Moel Siabod

Peaks: Moel Siabod
Area: Eryri
A good test of navigation and winter skills. Quite bad weather throughout, very close to genuine white-out conditions particularly on the northern slopes of the mountain. Slightly stressful to be guiding Rich and his friend Stu in these conditions. We ploughed up to Llyn y Foel in thick snow - waist/chest deep drifts in numerous places with me breaking trail throughout. Visibility perhaps 15 metres at this point. Couldn't see the Daear Ddu ridge even when we were directly below it, and so picking a route up through the drifts was problematic (but enjoyable). A shallow gully eventually gained the crest, and we weaved up through the ice-draped crags, good sport in places, but painfully slow with me conscious of the time and trying to chivvy the others along. Strong winds now, with visibility down to 10 metres or so. Picked a steepish route through the rimed-up rocks near the summit, then descended on a bearing in a near white-out.

Ffrith run

A memorable wintry outing from the Collie on Christmas Eve, snow-draped trees in the valley and a superb cloud inversion higher up, preceded two days off over Christmas. After a speed session yesterday, Neil and I enjoyed a longer outing in frosty conditions from Hope over the mountain to Ffrith. Then the long but fairly gentle climb up Pen Llan y Gwr. Great views to an obviously snowbound Eryri provoked mixed emotions - should have been there today really. Ran back via Llanfynydd and the long climb over Waun y Llyn.

Llanferres circuit

Another long run, this time in perfect conditions of powdery snow and constant sunshine. Left Llanferres for the Druid race route up Foel Fenlli, then contouring round to Penbarras and back over the summit. Great running through the sun-drenched snowfields down to Clwyd Gate before continuing south along Offa's Dyke via the base of Moel Gyw and Moel Llanfair, along to the steep climb up and over Moel y Plas (my favourite section of the Clwydians). We continued past Moel y Gelli to pick up the path north to Llyn Gweryd and down to Llanarmon. From here, we ran along the slushy backroads back to Llanferres. A family sledging trip on Waun y Llyn was a nice warm down in the afternoon.

Cwm Glas winter climbing

Crag: Cyrn Las, Llanberis
Route: Sergeant's Gully (II: led p.1)
The timing of this trip was not ideal, as I'd just returned from London. But you have to take advantage of good conditions, of course, although it was disappointingly 8c warmer in Llanberis than HK! From the Pass though, it looked like Sergeants might still be in condition - obviously frozen, and clearly visible left of Cyrn Las. A nice walk-in, followed by a series of fun pitches up the initial ice falls. A mixture of pure water ice and nice neve, although the water was still running in many places. Roped up for a steeper little pitch up good ice, after which I plunged through a pool and drenched my feet - ensuring discomfort for the rest of the day. I continued up the next little pitch, which was also wet, although good ice could still be found. Brought up Alwyn, then enjoyed the excellent ice higher up as the gully widens out and eases off. Plodded up into a very wintry, very cold Cwm Glas. Always a great place to be, but the snow was unconsolidated (which would have rendered the likes of Parsley Fern an unpleasant slog), so we contoured round and then descended via a series of ice falls with more climbing.

Clwydian run

I was keen to get a long run in the hills done before leaving for a weekend in London, and glorious frosty sunshine made this outing really enjoyable. Neil and I began by running up Famau from Cadole via the steep Brithdir path, then down all the way to Llangynhafal on the Vale side. From here, a long climb (as per this year's Tavern race) back to the ridge and along to Moel Llys y Coed and down to the Moel Arthur car park. Back via the tracks to Cilcain, then the leat back to Cadole, before immediately setting off for London.

Aran walk

Peaks: Aran Benllyn
Area: Aran, Eryri
Began the Christmas break with a long run from HK to Waun y Llyn and back yesterday, so it was nice to follow up with this relaxing jaunt in the Arans. Weather worse than forecast as we left Llanuwchllyn for the long but gentle haul up the ridge. Snow flurries from time to time, particularly as we entered the clag at the steepening below Benllyn. Rich was struggling slightly, therefore the full ridge was obviously out, so I just nipped up Benllyn alone after a superb brief clearance as the wind tore a gap in the clouds. All lakes frozen, and major wind chill, so I didn't hang round. A heavy snow flurry as we hastened down to warmth and a pint in Bala.

Moel Eilio run

Peaks: Moel Eilio
Area: Llanberis, Eryri
A family trip to Llanberis, so took the opportunity to run up Moel Eilio in pleasant winter sunshine. Around an hour for the trip from Padarn through the village and up through fields to eventually pick up the Bwlch y Groes track (as per Snowdonia marathon final descent). Then jogged along the broad ridge to the top - great views over Llyn. Back the same way to meet the family in Electric mountain.

