Race Date: Weekend 26th/27th September 2015

The Rab Mountain Marathon was run in glorious weather in the Glyderau and Carneddau mountains of Snowdonia, north Wales.  Dave Parry and I entered the “long score” class, which requires competitors (running solo or in pairs) to choose which controls to visit in the seven hour time limit on day one, and six hours on day two.  We chose the Carneddau for day one, finishing in 50th place after 20km over mostly pathless, pretty tough terrain, with stunning views into the deep northern corries of these 1000m plus mountains.  After a chilly night at the mid-way camp at the northern end of the Ogwen valley, we were away before 7.30am for day two in the Glyderau.  We chose controls that followed a long traverse at about 500m altitude moving in and out of five corries on the north side of the range, before rising to 700m to cross between Tryfan and Glyder Fach to make our way towards the finish at Capel Curig, having covered about 18km.  The views towards the eastern end of the range were fantastic – the whole Snowdon horseshoe, Glyders Fawr and Fach, Tryfan and the Carneddau, and out towards the sea, both west and north.  We picked up eight places on day two to finish 42nd of 107 finishers in the long score, and third place in the super vets category for solo runners aged over 55 and pairs with an aggregate age over 110 (we are 120).

Full results at: http://www.rabmountainmarathon.com/results/2015-results/