Posts From January, 2019

Yorkshire Three Peaks Race, 28th April 2002

Another emailed report to Westies, shortly after we moved to Brecon when I was still running under the “W”. This was possibly my worst ever fell race, in terms of injury, abysmal performance, and general misery! And that shoulder still gives me gyp now.3 Peaks (too many in my opinion) Still no word of Gordon R… hope you finished all right.But... read more
 

Brecon Beacons Race, 16th August 2003

Another emailed report to Westies.Rigby goes supersonic at the Brecon Beacons ‘On yer marks’…‘get set’……………133 runners start to shuffle…‘hang on!!’…133 runners stumble and start tripping over each other, but some are 20 yards down the road…133 runners are all thinking ‘What, is this going to be the first ever false start in 3000 years of fell... read more
 

Goodrich Fell Race, 22nd August 2003

And another of my emails to Westies:Good ? – oh yesRich ? – plenty of prizesFell Race? – not really, but a cheeky 6 miler on tracks with 900 feet of ascent. Forest of Dean, near Symonds Yat.A slightly longer course than of old (in the days when this was Damon’s stomping ground), had us stumbling through a field for a few hundred frantic metres,... read more
 

Bob Smith Traverse, 11th January 2003

And another letter to the Westies:A beautiful epic Bob Smith Traverse (all six 800m summits of S Wales), in bright sun snow and ice on saturday. 20 miles run, 25 miles bike, with 2635m ascent. Decided and planned late friday evening!Some bits very difficult, plenty slides and falls, all quite slow. For those with maps (Chris) … Started at the last ... read more
 

Cardiff Marathon 2002

Another of my missives to Westies, after moving down to Brecon, recovered from their website.Lending weight to the 15-20 mile/per week training philosophy advocated recently by Rodwell/Gallagher, I just ripped 5 mins off my marathon PB in Cardiff this morning, after preparation that made last year’s last minute dash to Belfast look like a... read more
 

London Marathon 2004

Another recovered post from the Westies site, though this was more of an email to a few members than a report.Just checked the results for Westies….Mark Forrest (have we met?) sorry I didn’t say hi !!OK I ran the second half with my eyes shut, after passing the pooey man with the brown smeary legs, but I thought I’d spot a big W if there was one.... read more
 

Ffordd y Bryniau Race, 2002

And another recovered post from the Westies site, though by this time I’d joined MDC! Note that at the time such race reports were written for an email list of members, and I certainly wasn’t expecting my silly write-ups for a Scottish audience to become public. The current bout of excess wind contributed greatly to the jollity of Ffordd y... read more
 

Nant Y Moch Skyline, 2002

Another ancient race write-up recovered from the Westies site…3rd youngest comes 4th at Nant Y Moch Skyline.Last saturday in Wales, 30 lined up to the wild cheering of a couple of local shepherds and set off to traverse the Nant y Moch Skyline (12.5m,3900′)….After about a mile (and tripping one guy up) I found myself in the very unexpected... read more
 

Black Mountains Race, 2003

I found this old write-up on the Westies website, and thought I’d steal it back again in case they ever take that down…Black Mountains 17m, 5200ft, 27/09/2003Indeed they were, Pen Carrig Calch looming over the start in the piccy village of Llanbedr, drizzle and cloud hanging low. On the start line it was hard to banish the bad memories of a grim... read more