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Pen-y-Fan, 3.5m / 1930'

Conditions were good for the first race of the weekend; a short, steep, climb to Corn Du, along the ridge to Pen-y-Fan followed by a dive off the summit back to the start at Llynbedw. Descent times make interesting reading as many places are traded. The winner Martin Shaw from host club Mynydd Du finished in 34'05". Andy Mason, 1st Strider home reached the summit in 34'25", coming home 39th in 51'59". Other Striders were John Williams, 41st in 53'02" and Neil Bradley 43rd in 53'38". The 75th and last runner finished in 1h37m, taking some 44' on the descent.

Fan-y-Big, 10m / 2200'

This race starts at Llanyfrynach, with a mile or two of gradually rising cross country running. Climbing up the ridge to Fan-y-Big the weather deteriorated, and we were running into a fairly strong wind and rain, with visibility down to 100m or so. After several miles around the ridge in these conditions emerging from the cloud onto the long, grassy descent was especially welcoming, even if the mile on tarmac at the end was not. The winner was Peter Ryder from Cardiff AC, in a new record time of 1h11m41s, some 6' clear of second place. Neil Bradley was pleased  to be 1st Strider home, 60th in 1h44m55s, followed by Andy Mason, 65th in 1h47m32s and John Williams, 77th in 1h53m08s. There were 96 runners, the final runner home finishing in 2h44m55s.

There will doubtless be another trip to Brecon for these challenging races next year. More immediate trips to the hills planned in the coming weeks include days out to the South Downs for the Jack & Jill 5mile race on Sunday 25th, and back to South Wales for the Sugar Loaf fell race (7m/1725'), near Abergavenny on Saturday 14th August. If interested in these or other races keep an eye on the fell section of the chatboard.