Ras Llyn Trawsfynydd 2025

Last year I had really enjoyed Ras Llyn Trawsfynydd. So it made complete sense to sign up again. The route is beautiful and I quite like the distance (14 km) as well. And it was quite nice to get a bronze medal. Could I do that again?

On our way to the last Borders League race we were talking about upcoming races in the car, and I mentioned this one. One of the runners, Anna, was interested. She said she hadn't signed up because she didn't want to drive there alone. I understand; I don't like driving a long distance on my own, only to run for a limited amount of time, and then having to drive all the way back! That feels wrong. But now that she knew I was going, and was happy to share a ride, she was keen to sign up. And anyway, that was good news and bad news; I really like car sharing to races, but Anna is very fast. My medal chances would drop considerably if she would run as well!

On the day, she got to my house and we got into my car. The hour flew by. It was already quite busy when we got there, but we were early enough to be parked near the start. We headed for the toilets that didn't yet have a queue, and went to get our race numbers. At that time, the juniors race was happening. And the commentator was beside himself with enthusiasm. I think he really gave these kiddies (the youngest were only five!) the experience of a lifetime. We then did some last minute eating and/or drinking, and got into our racing gear. We had a little warmup and then it was time to head for the start. We saw a fair number of other Eryri tops!

Three Eryri ladies

The weather forecast had been 70% chance of rain, but the sky looked clear. It was really lovely weather! Such is strong contrast with the previous year, which had been horizontal rain-tastic. And we set off. And Anna quickly vanished. I figured she would.

The start 

I wasn't quite running the ludicrous running high I had got last time, but I was still feeling good. And I was enjoying the views. And after a while I ended up at a seemingly fixed position in the field. There was a lady from Meirionnydd running club behind me, and unaffiliated men in front of me, and we kept our relative positions. Until, some 6 km in, my shoelace came undone. That set me back, obviously.

Early on in the race, on the dam

I then spent several kilometres trying to overtake Meirionnydd lady again. I managed that on the stretch next to the road. Now I just needed to make sure I stayed there! And soon we came off the road. That was the most trail-ish part of the race. I like it! The previous year, I had been battling it out with a man from Meirionnydd, but this time I was basically running alone. But I had enough race adrenaline to keep pushing it. When I finally approached the finish I saw I was faster than the previous year. I was staying below 1:06. 

Not slowing down before the finish 

Behind the finish I found Anna again. She had come second! That's so cool. Unfortunately, she said that a lady who had finished before me was also over 40, so that meant I was basically out both for a general medal, and a category win. Oh well! I had had a great time. But with Anna having come 2nd we absolutely needed to wait for the ceremony. So we first went back to the car to put on something warmer, as it was too cold to stand around in sweaty club tops. And we had some lunch. And our times were in: mine was 1:05:45. Twenty seconds faster than the previous time! 

We cheered on the late arrivals, spurred on by the tireless commentator (he won’t have had much voice the day after), and then waited for the ceremony. I had told her that here, prizes were not fixed; you could choose something from the prize table. I cheered for Anna, who had forgot to check what the prizes were and had to choose fast. I was surprised to get called forward myself. The faster lady over 40 had come third, and most races don’t give category prizes to people in the overall top three. Nice! I chose an Alpkit voucher. The 70+ males category was won by the fast octogenarian who had been there last year too. And then we could go home. Next year again I hope!