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Snowdonia Marathon 2014
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Peter, thats priceless you have had me laughing all night through my 12 hour night shift. The thought of you bolting off up the pass unnoticed by the timing car, other runners and camera bike to lead had me in stitches.
Or were you just getting a headstart to all the 'free' jackets in Beddgelert?
T Rex- clearly you didn't fall down the shaft in the middle of the mountain, but you really shouldn't be allowed out alone!
they don't call it 'electric mountain' for nothing T-Rex!
just found an excellent vid on youtube (wonder if we can get this guy on our camera crew next year!) : http://youtu.be/7RgmQV2nmyA
Oo-er, T Rex.
Go on then.....
'Electric Mountain.' Very funny!!
Very quickly, but also very carefully, I got off onto the side of that ramp. I’d managed not to walk on the metal strips so far. I’m not sure what, if anything, would have happened if I did, but I wasn’t going to try. I can only assume it must be some sort of giant lightning conductor. I scanned the sky. Deep clag was building up a couple of miles away over Snowdon and Crib Goch and it seemed to be coming my way. Was that a storm brewing? If so, I had picked a pretty bad place to stand.
In continuing up the problem was that there wasn’t much ground to actually walk on beside these blocks. A lot of the supporting stone seemed to have fallen away and there were occasional precipitous drops. In one place it was a definite Grade 1 scramble, made harder because I now noticed there was a thick wire cable running along the side of the ramp, running through large metal eyelets set into the blocks. It was extremely hard not to brush into this.
At other times there were the remains of crumbling slate steps and eventually I came at last to the top winding house, an amazing lookout point.
Brilliant views from that precarious position I have to say. But it was nowhere near the top of the mountain, or even the quarry. There were several more levels to climb yet without the dubious advantage of an incline to use. There were numerous flat terraces with old ruins on them, tracks, and roads. You could really get lost in this place. The scale was enormous. Were some of these buildings barracks? They were certainly grim little huts with fireplaces and chimneys. Some flat sections had surprisingly modern looking tarmac access roads and more gates.
At one point right at the top of the quarry I had no option. I had to tackle a slate scree slope head on.
With the wind now too strong to stand up in for fear of being blown over I went up this slope on all fours, feeling exactly like the hobbits Frodo or Sam climbing the last section of Mount Doom.
Fish-out-of-water. I was with this guy Brendan for most of second half. He was an inspiration. Just caught a glimpse of myself on his video, not that flattering!
pics are out - some great ones of forumites
http://www.sportpicturescymru.co.uk
Estimate of 3:45, came in on 3:48:17... 3rd SNOD. That'll do.. Had a great race. I had charged up the GPS, but the battery was flashing on the start line, so shrugged my shoulders and just switched it on, then hoped to get ties off people every mile once it went dead (about mile 9).
41 minutes to Pen-y-Pass, then where else can you run fast downhill for 4 miles, so LEGGED IT down to Pen-y-Gwyrd, then carried on fast (for me!) down onto the track and back onto the road. Wow!! Was joined by Prestatyn Dai and San Domenico Dan... All going well up to Beddgelert, steamed up the hill after halfway, played tag with loads of people, then started getting overtaken, so wind out of sails at mile 16 - this happened at mile 9 in 2013!!
Dug deep and maintained, then mile 22 in 3:03... Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle from Waunfawr then power-walk, power-walk, power-walk, until Bwlch-y-Groes, then a little light running, followed by the descent which I took like a little baby baa-lamb (in attitude, rather than gamboling & nimbleness!!) Where can I train for that in Essex? Still a great end to the race, I could pick up controlled speed once into town and saw Mrs Lemmy on the corner and ran in milking the crowd and showboating just as the clock ticked over 3:50, so chip gave the 3:48.
The other runners, support and race in general were great, a brilliant race and see you next year...
Did anyone see the couple of blokes on the blue 125 motorbike heading back & forth along the race? Not sure if they were spectators/supporters or official race bike, but they nearly took me out heading into Waunfawr. Blinkin' divs....
Hi folks, really good to meet up with old and new friends from here, and reaffirm that SNOD is the best Mara around for so many reasons, the organisation, the volunteers, the crowds, the scenery, the camaraderie amongst runners, Pantri... I could go on. Really, you've seen the length of some of my posts, I could go on a lot more!
Thanks to USD for organising the house I shared with him, BritNick & T Rex, a great weekend was had up there. Also Thanks to USD for the Full English, delicious it was and I was burping sausages the entire way round the course, almost like enjoying second, third, fourth etc breakfasts.
