A field of 84 runners turned up at Abergavenny Leisure Centre after a few years break from the Sugar Loaf fell race. A cloudy start to the day soon turned into patches of blue sky as the runners headed across the sports field and up the road on to the Deri. The start of the climb saw a few of the leader’s head the wrong way in the ferns, making Martin Shaw work harder for his race win. With a nice ridge run after the Deri then the sharp climb on the final ascent, Tom Gibbs (MDC) arrived at the trig first in 36min. He was shortly followed by Martin Shaw (Mynydd Du) then Hugh Aggleton (MDC). Martin now had a race on his hands due to his navigational error at the start of the run, he ran an excellent descent to re-claim his first place in a time of 53.03. Second place went to Tom in 53.57 and third to Hugh in 54.11. Neil Lewis (Mynydd Du) who has also been achieving some good results recently, finished in 4th place overall, first V40 in 56.23.

The ladies race was also exciting, with the first 2 beating the previous course record. Helen Marshal (Aberystwyth AC) had a strong run to the top and arrived at the trig in 15th place, 41min. She was closely followed to the summit by Jenny Hemming (Eryri) 42min. Jenny however had the edge on the descent and won with an impressive new course record of 60.10. Helen was 2nd with a time of 60.37. Joanne Thatcher (Aberystwyth AC) was first V40 in a time of 64.06 and third overall lady.

Thanks to all the Marshals and helpers, see you all next year.
Emma Bayliss