Last year we had for the first time entered a vets team in addition to the Open and Ladies teams, meaning 60 runners would tackle the 20 stages over the weekend from Caernarfon to Cardiff. This required a rewrite of Lisa’s famous spreadsheet, and Abi sorting out the logistics. I was on the early minibus to Wales in a 17 seater behemoth nicknamed the battlecruiser by my co-driver James, in the wet and get wetter. When I made a late navigation call we discovered the breaks required significant forward planning, as we almost didn’t make the turn off the A-road. The bus was running on vapours when we finally stopped for a comfort break, fortunately the treasurer was on hand with card to pay the bill. I took the wheel for the drive through North Wales to Friday night’s accommodation, the rain and mist obscuring the scenery.
After good night’s sleep and a hearty breakfast handing out race numbers to the excited vets, and in the process forgetting to make a packed lunch, I was in the early bus to Caernarfon for the captain’s briefing. The rain was beginning to relent, but at the obligatory team photo in front of the castle I discovered I was only one to bring a brolly to Wales. The tension mounted after some stirring words from Kieran, and first of the live feeds, and we were off!
Stage 1 - Caernarfon Castle to Penygroes: James de Vivenot, 9.3 miles, 01:10:16, 40th, 6th Vet
James as the most enthusiastic team member had the honour of leading the vets team out with the procession round the castle and over the bridge before the race finally starts along the coast before cutting inland and a long slow drag up a disused railway line, which affords a couple of places to cheer on the runners. The light rain continued as it would for the first 3 or so stages. A great to start to the first Vets relay.
Stage 2 - Penygroes to Criccieth: Mike Duff, 10.5 miles, 01:11:10, 29th, 3rd Vet
The typically Scottish weather made Mike feel right at home although the wind could have been a bit stronger. He had a long battle with a Wirral AC runner but eventually managed to shake him off on the final uphill at 15 km. A great run to finish in the top half. Being on the cycle path I didn't think I'd see many people but amazing support all the way along the route from the Eagles and a special mention to Chorlton too who gave me big support.
Stage 3 - Criccieth to Maentwrog (Mountain): Andrew Green, 12.1 miles, 01:17:04, 23rd, 2nd Vet
Andrew had asked for a flat stage but given his running pedigree he got to tackle the first mountain stage. Fortunately, he loved the stage and ran an amazing. He described it as ‘pretty uneventful. 14 km of bashing out consistent pace to stay within reach of Tom, only to see him accelerate up the hill with 6 km to go. Final 2 km descending like a maniac to gain a few places, knowing (but not caring) that if I lost my footing I was f***ed. It was so wet that my shorts started foaming as though I was in a spin cycle.’ Perhaps a rinse cycle was called for. A very impressive run.
Stage 4 - Maentwrog to Harlech Castle: Marek Waszczuk, 9.2 miles, 01:10:21, 44th, 8th Vet
Marek had the infectious enthusiasm of someone who had to work hard to make the team and was overjoyed to make the cut. For a rookie he was surprisingly well equipped for the Welsh weather with his umbrella hat. He ran a great stage coming in 5 minutes ahead of his predicted time.
Stage 5 - Harlech Castle to Barmouth: Gary Hobbs, 9.4 miles, 01:07:24, 28th, 4th Vet
Stage 5 is billed as one of the flatter stages, but just after you have settled into a rhythm you hit a brutal steep slope, and then the course is undulating at best, before a tricky downhill to the beach at Barmouth. Gary had got himself in to great shape with a series of marathons and delivered an excellent run.
Stage 6 - Barmouth to Dolgellau: Dominic Wallace, 10.5 miles, 01:07:47, 36th, 5th Vet
Dominic had been concentrating on marathons, but managed to post a time to qualify into the team. We risked the 17 seater over the rickety toll bridge, to give Dominic, Yvonne and Bernard those enthusiastic Mexican waves as they came through:
Stage 6 is beautiful, but otherwise a bit of an odd one out in a couple of ways: it’s completely flat (unless you believe Strava, in which case it involves running up a 60-metre tower and then jumping off, which I like to think I would have noticed), and there is really only one place to support. Inevitably, Eagles made up half the crowd there, and practically all of the noise, in the form of the world’s most uplifting Mexican wave. In return for this, our three runners were kind enough to stay close together, just to make the supporters’ lives easy. As usual I blew up near the end, mainly as a result of trying to keep Yvonne in view for too long (she had a storming race, and by my count was first female vet by nearly five minutes), which meant I finished about a minute down on the time I was aiming for.
