Newborough Forest parkrun

'Race': Newborough Forest parkrun

Time/Position: 19.19 (4th from 157)

This must be one of the most beautiful and satisfying parkruns in Britain, because it starts from the stunning Traeth Llanddwyn. Then, although it mostly stays within the forest, it takes a single lap on firetracks and sand. The start was tough, gently uphill with views of the island through the trees, to a steep, rooty dune (hard work) and then a long gentle climb to a highpoint. From here, it is a 2k blast through the trees. It was a beautiful morning, crystal clear with the novelty of frozen beach sand initially, and fantastic views across to the Nantlle ridge and Yr Eifl. M enjoyed it too, and it didn't take us long to get back to Henllys for breakfast and a swim.

Tour de Mynydd Mawr

Peaks: Foel Rudd, Mynydd Mawr, Craig Cwmbychan

Area: Nantlle, Eryri

Some highly obscure corners of the national park here, particularly on a deliberately long and winding descent past the very steep crag of Castell Cidwm. I set off from the Snowdon Ranger car park, nice to relive October's Eryri marathon, then jogged along to the end of Llyn Cwellyn before embarking on the long climb through the forest. I suspect I last did this with little dog Judy in the 1990s - I remember her having an unhealthy obsession with the crags of Craig y Bera! There are multiple footpaths heading upwards and I tried to take the logical line but still found myself crawling through overgrown woodland at one point. Eventually I reached the open hill below the steep climb up Foel Rudd, enlivened by a brief but superb sunburst over Rhyd Ddu to Yr Aran, with Y Garn (Nantlle) emerging from the mist on the right. The route heads up very steeply to Rudd, and then the familiar ridge to the main summit. This is excellent, and also taken by the Fron Four race which I've done a couple of times. Great views down to Craig y Bere on the left (I have done Sentries Ridge and Angel Pavement here, both memorable). It was quite windy and cold, with a little snow on the summit, so I didn't hang around but jogged down the spur north-east to great views directly down to Llyn Cwellyn. This spur (Craig Cwmbychan) is very obvious from the road, as is the shallow gully above Cwm Planwydd that I then took down to Castell Cidwm. This is extremely steep, with a tiny path some help, and plummets down to a small waterfall of the Afon Goch below the famously steep crag of Cidwm (I have never climbed here, too hard for me). An unbridged river blocks progress round the west side of Cwellyn so instead I had to jog along the muddy lake banks (track) all the way back to the far end of the lake.

Birkenhead BL

Race: Birkenhead Park Variant (Border League race 4)

Time/Position: 29.09 (79th from 391 [1st V55])

Although I didn't feel great today, unable to hold any kind of pace after a decent first lap, I did at least maintain my 100% category winning record in this season's border league. I set off with clubmates who I should have been able to work with, but could only hold the pace for one lap. It wasn't the usual Birkenhead Park course, but was instead a slightly shorter version with three laps using different paths to the normal fixture. My heel problems are still compromising training and that is really starting to tell now: as I'm only running 20 miles or so each week it is becoming difficult to maintain any kind of edge. The second lap was tough, and I consciously slowed for it before trying to up the pace again towards the end. Another very lowly finish, nowhere near counting for the team, but I now have a substantial 102 point gap on second place in the V55 category.

Mow Cop TT

Not a race, but I include it as I treated the famous 'Killer Mile' up to Mow Cop as a bit of a time trial, something I have been wanting to do for a while. It is a long-established race too, going back to the early 80s, but we just incorporated it into a day trip instead. I had cycled it before, on the Cheshire Cat sportive way back in 2011 - you got a medal if you stayed upright on the bike, and I did! By comparison, running is probably slightly easier: whether on bike or foot it is a classic test, reminiscent of a Flemish monument climb (550ft height gain in less than a mile). We parked in Scholar Green and I ran along the lanes towards Station Road and the level crossing where the Killer starts, the Mow Cop castle starkly obvious high above. From here, the road kicks up brutally but remains runnable until it rounds a corner then gets a little steeper again. The final section is dead straight, right up the hillside with houses on both sides, and it gets ridiculously steep at the top - supposedly 25%. It emerges on the High Street directly under the castle. I managed it in a fairly pedestrian 9.49, which was good enough for first 55-65 year old on the Strava segment, to my surprise. I jogged to the castle, then continued a five mile loop down Woodcock Lane past Doreen and Tom's house with immense views over Cheshire, all of which bought back lots of memories for me. Through Mount Pleasant and the Bank, wonderful gently descending running throughout, and back down to Scholar Green in 40 minutes.

Prestatyn parkrun

'Race': Prestatyn parkrun

Time/Position: 19.04 (3rd from 207)

Conditions were surprisingly good this morning, with fairly light westerlies not having too much impact on the outward leg. My time was good enough for another V55 course record, my 7th since turning 55, although I may already have lost one of the others! More importantly, I felt better than I have done recently, and I wasn't too far off my best times for the course. The short section through the dunes does have a negative impact on times, as does the amount of sand on the course, but the return easterly leg went well, churning over a decent pace and not losing too much time after the turn. 

Oswestry XC

Race: Oswestry 5m+ (NWXC League race 5)

Time/Position: 36.45 (42nd from 103 [1st V55])

It has been a very unusual cross country season, from the opening round meltdown at Llanerch Hall (which saw me torn between retiring and walking) through to the final three races in which I won my category. After almost failing to finish the first fixture, I didn't even do the second race at Colwyn Bay, thereby only really starting the season in Bala, early December. All of this meant that I was tied with Irfon from Cybi Striders going into this, the final race, over the familiar Oswestry course. For better or worse, this meant that we were competing head-to-head in the last race, mildly exciting with the usual friendly competition. It has always been a tough course, although as I remember it used to be even harder, using more of the field closer to the school. After loads of recent rain, the course was very boggy in the usual places. I went past Irfon on the second small lap and then managed to open a bit of a gap down to the bottom field which has a horrible climb back out (which I have always hated, even when I could run properly up hills). After this, two thigh-deep bogs lead to the drier section back towards the school. It is hard to bridge gaps in cross country, particularly on a course like this, but I still found myself passed by three of the student team runners right at the end! I maintained the same plodding pace of the last three fixtures, but scored fourth for Buckley and did enough to win my category this season. Only the second time I have ever won my category in a cross country season, and the first time was the V50 prize immediately post-Covid. Buckley finished 2nd in Division 1, which equals our best ever finish in the league, not bad considering how few runners we had at the last two fixtures. A nice prize giving at the Marches School, with tea, rolls and cake.

Ceiriog valley loop

A delightful ten mile outing through the obscure hills to the north of Dyffryn Ceiriog. I have done the Ceiriog Canter (up Vivod) from Glyn Ceiriog before, but this morning I took the extremely steep lane of Ty'n y Cestyll to emerge on the Nantyr road. This is a very nice lane between the Berwyn ridge on the right, and the Ceiriog valley below, and it leads to a sharp turn to an obvious bridleway marked Whitestones on the OS map. This is steep in places, effectively a pass between Bryn Du and Tomen y Gwyddel, very rough underfoot and sadly used by off-road motorbikes, several of which roared past as I ran. It leads all the way down to Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog, where I had a 30 second glimpse of an unfamiliar orange orb in the sky. After 600m of elevation over the tops, I then really enjoyed the long valley run back to Glyn Ceiriog via Tregeiriog and Pandy.