Adventure Race News from EventRate.com

Welsh 1000 Metre Peak Race

Luke Cunliffe writes:
At 22 miles, the Welsh 1000 Metres Peaks Race is technically not an ultra marathon. But it certainly deserves respect for the event that it is. This year was to be my third time out on the course and it is one of those races which instills in me apprehension and excitement in equal amounts.

The race begins at Aber, a small village on the coast of North Wales and it crosses the three main mountain ranges of Snowdonia, first the Carneddau, then the Glydderau and then on to the Snowdon Horseshoe, where it finishes appropriately on Snowdon’s impressive summit. The accumulated ascent for the day is estimated by the organisers to be at about 8000ft.

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All well and good for a gruelling day out in the mountains... The part that makes this race especially hard is the cut-off time of 9 hours for the mountaineer class - the one I entered - and significantly less for the fell-runners’ class (this is something I have never been and am unlikely ever to be, at my age and training level).

The race is loosely based on an event created for the Royal Welsh Fusiliers in the 1960s, the only difference being that they had to ‘bag’ a further ten peaks and carry full kit! There is still a military category, usually comprising keen and hardy servicemen, doubtless volunteered by their enthusiastic, recently commissioned officers.

The first time I raced I was pleased to finish in 8 hrs 58 minutes. Close, I grant you, but a finish is a finish. The second time, in 2000, I raced with Charlotte, now my wife, who set a blistering pace and we knocked 30 minutes off my time despite severe weather conditions. In fact, visibility was so poor that about half of that year’s competitors failed to finish at all.

So in June 2003 I was keen but sensibly apprehensive, and only hoping we would do ourselves justice over the course. The weather was clear and sunny all day, which although more pleasant to race in than thick hill-fog meant we were denied our “home” advantage of knowing the route well. An advantage that would have been particularly useful bearing in mind our lack of substantial training before this year’s race.

Our team of friends comprised Gavin Peake-Jones, a local management consultant/trainer and mountain leader, Andy Peek, techno whizz kid and experienced ultra-racer (and a 3-times finisher of the race), Charlotte and myself. In the fell-running class we knew Paul Scully, an extremely competent mountain marathon runner, competing here for the first time.

The course started with one of the longest and most relentless long-slow-painful-death ascents. Although most of the route wasn’t that steep, it was a consistent slog. The temperature now rising, I was grateful for the shade of a forest after leaving Abergwyngregyn. Then it was up across a scree bank to Aber Falls -- here competitors had to cross a stream, which was easier this year than before owing to low water levels - then onwards and upwards over several cruel, steep and grassy false summits before finally reaching the Carneddau.

From here, the view north to the sea was magnificent, even through sweat-stung eyes. My breathing was suffering. I wasn’t fit enough this year I kept thinking. Mental note to self – “Either get fitter or don’t even think about doing this again next year, you pillock”. We then attempted an alternative route south of a pair of hills which most competitors had raced between. We thought this would be shorter and far more clever. We lost ground. Another note to self – “Stop trying to be clever”. And then we headed south-east to Foel Grach. At this point Gavin surprised us by deciding to withdraw. He had been feeling the effect of the heat, was suffering a hip problem and was noticing the effects of not having trained enough this year. In the past, Gavin had achieved an impressive time of 7 hrs 30 mins on this course, but sensibly he recognised early on that this was not to be his year. Fortunately it was also the ideal place for him to retire. It just happened to be a short hike north to his house.

We were disappointed to see him go but pressed on ahead towards Carnedd Llewellyn and Carnedd Dafydd, the first two of the four 1000 Metres Peaks. With only about 2.5 kms between them it was satisfying to knock them both off so quickly, and the ease of visibility made the task much faster. From Dafydd there is a long descent diagonally across a grassy mountainside, followed by a nasty tarmac road which descends all the way to the A5. The road is long, steep and very straight, a feat even the noblest of Roman civil engineers would have admired. Personally I didn’t admire it one little bit as my toes were painfully squashed into the front of my boots – it was uncomfortable to run, but our competitive spirit got the better of us. At the bottom of the road was the first drinks station where we gulped down several cups of orange, lemon and blackcurrant squash.
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The next section of the route passed directly over a saddle on the Glydderau with Tryffan to our right, and on a clear day like this was relatively straightforward. I have memories of having to count paces and studiously follow compass bearings during a previous race. But today we left our maps stowed in our packs as we found the checkpoint easily, before descending the Miner’s Track. Turning west off the track we had to cross a river, again made more passable by the dry weather, before trudging over boggy moorland towards Pen y Pass.

At Pen y Pass I breathed a sigh of relief. I knew there was enough time left to make the finish within the cut-off. All that remained was for us to drag ourselves up the Pyg Track, turn north at the top, make the quick ascent up to Garnedd Ugain and then double back past the top of the Pyg Track on our way up to Snowdon, just a few hundred metres away.

On our way up the Pyg Track we bumped into Ciaran Horgan, the winner, who had finished a couple of hours before us and was now on his way back down the mountain – it was a little disconcerting that he had not only finished, had tea, but had descended half the mountain and we were still not within sight of the finish.

It was a further 45 minutes before we reached the finish at the summit in a time of 8 hrs 5 minutes, another personal best, and one I felt I could happily retire with… Well, possibly.

As usual, the Welsh 1000 metres peaks race lived up to my expectations. And I find on completing it again I have enormous respect for the event. Fitness, stamina, occasionally good navigation and dogged determination are the essential ingredients one needs to complete the event. Oh, and good company helps too.

The Welsh 1000 Metres Peaks Race is held each year at the beginning of June. Further details can be obtained from the organiser, Harvey Lloyd at:

Address: 37 Stockleys Road, Headington, Oxford, OX3 9RH
Telephone: 01865 750067
Email: Harvey@richlloyd.fsnet.co.uk
or via website