Given how much Abi did for us all over the course of the weekend, perhaps best to draw a veil over the incident on the way to the start of six that left White-Tailed flying on one wing…
…and my proudest moment of the weekend was when the last business house runner came home at the end of ten, and Eagles were the one team that had stayed behind to cheer him in.
Stage 7 - Dolgellau to Dinas Mawddwy (Mountain): Kieran Santry, 10.1 miles, 01:09:52, 21st, 1st Vet
You would pick Kieran just for the impact he has on the rest of the team, but he is also the man for the big occasion. The captain of the Open team, he jumped at the chance to tackle a mountain stage. He got a brutal stage with a total elevation of 445 m rising relentlessly over the first 10 km. He produced his best run of the year matching the old stage record and coming home as the first Vet team runner. Amazing run.
Stage 8: Brian Stakelum, 10.5 miles, 01:07:30, 13th, 2nd Vet
Stage 8, a mountain stage in all but name with 275 m of climb needs a strong runner. Brian stepped up to the plate a delivered an amazing run, to ‘geriatric’ the Open team runner and come home as second vet. He describes the course:
The stage starts in the bypassed village and for the first mile and a half is mostly downhill with a steep uphill start out of the village. At about a mile and a half in, the race route encounters a roundabout and turns left. Now the climbing begins.
For the next 5.5 miles the race climbs form the valley floor to the summit of the valley. The route is twisty and is quite narrow at times with good views nearer the top. At 7 miles in you reach the top of the valley and the remaining 3.5 miles are mostly downhill.
It is a hard workout and I was tired for days after completing the stage. Try to work hard for the first 7 miles but keep it disciplined as you would likely want to retain some leg speed for the final 3.5 downhill miles.
Stage 9: Jay Kaye, 8 miles, 56:13, 24th, 4th Vet
Jay was another enthusiastic rookie to WCR, would embraced the team ethos and delivered a run almost 3 minutes ahead of target:
After plenty of welsh rain throughout Saturday, the sun was finally shining by 4:30 pm, ready for stage 9.
Standing in the start line I was asked by the runner from Palestine whether we ran on the side or in the middle of the road. When I replied that she should run to the side to avoid the cars passing, she said that she thought that it was very dangerous. Somehow I didn’t feel it appropriate to point out the irony in this conversation and got ready to start.
After the first 3-400 metres I was wondering why James Linney had gone off so slowly as I was only a few metres behind, before it dawned on me that it was actually me going way too fast. I managed to slow to my own race pace and settled in at a steady pace for the next 8 miles.
It was a pretty enjoyable if uneventful 8 mile run through the rolling welsh countryside after that, except for the nasty hill at the end which thankfully I had been prewarned about. But compared to many of the hills I saw that weekend, certainly nothing to complain about!
Stage 10: Harry Claxton - Llanfair Caereinion to Newtown (Mountain), 12.9 miles, 01:26:38, 24th, 4th Vet
As captain I got to choose my own stage. My training for a sub 3 hour London marathon meant I could justify this mountain stage with perhaps one of the best finishes in Newtown as the runners all come together at the end of stage one. It begins with a brutal hill that starts of steep and gets steeper. I could smell burning clutch oil as a car went past, and my ears popped at the stop. The downhill on the other side steep enough to test your nerves, but I managed to pick up a couple of places. Then it is a case of trying to settle into a rhythm as the course gently undulates before a smaller hill near the end. The legs and lungs were beginning to give out near the end as the course follows the river into Newtown, before crossing over the bridge and ending in a flash in the churchyard. Thanks to Matt for being ready with a pint at the finish.
Saturday Night
Day 1 finished will a communal meal in Newtown, and then we were off in the dusk to three different sets of accommodation. Johnathan reports that ‘Stonecroft was pretty basic but fine even though the Karaoke in the pub next door went on late and there were no curtains to stop the sun shining in at 5.30. There were some man v horse competitors staying which was good to chat to them too.’ The Plasnewydd Bunkhouse I was at was great, which made my inability to get to sleep all the more puzzling.