Helena Tipping 10k

Race: Helena Tipping (Wrexham) 10k
Time/Position: 36:13 (16th/335)
Initially disappointed to miss sub-36 by such a narrow margin. But on later reflection I was quite pleased to take more than half a minute off my PB, particularly because this was my first 10k for a year (since the same race last year in fact). I went through 5 miles in just over 28:40, sub-36 clearly on, but an unfortunate headwind on the final straight slowed me down and was, I think, the key reason for missing out. Found myself isolated, couldn't work with a group, and struggled a bit. Recorded 36:10 on my watch, and just squeezed into the prizes as 3rd v35.

Anglesey runs

Trying to up the mileage somewhat, taking advantage of the lack of races and foul weather. A midweek nightime run across the Clwydians in thick mist and rain (3m viz with headtorches?) was a good start, followed by two interesting weekend runs in wild Anglesey weather. Sunday was particularly memorable - torrential hail/rain downpours, ankle-deep water, gales, but great views from the tiny roads above the cliffs near Llanddona and Penmon.

Pot Hole climbs

Crag: Pot Hole Quarry
Routes: Selva (VS 4b:sh), Sesto (S:sh), Mestre (S:sh), Un-aided (VS 4b:sh)
Left Llanferres in the early morning mist, beautifully cold and crisp, for an ultra brief work-out at Pot Hole. Shunted a few routes, but all rather greasy and cold before the sun got round to the face. Finished with a brief jog up towards Bryn Alyn, in an attempt to loosen the legs after yesterday's race.

Conwy half marathon

Race: Conwy Castle/Llandudno half marathon
Time/Position: 1:22:30 (24th/700)
I could hardly avoid this race, given the fact that it started a few hundred metres away from Rose Hill Street. I remember doing the route in training a few years ago and thinking what a nice race it would make. My first half marathon for 18 months, and therefore a reasonable performance which might have given me a pb had the route been a little flatter and faster! My time was exactly the same, to the second, as my last half (Chester, May 08). The route starts flat, but sandy in places, following the too-narrow start on the bridge up to West Shore. Then anti-clockwise round Marine Drive, as with the Nick Beer 10k. A longer climb than I remembered, but superbly scenic and enjoyable, and followed by a very fast finish down to the West Shore and back along the cycle path. Felt fairly strong at the end, took 3 or 4 after the Marina. Finished 4th vet35.

Four Villages run

A worthwhile longish multi-terrain run this morning, from Cadole to Maeshafn then up the 'beast' to Bryn Alyn. From here, I descended to the Eryrys road and continued south to Graianrhyd. Back to Cadole via the muddy bridleway to Nercwys Mountain, and over the shoulder of Moel Findeg through Maeshafn. More road than usual, so hopefully good preparation for the Conwy half next Sunday.

Clocaenog-Alwen XC biking

MTB Route: Two Lake Tour (variant)
Distance: 35-40k?
A longer cross-country mountain bike ride for a change. Left Bod Petrual with Rich in cold (by recent standards) weather, rain threatening. A pleasant tour of the Clocaenog forest tracks and fire roads took us round Craig Bron Banog, then east of Foel Frech to pick up the good descent down to Llyn Brenig via Isgair Wen. Nice views of rain sweeping in over Berwyn and Arenig. We crossed the dam, then entered the forest loop to descend to Llyn Alwen. This gave a very pleasant circuit out to Hiraethog, with some rain, and reminded me of the rather lengthy complete loop of both lakes that I ran with Neil in March. We cycled back to Brenig to find the cafe closed - a devastating blow! So the return trip to Bod Petrual via Carnedd Ci and Bryn Du was more uncomfortable than it might have been.

Clwydian Hills fell race

Race: Clwydian Hills (Bad weather short course)
Time/Position: 47:40 (9th/89)
It seemed puzzlingly cautious to shorten this race because of 'bad weather': how much trouble is it possible to get into on Moel Famau?! I suppose it would have been uncomfortable for the marshalls, and wonder if MM-style dibbers and controls are the way to avoid these situations. It was disappointing that we didn't get the expected punishing challenge of the new course - instead it was just a quick sprint from Cilcain up the bridleway to Ffrith, then up the usual Friday route to the crossroads. Strong winds made the boggy, bikeable section over the ridge hard work - but it soon got easier for the descent down to the Vale side and climb back out to Moel Dywyll. I was keeping my place quite well, then made up some ground on the front runners on the descent to the lake and (especially) when I took a more direct line up to the final checkpoint at pt400. A fast finish, using all the shortcuts, saw me finish 9th (one down on last year) in what seemed a strongish field.

