struggled to get a team together and once we did it became tricky to assign runners to legs. In the end, Eddie set off on the fast first leg for his first ever fell race - and the rain began in earnest as Simon and I waited for him in the holding pen. Unlike last year, when I took the navigation leg, this year I was on the long (15k) 'pairs' leg across the Moel Eilio ridge. In another contrast with Church Stretton and Llangynhafal (our two previous relay champs) the 'HQ' this year was the Glyn Rhonwy quarry and a flat expanse of slate waste. Slightly grim, but good views of the hills and the approaching weather systems sweeping down from Pen y Pass! Strong winds soon flattened the big club's gazebos - but our 3ft high tent remained intact throughout. We got a real drenching as we waited for Eddie, then set out for a very fast initial 5k southwards along the paths west of Llanberis towards Hebron station. This flat, fast stuff is more my terrain than Simon's, but it was all very muddy today - flowing water at several points along the paths. The brutal climb up the northern slopes of Cynghorion came immediately afterwards - it was a matter of getting my head down and trying to stay with Simon's relentless uphill pace. Hands came in useful! Once we reached the checkpoint on the summit, the wind tore into us, and this made for tough running along the rest of the ridge in poor viz. Painful horizontal hail and 70mph gusts made this a classic test. We did OK, and seemed to be passing a few teams, although our finishing position was a bit disappointing. I know the ground here fairly well, and was looking forward to the long final descent. Simon eats this stuff for breakfast, but I kept with him reasonably well and we plunged down the final very muddy slopes (a waist-deep quagmire, perfect for spectating schadenfreude as runners plunged in!) to hand over to Huw and Dave for leg 3.

Flintshire 10k

Race: Flintshire 10k (Mold)
Time/Position: 37.07 (7th from 495 [1st V40])
It was fairly obvious that this was never going to be a PB course: a new route which is essentially an extension of our Border League 5 miler. Perhaps best described as a fell race on tarmac, I reckon it must be close to 600ft of climbing squeezed into 3k. I thought it might suit me, and had gone surprisingly well in my first intervals session since March last Tuesday, so seemed to have some form. Given the steepness of the hill, I started conservatively from Mold then just tried to maintain the effort and keep it going for the very steep (17%?) slopes beyond Nercwys. From here, the race turns back down towards Nercwys but remains 'fell-like' with an equally steep and slippery descent. The rain got a little heavier as myself and Gary had an excellent battle throughout the run-in - couldn't quite catch the two lads in front. I started to feel a stitch developing on the fast descent, but it never became crippling as we rejoined the normal BL run-in back to Mold. I last did this race three years ago (when I also won my category), but think the new route gives it a bit of character! At the prize giving, Buckley won first team and I got first V40, despite the fact that I was three minutes slower than my PB.