British Fell Relays

Race: British fell relay championships, Llanberis (Leg 3, navigation)
Time/Position: 1.58.29 (72nd from 181) 
An unusual taste of responsibility as I captained the team for the first time, having entered as soon as I heard it was coming back to Llanberis. This was our sixth time at the relays: I've done every one, it is always a great day out and this year we brought a strong team. Steve got us off to a great start on a tough first leg, with Peter and Simon keeping pace on the long second. Andy and I had the nav leg, only the second time I have done this leg (Long Mynd being the first). It does put a bit of pressure on, as a mistake can result in devastating time losses which affect the entire team. As it happens, we did OK but perhaps could have taken slightly more efficient lines at some points. We took a short-cut path through the fields to the first CP on top of the little hill south of the quarries, then went too low around Bryn Mawr to CP2 (although we didn't lose any height). It was then into thick clag and strong winds, slogging up to the summit of Moel Eilio before dropping down to CP3 below Bwlch Cwm Casig on the Betws Garmon side. Herein lay some controversy. We could hear voices in the mist on the Cwellyn side, but the rules made it pretty clear that crossing points had to be used (as is standard on mountain marathons). These were both virtually on the summit. But there was also an obvious illegal short-cut, contouring Eilio on the Cwellyn side with almost no climbing involved. Some teams obviously did that, as we were suddenly joined by lots more runners who effectively overtook us as we dropped out of the mist to CP4 below Foel Gron. The run-in was long but not complex, with no real route choice above Llyn Dwythiwch north to Bwlch y Groes and a fast final descent, ultra boggy, on which Andy cut his leg open after a nasty fall. Adrenalin got him to the finish. Chris then put in a fantastic final leg and we finished 61st overall, just squeezing into the top third of what is always a very high calibre field.