I had a fun trip down to sunny Wales for the Ultra-Trail Snowdonia weekend (part of UTMB World Series), cracking weather all weekend (although a bit too hot for me during the race) and I was really happy to finish the 55K (+3486m) race fairly comfortably as it’s my longest hill race to date.
Last year I ran in the Ben Nevis Ultra but missed the 29km cutoff by just 5 minutes, so entered this to give me something to focus on – and also started going along to some of the Thursday night Carnethy training sessions at Arthur’s Seat which were (and still are!) brutal, but they’ve definitely made me stronger and faster so thanks to the run leaders for those!
The race itself was great fun – first half fairly rocky/technical up and around Snowdon/Yr Wyddfa – firstly almost up to the top from Llanberis, then down the Pyg track and clockwise around the mountain to ascent again via the south ridge with some easy scrambling to the summit cafe area. Second half much more grassy (and pretty wet/marshy in places) and afternoon heat kicked in which slowed many people down including myself. Final section was several km of good track descending back to the finish line in Llanberis, next to the National Slate Museum (which is fantastic, well worth visiting) and I could finally get the mint choc chip ice-cream I’d been dreaming about for hours 😀
Neil Guthrie