Marshalling the youth fell running championships

At the end of the Caernarfon 10k, one of the Eryri Harriers legends spotted me, and asked if I perhaps available to marshal some youth races on the Great Orme in early September. And I said I was. And when I phoned him about the details, after returning to the Netherlands, he asked me to be at the Great Orme summit café at 10 am. I could do that. And even better; Neil, who lives nearby, was happy to come with me. 

The races were the North Wales Junior Mountain Running Championships, under the umbrella of the Welsh Fell Runners Association. There were six age categories, from under 9 to under 19.

We rocked up and immediately found Mike, who was the one who had roped me in. He told me where he wanted me to be stationed. It was really close by. I had to point the kids down the hill. And the first race, starting at 10:30, had only six runners. So that was over in no time!

We went back to race HQ as Mike had said we weren't needed now until the races that started 11:50. He changed his mind, though, so we were also put to use in some races in between. This time we were on the other side of the summit. That was actually a better position! Better views, and a better shelter from the wind. And the course looked quite nice. And something I would consider running! The short races, that didn't go past where we were initially stationed, didn't seem to have any steep downhill in them. But that was an academic question, of course, as these were youth championships. Still nice to appreciate the routes!

The scene: Bishop’s Quarry on the Great Orme, for the shorter races. In full screen you can see a race going on in the distance, on the left. Mike (in hi viz ) is walking past the tape indicating the funnel to the finish.

When even the longest races, for the oldest kids, had gone past we were told we could stand down. We took some route markers with us and went back to hand in my bib and radio. Then we decide to actually take down all the other markers on ‘our’ side of the summit as well. And lastly, Neil wanted to have a little look at how the repair of the broken cable was going. One has an interest in electricity or one doesn't! And then we could return home. We may have watched the future of North Wales off-road running!