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Thread: Four Fans

  1. #41
    Master ba-ba's Avatar
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    Ben Mitchell is a very good orienteer and runner. His other half was busy finishing 6th in the World Orienteering Champs Long distance race in Czechia on Friday.
    Nic Barber. Downhill Dandy

  2. #42
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    Well his record beat the times of people like Hugh Aggleton and Mark Palmer, so definitely no slouch...!

  3. #43
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    Entries are now open on Fabian4 for this excellent race... my favourite medium race of all.

    Currently only two entries, both forumites... myself and TrevorM.... (which is admittedly good news for our medal prospects)

    Also being ran in the traditional anti-clockwise direction this year, leaving the brutal climbs until the end, a la Long Mynd Valleys.

  4. #44
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    A quite brutal race today. Doesn't need me to point out how warm it was.

    Having viewed the start lineup, my tactics were clear for the race... go off after local Matt O Keefe (who posted briefly on here after the Dragon's Back last year), and hang on to him for as long as i can, and at the same time putting an uncatchable distance between myself and those decent veterans behind me, such as Tom Bush (Pennine), Jackie Lee, and one or two locals who i recognised from past results...

    As i was already aware, keeping hold of Matt was going to be no easy task... he's a far quicker guy than me (as the end results proved)... But i belted up the runnable first climb and was only 90secs off.... here things got interesting as we took differing routes to the bottom of the next real climb... when we converged i was still a similar gap behind, and pushed (too) hard up to Fan Nedd summit.

    Here the race really starts.... a la Long Mynd Valleys, the final few miles are long steep descents followed by equally nasty climbs... only this race is harder... absolutely no semblance of paths, bigger climbs and drops, and rough tussocky ground typical of the western Beacons.

    My efforts early on were starting to tell, and instead of my usual spurt at this stage of the race, i was plodding heavily and thoughts of catching 1st disappeared. I lost another 3 minutes up to the next summit, Fan Llia.....

    The worst part of all comes next with the brutal descent down to the reservoir followed by the biggest climb of all up the back-side of Fan Fawr... was really suffering in the heat now, and even worse, turned round to see 3rd place bearing down on me. I thought i probably had a minute head start at the top of Fan Fawr (it turned out to be more like 90secs), but with my legendary catastrophic descending ability, i fully expected to get overtaken on the descent to the finish...

    But what do you know... managed to pull out equal fastest descent time to hold onto 2nd.... shows i can do it when i feel that the pressure is on!

    The winner pulled out another 10mins on me over the final big climb... turns out he had taken the much longer traverse around the ridge, rather than suffer the big down and up again.... he admitted reaching the final summit not knowing whether he was still in 1st, but he had no worries on that score as his gamble clearly paid off, and i was going backwards!!

    So a very pleasing result. Time was not what i hoped for (2hrs22), but sometimes you've got to race to the situation rather than go with what you know.... i took the early gamble to stay in contention, it failed but i came out with a first ever podium place.

    It is a real shame this race does not get the numbers it deserves... there were only about 25 on the start list (and i don't think there could have been than 21 or 22 on the start line)..... i understand that some people can be put off by the brutal nature of some races... and this one has it in spades... multiple route choices, long stretches with no paths, endless rough ground and tussocks, and not a great train of people to follow... but still, if you've got a free weekend in your diary then give it a bash.

    Must say i have really enjoyed the last few races i've done, and felt comfortable racing hard and trying to really have a go at people at certain points... hasn't always paid off, but has been exciting stuff.

    Although with the next race being a 23 miler in the English Champs, i'll probably proceed with a little more caution on that one!

    Pete
    Last edited by Travs; 09-07-2022 at 07:08 PM.

  5. #45
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    Well done Travs - it must have been tough in the heat.

  6. #46
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    Sounds like a tough day out Travs.

    I'm doing the Brecon Beacons on the 30th. A bit longer but much less brutal as it is a similar ascent and mainly on paths/tracks
    Visibility good except in Hill Fog

  7. #47
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    Yes the Brecon Beacons is a great race. I ran it a few years ago in similar conditions to today.... I think its anti-clockwise this year so the roller-coaster over Pen Y Fan group in the first half, and the long rough ridge back in the 2nd half.

  8. #48
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike T View Post
    Well done Travs - it must have been tough in the heat.
    It was particularly grim.... I feel for anybody doing Wasdale today.

    In my suffering I became convinced every time I turned round that I was being chased by someone in a white vest, and was even convinced I could see their number (which is clearly ridiculous, as at the distance I thought they were behind me, I'd never have been able to make out a number....) I guess i was spotting various sheep

    There was nobody anywhere behind me in a white vest...

    Which made it all the more alarming on the final climb when I turned round and Tom Bush from Pennine was only a couple of minutes behind me... In a black vest

  9. #49
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    Quote Originally Posted by Travs View Post
    A quite brutal race today. Doesn't need me to point out how warm it was. . .

    Pete
    So I made the right decision, going to my sister's wedding anniversary party this weekend.
    In his lifetime he suffered from unreality, as do so many Englishmen.
    Jorge Luis Borges

  10. #50
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    Well done Travs, sounds like a good un and sounds like you pushed yourself all the way round.
    I did Wasdale yesterday and didn't think the conditions were that bad although the number of retirements contradicts that. It was probably in the mid teens on the summits with a decent breeze and I did set off at a sensible pace. Wasdale also has the advantage over Ennerdale say with plenty of water sources for topping up and cooling off.

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