Snowdonia Marathon 2010

Races are often over-subscribed and money doesn't seem to be a problem for many people. It's a shame that you have to enter many events months and months in advance eg London and Brighton are usually sell outs soon after they open. Applicants need to know whether they've been successful so that they can book accom, travel, time off, etc.. and have to enter before they've even started training.

Only in an ideal world would we be able to enter most races when we'd finished the training and on the last month's taper. There are some races out there but Snowdonia isn't one of them because it's a classic and a great achievement when completed.

PJL - isn't 2,000 - 1300 equal to 700 not 800? My support crew were Alan (my cousin) and Erika, whom I believe you run with?

hi folks,

only just had time to catch up with all the posts, 

chrissi/HW - i'm gutted for ya, turn the negative to a positive, and think how much you'll enjoy crossing that line next year

well done on everyone on the superb times, most people can only dream of them on a flat mara, let alone one of the toughest in the calender.

Well what a great weekend, snod never fails to disappoint. but the race is only half the story, its the people that organise/support and run it that makes it stand out from the crowed. Not a great race for me just didn't seem to be firing on all guns from the start, then reacted bad to caffeine gels i was taking so had to stop. i haven't seen the S4C footage yet but hear their is a clip of me "spaced out" pointing at random objects.  at 15m my legs were starting to feel very tired, so by 20m eased back and enjoyed the last few miles 3:20:17 was me final time. I don't think time wise their is much difference between the new and old route, but standard of runner was a lot higher this year.  I also got it long, but that was definitely garmin issues, I notice FF like me your 4m split was one of your fastest and it was one of the biggest climbs of the whole race, so i think they had a little moment their.

Good to chat JB after the race, and the evening drinkies with everyone was superb, I think the rendition of 'we are the champions' summed up the spirit of weekend to a tee. I eventually stumbled into my poorly tent, that somehow survived gail force winds and a muppet breaking the poles.

I'm not doing snod next year (always aim for alternate years), HL i'll see you in capo in 2weeks, t rex hopefully catch up at  Gloucester Marathon, and AB & NQ at the four villages everyone else snod 2012 if not sooner.

Its been great fun as always.

Hi ct

Nice to meet you - I really admire your approach to marathon races - hope to see you there in 2012 (if not beforehand - I'm contemplating doing a BL event again - I've realised that if that I want to go sub 3h @ Snowdonia, which I do after Saturday, I need to get out of my comfort zone a LOT more!)

 This is me and as can be clearly be seen I'm barely running.

 Mr Ben

After walking round Paris in the cold and wet the week before the race i was feeling like I was getting a touch of flu in the days leading up to the day of the race. Actually on the day of the race I felt fine which was a mighty relief. Today I feel like $**& with flu.

Another lucky one : I absolutely hate having sticky hands from the carbo gels. At 24 miles I took my last gel and then bent down to wash my hands in a puddle and felt a pull in my hamstring. Fortunately it wasn't a show stopper.

 Luck played it's part on me getting round.

I'll hopefully join you in the pub after the race next year........what am I talking about I'm not doing it.

Loving the race reports on here and apologies for not posting on here but I have been keeping an eye on you all!!

That weather was something else

I did Snowdon in 2008 and loved it then and it's been my favourite ever since. Came back this year and was 16 mins faster. Yay!

Here's me enjoying myself  FUN

Wow - what a day!

That run was a lot harder than I ever thought - my first (and not last) marathon and I managed to do it in 4hr 27mins - so very happy I swore to myself on the day - never again......

Great orgnanisation, atmosphere, marshalling and scenery.

Thanks everyone - I will miss this thread

John Bach wrote (see)

PJL - Iorweth - one of the few to run every Snowdonia - I saw him on S4C a few years back showing off all his coasters and said to my wife "I'm going to do that race one day" - "yeah right" I'm sure she said (as I was probably 2 stone overweight for a 5`6" chap at the time). I've never actually met IR despite him having a shop in Colwyn Bay (where I worked) and living in Glan Conwy (where I sued to live)

I know Iorweth well, he's been struggling with a hip injury of late so it was fantastic to see him finish in good shape.And did you notice his comment on the question of would he be back next year?

"If I'm alive" was  his reply. This from a man who's father rcently passed away at 105 years old!

Great reports.  It seems many achieved any goals set despite the conditions, whilst a number of us have lived to fight another day.

I can't help noticing that quite a few of you are using chip times ...

<<ducks>>

Hahah T-rex ...of course im using my chip time its faster ........not by much but thats the time it took me from the start line to the finish line  Im not claiming the 13th place although i was faster than the 13th place girl ....im happy with my 14th place as on the gun she beat me

I get the feeling this is a debatable point

Ha I'm sticking with chip time to!!!

NQ2 new you would want to do it again what a great race

arch stanton I'm doing conwy half

hmmm, chip vs gun, a few friends have been caught out by this one, i think is a rule that needs some tweaking, but i'm not sure how? i'd be annoyed if runners who are significantly slower than me but potential age group/gender group winners are in front of me at the start line.  but its also not right that the fastest person doesn't win. however unless they are going head to head how do you know who was faster?

cheers JB, the borders is not for everyone, its taken a few years for me to find the right approach to them.  These days i use most club races (not all) as training runs and run them at LT pace, marathons are always my target at the end of the day.  Your right though you do need to hurt occasionally in shorter race's to reach your goals which i reckon your well capable of doing and more.

stret yep you've got pleasure my company for that one

No shows?

nicola q - we have debated it at great length in times gone by!  Wretched chips - what's wrong with a man with a watch, a pen, and a clipboard in a polythene bag? You've just got to be alert, that's all.

around a 1/3 who enter don't turn up - wow

Well then I should have got a t-shirt for all the family and a set of 4 slate coasters for my coffee table.

as - alas no - I'd have liked to have done the Conwy 1/2M (Chris Yorke was trying to persuade me to do it after I finished ahead of him at Llanddoged), but I have used up my race quota for this year (just the 4 this year). Next on my race calendar is the Nick Beer which I would like to do again. Also there is the resurrected Llandudno 10