Results for the Penmaenmawr 3 Hills Fell Race, 31-May-2016

Mitch has provided the following eyewitness account:

Whist holidaying in North Wales I chanced upon this 3 mile fell run in the sleepy village of Penmaenmawr. So, we turn up 30mins before the start and hand over our £1.50 race entry fee (yes, £1.50!!) to the organiser sitting in the back of his van, which doubled as race HQ/ his office. He casually enquires, with a wry smile, ” do you have any gloves? ” “What for?” I ask. “For when you are on all fours, going through the gorse bushes on the second hill”, he replies. I laugh politely, not sure if he’s serious. So, we set off on this race, glovelessly, in the hills of Snowdonia and I use the term ‘race’ in its very loosest sense. The 3 mile course consisted of 2 uphill miles, the second of which was negotiated on our hands and knees through shrubbery. Indeed, of the three miles, we must have walked a mile, crawled a mile and side-stepped downhill for a mile. This was reflected in our split times: mile 1: 20.11, mile 2: 34.52 (yes 34.52 for a single mile) and mile 3: 11.51. Our total time was 1 hr 6mins 🙂 – and we were well last, with blood being drawn on the gorse bushes! However, this has got to be the best off road ‘run’ we have ever done – and the hardest! Never again will I complain about the hill at Weedon. Roll on next year!

PS – Btw, I think ‘Spainy’ is the Welsh word for a Sphinx

PPS – Not only did the results from this event take an age to come out, the race organiser got our club name wrong, my age category wrong and our overall time wrong! The only part he got right was our position – last! This was a first (or should I say last) for both of us. For the record, our actual time was 1 hour 7 minutes and 8 seconds, at an average pace of 22 minutes 23 seconds a mile) 😀

Photos:

Results:

http://www.wfra.me.uk/NosFawrth_16_Results.xls