The Cilcain Mountain Race has been held annually since 1973, which would appear to make it the second-oldest fell race in Wales (after the 1000m Peaks), although it didn't start appearing in the FRA Calendar until some time in the 1980's, and Bill Smith appeared unaware of its existence when he wrote Studmarks. However, according to the Cilcain Show website, the first race was held in 1960 (and there is no mention of any races between 1961 and 1972). There is a rather interesting sentence about the 1960 race on the webpage about the Show's history:

The outright winner was George Young (45) of Chorley, second Harry Williams (20), the Crown, third John Beach (21) the Homestead (now Ty Coch) and First Lady was Susan Beach (14).

Apart from the revelation that Darren Fishwick is not the first elite veteran fell runner to come out of Chorley, what caught my attention was the mention of the First Lady. Less celebrated than the feat of 16-year-old Kathleen Connochie in finishing the Ben Nevis Race five years before, we have an even younger lady racing up and down Moel Famau. She would appear to be a local, presumably the sister of the man who finished third. There is no hint in the report of any controversy (as there was in the case of Kathleen Connochie). There is no mention of any other female runners (it just says that there were 19 runners), and the website doesn't have an archive of results, so I don't know if women were running when the race was revived in 1973.

It is interesting to note how young both Susan Beach and Kathleen Connochie were. Was it maybe considered acceptable for young girls to do such athletic activities but still frowned on for grown women to behave in this way?