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.

Pwllheli Triathlon

It was the second Pwllheli Triathlon yesterday, and like last year, was held on a glorious sunny but cold day, in the sea side town.

Luckily, I'd remembered to turn the clocks forward the night before for a 6.30 start. The 40 minutes that it took to Pwllheli was a nice change to the hours of driving that I do usually, and I arrived in plenty of time to register, sort out my transition and get warmed up for the event.

As I had the fastest swim time of the day, I wore the coveted No 1, and was first to go in the pool. There are some different rules in this triathlon, where no one is allowed to do tumble turns, and after 4 lengths everyone has to move to the next lane by going under the lane ropes! One of the other problems I saw was the 20 seconds intervals between swimmers. This I felt would allow too many swimmers into the lanes at any one time, bu I was fortunate as I was the first to go, and had more or less clear lanes all the way.

I was wearing my new Wales tri suit, made by Speedo, which has a water repellent material, which allows the suit to quickly dry once out of the pool. This certainly was the case, as when I started the bike leg, the suit was dry.

Another different rule in this triathlon, was no running in transition, and as I had a long way to go to my bike, I was forced to power walk all the way, which I'm sure looked hilarious to the onlookers!

No drafting in this race, so it was a 20k time trial from the leisure centre at Pwllheli, to Y Ffor, Chwilog and back to the leisure centre. I was using my new Kuota K Factor triathlon bike supplied by Revolution Bikes, it was only my second outing on it, the first being only last week. A flat start to the bike leg, before a 31/4 km, 80m climb to Bryn y Neuadd Hospital. It was then through the first village of Y Ffor, with a sharp right hand turn along another 1.5km climb to Chwilog.

After 16km, I was caught up by two others, but got stuck in, and didn't let them have too much of a lead. By the time I reached transition, I was only a few seconds behind the first two riders. Bike racked, helmet off and shoes on. They say that transition is the fourth discipline, and although I was in after the first two, I was out before them, and by the first corner on the run route I has a lead of about 20 seconds.

A 5k technical run followed, as I had to follow the pavements along the sea front, which snaked it's way around parked cars and through sand that had been deposited by the strong winds that come off Cardigan Bay. From here, and into Pwllheli and around the marina before turning back to the finish. Not only did I get he fastest 5k run time of the day of 20:33, but also got the fastest swim time of the day, 4:48. Together with my bike time of 37:54, gave me a total time of 1:03:15. This gave me 1st junior and 3rd overall in the race.

A great triathlon, great racing, really friendly atmosphere, good company and food at the Pwllheli Rugby Club made the trip to Pwllheli worthwhile.

Some pictures can be seen on SportpicturesCymru, with results soon, to be seen here.

Kuota K Factor

I received my new bike last week, courtesy of Gareth and Matt of Revolution Bikes in Bangor. Over the past two years, their support has been invaluable, allowing me trouble free cycling, both for training, riding in the local time trials and competing at triathlon.

The new bike is a triathlon specific time trial bike, which I used for the first time on Sunday with fellow triathlete Arthur Connell. I took my new Kuota K Factor to recce the route of the Pwllheli Triathlon, and also have a go at the 5kM run course, along the sea front in the town.

The bike felt comfortable and really fast. Hopefully, this will translate to faster cycling times in my triathlons during the year..watch this space!

I also tried my new Inov 8 road x 255 whilst trying out the run course at Pwllheli. The new shoes were an instant hit, being very comfortable and light, a great road shoe which I might even try in my next triathlon.

Moel Wnion Race

It was my first fell race of the season on Saturday, at Moel Wnion.
The 4.5m (7.2km)1800ft (549m) climb started at Abergwyngregyn, with a steep ascent to the summit of Moel Wnion. Runners from the friendly Hunters Bogg Trotters came down all the way from Scotland, together with runners from Ambleside and Mercia and the local clubs meant that the field was quite strong.

I warmed up on the roads with my new Inov 8 Road X 255's, which, as soon as put them on my feet felt extremely comfortable. More from me on the new road shoe, as soon as I get a proper chance to use them.

I was competing in the same race as the senior runners, but in the U18 category. I was about 6th at the top of the first climb
but lost places on the way to the summit. The X Talons 212's coped well, with plenty of grip, which gave me the confidence to run hard on the way down,

I passed 13 runners, to come home in a time of 45:28, coming home in 1st junior and 19th overall position.
Good day’s running with a welcome panad and something to eat at Yr Hen Felin, Abergwyngregyn.

More pictures can be seen here, courtesey of Pete Mac and on Al Tye's Fell Running Pictures website. Race results can be found here.

South West Duathlon Championships.

I travelled down from Atlantic College to Castle Combe Race Circuit on the Sunday morning following the Welsh Triathlon camp to compete in the South West Duathlon Championships, courtesey of DB Max. I arrived at about 11.30, following a long trip in the mini bus, with my fellow team mates.

My race was due to start at 2pm, which included a mixed race of youth and junior, both male and female. The race included a 2 mile run, followed by a 10 mile draft legal bike race, ending in a 1 mile run. A mass start saw 33 athletes compete for honours. The 1st 2 mile run of 11:07, saw me coming into transition in 11th place.

All the transitions were quite similar for the faster athletes, with mine taking 44 seconds to get out of my running shoes and onto my bike.

I started the bike ride, and soon caught up a few more riders. The draft legal race meant that we could hopefully work together in order to make up some time on the other cyclists. However, as only two of us knew how to draft properly, this couldn't be done, and I lost some more time to the leaders. After 10 miles, which took me 26:22, it was time to enter transition again for T2. I was out in 42.7 seconds, and I was off for the mile run.

Just a mile to go, and hopefully time to catch up some athletes on the run. With 6th fastest run of the day inm y Inov 8 F Lite 230's, I came home in 8th place, 9th overall.

A great day of racing at the circuit. The only disadvantage was the 5½ hour trip home!

Some pictures of the race can be seen on the SportpicturesCymru website.