UKH

To my shame I had forgotten it was 'The Ben Race' weekend. But luckily I happened to be in town anyway.

Always inspiring to go along and see these guys and gals doing their thing.and it's the first time I've seen the start.

Met 2 superstars yesterday ,which made my day. Well I think they are;

Finlay Wild (winner) :- what a fine ,humble chap he is.surprisingly tall

And,

Rob Jebb ( second overall):- .first to the summit ,led most of the way) .what an athlete.nice guy. I didn't realise the Brownlee brothers (Olympics) had been fell runners.

Well done to any of who were competing yesterday.

Impressed.Again.

In reply to andymac:

Thats 4 Ben wins in a row for Finlay and yes he is a very humble chap.

In reply to andymac:
Brilliant race, as always.
Well done Fin.
I was surprised at the gap between Fin & the 2 leaders as they ran past me on their way down, I wondered if it might not be his win this year.

In reply to luckyjim:

Sorry to be pedantic but it's actually 5 in a row now for Fin. He just owns that race.

In reply to andymac:

Of course 5 in a row... even more impressive!

In reply to NMN:
I was in the park ,and was surprised to see Finlay Wild appearing first,maybe 50 yards in front of Rob Jebb.

Finlay caught him just before the road .or on the road.cant remember which.

Remember other guys ( Iain RUK being one ) saying that the road can be a horrible last mile.

In reply to andymac:
Was impressed with the lad who finished 4th;

Andrew Barrington .think he is from Oban .first Ben race

He is one to watch for the future.

He's at Uni in London ,and I asked him where on earth he trains to run up mountains in London.

"Primrose Hill" he informed me with a smirk..

I must visit and conquer this daunting North London mountain some day.Any of you been up ?

In reply to andymac:

The Brownlees still do the occasional fell race, usually one of Dave Woodhead's races from above Haworth, but they may do others. Ian Holmes used to beat them until he got in to his mid forties.

In reply to Bob:

Ian Holmes was noticeable by his absence yesterday .

Heard he's more into organising races now.?

Guys a legend

In reply to Bob:

I they have to be careful obviously.. I think I heard somewhere Adidas aren't overly keen on them fell racing.

They do come across as top guys, I've done a few of Daves races and they are often there, very personable and in the pub after the race too.

Ian's been struggling the past few years with a knee issue I think. One of the all time greats.

In reply to Bob:


Did Ian Holmes win the Langdale Horseshoe Race once then do Trilogy in the afternoon? Respect.

In reply to Rick Graham:

I think it was Ian Ferguson and Colin Moses. Might not have been a free ascent and there might have been a pub interlude. Allegedly

In reply to andymac:

Has the course changed since Kenny Stuart set the record in 1984? He ran 5 mins faster than the winner usually runs over the last few years.

In reply to mountain.martin:

Bits but I don't think by much.. the scree sections have changed.

Often in those days sheep densities were higher so grass was much shorter, its why a lot of the classic snowdonia records don't get touched..

There is talk to totally change the route, prevent short cuts, even use a different start location due to traffic/parking which will be sad.

Kenny's snowdon race record is now untouchable as the course there is a lot slower than it was..

Also routes like the peris horseshoe short cuts are banned now so the route is a few minutes slower for those reasons.

In reply to andymac:
Race programme had a page acknowledging Scottish National Heritage for their help in finding an agreed route on the grassy section.

Not sure what the reason ,or alteration in route were.

Sad ,also ,that a tradition like the Ben Race has to start jumping through hoops.for why?

Good clean fun .

In reply to andymac:

It has got eroded.. and it gets worse in the race.. but if its just one day a year it should be OK.. the problem is made worse by runners and walkers using it outside of the race…

That's the main argument for banning it in the race..

In reply to andymac:

The one time I went to primrose hill I threw up on the pavement, and that didn't happen on Ben Nevis, ergo Primrose is harder 'smirk'