International Snowdon Fell Race 2024 (Ras yr Wyddfa)
Results for Castell Howell International Snowdon Fell Race, 3,134ft 10mile, 20th July
(Travel Sponsored by Wightlink)
Gary Marshall 01:21:24 (44th Overall, 4th Vet 40)
Trevor McAlister 01:48:19 (196th Overall, 22nd Vet 40)
Les Cupis 01:52:57 (233rd Overall, 8th Vet 60)
A small group of Ryde Harriers ventured to up to North Wales to take part in the International Snowdon Fell Race (Ras yr Wyddfa). Fell races are run over rugged and extreme terrain, over hills and dales, and in this case a mountain. This is the pinnacle race in the Fell race calendar, and attracts teams of international runners from England, Wales, Scotland, Italy, Republic Ireland, Northen Ireland, with TV coverage available on iPlayer.
Trevor and Les are both experienced fell runners, although haven’t competed in this race before. For Gary this was his first fell race, but as a seasoned runner that is used to being at the head of the field, he was expected to still do well in this race. Nigel came along as support crew, and was able to give valuable advice, having run this race in 2022.
The weather on race day was not favourable, with moderate rain and wind, but with exposure significantly increased at the top of mount Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa), as well as the addition of mist above 2,000ft elevation.
Just before the start of the race, all the assembled fell runners paid tribute to the legend of fell running Joss Nailor (known as the King of the Fells) who passed away on 28th June 2024 aged 88, who’s funeral was held the previous day. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joss_Naylor
The race leads out through the streets of Llanberis, climbing 300ft in less than half a mile on ridiculously steep roads, before the road runs out and we are into the foothills of mount Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa). At this early stage of the race Gary’s speed enabled him to keep with the lead group of 30 runners, as they started to ascend the mountain proper.
The assent up the Llanberis path was hard going, with sections that are runnable, intermixed with parts where progress is reduced to a walk due to the steepness, or rocks and members of the public that have to be negotiated around.
As Trevor & Les neared the summit, it was inspiring to see the lead runners emerging out of the mist, as they charge back down the mountain at an unbelievable breakneck speed, which seems even more unbelievable when you realise, they are doing this while dancing across slippery and loose rocks, where one wrong move could result in a serious fall and injury. After seeing the leaders zoom past having already summited, Gary was spotted on his descent, having started a little more slowly on the early technical stages of the descent due to his inexperience with fell running, he was still in pursuit of some of the international runners.
The last push up to the summit was both physically tiring and required increased levels of concentration, as the path becomes constricted, with streams running down the rocky path as a result of the heavy rain, and having to negotiated around members of the public walking, whilst staying out of the way of runners flying down the mountain at you.
On reaching the summit, you might think you can relax as the rest is downhill. Not with fell racing, and particularly with this race, the descent is very technical with frequent changes in rock strata, a high level of concentration is required for just over 4 miles back to the road. Trevor made it down the descent unscathed, but both Gary and Les had tumbles on the way down, but only sustained minor bruises.
Once off the mountain path and back onto tarmac, the brutality of the race doesn’t stop, your legs are punished again as you try to run down the same ridiculously steep roads from the start of the race. And just when you hit the last flat section, your legs have nothing left to give, and it takes all your effort just to keep going on the last 800m to the finish line.
Gary had a fantastic race, beating some of the elite international runners and coming 44th overall, including beating one international runner in a sprint down the finishing straight. He only missing out on the 3rd Vet 40 prize by one place (who finished 13 seconds ahead of him).
Trevor and Les both had excellent runs, and placed in the top half of the field of 460 runners.
For Gary, once up the mountain wasn’t enough, so at 06:00 on the following day when we were to travel home, Gary made another assent of Snowdon as part of a 19mile long run.
Report by Trevor McAlister
Race video: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0j8w5jn/ras-yr-wyddfa-ras-yr-wyddfa-2024
Finish line videos
Gary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-BBjRWtH3M&t=950s