First Tuesday Evening fell race: Penmaenmawr

I had picked an interesting first race in the Tuesday evening series. That I had been recommended to bring gardening gloves already gave that away! And the weather was great for it. I changed in the office, and drove straight there. I immediately saw more runners! 

I went to the start, registered, and got my race number. And had a bit of a chat with other runners. And I recce’d the start of the route, to just get an idea. 

Arriving on the scene 

I didn’t start too far towards the front. I was feeling modest! But it did mean I was in a crowd, in the part of the race I would be best at: the uphill. And the path was rather narrow, so overtaking was hard. Maybe next time I'll be more assertive and start closer to the front! I expect all these races to start at the bottom of a hill. I might as well do as well as I can on the uphill, before I inevitably get overtaken by throngs on the way down! 

It was uphill for quite a while. In the beginning on a path, but after we came through a kissing gate, the path became rather faint, so my speed dropped. And then we got to the highlight of the race: up a gully! Or next to the gully. What route you took there was not important, as long as you ended up buy a blue flag on top of the hill. It was very steep, and there wasn't a path. This was the part for which we had been advised to bring gardening gloves! Practically everyone put their hands to the ground. And there was a lot of gorse on the slope. 

The start of the big uphill. Pic by the race organisation.

The big uphill. Pic by the race organisation

The big uphill seen from a distance. Pic by the race organisation

It was amazing fun! It is a bit weird to have your face so close to the ground while you're in a race, but it was fun to just scamper up the hill like some monkey. Once at the top, we gradually made our way down again, but only climb the same hill again, but now from a different direction. I put my gardening gloves back on for that. There was again some use of hands there!

From there on we were on a big, clear path again for a while. It was actually the path that goes past the Druid’s Circle. I sped up! But this was a fell race, so it didn't last. We had to leave the path again, and fairly soon we were back at the first kissing gate. And then I needed to find the highest speed with which I could safely run back to the finish. And then I was in!

Approaching the finish. Pic by the race organisation

I had a little chat with some of the people I had been chatting with at the start. It is a nice bunch of people, these fell runners! But we all made our way back to where the registration has been. I had left my bag there. I put on a jacket and walked back to the car. What a fun race!

Sunset from where registration had been

I am still awful at fell racing. I finished 75th in a total field of 135. And 19th woman of 46. So decidedly average! But that's a huge improvement on the previous time! And it’s not all about the results. This was fun and beautiful. I will be back!