Snowdon Race

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Originally Posted by IainR

humidity, heat, nerves, dehydration, gut issues, falls, crowds, nerves, going off too fast, blisters, going off too steady, nerves..you get the picture :-)

This is wyddfa though, same every year, never any easier...inside 90 hrs until the start... :-)

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cameras, shoes, good line, bad line, drunkeness, pint, food, long walk home, walkers, tourists, train people, fat people getting off train at summit, inside the hour, dogs, internationals, gels?, rain / heat, 5 minute countdown, recognition, time, watch?, fence, steps..................................

...standing at the start and realising your timing chip is still in it's envelope in a bag in the boot of your car...

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Originally Posted by TimW

Does anyone here ever wear road shoes in fell / mountain races? I've known Holmesy wear them at Ben Nevis (!) which certainly is technical and steep, although he is obviously exceptional in several ways. I get the feeling most people would be better off in fell shoes even on Snowdon, just some wear their roadies either out of habit or out of not knowing any better (in the case of some overseas runners who never do up and down races). I certainly wouldn't feel safe in them and I'm a pretty decent descender who rarely goes over on the ankles.

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I've only ever done one road race, never train on the roads, and never wear road shoes in training, yet this year I've worn road shoes for two fell races! Both were proper fell races but had short sections of downhill road and fast stony tracks where road shoes were much better than narrow studded shoes, were in dry conditions, and there were no steep technical descents.

A runner who used to be very fast told me he used to wear road shoes on Lakeland races where there was lots of wet rock as you got a better grip as you want to maximise contact surface area, so I guess that probably applies on the slate paths on Snowdon. At the least you can't get any worse grip on wet slate than the zero grip you get with studs!

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Originally Posted by Joe

A runner who used to be very fast told me he used to wear road shoes on Lakeland races where there was lots of wet rock as you got a better grip as you want to maximise contact surface area, so I guess that probably applies on the slate paths on Snowdon. At the least you can't get any worse grip on wet slate than the zero grip you get with studs!

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Here's a thought - can you have too much grip? If you're going full pelt down a mountain you don't want your shoes sticking to the rock!

There's not that much slate on Snowdon itself! Particularly on the higher slopes it's mostly gnarly stuff of volcanic origin. The new lumps of stone on the path aren't slate either and especially below Clogwyn they're not at a very good pitch for descending at speed! Not that I made it that far last year!

Having retired from competing in Ras yr Wyddfa I've found a nice low key race on Saturday from a village show in Cheshire.

http://www.welshathletics.org/news--...d-running.aspx

List of International runners for Saturday including Wilson Chepweno plus a Moroccan runner Khalid Ingrioui.

Seeing as this is in the road running section of the Welsh Athletics website rather than the mountain running section, you'd better all wear road shoes!

What makes the railway track a better descent than the tourist path? Is it just because there's fewer people or is it better running?

Cheers

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Originally Posted by Robbie S

What makes the railway track a better descent than the tourist path? Is it just because there's fewer people or is it better running?

Cheers

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The most crowded part of Snowdon is near the top - people get off the train with their full kit from Karrimor, etc and wander up and down a bit thinking that they're true mountaineers. Particularly on that shortish but steep and twisty final climb there are usually folk who are very unsteady on their feet (no not the runners!) who stand in the middle of the path looking at you as you come towards them. At the last minute they usually start to hurl themselves to one side but then have second thoughts and stay rooted to the spot. Of course you also have agitated runners going up and down and there's no way you can make the same progress that you can on the track which is usually deserted and you can pick things up a bit.

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Originally Posted by RhosgadMath

cameras, shoes, good line, bad line, drunkeness, pint, food, long walk home, walkers, tourists, train people, fat people getting off train at summit, inside the hour, dogs, internationals, gels?, rain / heat, 5 minute countdown, recognition, time, watch?, fence, steps..................................

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Da Iawn!

Rocksteady - gutted - hope you recover m8

Yep all of this...plus wonder if they've cleaned the Guinness Pipes in the Vic...will the pasta meal be soggy..

Its interesting to see the discussion on the shoes...Ive always ran with my Solomon Speed Cross2's on Snowdon..they have the required grip...some might say too grippy...but I feel comfortable in them and thats the important thing for me...Ive ran the road section with the Mudclaw's and had a horrible run (remember this is 2 miles of the race).

I'll ask the organisers later about the vests/number and post back..

look forward to the race now :-) Lets hope the weather dosnt spoil it.

Tried my New shoes in the rain last night, I don't think I will be wearing them if it rains!!
DylWales, I have a pair of Solomon Speed Cross 2, I used them on a run up and down Snowdon about 6 weeks ago but felt they were a bit on the wobbly side, ankle gave way a couple of times on the way down but I suppose they will have a better grip than my New Balance in the rain.
SJ

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Originally Posted by Snowdonia Jogger

Tried my New shoes in the rain last night, I don't think I will be wearing them if it rains!!
DylWales, I have a pair of Solomon Speed Cross 2, I used them on a run up and down Snowdon about 6 weeks ago but felt they were a bit on the wobbly side, ankle gave way a couple of times on the way down but I suppose they will have a better grip than my New Balance in the rain.
SJ

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I agree with you - the Solomons do have a high heel - hence why the tendancy sometimes for runners to go over on the ankles...and it happened to me on the Anniversary Waltz...but that was my fault for not looking at where i was going!

Should be interesting to see what the other runners are running - maybe we should have pit stop's along the route for shoe changes!!!! :-)

now thats an idea...