Marshalling the Conwy Fell Race

I saw a call for marshals for the Conwy Fell Race on the internet, and I answered that call. Given that it was a fell race I wouldn't be too eager to run it myself anyway. Especially not with my ankle as it is. And it's not very far away, and it looked like a nice race. And these depend on marshals.

The organiser, Michael, created a WhatsApp group for the race. That was handy. He told me to be at the start, and that he'd walk me to my marshaling position after starting the race.

I drove to Conwy with my bike in the back. I am way too impatient to walk to the start and back! And I got there in good time. I saw some familiar faces; several of the people who had been on the hill that Thursday were there.

Michael appeared, and he started everybody off. He brought a guy called Paul, and Mike who organises several races himself, and me to our positions; we would be pretty close to the finish. So we had time to leisurely walk up, as it would take the runners more than half an hour to do the loop. I also sneaked into the bushes because I knew that soon as the first runner would appear, there would be no chance of going for a leak.

Gathering at the start (which was also the finish)

We just did a bit of general race gossip until we saw the first runner appear. He went like the clappers! And from where we were standing, the runners had to thunder down the hill and then clamber back up. That meant that I, who could just take the direct route, had plenty of time to get to my station. And I made sure he knew where to go and cheered him on. He looked tired but determined!

Mike showing the first runner where he has to start his deep descent, chased by Michael who is filming him

From then on there was a steady trickle of runners. That thickened. And then, inevitably, it thinned out again. I could tell people that from there on, they would only have to go downhill. Quite many of them were very happy to hear that! Only about 100 meters before where I was standing they had ended the gruelling ascent. And quite many were also bleeding. I suspect that was people who had fallen over. It could also be associated with running through gorse, but I wouldn't expect such levels of blood. But none of them seemed to care!

I tried to take a picture of every one of them. I don't think any of the pictures were particularly good, but it was something. I also had a brief chat with a lady who was lugging a toddler around. She said the child's dad was in the race, and would come back up to carry him down when he was done.

I also was a bit amused by the local ponies. My marshalling post was just next to a bit of a pond, and the horses seemed thirsty.

At some point, one of the faster runners appeared again. Didn't he run enough? But he turned out to be the father of the toddler! I thought he was off the hook as the lady and the toddler had already gone down, but they had clearly not gone to the finish. I really hope he found them fairly soon! I have no idea where they went. The last time I saw them they were on the path that leads to the finish and nowhere else.

In the end, the sweep appeared. We could abandon station! So we did. And I biked back to my car.

I wondered if I should go to race headquarters, but I decided against. It was a gorgeous day, and I thought it would be a bit of a pity not to do a little bit of a run myself. Not too much; I didn't want to overexert my ankle between the Thursday night and the race the next day. But I had seen that you can actually park at the start, so I drove up the hill, and set off back to my station. I was a bit worried to find that my ankle was very unhappy with that! But it doesn't very much mind runs on the flat or downhill, so once I was at my station it wasn't complaining so much anymore. But how would it go with 2.5 km uphill the next day? That was a later worry though; for now I was just enjoying my little run in the sun. And then I went home.

Run bonus: nice rocks!

February sun on the hills

Scenic path

It had been a good day! And I think that held for the runners as well. Comments on Facebook suggested that in general, a good time was had by all. Excellent!

I do not rule out the possibility of running it myself as most of the route is on paths. I wouldn't do very well because of the steep descents, but it is a gorgeous race! And if I'm not running, I might very well marshal again. Runners supporting runners!