Stage 11 - Newtown to Llanbadarn Fynydd (Mountain): Simon James, 10.6, 01:09:14, 17th, 2nd Vet
Some road works meant stage 11 had been shortened slightly, but this meant a steeper climb up the 270m hill. While relatively new to running, Simon had been putting in some impressive runs to earn himself a mountain stage. Fortunately he was equally happy with the early morning start to kick us off on day 2:
Glorious weather after the mixed bag of Day 1. Beautiful clear skies, bright sunshine, but no warmer than 10 degrees given the time of day. After a quick run around some suburban roundabouts, we took a sharp left and headed up, up and up. A quiet, narrow country lane cut deep into the hill with a brutal climb for about 2.5k. This completely thinned out the pack and saw quite a few people slip back after their early efforts.
We rejoined the main road and the climb became less severe, but it still continued uphill for another 7k. Long, sweeping bends at this point with little by way of changes in the field, though there were some individual dog-fights (at least one of which I won). The early part of the downhill was where the changes started to take place: you could tell who had over- or under-cooked it on the hills, with one or two runners really picking up the pace at this point and streaming down the hill (I paced myself perfectly of course).
After only a couple of km’s of downhill, my legs were really starting to burn - I was using muscles that I didn't know I had. It was the cheering from the Eagles support vans that kept me going. It was a case of emptying the tank from here and hoping the end came soon. Kieran was on hand to tell me that the finish was just around the corner. Incredible support as I got over the line. In pieces at this point - I could not have given any more - but very pleased with my time. I managed to pass the BBQ exactly at the right time to find Linney standing at the front of the queue, shouting to ask if I wanted a bacon sandwich!
Stage 12 - Llanbadarn Fynydd to Crossgates: Andy MacFarlane, 10.8, 01:25:13, 52nd, 7th Vet
Andy was a late call-up – without subs ready to drop the baby and come at short notice we wouldn’t be able to field a full team. By his own admission he wasn’t in the best shape of his life. However, he put his body on the line in arguably the effort of the weekend, to beat his predicted time by over 6 minutes. Every second of every stage counts, and this is how Andy described his in own inimitable style:
A cool, clear and still morning made for perfect racing conditions at Llanbadarn Fynydd, where only a shortage of bog roll in the gents and the torture of spectators feasting on bacon butties caused runners any discomfort. The field quickly strung out along the route of this mostly downhill stage which, with little jostling for position, feels like a time trial. It's a pleasant enough route - a quiet road bordered by trees and grassy verges - until you hit a sweeping right turn at about halfway where the frontrunners can seem a long, long way ahead.
A couple of lumps just after halfway reduced the pace, though I kept up the effort even as a Palestinian team runner - whose footfall had been tap-tapping from behind all race - kicked on ahead. The hills at the end might feel steeper than they are, after the steady downhill profile, but provide a good base for a fast last mile into Crossgates.
The sight of Santry at an advanced cheering point let me know to wind things up, and a word from the Irishman set me kicking like it was a starting gun. It was full pelt for the final left-hand turn off the roundabout and the short final stretch towards the garage.
Cue comedy finish photo, much gasping and the concern of Colin Overton that I might croak.
Stage 13 - Crossgates to Builth Wells: Jonathan Martin, 10.3, 01:10:08, 18th, 2nd Vet
WCR clashes with the birthdays of Jonathan and his wife, but the lure of a vets team proved enough. The support thins out a bit as supporters push on to the iconic stage 14, but Jonathan describes it as ‘a good one’:
There was a good Eagles send off at the start but special mention to Brain, Arlene and Hannorah who made their own way to the start and also went down the course to offer encouragement.
As for the stage it was pretty straight. There were more hills than EHM but more downhill too. It was a good course to go along at tempo and then pick off runners who had enjoyed the downhill first mile too much or put too much into the early hills. The number of slight hills made that possible on both ups and downs. I think many had not studied the profile and were also not prepared for the two inclines in the last 5k which were probably the steepest on the course. However, after that there was a glorious downhill of over a mile to the finish.
Stage 14 - Builth Wells to Drovers Arms (Mountain): Ralph Dadswell, 10.4, 01:15:21, 29th, 2nd Vet
Stage 14, aka ‘the Beast’ – 10km of undulating course before the most brutal climb of the weekend – an unrelenting 400m of steep ascent. Then a short downhill and a kick of a hill for the finish. There exists a certain type of person who jumps at the chance to tackle these sort of challenges. The sort of person who broke the record for riding from Lands End to John-o-Groats on a tricycle. Like Ralph. He hadn’t been in the best of form coming to Wales, but pulled out an epic run against what would have been the top runners from the other teams to come home one place behind the first vet. Amazing. As he describes it:
I was feeling a bit nervous before the start, as I’ve been struggling with delivering good results recently. But once you’ve set off there’s no time to worry about that sort of thing.
