Paddy Buckley Round
A Round in Snowdonia
Chris Near (Eryri Harriers) / 22.05.2008
It’s on the ListI’m a list writer, so every New year when we retreat to the NW Highlands for a couple of weeks I write a list of things I really want to do next year - and every year the Paddy Buckley Round is on the top of the list but every year there seems to be something else that crops up. I assured myself 2008 was going to be different and the PB Round would not be top of next years list!
Planning for the PB I vowed to keep it simple, but things tend to snowball as you realise that to do a good time you’re going to need help, and lots of it. Luckily I live in Snowdonia and know the hills, and nearly all the route, very well having run all sections many times beforehand. I made efforts after work to get out and find the absolute best route up and off certain hills. Otherwise, in terms of specific training I did very little different to normal. Long runs, long bike rides, long adventure races and most recently the Highlander Mountain Marathon (Torridon hills rather good for extra leg strength!).
In terms of setting a schedule I admit to being slightly baffled by the Formula Icon in Excel and when things got too much I e-mailed Steve Birkinshaw to ask if I’d be able to have a copy of his 18 hour schedule from last year’s attempt. (The record is 18 hours 10 mins set by Mark Hartell.) Steve supplied me with a copy of his predicted and actual times starting in Llanberis. Paddy Buckley himself sent the schedules for Anne Stentiford and Helene Diamantides which were the 2nd and 3rd fastest recorded times (19.19 and 20.08 respectively).
I wanted to set off with this 18 hour schedule in mind and adjust times after the first leg (starting in Capel Curig the first leg is roughly 1/3 of the entire route so I’d have a pretty good idea how things were going). Start times would be influenced by the darkness so I opted for a 4am start which gave me 1 hour to get up Siabod and down the other side to the hit the tricky little hills just as it got light. This would mean that at the other end of the day, if I stayed on schedule for a 10pm finish (record time), I’d probably make the final descent in the dark off Pen Llthrig yr Wrach.
The Supporting Act
Lining up support for the attempt was relatively easy as my parents were visiting for the weekend and were happy to do the road support throughout the day, (they are super organised) . My good friend Tim Higginbottom was to pace me on the first and last legs (and provide excellent back-up support in between). Seb Phillips (brother-in-law) would accompany me over the Snowdon range and then James Mcqueen would take me over the Glyderau. So, the only leg that I was without pacer was Leg 2 but I was lucky to get good hill support on this and other sections which meant that I didn’t have to carry too much water or food for the leg. It was quite amazing how many friends/work colleagues offered to come out and support on the day. Also, in terms of verifying the route I recorded the route on a GPS set carried throughout the run (recording accurate times/splits for each peak).See All Event Posts
