One of the guys from Abergele, Justin, ran with his GPS watch, and that logged something like 11.8.
One of the guys from Abergele, Justin, ran with his GPS watch, and that logged something like 11.8.
i wonder how many other fell races are out there with the wrong distances advertised ??
Most of them i reckon.
I suspect many were measured roughly at incpetion using a one inch map and a well placed thumb. I've been measuring routes as i;ve raced using the GPS and find that the distances are often generous and the climbing is actually underestimated, esp in the Lakes.
For example, i'm sure that there is at least 500' more climbing than advertised in the Coledale Horsehoe. Still, who cares - it's the same route for everyone and the discrepancies have never even remotely taken any of the fun out of it.
(For the record, our club fell race, the Llantysilio, is impeccably measured at 6.1m and 2100' ascent! )
ST
We've found that too. My wife runs with an altimeter watch and that normally records quite a bit more cumulative height.
I keep a running log so tend to measure the race distance afterwards on my anquet, but didn't after Foel Fras, as people had used the GPS.
Interestingly it's advertised as a BL race, as it's 13 miles long, through mapping software and a GPS it's been measured as a category M race (just), so it should be reclassified. It also counted in the Eryri club championships this year as one of only 2 category long races.
what if it had been a welsh or british champs race ????
are all championship races checked ??
just checked the Carneddau race route ...10.5 miles approx ,sounds about right
I guess the distances are just passed down from when they were first measured.
I suppose any championship race should be properly measured first. It just saves any issues come the tallying up at the end of the season.
I'll drop Ellie an email so the race is advertised at the correct category and distance for next year. I think the organisers of the Foel Fras race are just villagers who have little interest in fell running in general, but just want to host the race, which is a great event, and I think Ellie's acting as a sort of fell running advisor for them.
I didn't do Foel Fras this yeat but would gladly echo the fact that it's a great race, one of my favorities.
Yeah, very sociable event.
Though a 1pm start on cup final day wasn't appreciated :-)
The flap jacks at the end were lovely, but the area to mill around in on the street after with drinks made it an enjoyable afternoon.