OMM Elan Valley

Race: Original Mountain Marathon, Long Score Class, Day 2
Peaks: Drygarn Fawr, Gorllwyn
Area: Elan Valley, Mid Wales
Time/Pts/Position: 5:04/255pts (58/190)
Frequent squally gusts interrupted sleep, but a reasonably comfortable night meant prospects looked good. After getting the map, we headed immediately north-west then south over Waun Lydan to Esgair Ganol and finally up to the top of Drygarn Fawr. This was a long haul, but had an appealing and obvious logic: right up to the highpoint of the range. It's a fine, remote peak (last visited 6 years ago?) and it was good to be up here, dibbing the control right on the summit. A heavy shower blew up as we ran down the ridge out east to an extensive and energy-sapping bog (Carnau). After picking up some points, we were intent on getting the 50 pointer at the far end of the remote spur of Esgair Ffraith. Pleasingly, the terrain was nowhere near as bad as we'd expected (I thought it would be a real fight through the tussocks) and we retraced our steps back to Carnau to the CP below Gorllwyn. From here, the obvious route was to follow the north side of the ridge - and the line-class runners - via two CPs to a final big value checkpoint at the end of the spur down from Gamriw (also visited years ago with Steve). The weather cleared superbly at this point - great sunny views down to Rhayader and beyond. A tremendous and exhilarating final descent down the steep spur into Llanwrthwl. A fantastic way to finish - quite weird to be finishing somewhere so familar, but really good. We had far too much time left (almost an hour!), and obviously should have gone for the points south of Gorllwyn, but it was still another good day - and we did gain some places, squeezing into the top third of the field.

OMM Elan Valley

Race: Original Mountain Marathon, Long Score, Day 1
Area: Elan Valley, Mid Wales
Time/Pts: 6:22 (240pts)
My record at the OMM is less than glorious, what with last year's cancellation and the previous year's partner drop-out. So the aim here was simply to enjoy the weekend and finish respectably. The location was another big plus, not exactly home turf but at least we were in Wales for a change. I was pleased to be doing Long Score, which strikes me as the ideal class, although we were very conservative (partly as a result of the above!) and didn't use anywhere near the time available which inevitably limited our score. We started off in drizzle from Gilfach, and chose a fairly cautious initial route which took us over the side of Moelfryn to Penrhiw wen. This is the highpoint of the Rhayader 20 mile Lakes race, which I've done twice, and hence familiar. We then moved out to the first CP near Esgair Perfedd which led to superb running down tracks to the Craig Goch reservoir. We were then alone for the slog up the valley to Clawdd Du - remarkable, given 3000 runners and the appalling crocodiles of line-class runners we later joined. The score classes are just much better in this kind of terrain, which lends itself to deep trenches - there can't have been much navigation involved for those on the line classes this year. We bagged a 40 pointer before heading west to Llyn Cerrig Llwydion. After taking a line through appalling tussocks (a real feature of the weekend), a lapse in concentration saw me disorientated for the only time in the weekend. Stef's second opinion was invaluable as a result, and we landed bang on the next CP. Easier running - albeit boggy - led south to the remote Claerwen reservoir: superb running for this section, miles away from the crocodiles on the line classes, clearing weather, great scenery. Picked up more points quite easily and followed the lakeside to pick up a big 50 pointer before thigh-deep bogs over Cefn Blaen Coed and a squally shower gave us a good soaking before arriving in the campside west of Caban Coch. A good day, very enjoyable but also ultra-conservative (far too much time remaining). No real nav problems and a logical loop of the land (the elegance of the route is always important to me, more so than the points!). The struggle to put up the tent in what by now were gale-force winds was probably the low-point of the weekend - but the campsite was in a beautiful location and we got a plumb pitch next to the river.

Christleton border league

Race: Christleton '10k' (border league race 1)
Time/Position: 34:57 (35/322)
Considering my last road race was well over five months ago, I was reasonably pleased with this performance, which was well over a minute faster than my time on the same course last year. The starting pace was inevitably a bit of a shock to the system after months of long races in the hills, so I consciously relaxed for 3k or so until I could adapt to the speed. Went through 5k in 17:54, then started to push the pace a bit and felt pleasingly comfortable on the short off-road section down the path towards the final hill. Passed at least 10 runners, maybe more, on the hills in the last 4k - although as usual my lack of a sprint finish meant that three of those were able to overtake me in the last 200m across the field. Sadly, the route was definitely not a full 10k! That said, I think I would have been close to sub 36m if it had been.

Clwydian runs

Out of action for over a week with a tweaked intercostal muscle, under the rib cage. A few long bike rides replaced the running, until I recovered towards the end of last week, enough to do the full run up Famau on Friday evening. A longer outing today with Neil, from Cilcain up Famau via Brithdir Mawr, then down to Penbarras and back along the ridge via the summit to the bridleway back down to Cilcain. Drizzle and mist throughout, but good to be pain-free again.

