The morning was clear and fine, with a touch of breeze. The gazebo were up, the cavalcade of MG cars and Rolls Royce arrived, along with the bouncy castle, woodcutters and the tea and cakes team. The Rowen Carnival was in full flow.

At 2pm, 57 competitors lined up, and “Uncle Chris the children's entertainer” sounded the hooter. Off the runners went, out through the car park and on to the road through the village, before 300m later, turning rights and the start of the ascent, first on tarmac up to the youth hostel, before levelling out a bit up along the old roman road to Cae Coch, and then after climbing the stile, up the grassy bank and then the rocks to Tal y Fan summit. The runners then benefited from the recent sunny weather, as the usually boggy bit was dry, allowing for quick runs across the moors to the Penmaenmawr stone circle.

Along the North Wales coastal path for a stretch before another right turn, and an uphill section back towards Rowen youth hostel, (except for those who failed to turn left over the wall and did a detour back to Cae Coch before realising their navigational error), and it was then downhill all the way to the finish back at the Carnival. Rob Grantham, Jez Brown and Tim Budd had a close run race at the front of the field, closely followed by Hugh O'Donnell and Simon Edwards.

The cooler weather, and gentle breeze allowed for some quick runs, with three age records being broken – Rob Grantham (Pensby) won the race and broke the V40 record by over a minute, Derek Weaver (Eryri) took 42 seconds off the V60 record, and Sarah Ridgway (Run Snowdonia) took a magnificent 8 minutes off the FV40 record to win the Ladies race.

A big thanks to all our marshals and helpers, and to the rain for staying away until after we had packed up.

Helen and Doug Blair       Race Organisers The alternative Tal Y Fan report