I came here with the intention of slaying a demon. I broke myself here last year. I needed to get past the point I did it last year, (not hard, it was only about 3 miles in), to start with, then get to Pen Y Pass in good order, then halfway, Rhyd Ddu, Waunfawr, That hill, and then the finish. I got to Pen Y Pass in very good order and a few minutes faster than I'd said to others earlier, 42:25. Came over the top and saw Sir John ahead, sped up and chatted with him for a couple of miles or so before letting my stride open up a bit. Came up on to the Road and saw a very unhappy looking Jason D standing by the road. Stopped to chat for a few seconds, offer my commiserations etc and jogged on.
I say jogged, I still wasn't pushing the pace, just maintaining a steady pace. Before too long I found myself coming down into Beddgelert and the regular traffic chaos that reigns there every year, always amazes me! Went through halfway in 1:51. Still going steadily I started up the long drag.
At previous SNODS I've run with more or less the same people around me for miles at a time, having elongated conversations. This year I never seemed to be with anyone for very long, the longest being Sir John by a long way.
And the Long Drag out of Beddgelert was the same. Looking at TDL I can see what it is, I think. At Pen Y Pass I was 752 to cross the mat, at Halfway I was 655. Was I not slowing at the same rate as those around me?
Somewhere around 14/15m I came across BritNick who appeared to just be floating along at an easy pace, at one with the world. He makes this running lark look so effortless, I'm jealous.
Miles 16 to 21 seemed to happen without me really being aware as such, I chatted with more others more often. One lady who I had been playing tag with ( she passed me on the first hill and I lost count of the times she passed me and I passed her) I pointed out the hills to the right and said about Llanberis being the other side and we'd be going over it soon. She said ' Oh God' and I never saw her again, felt a bit guilty about that, though it was entirely unintentional.
As I crossed the bridge coming into Waunfawr, whether it was my head giving up or what I don't know, I 'knew' I wasn't going to be going much further before I was walking. Surprise, surprise, within a few yards I was. I stopped at the water station, had a bit of a craic with the kids there and set off giving myself a very stern talking to. My hams were so tight. I spent more time running up the hill than walking, if you can call it running and soon the wood was in sight. Somebody at the water station said the lady opposite was giving out hugs so I made a beeline for her, especially as she then beemed a big smile and opened her arms. It had an amazing effect and lifted me. I wish she'd been standing on that bridge a couple of miles back! As much as I thought I'd slowed, at 23m I was the 577th person to cross the mat.
I do like having your name so large on the number, and the buy-in of the spectators in shouting your name as you go round the course. Except. As I went through the gateway that marks the high point before the descent to the finish I heard my nam
Is that meant to be nam? Or mam?
You know, I hadn't realised it had cut me off mid sentence!
I heard my name to my left. The voice sounded so familiar that my head snapped round. It should really have stayed looking where I was going. I perhaps wouldn't have fallen over (now 60% failure rate to stay upright on the descent) and bashed my knee. Ah well. Went off down the hill at a slower pace than in the past, not because of the fall, just because that's how I'd been going.
As we came down the Tarmac into the outskirts of Llanberis I thought about trying to catch and pass a lady from Sarn Helen I had been slowly getting closer to, except as we turned right then left towards the high street she and the group around her went off. I haven't sprinted at a finish for over a year now, scared that my calf wouldn't take the pressure. I then decided that i would, just to see if I could. Not only did I overtake her and the group she was with by the blue arch with what looked like a timing thing under it ( Anyone know what it was ), I saw one of the Buff team I'd met earlier with USD on the way to the start and decided to push it even harder to see if I could catch him before the finish. I really thought I had just got him, but looking at the results, I hadn't......
Mr Garmin reckoned I held sub 13 second 100m pace for about 30 metres at the end which resulted in two things:
1) If I can do that there is nothing wrong with my calf
2) knowing if I had anything at all in my stomach it would have come out as I retched and nearly threw up from the effort after I'd crossed the line.
Dead chuffed I can still sprint like that even though I've not done any rugby for 18 months.
Finished in 501st place and 3:56 dead. Faster than last year, but I had torn my calf, slower than my SNOD PB of 3:47 from a couple of years ago when I specifically trained for this race. All in all happy enough with the result. Mile splits are pretty even over most of the course, with the exception of the track after the Pen Y Gwryd Hotel and the hill at Waunfawr.
From the top of Pen Y Pass to the finish I passed a nett 250 people, about 15% of the finishers, don't think I've done that before. But before I pat myself on the back, a nett 8 people passed me between the start and finish meaning that while I passed 250, they had all passed me previously, plus another 8, in the first 4 miles. ( Ok, so maybe not those exact 250, but you get the idea).
Roll on the year of speed and PB's that is 2015, followed by the year of the reverse double, meaning a guarantee of at lest one PB in the next two years!
Should I really be so excited already?
Chimney, think I must have been in that group with the Sarn Helen runner. A Totley runner went flying past at a ridiculous pace and I remember the bloke on the tannoy shouting 'calm down'. Must have been you - I was in at 3:56 and a bit.