The first 10k are undulating and so not really possible to run at a steady pace. We also had a bit of a headwind. More by luck than judgement I went through 10k at my target pace of “42-something”, and we were soon turned left towards the mountains.
Again, the climb is not really plannable. I just hoped that I would be able to apply myself to the job and make up as many places as possible. The first couple of kms were pretty effective, but I began to realise that with another 4 km of hard work I needed to avoid blowing up. I guess the same thoughts were hitting the other competitors, as I was still (painfully) making progress.
At one point, you can see a long way ahead, including a distant view of where the race goes over a crest. I had to start thinking only of the tarmac ahead of me, to avoid getting spooked. On three or four occasions, I had the big lift of Eagles cheers. If ever you’re starting to feel fragile, then hearing wild over-excited screaming is a great pick-up. Eventually I reached the crest, which in my mind meant that I had just 2 km to go. You can see the finish at that point, but there’s quite a sizeable valley to cross before you get there.
And it turns out that there are more than 2 km to go as well! I descended as fast as I dared, and was quite dismayed to see the 1 Mile sign just as the road started to go up again. Never mind. After a few minutes of hard work the finish zone was again in sight, and I managed to raise the pace for that last little bit.
I finished just 22s down on my target time, so I felt fairly good (and quite surprised!).
Strangely, I had been expecting the climb to be steeper than it turned out to be. That’s not to say that I didn’t turn myself inside out, but somehow I expected it to be more of a slog than it was.
Stage 15 - Epynt Visitor Centre to Brecon: Neil Bass, 12.45, 01:31:39, 42nd, 6th Vet
Neil Bass had stage 15 – I remember cheering on sheltering under an umbrella in a pretty sharp downpour. Another great run well inside his predicted time. He even wanted more uphill, even though this is one of the tougher non-mountain stages:
The stage following "The Beast." Now, I have huge respect for Ralph for running "The Beast" but could they have not added a bit extra to that stage to save us Stage 15 runners the uphill at the start to the Stage 15? One for the race organisers. After the initial climb it's pretty much downhill from there with a few ups in between. In particular one around mile 10 which did not impress me. Great downhill finish into Brecon town centre.
Stage 16 - Brecon Canal Basin to Torpantau (Mountain): Gerbrand Alkema, 12.6, 01:30:43, 29th, 3rd Vet
Andy Guy’s unfortunate injury meant a rejig, and someone else to step up to a mountain stage. Gerb had been putting in some blistering training runs on the flat, but could a Dutchman handle the Welsh mountains? The gentle slope he refers to goes on for 10 km and rises 300 m. Kieran made sure he knew what he needed to do for the Monarch’s of the Mountains competition, and Gerb delivered.
Stage 16 is really a gentle slope from kilometre 8 onwards with one nasty climb at the end of about 150 - 200m with the finish right at the end of the road. I thought I saw the finish line a few times earlier, but that was really more motivated by wishful thinking. The steep finish home straight is quite nice to overtake a few last runners. In the last mile I was able to overtake three runners, whom had all bricked getting up the hill.
The race starts on the towpath and still not too sure on what's underfoot as it was more puddle than path. Coming off the towpath it is undulating tarmac till the reservoir after which the fun and climb begin. After the reservoir it is closer to a trail run than a road run, but very much doable on road shoes. There is little support on the route, but luckily there are three water points.
Stage 17 - Torpantau to Merthyr: Frank Doyle, 9, 57:52, 22nd, 2nd Vet
Frank had got himself into the form of his life, and though he had slimmed down, requested a downhill stage. It seemed to suit the big man, as he put in a great run to come home as second vet team runner:
Stage 17 has a ludicrous start, I like running downhill but the first half mile or so is ridiculous. Was a bit congested but got into my running when it levelled off. Few uphills in the first 3 miles, then a great slow descent pretty much all the way to the finish.
Was great to be picking off runners for much of the second half and feeling strong. Didn't dare look back, was expecting Yvette to take me over at some point, this spurred me on too.
When I got to about the 7 mile point, I had a great moment, looked at my watch and realised that I hadn't completely fecked it up for the team and was ahead of schedule, this really gave me a boost.
