Sad news at Welsh 1000m peaks

[Mark Smith]

Very sorry to report this

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_west/6716565.stm

Sincere condolences to his family and friends.

I was up there with two friends yesterday training in claggy but otherwise seemingly benign conditions on the tops. Shocked to learn when i got home what had happened just a few hours before we were there.

Hats off to Ogwen mountain rescue for doing what they could.

Mark

EDIT - sorry, missed other thread on this sad subject. Perhaps a mod could just delete this...

[IainR]

Mentioned here:

http://forum.fellrunner.org.uk/showt...1491#post41491

BBC now named him, he was a 35 father of 2. I was in the race but had no idea, just sounds like a tragic accident.

[Llandudnoboy]

My name is Peter Lewis and i live in Llandudno and i was actually marshalling at Llewellyn checkpoint that year and i know i spoke to every competitor including Sgt Paul Upton who fell over the cliff edge above Fynnon Llygwy.

My little Black Citrioen C1 was parked at the top carpark opposite the reservoir and i remember the Mountain Rescue Land Rover was parked next to my car.

I thought nothing of it at the time but later realised it was part of the rescue operation to save this mans life.

What i can remember is that he was in a group of four competitors and they stayed by the llewellyn wind shelter for around four minutes checking their maps.

Even though it is now some years ago i can remember well every person who visited the checkpoint before they decended the steep path on their journey towards Carnedd Daffydd.

I know exactly where he made his mistake because i did exactly the same thing a few years ago in the 1000s.

Unless you pick out the stone wall coming down the main ridge off Daffydd and llewellyn it is so easy to stray to your left and be on top of the cliff face.

I managed to realise my mistake and navigated my way further right eventually coming down to the checkpoint by the pump station at Fynnon Llygwy.

In very poor visibility and in unfamiliar surroundings its so easy to stray off the course with tradgic consequences.

Hearing on the national news that this soldier was killed during the race made me realise i had spoken to him less than 50minutes before the tradgic accident occured.

My main recollection was seeing James McQueen of Eryri Harriers appearing out of the mist just in his shorts with the smallest of bumb bag.

He is a competitor who obviously knows the course but i can still remember this heavily built runner appearing towards me as if from nowhere.

[fellrunnerreuben]

thats very sad news. a bloke thats probably fought countless wars and survived(a para at that) dies doing a race for fun. life has a very strange way of doing things. rip.