A Shortened Day 4

Rob Howard / 06.09.2012

Morning in camp was the usual hustle and bustle in the chilly morning air but there were no views out onto the hills until the early morning mist had burnt off.  The camp at the sheep barn had a good spirit overnight, and later arrivals were cheered in, wrapped up and found tent spaces by their fellow competitors.  After his emergency run to get more supplies the race medic said he’d had a quiet night.

“It seemed the runners had looked after themselves better and were looking after each other better too,” he said, “The camp being enclosed in the barn seemed to bring everyone together a bit more last night.”

The early morning chill had one significant effect on the day’s events.  Steve Birkinshaw and Rob Baker had seemed a bit undecided about whether they were running together or racing each other, and in the end Steve Birkinshaw was packed and ready to go and too cold to wait, so he set off first. “I wasn’t going to set off ahead of Steve,” said Baker, “but it wasn’t a calculated master plan to leave after him either.  Having said that we both thought that it’s a solo event and in the spirit of competition the winner should run it on their own.  I’d wanted to run some on my own as well, so I think we were both happy. ”

Something else that made most runners happy was a shortened route for day 4.  Checkpoints 6 and 7 on the day (the summits of Gorllwyn and Drygarn Fawr) were taken out of the route removing some of the climb and the most difficult terrain on the day.  “It’s a pity,” said Shane Ohly, “but everyone is so beaten up and we do want to get as many of them as we can to the finish, so it’s the practical choice.”  To help define the new route a new checkpoint was put in at a public phone box.

On a day when there was already more road running than any other day, including a 10 mile run into camp along tarmac, this did add more road running however.  Another bonus on the day was that the support point was at half way (rather than the two-thirds distance of yesterday). 

The early part of the day took runners over a series of low hills and a ‘super group’ of around a dozen racers formed to run together.  There was a much stronger, cooler breeze today and it was not quite so hot, but the skies were clear and views were stunning.  The racers could not have had better weather to see Wales at its best, and in the course of 5 days they are seeing more than many visitors do in weeks or years.

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