Cribyn Race

Just a word about the race.. everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, and thanks to those who said nice things about the route and so on. As said conditions were very fast, and records broken.. more on this subject to follow.

To the runner who got lost, citing inadequately marked checkpoints, i'm not sure how much more obvious i can make the 2 highest summits in South Wales on a cloudless day. They're big old pieces of rock pointing up in the sky.. However, i'm sure the 5 people who hung around a cold hillside for 3.5 hours, unpaid, freezing their tits off, worrying about you, felt their time had been well spent when you got back and gave them a mouthful of abuse. Your group arrived at registration several minutes after the race should have started (and i'm aware this may be no fault of your own)..i could have turned you away but i processed you quickly without getting you to sign disclaimers so as not to keep the 77 other runners waiting any longer. I shouldn't have done this i expect, but without taking responsibility for yourself on the hill you could have put me, the race and WFRA at risk. Thankfully, you got back safe and sound.

Back to the subject of the race records and the ongoing issue of course length and validity of records. Just for the record (no pun intended), when i resurrected this race in 2009, i contacted the previous organiser for information, maps and past results. Everything had been destroyed in a flooded house, nothing had been put on disc or the internet, so there was nothing to do but ask around. It transpired after the first re-running that CP1 was too low. I subsequently asked, again, 6 or 7 people exactly where it should be, and got 6 or 7 different answers. No one, despite requests, could give me an accurate grid ref or physically show me. There was however, universal agreement that the time difference for record purposes was unlikely to be greater than 60 secs for those at the record-challenging end of the field. On balance i felt the best thing was to continue with the same location for consistency, since there was no info on times prior to 2009 except for the two records. In any case, records in fell running have to be taken with a pinch of salt, as, unlike track.road, conditions can change significantly from year to year with path improvements etc. Most people recognise this, and don't get too het up about it. For the one individual who has not been able to let this issue go after 5 years.. i don't know what to suggest. At least that i can post on here. Forgive my immodesty, but the new womens record set today is now more than 3.5 minutes faster than the 'old course' record. The men's record today arguably may or may not have beaten Colin Donnelly's on an identical course, but is still an awesome run- about 2 mins faster than when Tim Davies won the year he won the British (i think). My point is, regardless of the elusive 'true' location of CP1, these are good runs and deserve respect not denigration. The new organisers may decide to move the contentious CP next year, but for 2009-2013 these stand as good times.

I'm going to bed now.

XXX
Your a star LD
Keep up the good work girl.

I'd like to say thanks for putting on a great race with great cakes Helen. Having read your entertaining posts I have to say that you did an incredible job and your race briefing worked for me. As for the person expecting a fell race to be marked to their satisfaction when you can actually see where you are supposed to go if you have even glanced at the very clear route plans on your excellent website - I'd say stick to Parkruns mate.
I am also a bit surprised that anyone is worried about exactly where CP1 is - it seemed to be at a logical crossing point - maybe I am making an obvious error there.

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Originally Posted by Longdogs

Well done Wheeze, and everyone else who ran. Great turnout today, 81! And perfect conditions, 2 new records. Thanks everyone for coming and thanks to all those who helped- Gill, Kay, Martin, Sue, John the Watch and Pat.. and gate-lady (sorry don't know your name!).

Sorry if my organisation was even more haphazard than usual, i had a rather fraught night last night. Having got the beer i went for a route recce, but one of my dogs conked out halfway up the Cribyn and had to be carried off. Got back in the light though and was all set for an early night. However, was not counting on Cwm Gydi car park being the local bloody dogging spot. Many hours of to-ing and fro-ing and much flashing of headlights was to follow. They come.. they flash.. they go.. they come.. they flash.. etc. Who would have thought an essential part of the R.O.'s kit would be a large sign saying "Piss off i have no interest in watching you copulate". Anyway, this desisted just after 2am when i was then able to get to sleep... alas, not for long. At 05:45 hours approx 100 soldiers arrived in a fleet of mini-buses, and proceeded to do.. well, i'm not sure what (probably not dogging), but i hope to God they weren't the SAS, because stealthy they were not. Or military intelligence, because even my friend's 12 year old daughter could tell you that a van with condensation on the inside of the windows is occupied. Pleasantries were exchanged, during which i ascertained that i was armed with 4 wimpy dogs (one of which unable to stand), and they had large guns. Now i am not known as being a person who likes to lose an argument, but when you know you're beaten you should walk away with dignity, with your head held high! Or, in my case, drive, with your head out of the window shouting obscenities. Her Majesty's finest finally left at 7am ish in a flurry of horn-pipping, just in case i had dropped off in between bouts of shouting and door slamming. (I hadn't). I did actually go back to sleep, but i wished i hadn't because i had one of those horrible lucid dreams. If you're interested, it involved an undulating canal and a 27-hour clock- mighty confusing when you think you're already awake and have a fell race to organise. Anyway, mustn't grumble, i thought.. a good strong coffee and i'll be grand. Yet.. in a cruel twist of fate, or maybe inexplicable muppetry, i had somehow packed an empty jar of coffee.. just the faint smell of coffee, but no, well, actual coffee. I confess i thought long and hard about drowning myself in the nearby stream, but i'd have been sorry to miss my annual telling off from Puffing Billy about the location of Checkpoint 1, so i decided to go and put the flags out instead.

As a consequence of the above, the 200 mile drive home and the fact i have to get up at the crack of dawn for work tomorrow, i will not be writing up the results until tomorrow. If anyone has a problem with that, do let me know, but please be aware that i have all your addresses and access to petrol and matches.

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I think that's devotion to duty above and beyond that expected by the normal race organiser Longdogs :cool:

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Originally Posted by Alf

I think that's devotion to duty above and beyond that expected by the normal race organiser Longdogs :cool:

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I think the technical term is clusterf**k!

Results are done and should be on website shortly. Pics to follow.

Ascent pics.. https://plus.google.com/photos/10537...24978550840593

And descent: https://plus.google.com/photos/10537...44529949339873

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Originally Posted by Longdogs

And descent: https://plus.google.com/photos/10537...44529949339873

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Thanks for the fast results, I have Tweeted https://twitter.com/SW_WHS

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Originally Posted by The_Saint

Thanks for the fast results, I have Tweeted https://twitter.com/SW_WHS

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Thanks.. i expect half of them are wrong, i usually make lots of mistakes :)

Didn't know south wales fell running was now on the twittersphere!

Helen, a belated thank you for a fantastic race and for taking the time to travel down to put it all in place. I was fortunate enough to be in the area with work so took the opportunity to introduce 4 work mates to Fell Running. They loved it and could not believe that for the price they got virtually as much gorgeous cake as they could eat at the end plus it was a very friendly atmosphere.

Shame about the late arrivals and their attitude towards you and the check point staff - completely out of order, ignore them, they should clearly take up another sport.

Thanks again.