Anyone got the results? Been wet and cloudy down south so bet the conditions weren't great!!
Anyone got the results? Been wet and cloudy down south so bet the conditions weren't great!!
Not a chance!Originally Posted by jimbob
On the way there we went via the Conway Valley and Capel Curig and drove along the Ogwen Valley through a nice little downpour. The Carnedds were obscured, Tryfan was looming through the mist and there was a great mass of cloud boiling up in the Devil's Kitchen. Hmmm.... could well be a map and compass day.
We splashed thrugh Bethesda and out along the valley to the big climb up Dafydd. Then a lot of very slippery rocks on the way round to Llewellyn. A marshall on top waved an arm into the cloud - "That way". After a few steps the old man had the sense to check his compass as there was nobody in sight and we eventually made it to Yr Elen without too much of a mishap.
Thanks to the marshall with the Acme Thunderer on the col between Llewellyn and Yr Elen as runners were starting to choose some peculiar lines.
At last we dropped below the cloud and could see the final hill. A slog up Gyrn Wigau and then a weary wobble following the flags to the finish.
Hope everyone got back safely.
No idea who came where, or who did what, we had to leave straight away.
Woof!
But I would not be convicted by a jury of my peers.
Left just after prizes
123's were
Rob Hope
Rob Jebb
Ricky Lightfoot
Janet McIver
Sharon Taylor
Anna Bartlett
Full results should be on wfra website soon!
Looked as if there was still someone unaccounted for at the end. Hope it was just a miscount!
I too went too far laft and John with the big whistle had people coming at him from all directions. Lovely downhill towards the sheepfold helped to get some of the places back. Rather have a bit of clag and rain than hot sunshine on a race like this though.
Last man was found and counted - someone from Yorkshire I believe!
Haven't been back long, so just a quickie
Brilliant day, really good tough race, rain, not too much during the race but very wet slippy rocks!
Lots of peeps running round in circles between CD and CL and then off to Yr ElenDidn't hear anything about the remaining runner, hope it was a miscount though Ross was looking a bit hassled. Brilliant descent off Yr Elen, good soft grippy scree at the top then a huge top speed charge down grass to the valley floor, as I had said previously...wwweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!! Bit of swimming in a bog then a climb we could have all done without!
Many thanks to Ross and all the Eryri guys who came out in huge numbers on the mountain to help out. Really good job, thanks guys. I expect that the results will be on the wfra website tomorrow.
What did you say at the start of this thread?
Don't ever recall having to do any swimming.....
And what did you do today??!!
Echo all that you said about organisation. Top notch all round.
Finished at grey Bethesda to a down pour of biblical proportions, so the later finishers would have copped it.
Found the ridge between CD and CL much more challenging than I remember it. Grip on rocks varied between 100% and Zero which was 'ukin' annoyin'.
Managed a 'concealed' bonk on climb up Gyrn Wigau but otherwise enjoyed a proper tough high mountain race to the full.
Not v happy with some of my fellow competitors attitude at stiles though. I gather some wall climbing occurred. Shame on you. Have some ruddy patience and respect the terrain fer chrissakes!
Simon Blease
Monmouth
Ah yes, the swimming thing. In rivers I meant, got across that ok, just happened to hit a bit of bogland just after, up to my chest in something unmentionable, must have been a very tall bog! had to swim to get out, bloody exhausting!!
And yes, I forgot that earlier, those people who scaled walls and gates just to avoid queueing for the stile to save a few seconds deserve a good bo**ock**g. I was appalled. Reckon some damage was done to that wall. Don't come back
"John" Was well intentioned I am sure: and made one of the biggest mistakes you can make in the hills.
It is quite simple:
A whistle means "emergency in distress" and should not be used for anything else. What is worse he used 3 blasts as his call sign
A cowbell is a directional sound - but a whistle is not - it does not have the low frequencies needed to discriminate direction when echos are present- so in gullies it appears to come from any direction
From Carnedd I went NW till at the top of the ridge and then I heard the whistle, an unmistakable distress signal which to me was coming from below me down one of the gullies. I was in clag and could see noone and nothing.
I spend 20mins to half an hour searching for the runner in distress: I downclimbed and upclimbed two steep gullies looking - for whoever was making that signal: before heading in the direction of marshalls only to discover the real source of the sound.
Be warned
The only reason mountain rescue was not called was because I could not get a signal on my phone there.
Consider: what would have happened if mountain rescue had been called out, to find a marshall using a whistle?
And suppose a runner had also been in distress - he would not have been found because of the number of blasts from johns whistle.
"John" was very misguided.
A flare means "boat in distress" and should be used for nothing else
A very interesting point Alwaysinjured. As you say, the use of the whistle was well intentioned and probably helped more people than it hindered. It certainly helped the large group I was in as we were still just above that point but way off to the left. I'm sorry that it ruined your race though and I wholeheartedly agree with the special reservation of distress signals. The actual marshal point on Yr Elen was using a cowbell. John the whistler was not at a marshalling point but could see people going off the wrong way. I'm sure he just acted on an understandable impulse.
And in any case, isn't a whistle supposed to attract a would be rescuer to the location of the injured party?
Good on you for throwing your race to come to the aid of a suspected injury.
Simon Blease
Monmouth
The interesting thing is that although a whistle is light, and easy to carry, it is too high frequency and too single frequency to be a good directional indicator in terrain where echoes are possible. Sure, for people approaching "john" from the south east, the ridge is mainlyl vegetation so I am sure the whistle was easy to pinpoint. But in amongst the rock features north east it was a lot harder.
This is the same problem that old fashioned mobile phone single tone ring tones had: have you noticed how modern polyphonic tone phones are so much easier to locate?-thats because the multiple frequencies and low frequencies allow your ear to notice the difference between the direct path of the sound and the echo.
Get in amongst big rocks , and it is incredibly difficult to tell where whistle noise is coming from - to me it seemed to be coming up from below on the N side of the ridge.
In any event IF there had been an injured runner as well as "John" it is very likely the injured runner would not have been picked up.
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