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Thread: Llanbedr – Blaenafon

  1. #81
    Senior Member
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stevie View Post
    I'll be driving from Blaenavon to the start, you can get a lift with me if you like. I'll pm you my car details / phone no etc once I've worked out timings. Remind me if you think I've forgotten.

    Yes I'm with Tring. There are a number of us who enjoy fell running and we always run off road on club nights, up in the hills around Tring. You're welcome to come and run with us - Wednesdays, ready to run at 7.30 upstairs at the cricket club house (opposite Tesco), same venue as our Ridgeway Run race if you've done that.
    Yes, thanks for the lift offer. I've not found camping equipment, so this holiday may come together. Unfortunately I've now developed a sudden knee problem which could put the whole trip in jeopardy. Intermittant but very painful when it's there.

    Thanks for the suggestion of Wed. runs too. However, I'm currently living in Haddenham which makes Tring a little far to come.

  2. #82
    Master Wheeze's Avatar
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    Any survivors? Or are your bodies, littered across the vertiginous grassy slopes, now being gnawed by the carniverous Blorenge sheep or worse, the scabrous Blaenafon Alsatian???
    Simon Blease
    Monmouth

  3. #83
    it's in a fortnight, isn't it?

  4. #84
    Master Boy Wonder's Avatar
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    It's all in the timing!!
    "You gotta put a little bit of ****ing fairy dust over the bastard"

  5. #85
    Great race, thanks to all invovlved.

  6. #86
    Senior Member sore legs's Avatar
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    Top race again today fantastically organised.

    Normal wall and que jumpers at the start but from then on the strong winds gusted well. The wind virtually ceased all forward momentum from the top of the Blorenge to the finish, I was on for a PB until this last leg and lost all energy and that bloody wind. The cycle back to the start was not very pleasant.

    Thanks to the organisers and all the check point staff.
    Paul C.

    ... continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential.

  7. #87
    Master
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    I was doing some idle browsing last night, and noticed that the Llanbedr-Blaenafon race is now organised by Mynydd Du. Their webpage for the race has a link to the old race website for results up to 2017. Unfortunately clicking on the link takes you to an "Account suspended" page.

    It would be a great shame if the results archive on the old website was lost; apart from one missing year, it was complete back to the foundation of the race in 1980. There are only a few races of such long standing that provide a complete archive of results on the Web.
    In his lifetime he suffered from unreality, as do so many Englishmen.
    Jorge Luis Borges

  8. #88
    Master Travs's Avatar
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    Well done to Llani on 1st v60 yesterday!

  9. #89
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    Thanks Travs.

    Well, everything I'd heard about the ascent of Blorenge is true!

    Following a very heavy 10 minutes of rain just before the start it turned out to be a glorious day for Saturdays race with only one, welcome refreshing shower on the lower slopes of Sugar Loaf.

    A very tough race which for those who don't know is basically 3 very steep climbs followed by 3 long, leg sapping descents. For the most part it is great running on varied underfoot terrain but miles 10 and 11 are tarmac through the streets of Abergavenny in order to get across the Usk Valley.

    I had planned, from maps, my route across town but fell into the trap of following someone who I thought looked like he knew where he was going. This caused me to miss my planned right turn just after the river bridge and then when we came to a roundabout and glancing over my shoulder and seeing that those behind me had disappeared I decided that this bloke didn't know where he was going!

    I knew the direction I needed to go so bombed up the slip road and ended up running along the A40 dual carriageway for a few hundred yards and then climbing over the Armco barrier and then down a fifteen foot metal fence to drop into the underpass that took me under the A40 and back on my planned route. As I jumped off the concrete wall to the underpass the runner who I had last seen behind me trotted past, so I hadn't lost too much ground but the extra effort and adrenaline used to get there was the last thing I needed just before the bottom of Blorenge.

    As I walked up the steep road to the checkpoint near the canal the bloke who I had originally followed popped out of a side road ahead of me so perhaps he did know where he was going after all!

    The initial gully up through the woods was muddy and slippery but fortunately the ground was dry for the steep drag up to the ridge where one was instantly greeted by a cold, strong headwind which reduced me to not much more than a shuffle for the last 3 miles via the Blorenge TP and radio/TV masts. I did manage to catch and overtake a Mynydd Du runner down through the slagheaps but on reaching the housing estate, and remembering overhearing him telling someone earlier that had done the race last year, I decided to slow and let him catch me and he very kindly guided me through streets and gennels to the finish!

    I'm glad I did wait for him as it was a rabbit warren and apparently Joel Gomes, who finished second, was nearly 5 minutes ahead entering the housing estate but finished just under a minute behind the winner having treated himself to a tour of Blaenafon.

    The race was won by Matt O'Keefe of Mynyddwyr De Cymru in 2hr 23 min. The first lady, 17th o/a was Jackie Lee of Eryri in 2hr 45 min. I was 67th and 1st M60 in 3hr 14 min.

    A very enjoyable day out which was very well organised by Ruth Pickvance and her team with plenty of soup, tea and cake in Blaenafon Rugby club. The new Fabian 4 wristwatch type timing bands were comfortable to wear and use too.

    My hamstrings hate me today so I won't be doing much this week so that I can make the start line at the Wrekin on Sunday.
    Last edited by Llani Boy; 27-03-2023 at 06:57 PM.
    Visibility good except in Hill Fog

  10. #90
    Master
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    I always get a tinge of nostalgia when reading about this race each year. It was one of my favourite races: my first AL race back in 1981, and also my last AL, in 1995. I wouldn't be able to get round it in any sort of respectable time these days and, more importantly, I wouldn't be able to enjoy the climb up Blorenge after 11 miles (on one occasion I moved up from 10th to 6th on the Blorenge climb, and didn't even lose any of those places on the final descent to Blaenafon).

    Having fouled up the route-finding coming off the moorland and through the housing to the finish at one of my earlier attempts at the race, I then adopted the policy of arriving early enough at registration (which used to be at Blaenafon) to go for a recce of this section of the route. From what I remember, the route through the housing estate was a left-right-left-right-left-right sequence through the road junctions.
    In his lifetime he suffered from unreality, as do so many Englishmen.
    Jorge Luis Borges

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