Fron Four Fell race

A new fell race to put in your calendar for next year, the Fron Four, organised by Mike Blake. The race includes the Tuesday night fell races of Moel Tryfan and Mynydd Mawr, with two more checkpoints added, making a total of 13.5kM, and a 828m ascent. The race started from Y Fron, after registering at Ysgol Bron y Foel for a 1pm start.

First off the juniors, who were running about 2kM, with a quick presentation before the senior start. The previous sunny days in North Wales had been really nice, with temperatures in the early 20’s. Today, it was cold, drizzly and the cloud was down to below summit height. Ideal for me, as I prefer the colder weather for running, but a possible nightmare for navigation.


Over 30 lined up for the start, and as the gun went, we all headed off for Moel Tryfan at a height of 427m. A 1.8km run along the quarry roads, before starting the small ascent to the summit saw me in 8th place. As I ran with Paul Jenkinson, we split up after about 3km Paul decided to bare left, as I went right. As I started the uphill climb to Mynydd Mawr, I saw Paul to my left. My route seemed to be slightly quicker, but he passed me anyway on the way to summit! As I reached the summit of Mynydd Mawr, some hardy marshals (Iwan Morton, Dilwyn and Sioned), awaited us, and who directed me to the next checkpoint. A miss calculation on my part saw me going in a slightly in the wrong direction, but only added about 200m to the route. After I reached checkpoint 2, I turned around and headed for Foel Rhydd about 2kM away. From here, it was back to the summit of Mynydd Mawr before the fast ascent down to the finish.

I was 10th on the way down, over a minute behind Martin Cliffe. As I approached the finish, I'd managed to catch Martin, and passed him for 9th position with only meters to go.

Great race, despite the low cloud and low visibility. Some good hospitality at the school later with a panad and biscuits, and an Easter egg for coming home first junior and overall 9th place in a time of 1 hour 23min and 18 seconds.

Report by Eryri Harriers can be found here, with some photos by SportpicturesCymru here, and Peter Douglas here.

Chirk Triathlon

A recent injury to my back and calf forced me not to compete in the Chirk triathlon. I went to have a look though, good day and well organised by the Wrecsam Triathlon Club.

Pictures of the day can be see on SportpicturesCymru.

3rd place Andrew Campbell of Wrecsam Tri

Ribby Hall Triathlon

Another weekend, another triathlon. This time in Ribby Hall, near Blackpool. I travelled up on the Saturday afternoon, after dropping my brother and sister off at Parc Menai. They were going to the Welsh Road Relays at Llandow with Menai Track and Field. The three hours trip to Ribby Hall was uneventful, and I arrived at 4.30 in order to register and recce the run and bike route. Nice route and very flat for a change, should make for some fast racing. We were staying at the Holiday Inn at Burnley, which my father admitted to be a mistake as it was about 40 minutes drive away! Nice Hotel though, and the food was nice, which is always a bonus. 6.30am wake up call in the morning, in order to get up for breakfast, and make the trip to the race in plenty of time for me to set up my transition, warm up, stretch and do some drills. Soon it was time for the briefing and the start of the swim. There were 15 of us down to swim at our allotted time of 10.20, which meant 3 swimmers per lane, but luckily this was staggered, and I went by myself. A good 400m swim saw me out of the pool in an unofficial 4.30. I found myself running out of the pool and along the path to transition with eventual winner Beau Smith. Our transition was also quick and again we found ourselves leaving for the bike leg together. This is where the split was taken at 5:15.

As I entered the road I found to my disbelief that my chain had come off! That was the last I saw of Beau, as I came off my bike and got my chain back on. Eventually I started the bike leg, which was a flat course, with some traffic lights after the first corner. I managed to get through the lights without a problem, with the next possible problem being at the level crossing at 13km.

No problem here either, as the trains were late, so only about 4kM time trial to transition. Feet out of the bike shoes and off the bike, as I came to the dismount line in a time of 30:20. I pushed the bike to transition, and quickly got my Inov 8 F Lite shoes on for the run. The 5kM 2 lap run winded its way along the roads in Ribby Hall. As I turned the corner to the finish line, I came home in a 5kM time of 17:52 and a total time of 53:27.

About an hours wait for the results, before I was confirmed as 1st Junior and 8th overall. Great race, well organised and well worth the trip over the border. Results can be seen here, with some pictures here.