Well done on that finish - spectacular.
Yep, that was me, I was moving a tad rapid, I reckon it was the man on the tannoy that prevented me taking the Buff man with a dip on the line....
IF, Just seen the Grindleford shirt - http://www.sportpicturescymru.co.uk/pages/gallery/2014-gallery.php?gall_id=483&page_no=16
Aye that's me!
Chimney- I wondered about the blue arch- 26m split?
Seems a bit close to the finish though....
how does a marathon get voted 'best marathon 2014' - does someone have to nominate it?
Chimney that's an excellent report. The finishing sprint sounded impressive. I couldn't do that even if my life depended on it.
I still haven't watched the S4C programme yet; hoping to get around to that some time after next weekend's race to capture some magical memories.
T Rex, I'm loving the story.
I don't routinely rate races i do via the RW site, it has to be really exceptional for me to comment. I have voted for Snod as I thought it was excellent ( has overtaken Brathay as number 1 in my personal ranking). The entry is limited compared to other marathons, so if you thought it was good, give your feedback! ( or should we keep it a secret so we can still get entries in future years
)
Better finish my tale ...
At the top was a barrier and another tarmac road. The top road. Above this were a few half-hearted beginnings of quarries and then open hillside, at last. It was good to get on more normal terrain but it was still hard going because of the steepness and the very strong wind indeed.
I made it to the summit of Elidir Fach 795m but by now it was starting to get dangerous. I was sometimes blown about helplessly and felt at any moment I could go airborne. Fortunately the summit had a large cairn and on the leeward side I crouched to eat some rather yummy flapjacks. Thanks SS.
From this position the onward journey to Elidir Fawr looked formidable. A very wide and steep cliff face presented itself , the higher reaches in cloud. Before long wisps of cloud reached my position and soon it was thick clag. I decided against going up. I put my jacket on with the hood up over my beanie and buff pulled over my entire face except the eyes to try to keep warm and cautiously walked away from my shelter.
I was immediately blown about like a piece of tumbleweed.
It was the poles – they were a liability and the wind was bending them badly. I retreated back to the cairn to fold them up and then it was a difficult journey , crouched low, sometimes crawling, sometimes waiting for a particular gust to die down, before scuttling a little further. I gradually lost height. I had sensibly taken a compass bearing before having my break on a dead-reckoning straight back to the turning head car park near the cottage. This bearing I followed religiously – across boulder fields, roadside barriers, a gate at one point, and most difficult of all two long stretches of slate scree slopes. Now I know Kilian Jornet would have run down that slate in 10 seconds but I turned round and went down backwards very carefully, making sure I never put both feet on the same bit of slate at once.
It was an unsettling experience. Those slopes look stable enough but they’re not at all. Every piece, no matter what size, was loose and liable to move, and sometimes did move , and sometimes the whole slope was on the move, I dread to think how many tons of it. I didn’t like it all and was glad to get to the bottom of the second slope. Across some rough grazing areas over a stone wall straight into a difficult wild patch of scrub and brambles going very steeply downhill. Soon I was at the lip of a vertical drop, a quarry used by climbers and just then there were a couple on it inching upwards. I found a rough route by the side of it, along a fence, sometimes hanging on to the fence. It was one of those fences where you’re not sure what side of it you’re not supposed to be on.
Finally on terra firma at the car park. If any of the people sitting in their cars thought my route unusual, they didn’t say so. They would have been able to see me from the second slate heap onwards.
Back at the cottage at 1415, now empty of persons, finished packing, a quick tidy-up and off home.
It would be good to have some company on my next post-SNOD walk. It’s good to be able to share experiences, not just read about them!!
SNOD one day and a walk with TRex the next, sounds as challenging as doing a double SNOD, and seeing how mad challenges seem to appeal to people on here, I think you could have quite a crowd joining you next year! I was finding simply going down stairs a bit of a challenge!
T Rex that was an interesting adventure. If I didn't have to get back home to catch up with the pre-Monday chores you know I would have joined you. Perhaps next year I will book the Monday off work so I can.
well I was expecting SNOD to get the better of me this year and it didn't disappoint
Mr Panad made it to Rhyd Ddu this year before I caught up with him - he's getting further each year! - his wheels had also fallen off, and he staggered over the line at 5hrs.
Next year is going to be pb effort for me (assuming training goes to plan....!)
love the idea of a double SNOD I'm sure you all told me I was completely nuts when I suggested it a few years ago, glad to see you've all caught up!! (and I've been sectioned so I've got an excuse!!) Add me to the list for 2016
TRex - glad to hear you've survived your latest adventure!
Well done everyone
Great to hear from you Panad!
When do we turn the lights out in this forum? I always feel a bit sad when we depart from one to another, but hey..let's go!