This, followed by rain, made some parts of the course very slippery and fun. Some morning emails from the Denbigh and Cheshire area asking if the race was still going ahead due to snowy roads suggested a low turnout but as registration opened a steady 47 runners signed up to take on the Conwy Hills.

The race kicked off at 1pm with a mix of both new and familiar faces and a notably strong turnout from Black Combe Runners. The male race saw a close battle between the top 4 runners with Matthew Fortes (Eryri) taking the lead on the last gentle climb and heading for a win with a time of 46:29, closely followed by James Bowden (Hunters Bog Trotters) in 46:47. Completing the podium positions was Josh Hartley (Black Combe Runners) finishing in a time of 47:48, one second ahead of Tristan Evans (Merrionydd RC) who was leading the race coming off the last summit until he hurt himself and lost his lead on the last slippery descent, to finish fourth overall.

The ladies race wasn’t quite so close as Lizzie Brown (Black Combe Runners) put in an impressive performance and raced really strongly to finish first lady and fifth overall, with a time of 48:49 – smashing the course record by 7 minutes 46 seconds. In second place one of our local ladies, Becki Law (Eryri), finished in 64:06 and to wrap up the top three we had Jenny Williamson (Eryri) with a time of 69:02.

After the race, most runners headed to Race HQ at The Old Whitehouse, where we saw competitors take on an even bigger battle to get close to the fire and warm up with a cup of tasty soup where the presentation followed. A big thanks to all the marshals for standing for hours in the wind and rain, The Old Whitehouse for letting all the stinky, muddy runners in (including myself) and of course all the runners for coming and making the event possible.