Snow drifting to waist height and the near impossibility of laying a clear route - let alone following it - made this shortened first running of this South Wales Winter League race a great leveller with less than two minutes covering the first 14 runners.

Full body cover was prescribed, and those hardy souls who chose to carry theirs suffered painful nicks on their legs when ploughing through the ice-coated drifts in the highest regions.

Stressed organiser Rich Johnson’s plans to arrive early enough to do a thorough job of flagging the white wastes of the Abertillery mountain were thwarted by his car getting stuck fast in the compacted snow in the steep streets of Six Bells. He did his best in the time available and then joined the race from the back in time to catch and show the main bunch the way!

Chris Atherton in just vest and shorts finally prevailed on the slushy run-in just nine seconds before M50 Max Suff and M40 Peter Sowerby.

Katie Beecher followed up her come-back win atTor-y-Foel by pipping Niki Morgan by less than half a minute, with Anne Auchterlonie taking third.

Steve Littlewood finally won the tight battle of the 60 year-olds over close rivals Les Williams and Steve Herington.

Before distributing the prizes, Organiser Johnson rightly paid due homage to the intrepid marshals for their reassuring and encouraging work in the frozen wastes.

Dick Finch