There was a lady in front of me and I was slowly reeling her in, entered the park and could see the finish line. Gave a last push and passed her just as I got to the eagle cheer squad, they do a cracking Mexican wave don't you know!
In to the finish over 2 minutes ahead of predicted time. Lovely bit of business.
Just had time to get to the eagles to cheer Yvette in, bang on the hour, brilliant!
Took my legs 4-5 days to fully forgive me, but hope to have the honour of putting them through some similar torture next year. One word for the weekend, Amazing!
Stage 18 - Merthyr to Quaker's Yard: Niall Quinn, 7.2, 01:00:27, 19th, 4th Vet
Naill hadn’t been able to put in the long runs in training, so asked for a short stage, which suited his raw speed. A great effort in the end to come in only a minute after the 1st vet:
Probably the least glamorous start and finish of any stage. Leisure Centre car park to out of town industrial estate! However the bit in between was not too bad, some meandering along the river Taff and through a few villages. The race profile had little resemblance to what the stage was actually like so I just kept on running. More incline than I was expecting, but the downhill section 2 miles from the end was great. As was the Eagles support at the bottom of the hill. It helped encourage me to catch the two V's in front!
Stage 19 - Abercynon to Caerphilly Castle: Baljit Dhanda, 7.6, 58:15, 41st, 8th Vet
When Baljit got the call up he already knew that his big sister was going to receive an MBE and was throwing a party that weekend, so it was a tough decision. Really grateful that he chose WCR. Particularly as he was still in recovery and building his stamina after a few injuries carried over from last year. One involving cycling into a lamp post. A great run to come in 2 minutes ahead of the his target time:
After two days of watching the effort and enthusiasm of everyone else I was feeling nervous but ok. I was fully Kieraned and had no issues in that area.
Race start : everyone bombs off and I follow. Then I spotted a Serpie and caught him up. Every time I caught him he speeded up and I was forced to chase him again. On the 4th attempt I overtook him and slowly but surely his presence felt further behind. After that it was spotting my next target and slowly catching them.
It was a fairly flat course with all the undulations in the first three miles followed by a half mile descent. The final 4 miles are a slight climb but the gradient is even and it feels flat.
Great support from the minibuses and the Eagles water station.
Crossed the line and sat down for 5 minutes as I was absolutely shattered. Finally got round to checking my watch and realised I was below target so quite happy. Followed the wrong Eagles and lost my minibus.
Stage 20 - Caerphilly Castle to Cardiff Castle: Rob Willin, 9.8, 01:06:57, 39th, 6th Vet
As the oldest member of the team it seemed fitting for Rob to lead the team home into Cardiff. Oldest, but far from slowest, and he put in an amazing run come home 6 minutes ahead of his target time. The stage ends with lap of the park and the best supported finish of the weekend along a tunnel of noise.
The Les Croups old guy who used to do the timing for all the stages had retired, and issues with results meant they could not all be presented at the end. The club were obviously embarrassed by the slip up, and have upgraded the system to provide more real time results which should add to the excitement as the race progresses next year.
Home
My lack of sleep from Saturday night finally caught up with me after the presentations, though my navigators may also have noticed my mood and patience draining away as I tried to negotiate the narrow lanes of Wales during the afternoon in the battlecruiser. Driving back to Ealing and taking the minibus back seemed an overwhelming task, and I’m forever grateful for Simon to step up and cheerfully agree to do it and let me escape on the early bus. Possibly just as well, as Andy Green’s most relieved feeling of the weekend was Imperial Eagle passing Chiswick roundabout at 9:59 pm a minute before they closed the north circular for roadworks.
A fantastic weekend, made possible by the hard work of Lisa and Abi on the logistics and accommodation. Andy Guy qualified fastest for the Vets, but was unfortunate with a late injury. It didn’t stop him helping out with the organisation and producing some great stage and runner guides in the build up. I’m grateful to the guidance of Kieran and Jen on what to do and how to Captain the team – basically how not to get in the way of the enthusiasm of the team members for this fantastic event. Apart from giving myself an opportunity to return to Wales, I was also motivated to give other older runners who were unlikely to make the increasingly competitive Open Team a chance to experience the magic. As such it was a great success, and we didn’t do too badly against the other Vet Teams, coming 3rd out of 10, and the proudest achievement as a runner – being part the Monarch of the Mountains with some amazing runners:
Overall
Mountain Monarchs
