Dinas Bran Fell Race

Race Report by Simon Edwards

Wednesday 6th May – Dinas Bran Fell Race

Another early evening bout of heavy cold rain might have been one of the reasons for the poor turnout in this well organised, easy to reach and friendly local race. Hosted by the local school all runners were warmly welcomed by the organizers in what is probably a good introduction to the pastime of fell-running.

Despite the rain on-route the venue itself was damp rather than wet underfoot, though a few rogue raindrops marred just the very start of the race. Shortly after 7:15 the competitors circled the school field once and then made their way out onto minor country lanes leading the way to the grounds of Dinas Bran itself.

At that point the route twice repeated a loop around the castle perched atop the hill ; a combination of a mainly grassy ascent and a rocky zig-zag descent offering a few overtaking opportunities for the slightly reckless. The race then returned down a steep road – a testing section where runners offset discomfort against speed, usually resulting in sore feet!

• Jez/Jed/Joe (delete as appropriate) Brown was offered no real competition and romped home well ahead of the field.
• Simon Edwards (3rd overall)
• Andy Pritchard (1st V40)
• Steve Toogood (1st V50) and Paul Stinton all finished in the top ten.
•  Hayley Evans seemed to shrug off the hard multi-terrain race from the previous evening and came home first lady to great applause

Hot showers, tea, cake and prizes followed. The buoyant mood continued in a local pub afterwards; yet another reason for trying out this still rather niche sport!