Wales's oldest fell races

[anthonykay]

I have just been reading Fell Running in Wales by Simon Gwyn Roberts, and discovered that another race with a long history is Ras Beca: started in 1977, although it is only more recently that it has appeared on the FRA or WFRA calendar.

The book is very much a personal account; not the result of in-depth research in the style of Steve Chilton, more a love letter to the sport and the places where it happens; also bringing out Simon Gwyn Roberts' love of Welsh culture and language, and his love-hate relationship with Welsh weather. I have really enjoyed reading it, and I will even forgive the author for his totally garbled account of the origins of the Llanbedr-Blaenafon race.

One point that he makes (and which is also mentioned in the review in the latest Fellrunner magazine) is about terminology: "fell running" or "mountain running"? Back in the 1980's when I started running races in South Wales, I remember that people there were mostly referring to "mountain running". English-speaking Welsh people seem to refer to even quite small hills as "mountains" (and definitely not "fells"). The Scots stick resolutely to the term "hill running", and I suspect that the only reason the Welsh started using "fell running" is because "mountain running" has become associated with the international version of the sport which is more like road running on steep gradients.