Yr Aran Fell Race - 21 March 2015

As my build up for the Everest Marathon this race had been looming on the horizon since the New Year and with a couple of short fell races under the belt at Moel y Ci and Pipe Dream it was time for a testing mountain effort.  I had recced the the route a couple of weeks before with Vic Belshaw on a cold and windy day which was a sobering experience in that it took a good 2 hours 45 to cover the 10.5 miles and 3000' foot of ascent - out and back. On the day four of us made the trip from Denbigh: Vic, Emma Collins, Vic's brother Mick and myself.  We met fellow Denbigh Harrier Agnew there who was in the midst of epic Ultra Marathon training and had warmed up for the race with a 10 miler the day before - is that sane?  

The route of the out and back race

The race is well organised by Meirionnydd Running Club and part of a three race winter series. There was a good field for the race with well over 100 lining up for the start as it was a counter for the North Wales series.  The day was glorious with blue skies and a gentle breeze.  We were told that it was minus 5 on the top so I abandoned my initial plan of running in only a vest and put on a thermal and gloves. After 10 minutes of running I regretted this decision. I wasn't the only one as I passed a couple of people en route de-robing.  I took it easy at the start as it was a bit crowded and lost sight of all the Denbigh runners and Mick.  However after 5 minutes of puffing along the farm track I went past Peter.  The first couple of miles of the race is a simple slog uphill along a footpath with most of it runnable.  

The route for the first three miles follows the right side of the ridge. That is Aran Benllyn in the distance

I settled into the familiar battles with other runners adopting run/walk techniques and those who never walk.   My preferred method is to run until it is impossible.  I managed to overtake a few on this stage of the race including Vic who seemed to be throwing his water bottle around.   Then came the steep section up to Aran Benllyn which involved scree, rock and snow. Again I made a few places on this stage of the race which culminates in the heartbreak of seeing the highpoint Aran Fawddwy a good 15 minutes away in the distance.  This is called the plateau which is in effect a rocky, broken and undulating section which requires decent route finding to get the best line. I was a bit taken aback when a group of runners in front of me crossed a stile onto the eastern side but I stuck with my recced route and was relieved after 5 minutes or so to see one of the leaders coming towards me having already reached the summit of Aran Fawddwy. On the plateau I think the recce and route finding gained me about 4 places. Then the really rocky section started up to the summit.  This was more of a scramble than a run which was complicated by the leaders coming down towards us. I think I caught site of Mick but it was a bit of a blur. Eventually I got to the top in about 1 hour and three minutes but didn't take time to look at the spectacular view as I really knew I was only half way through the race. On my way down the rock summit I gave Vic some encouragement and told Peter to stop moaning as he was telling other runners that this was the worst section of the race.  By this stage my route finding was not great and I used the fence line as my marker which meant some pretty awful terrain under foot and plenty of swearing. I managed to hold my own and indeed overtook one person on the way back across the plateau.  However the steep downhill across the scree lost me 4 or 5 places.  Then there was the seemingly never-ending run to the finish.  This is about 3 miles but with tiredness it felt longer.  The final mile and a half is fast but punctuated with steep stiles which seem massive after nearly two hours of tough running.  A few spectators gave some welcome encouragement towards the end and I was delighted to get a finishing time of 1.54.34 and 37th place. The others were Mick 21st in 1.47.36 and first M50, Vic 47th 1.59.54, Peter 53rd 2.03.12 and Emma 77th 2.13.38 1st W50. Full Results are here. In retrospect I enjoyed it and will be back next year I hope. Next is the lovely Llantysilio Fell Race near Llangollen.