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Thread: Welsh 1000s Race

  1. #391
    Master Travs's Avatar
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    Well done Mark. It's a monster. The sheer scale of the climbs takes it out of you. If you can find yourself moving well up the Pyg Track you can make up plenty of time and places... easier said than done though...! Regretfully missed it this year, but will be back next year

  2. #392
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    I did the long challenge race as I was running with a an ex-work colleague who didn't have enough ALs under his belt to enter the fell race. What an event and what a route - I thoroughly enjoyed it.

    The final climb up Snowdon seemed to take for ever - it felt about three times the height of the other climbs.

    As an aside, it's the first time I've been up Snowdon, and isn't it busy? I was expecting lots of people, but there must have been tens of thousands there that day. It's more akin to being part of a football crowd than it is to being on a mountainside.

    It was nice to get a medal at the top.

  3. #393
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    Yes the climb up the PYG track is certainly a trial. The combined effects of the previous 5/6/7 hours effort, cramp, weather, and the crowds, have led to me losing my rag a couple of times, and finding it very hard to keep it together when yet another person walks into you whilst not looking.

    The Peris climb (over Lliwedd), despite being significantly harder, is actually more pleasant due to the lack of crowds, and you only really have to deal with crowds on the final 100 yards to get up onto the very summit, and then the short section down the railway until you get to the Snowdon Ranger Path).

    Although taking each climb as a separate entity, i find the climb up onto the Glyder to be the hardest on the Welsh 1000's....

    Despite the drawbacks in the first paragraph, i still think it's the finest fell race out of all the ones I've done.

    When you're coming down off the Carneddau and you look up and see where you're going next, it's frightening!
    Last edited by Travs; 06-06-2018 at 02:16 PM.

  4. #394
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    Yep,after 5+ hours of hard mountain running, having to manoeuvre round a never ending line of people who can barely stay on their feet just adds that little je ne sais quoi to the ascent of the already excruciating PYG track.

    Call me elitist, intolerant, hypocritical, selfish or anything else that springs to mind, but I generally find a visit to the top of Snowdon to be a sullying experience. Not that I've ever witnessed one first hand, but it probably does bear comparison to a football crowd.

    All that notwithstanding - it is a mighty fine fell race.
    Last edited by MarkL; 06-06-2018 at 09:05 PM.

  5. #395
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    Still the finest mountain in the UK in my opinion. (I'll qualify that by saying I've only climbed a handful in Scotland).

  6. #396
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    I can't understand why they don't let you take the shortcut over Crib Goch instead of using the PYG track . After all, they take you along Gribin (rather than the Devil's Kitchen path) to go up Glyder Fawr.

    Regarding the crowds on Snowdon: I have only ever been up Snowdon three times. The first two were in the Snowdon race, when I was fairly oblivious to the crowds (presumably because the Llanberis path is wide enough that they weren't getting in my way). The third time was last Summer, when I walked up via Crib Goch. I had been completely alone since the Crib Goch pinnacles, where I had overtaken a group who stopped for a rest. The first break in this solitude was as I approached the summit of Garnedd Ugain, and heard the sounds of a steam train coming through the clag, rather surreal in that environment. But then, as I dropped down to the col before the climb to Snowdon, I saw that the Llanberis path was like Oxford Street on a Saturday before Christmas. I walked to the summit and then left as quickly as possible.
    In his lifetime he suffered from unreality, as do so many Englishmen.
    Jorge Luis Borges

  7. #397
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    Quote Originally Posted by anthonykay View Post
    I can't understand why they don't let you take the shortcut over Crib Goch instead of using the PYG track . After all, they take you along Gribin (rather than the Devil's Kitchen path) to go up Glyder Fawr.
    .
    I think your comment is in jest... But I guess the organisers are (quite justifiably) worried about Crib Goch, only a few years after that guy died on the race, on the Carneddau.... the checkpoints are now sited to almost give a fixed route away from any massive drops.

    Take your point re Cribyn, although the scramble section is fairly short lived and unexposed if you take the sensible line. Although last year I was on that section in poor weather and went a bit far left of the best line, and was rather unnerved to find myself on the very crest with a significant bit of exposure on my left side! I do think Devil's Kitchen would be a slower option, as once you get to the top of DK, you turn left and still have that horrible climb up onto Glyder. I think Cribyn is faster.

  8. #398
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    Entries have been open a while and i'm in again for this year. Already 30+ entries for the long race, so hopefully this fantastic race will get the turnout it deserves.

    Despite a couple of drawbacks... dealing with the crowds on the final climb, and the location of the checkpoints making route choice very slim... it's a great race, at least equal to the toughest Lakeland classics. The only race I've suffered as much has been Buttermere Horseshoe. The sheer size of the climbs and descents is a step above the lakes races.

    After boldly predicting in 2016 that i'd be pushing 5 hours, I've yet to get under 6 hours! But it's been two years since my last attempt, and a lot of training and improvement since then, so hopefully June will see me knocking off some substantial time.... (that's me nailed on for 6hrs01 then).

  9. #399
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    Cancelled this year. A great shame as it was the 50th Anniversary (and until the chaos of the past week, was scheduled to be my 100th fell race).

    I've got accommodation booked in the Betws-y-coed area, which i'm holding onto for now, in the hope of doing something else that weekend instead.

  10. #400
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    Tough luck Travs. As a good alternative you could have a crack at the Welsh 3000's. See if you can get under 10 hours!
    Simon Blease
    Monmouth

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