A great day out today, and some fantastic racing... 5 miles up, 5 miles back down, poor weather, poor visibility, felt like i'd earned it when i staggered through the doors of Bala chippy this afternoon...!
Rather than the usual jaunt along the A5 i took the B-roads through the gorgeous Tanat Valley and over the pass down to Bala, arriving early, but still a lot of people already around. Hello to GeoffB (hope Mrs Geoff was ok after her fall at the start), Hi to Daz Tindersticks as always.... and TheNoor, nice to chat briefly...
As to the race, found myself right at the back at the start-line, but soon worked through on a fairly gentle uphill start, ready for an hour of hard work to the summit. Turned at the summit and was rather dismayed to find the likes of Daz Tindersticks and Mark Agnew not far behind, ready to pounce on the descent (I need a gap on these guys going down!)... made decent fist of the descent until it steepened halfway down, which somewhat blew my legs to bits, and the effort started to tell, losing perhaps 3 minutes on those around me between there and the finish.
168th which is a 'pb' placing in a British/English champs race... just a shame i couldn't see out the final 20mins or so, when a top 150 place might have been in reach.
Fantastic day, some great racing and a proper tough route.
Pete
Last edited by Travs; 14-03-2020 at 10:00 PM.
Nic Barber. Downhill Dandy
Yes... i was lined up about 2 or 3 behind Sue, over on the far left. There was a car parked up which nobody seemed to notice until the last minute and it caused a bit of a panic with everyone trying to swerve out of the way. But Sue bounced straight back up and there was someone next to her (possibly a clubmate) ensuring she was ok.
Incidentally i started right at the back and took a slow run up the road , gradually working through the field, and i don't think it affected my overall result. Probably wouldn't want to adopt that tactic on a real short race, but over the course of two hours it was pretty immaterial...
In March 2020 Ras Yr Aran was a British Championship race and a few days later we were in lockdown.
Two years on it was back and what a glorious day it was. I had set off in plenty of time, and just as well as the M56 was closed from junction's 5 to 9 causing me a 25 mile diversion.
Once at Llanuwchllyn and at registration I bumped into Dan Haworth. I suggested to him that the course record might be on due to the dry conditions but he doubted it as it was not a Championship race the pace wouldn't be too hot!
At the start, the heady aroma of sun tan lotion and cooking lamb burgers along with my nerves made me feel quite queasy and I was glad when the start bell sounded, although it took me over the first mile to get over it and at one stage I nearly packed in.
Onwards and upwards under a hot sun but once on the ridge proper a cooling breeze was most welcome. I met Dan on his way back down with a big lead whilst I was still at around a mile from the top. After much huffing and puffing the TP appeared quite quickly. All downhill now I thought but there were a surprising number of short steep rises that brought me to a walk. I was overtaken by 3 others on the way down but I managed to get two of them back and also overtake 4 others.
Slightly disappointed not to break my secret aim of under 2 hrs but after having felt crap at the start I can't complain at 2:04:59, 46th overall and 2nd M60
Back the village hall I saw Dan outside looking as fresh as a daisy wolfing down a lamb burger. He broke the 13 year old course record by 23 seconds. The dry underfoot conditions certainly helped but still a fantastic run in 1:23:03 and 3:20 ahead of 2nd. The first lady was Joanne Henderson 19th overall in 1:49:20
A long but great day out in a beautiful part of the world and the Lamb Burgers were delicious!
Visibility good except in Hill Fog