Earlier in the day heavy mists threatened the running of this eighth counter in the WFRA South Wales series. Toward midday as visibility improved at lower levels, organiser Glyn Vaughan was minded to shorten the course to avoid the higher points, but by the start of the junior races all had cleared nicely.

The 8km/320m route was cheerfully marshalled by quad bike riders who had also helpfully marked the course with a series of stout white wooden posts. So navigation wasn’t the problem but what was difficult were the one mile out and one mile back stretches of bog that lead to and from the hills on the far horizon. “The wettest ever!” seemed to be the view of old hands of the event, and very few if any runners managed to stay on two feet in the deep sumps of the run in.

The Jones brothers of Aberystwyth, Felipe (first by one second) and Andres, finished over a minute ahead of CRB’s Peter Ryder, while in the women’s race TROT’s Shan Roberts finished 2 ½ minutes ahead of Amanda Lindsay, with Chepstow’s Niki Morgan a further minute back.

Just one race to go – the Black Mountains on 29 September – in what has been a very interesting and varied South Wales Championships.

Dick Finch         31.08.12