mountain marathon race 3:58:15 [5] ***** 13.86 mi (17:11 / mi) +1170m 13:37 / mi
spiked:10/19c shoes: VJ XTRM
KONG mini mountain marathon round 1-Capel Curig: I am now truley and utterly exhausted. After the 0.5 mile walk to regisatration and then a further 1 mile walk from there to the start I felt relativley confident both in a navigation perspective and additionally a fitness perspective. Starting at 9:58am the first controls flew by with ease, arguably because both contols were on a large straight path and required little to no navigational experience. As Dad and I gained altitude it become clear the snow was going to become more and more challenging throughout the course. Control number 20 going to 23 was where the snow became truly difficult. Trampling through, what In summer would be a bog, but now knee deep snow seemed to drain my energy more than I have ever experienced. This control that should've taken 15minutes at most took over 30 minutes purley because of the deep snow leading to it. Number 14 was a navigational mess on my behalf. This control that should of been much simpler became a mess mostly because of my immense lack of energy and concentration as a result of traipsing through the snow on controls prior. Dad and I lost so much time here its almost a tragedy. After number 14 we had somewhat give up and just wanted to head back, which we ultimately did. Heading back the same way we had come at the start of the race we managed to collect 2 more controls and got back to the finish with 2 minutes to spare. After taking a solid 40 minutes to get changed and warm up we had a deeply indulgent and tasteful soup and a cake at download. I think we came about 61st out of 240+ but I'm not certain. It was great day out in the welsh mountains to be honest.