Glorious, late summer sunshine greeted the 24 runners who took part in the second running of the Four Fans race. The race features a reasonable degree of route choice with Ben Moon, MDC - the eventual winner, taking advantage of his local knowledge by following a rather unusual line straight from the start with the remainder of the field opting to follow the well-trodden paths towards Fan Frynych.

From CP1, many runners favoured the alternative Beacons Way, instead of following the Sarn Helen road, in the belief that this involved less climb and easier going underfoot. Puffing Billy, a local fell running sage, begged to differ and along with several of his Mynydd Du club mates took the Sarn Helen option.

The descent from the Fan Nedd trig point (CP2) across steep and tussocky terrain evidently posed challenges for one or two runners (as well as the sweeper), although not for the two race leaders, Ben Moon and Stewart Bellamy (Mercia) who powered up the next ascent and maintained a sizeable lead all the way to the finish.

There was keen rivalry between the two local fell running clubs, MDC and Mynydd Du with MDC taking the mens' race with Mynydd Du dominating the ladies' race. I was reliably informed by Mynydd Du's club captain that if he had been racing, as opposed to marshalling at CP2, the outcome of the mens' race would have been very different!

For the record, the overall winner of the race was Ben Moon (MDC), with the main category winners being Stewart Bellamy (Mercia) – M40, Andy Creber (Chesptow) – M50, Naomi Law (Mynydd Du)- 1st lady, Sasha Habgood (Mynydd Du) – 2nd lady and Sammi Toop (Mynydd Du) – 3rd lady.

The Race Organiser is indebted to the fantastic assistance offered by the marshals: Gareth Jones, Richard Johnson, Paul and Joc Dodd, and Rob Brown as well as Louise for her help at race registration.

A large number of high quality photos of the race have been posted on Facebook (South Wales Summer and Winter Hill Series and other Fell races page) which is also a valuable source of information on local fell races.