The weatherman got the low temperature, the strong winds and the rain more or less correct – we expect those at the Tour – but he forgot to mention the mist that made navigation rather tricky and some faces rather red when their owners arrived back rather late.

Mark Palmer’s radical route to the first summit of Craig y Fan Ddu gained him a good lead over chasers Matt Stott and Pete Ryder, but they began to hunt him down on the return journey. But it wasn’t until they were in sight of the finish that Matt finally drew level and outsprinted Mark in a dramatic finish, with Pete just behind in third. Then a gap of four minutes to Ben Gibbison, and five minutes after came first M40 Rich Johnson who had finally escaped the close attentions of rival Matthew Lawson.

Sasha Habgood led the women by a comfortable 15 minutes with Joc Dodd and Karen Elvers in second and third. Race Organiser Andy Blackmore was fulsome in his praise for checkpoint marshals Del Thornley and Paul Dodd whose lonely sojourns on Cribyn and Fan y Big in such cold, wet and windy conditions were so appreciated by the runners, who were also indebted to sweeper Rob Brown, entry/finish maestro Jess Taylor and timekeeper John Chidlow.
Dick Finch