Tarren Hendre 14

First fell Race of the year and excited to try out the New Inov-8  x talon 190's on the fells of meirionydd. Rough day with horizontal rain and gale winds had the organisers call the route short with the peak of Tarren Hendre being cut off due to the wind and lack of marshalls to stand on the top, the latter probably the real reason.

Arrived with Felipe and Simon, one international athlete and the other new to the hills. We signed up to the news of the course change. Got changed and warmed up for 20 minutes, arriving back 5min before the race start ready and warm for a uphill blast.

Amazing how everyone just appear, from 20 runners it shot up to 65 by 12.00pm and some top runners in the mix.

Steep climb off the fire road it climbed steep up a single track which quickly spread the field. I was positioned 4th and being seriously held up so jumped to 3rd over some brambles and chased down Eryri in 2nd.
Caught up to 2nd and hit another fire road which would slowly rise making it a fast and painfull climb following the first vertical single track. Stuck to Eryri heels and Felipe in the distance on his own. We reached the last of the rise and hit the downhill, hoping to just hold on to 3rd i set a tempo. With a gd winter of training it appears my pace has increased as I caught 2nd and past, quickly making a distance as we continued on the fire road, then from nowhere we turned down what looked like a path, knee deep in mud. Somehow kept a gd tempo with the route changing conditions, offering stone, mud, trees and awsome single track downhill. Kept the pace strong until the final meters and finished in 39m 50. 2min down on Winner Felipe and 30sec on 3rd place. Great result with more to follow if I can sort out my racing calender for the year.