Pen Cerrig Calch

[skippy]

photos of the race yesterday - sorry not great quality: http://picasaweb.google.com/sarzkleeman/PenCerrigCalch

pity it was shortened...

[Wheeze]

Thank you skippy/sarz! Makes up for me missing this lovely little teaser! My kind of weather too.

[Boy Wonder]

Exactly what I was thinking!

[IainR]

Thank you skippy/sarz! Makes up for me missing this lovely little teaser! My kind of weather too.

Well it was an even littler teaser.

They shortened it, no idea of the length but 2 miles max?

It was a counter in the Welsh Championships, so we travelled from N Wales for this one. OK the weather was a bit off, continual rain and strong winds, but personally it seemed fine conditions. Last week I expected Ras Yr Aran to be shortened, but never yesterday. There was no drop to be blown off, and the rain wasn't that heavy.

If a race is shortened it should still be a reasonable run, many finished yesterday feeling unfulfilled, unsatisfied. 7 hrs of driving for ~15 minutes of running. At least Ras Yr Aran was still an hours run.

Now I fully appreciate its the organisers call to shorten a race, but as a championship race will attract people from all over the wales, then there should be a plan B, that will give people a decent run out. Even doing 2 laps would have been preferable for me.

[Rodders rambler]

Who won ? Any results

[Zlod]

Iain> Sounds like a bit of a waste of time for you.

The odd thing about Pen Cerrig Calch is that there is a massive path going up it, but it is really easy to lose that path. I don't know why that happens. It can get really slippery on the rocks up there when wet. However, I'd expect any fell runner to be able to rise to the challenge of finding the top and not hurting themselves on the rocks.

The Black Mountains are excellent running terrain, but it looks like you didn't have the best experience of them. That's a shame.

[IainR]

Harry Matthews won, Matthew Collins 2nd, ?? 3rd, Matthew Roberts 4th, not sure 5th and 6th, me 7th, Craig Jones 8th, that's all I can remember.

Zlod, saw wnough to tempt me back down south, fancy the rest of the the championship and possibly the beacons weekend.

[Rodders rambler]

Harry Matthews won, Matthew Collins 2nd, ?? 3rd, Matthew Roberts 4th, not sure 5th and 6th, me 7th, Craig Jones 8th, that's all I can remember.

Thanks Iain,was tempted to make the trip myself.However its 3 hour round trip for me.Long way to go for 3 mile,even longer for 2 !! Surely they didn't cut it short due to wet rock ? It was pretty torrential here sat,but with it being 3 mile it shouldn't have been a problem.I guess you had to be there to have a true opinion.

[Zlod]

The issue must have been the cloud on the top. It is pretty disorientating up there. The main path seems to go left at one stage and that will lead you into some featureless area that doesn't lead to the top. I've been up PCC loads of times and I still find it disorientating (and am always tempted to incorrectly take that leftwards path incorrectly).

If someone did get lost up there, it would be difficult to know where to look for them as I don't think you'd get funneled into some obvious valley. I got lost on Waun Fach once and ended up in a valley to its east side rather than the one to the west side where I was headed. I still don't know how I managed that.

[IainR]

The issue must have been the cloud on the top. It is pretty disorientating up there.

I understand that, but so what? People get lost, relocate, get down below clod level and jog back to the route/end location. OK you are out of the race, but that's bad luck, part of the challenge of fell running.

So what if people get lost. I know that sounds harsh, but I do worry about the state of fell running in this country if this is the way it is going. Fell running is about the challenge of running fast up and down hills, across rough terrain, coping with the elements and navigating around the route. We are increasingly removing the need for good old hill sense. Why do we bother asking runners to carry maps and compasses if whenever there is cloud or a navigationally challenging section we cancel or flag the route. We are increasingly removing the need to navigate from fell races.

If you look at the pictures you can see the cloud level is quite high, but below the summit plateau. We turned back before it. But I wore shorts and T shirt and do feel the cold, last week on Ras Yr Aran, I wore leggins and a long sleaved top, it was actaully quite pleasant running conditions at the weekend. I'd much rather run in drizzle and wind than the hot conditions many races were run back in 2006.

I understood Ras Yr Aran being shortened, but not PCC.

If a race is to be held in Spring/winter or over mountainous terrain inclement whether should be expected by the runners and they should be prepared to cope with such weather. Certainly the weather at the weekend was nothing to concern a competent/experienced runner.

From what i understood a large factor was the concern for/from the marshall at having to stand for an hour on the summit in wind and rain.