Rab Mountain Marathon, Howgill Fells

Race: Rab Mountain Marathon, Day 2
Peaks: Wandale Hill, Grere Fell, Hazelgill Knott, The Calf, Calders, Arant How
Time/Position: 190 pts in 5:41/7th SM overall
Woke to a misty morning after a cold but reasonably comfortable night. Set off after a good breakfast, and picked up the day's controls. The basic outline of my route leapt out from the map after just a few minutes thought, more so than yesterday - it seemed pretty obvious to head north to the edge of the Howgills, before returning to Sedbergh after another giant loop. So I headed up Wandale Hill in the mist, before skirting Adamthwaite to a control on a spur of Grere Fell. Easy going really, and it remained so for the big descent north to High Cocklake. Again, I was now committed to going for big value remote controls towards the north of the range - with very few other runners for company: great stuff. An easy ascent over the northern shoulder of Green Bell gained the steep side valley of Turn End, and a sharp climb to a control above Weasdale Beck. Then easily north to a hidden control in a drystone wall. I opted to take the easy bridleway south up Bowderdale Beck, so I could eat and rest a bit, although possibly should have been more ambitious. The weather was very different today, overcast, rather chilly and windy on the tops. Pleasingly, I continued easily north until Hazel Gill (the lowest col on the ridge) before beginning the brutally steep climb west into Langdale - the next valley over - for two obvious controls, before another very steep climb back up to the shoulder of the Calf. Quite windy and cold at this point. After contouring down to a control in a re-entrant I found myself faced with a classic mountain marathon dilemma: staring down into the steep valley of Hobdale Beck, 40 minutes left, knowing I could get two controls in the valley and knowing that would probably have given me a podium place. However, it was obviously going to be a very steep climb out, so I played it safe and headed for home via the north side of Winder and two compulsory controls. Finished with 20 mins spare, so perhaps should have gone for it. It would have meant third place, I think, but I also think it would have made me 5-10 mins late, which would have meant points penalties - and I was told that people were on their hands and knees climbing out of the valley, so perhaps it was the right call! In the event, I finished 7th from around 70 teams in the category (solo runners and pairs were mixed again). Perhaps 15th in all categories, several hundred runners, so quite pleasing. I think my route planning and nav was reasonably good, and I was pleased to have the legs throughout (felt comfortable and able to keep running and climbing for the duration) but I could perhaps have been a little less cautious in terms of the time penalties. A superb event again, which ticks all of my boxes in big bold ink.

Rab Mountain Marathon, Howgill Fells

Race: Rab Mountain Marathon, Day 1
Peaks: Arant Haw, Calders, The Calf, Green Bell
Time/Position: 265 pts in 5:40/8th after day one
This is rapidly turning into my favourite event of all. It seemed much bigger and more serious this year, with around 500 runners, but it still managed to retain the low-key, relaxed ambience that made last year's event Back o'Skidda so pleasant. The race began in superb weather on Saturday morning, a cloud inversion clearing the Sedbergh valley as I marked up the map and headed up Winder - the little hill that shelters Sedbergh. Picked up a control on its shoulder then headed to the col to drop into Ashbeck Gill - not entirely convinced this control was worth the effort, but lots of teams did the same thing. Followed the stream up to Arant Haw, picked up more points before contouring just below the summit of Calders and The Calf (highpoint of the Howgills) to get the first big value control at the top of Calf Beck. An exhilerating steep descent into the enclosed valley of Middle Grain through broken cloud gained a tricky-to-find control hidden in a dry re-entrant (map detail of the streams here was insufficient). I opted to contour north round the peak of Cobbles before heading up West Grain and the obvious, brutally steep climb to the col below Simon's Seat to gain another control in Churngill Beck. The scenery here was surprisingly dramatic, the hills surprisingly steep. I was now committed to the big value, remote controls at the far north end of the Howgills - a long way from the overnight camp. So I ploughed quickly up the 468m hill east, with a control at the trigpoint, flew down to Langdale and up to a 30-pointer on a remote knoll. Then came a huge (5k?) leg across boggy wilderness east to Pinksey Gill. Only one other competitor visible for most of these controls, so I suspected I was doing quite well. I was then able to head for home up the obvious bridleway heading up Green Bell, passing another control below Knoutberry before easy running gained an obvious col giving access to Bowderdale Beck. One final long climb up to Hare Shaw gained a tricky to find control on a vague spur, before a steep descent past Cautley Spout waterfall to a sun-drenched campsite in the Rawthey valley. Wonderful to unwind with views back up to Cautley Crag and Yarlside. Even managed a dip in the river! When the day 1 results were posted, I was in third place initially, although had dropped to fifth by the evening.