{"id":5900,"date":"2019-07-19T14:19:44","date_gmt":"2019-07-19T14:19:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/?p=5900"},"modified":"2019-07-24T18:09:53","modified_gmt":"2019-07-24T18:09:53","slug":"snowdonia-trail-races","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/?p=5900","title":{"rendered":"Snowdonia Trail Races"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With a selection of distances on offer this year IWRR had a bijoux team to represent the diamond Isle in this years events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steve Bennett, Steve Apsey and Ian Russell made the journey to Wales to take on the half, the marathon and ultra respectively. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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No fewer than 5528 ft of ascent faced Steve in the marathon and a colossal 7200 ft for Ian in the 60k ultra. Voted the best marathon in the UK not once, but twice by Runners World magazine, this race was established in 1982 as a polar opposite alternative to the concrete carnivals the major cities were offering. If that was the objective, then it is mission accomplished. You couldn’t get any more different. Not a flat road or a high rise in sight, this course circumnavigates then finally ascends Snowdon, Wales’ largest peak. It’s not a peak let’s face it, it’s a full on mountain! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Starting in Llanberis at the wonderfully named Electric Mountain, Ian set out first on his epic journey. Just like the marathon that he\u2019s completed the year before,  this beast of a course also started with a hill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Ultra had another mini mountain after the whopper at the start! It was brutal!\u201d he described on his strava profile \u201cYou could see Snowdonia and all the other mountains at the summit. I did have a bit of a \u201cIt\u2019s great to be alive moment\u201d up there\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking in the picturesque Cwm Tresgl and Cwm Pennant before rejoining the marathon route. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI lost a shoe in knee deep mud early on…. I\u2019m just glad I found it!\u201d chirps pocket rocket Ian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A couple of hours later the Steve Apsey set off on the marathon route with the rocky 3 mile trail of 1500ft ascent to tackle first. Of course what goes up must come down and a steep descent followed toward the woodland area at Beddgelert where the course levels out for a bit of relief from the elevation if not from the rocky terrain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly after Stevie Bennett was off in the half marathon accompanied by a familiar face in Mr.Keith Ruth. They took in many of the sights of the marathon course before beginning their ascent of the main attraction (ie that flipping great big mountain) via the Ranger Route.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was thick mist and cold at the top\u201d Mr.Bennett tells me later in the day<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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No such luck for the other 2 runners tho, as they began their ascent via the Pyg Pass. 3406 feet of ascent still lay before them, a huge challenge had it been on a steep and stoney mountain trail. But no, it was far worse! It was rocks, boulders and massive monoliths of Jurassic lava to clamber over. There was no path, the boulders were the path! Luckily for them both, they happened to meet up at this point and tackled this formidable path together <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIt was great getting to \u201crun\u201d with Ian for a bit\u201d said Steve <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was worth the effort as at 1085m above sea level, (that’s 3559ft), the views at the summit are second to none. No time to hang around and enjoy them though as the boys all embarked on the tricky and technical descent back to Llanberis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat was the hardest thing I\u2019ve ever done\u201d admitted Stevie B \u201cbut the scenery was stunning and the camaraderie was great\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI loved it\u201d said Steve Apsey \u201cHitting that summit was amazing\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be back next year\u201d said Ian<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ian Russell – 7.53.28<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steve Apsey – 5.11.08<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steve Bennett- 3.23.06<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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With a selection of distances on offer this year IWRR had a bijoux team to represent the diamond Isle in this years events. Steve Bennett, Steve Apsey and Ian Russell…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5900"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/78"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5900"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5915,"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5900\/revisions\/5915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}