This week the report includes cycling and swimming, people racing against horses, along with more ‘normal’ running !
In Fell running, two Denbigh Harriers ladies braved the Tal y Mignedd Fell Race on Saturday. This was a North Wales Fell Running Championship Race, a Welsh Championship Race and a British Championship Race therefore mingling with the other runners at the start of the race was a pretty nervous experience. The women’s and men’s races were separate and it was quite interesting to see the front runners belting down as one was running up. The route, in the words of the organisers, followed a farm track for 0.8 miles before violently ascending a goliath 1800ft in just over a mile. On tapping Queen Victoria’s obelisk at the summit the route returned along the same kamikaze descent before arriving back at the farm. Despite the heat both Ceri Belshaw and Menai Baugh had excellent runs with Ceri finishing in 50 th position in a time of 56:11 and Menai Baugh finishing second F60 in 62nd position in a time of 1:03:37.
David and Katy Baugh took on the Man V Horse on Saturday after arriving home from 17 hours on a plane and both enjoyed the whole occasion. Conditions underfoot were much better than last year and mostly dry but it was hot and muggy for the 60 horses and 750 runners. Some run this as a relay and others as solo runners over the 36k course with 1162m of climb. The race between the people and horses was tight this year due to the hot conditions (apparently humans cope better with heat). The Marines relay team beat the first horse and the first solo runner was less than 30 seconds behind. David was 222nd amongst the solos, relay teams and horses and managed to beat 17 horses. Pleased with knocking 20minutes off last years time in 3.50 . Katy finished in 4.49 suffering with cramp as many of the field did in the heat.
Caroline Parry was doing Triathlon on Sunday, at Ironman 70.3 in Stafford. After a good 1.2 mile swim in 53:36 , she suffered with a number of problems (and the heat) on the 56 mile bike leg, unfortunately just missing the cut-off time for the run.
Finally, our Parkrun roundup.
Sarah Bayliis ran Wepre, with a new course PB of 26:31, and 5th lady finisher.
Tony Benton ran Wolverhampton, finishing in the top 10% with a time of 21:44
At Conwy, Emma Collins was third lady over the line in a time of 22:14.
Manfredi Toraldo wasn’t that far behind, coming in in 22:40.
Elen Baugh crossed the finish in 25:07 (9th lady), and Paul Jones still finished in the top third of the field with a time of 27:05
