20 year-old Bristol Uni undergrad Duncan Birtwhistle stopped off at the ancient Skirrid Inn on the Monmouthshire-Herefordshire border on the way back home to Yorkshire for the Christmas vacation.
The first running of this race to the summit of the Holy Mountain and back attracted 85 other runners, only one of whom, Andy Brown (of Lancashire’s Clayton-le-Moors of all places), got to the summit before Duncan. But the Harrogate Harrier’s dynamic descending got him to the finish line 100 seconds clear.
Only 27 seconds separated the first three women in what race organiser Andy Creber described as a thrilling sprint finish. Chepstow’s form lady Niki Morgan beat Jean, another member of Clayton-le-Moor’s Brown family, to first place, with MDC’s Katey Roby just behind.
Jean Brown, Alice Bedwell, Gavin Fisher, Kevin Hagley and Neil Grant took overall age category prizes, while the novel ‘fastest from summit to finish’ trophies went to Duncan Birtwhistle, Richard Johnson, Kevin Hagley, Neil Grant, Katey Roby, Jean Brown and Alice Bedwell.