South Wales Mtn Trial

Thought i'd give this race some publicity, taking place on sunday.

An LDMT/Mercia Hill Trial/etc type of event, get your map 10 seconds before the start.

Think the stats are around 10 miles and 3500ft straight line, and they state it will be just about all off-path. Starts at Storey Arms on the A470 between Brecon and Merthr Tydfil.

Online entry on Fabian4, although there 'should' be some limited entries on the day, subject to maps being available.

I should add that I've nothing to do with the race or the organisers, but it's a great area for fellrunning, and even the 'big' races in the area, such as Brecon Beacons and Black Mountains, don't seem to get huge numbers.

I am planning to be there myself... hopefully things will go well like the last LDMT, and not like this year's Mercia Hill Trial where I did spend some time a couple of grid squares off the map...

A great inaugural event today... LDMT in style.... dib at the start then receive your map and off you go.

Similar stats to the short course at the LDMT (straight line advertised was I think 11 miles and around 3000ft). But there was a distinct lack of paths, and an abundance of tussocks and rough ground.

I thought it was a fair turnout of 35... considering a new event, the location, and the busy weekend.

As to the race, there were 8 legs, and two of the legs were long I.e over half an hour. Emphasis was on route choice as opposed to micro-nav, but notwithstanding that, some of the cp locations were quite difficult to locate in the difficult terrain. Winning time was around 2hrs05.

As to my race, stuck to my guns and raced my own race. Cp 1-2 I believe I was the only runner to go direct over the top of Fan Fawr, rather than contouring, but it worked and kept me in contention, until the penultimate leg when I took a bit of a duff line, and lost touch with a couple of the leading guys, finally finishing in 2hrs29. Not seen official results but I believe i finished 6th.

Hopefully gets well supported next year and continues to be a success.