Snownodia Half Marathon – 15th May 2022

One lucky [!] member ran this race on Sunday.

A scenic but tough Half Marathon set in the beautiful Snowdonia National Park, North Wales. Starting and finishing in the village of Llanrwst.

… Is the Shirt on inside out? 🙂

Here’s John’s report:

Snowdonia half marathon 15^th May 2022

Like possibly many other people late last year I suffered from a post-Christmas rush of blood to the head. In my case it translated into an entry to the Snowdonia half marathon. The entry form warns that the race is Tough Tough Tough, so from that I concluded it would be er…. tough. To find out how tough I consulted guru of the hills Any Watts. Unfortunately Andy told me had never done the race but then casually mentioned that he had completed the Snowdonia marathon.

My preparation was hampered by a niggling knee injury, which meant I hadn’t done the mileage I would have liked and at one stage last week I seriously thought of postponing until next year. However as I am in the twilight, or possibly the twinight of my running career I thought I wouldn’t be in any better shape next year so decided to give it a go. My approach was not to worry about the time but just to finish the race, (although folk may say that’s my approach to every race these days).

The race starts near the town of Llanrwst, and goes through the Snowdonia national park. The first two miles is basically uphill, then a mixture of flat, uphill and down dale. At mile 11 you are faced with the unwelcome prospect of a 1 in 7 climb that goes on for 0.4 of a mile. Once you reach the summit, the rest of the race is basically like my future running career, downhill all the way to the finish. (You have used that one before Ed). I didn’t make the most of the final downhill stretch as by then my thighs and calves had caught fire.

Although I don’t think any of the top runners were participating, the relatively slow time of the winners give you an idea of how hard the race is. However if you are looking for a challenging half marathon in a beautiful part of Wales, this could be the race for you.

I stopped at a local café for a post-race coffee. How was the race? Asked the barista. Eh it were tough said I.

1.    Nic Brook              M 1. Male        45-49   1.      Eryri Harriers                      01:31:05
2.    Joanna Colley       F 1. Female     21-34    1.      Cambridge & Coleridge    01:36:59

and
186    John Porteous             Male        65-69  4.            Wilmslow                         02:16:14

425 finished.

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Foot note:

Feedback from runners suggested it should be a little more challenging given the name “Snowdonia Half Marathon” so in 2016, we listened and oh yes it is now more challenging, we have taken out the road to and from the village of Trefriw and re-routed you straight up to Llyn Geirionydd, then up and over to Llyn Crafnant, back down towards Trefriw, before turning heading to go up the 1:7 hill (Forest Hill) at approx. mile 11, then back down to the finish via Gwydyr Castle..  You have been warned 🙂