Wales's oldest fell races

[Graham Breeze]

South Wales: I have recently seen it written that the Machen Welfare Mountain Race started in 1979 (and has been held annually except for 2011-2013). But when did it first appear in the FRA Calendar? If it did start in 1979, my claim in the magazine that Llanbedr-Blaenavon is the oldest fell race in South Wales would be wrong. .

Anthony

The entry in the 1979 FRA Calendar (and 1980,1981) gives the record as 28.02 (D Francis 1977). However the race was not listed in the 1977 or 1978 Calendars (I have not checked the Fellrunners for either a listing or results) but clearly a race there was before 1979.

I do not know how far back your collection of Fellrunners goes but in the days of manually typed sheets and duplicators (ie before 1979) the Calendar was a very modest affair and was far from comprehensive and, after all, fell races only really needed to be publicised to those likely to want to run in them and the voluminous and comprehensive Calendar as we now know it was beyond men's dreams.

As was 500-600-700 people turning up to a fell race from all corners of Great Britain - but that is another issue.

Best wishes,

Graham