It's unusual to find a mountain marathon in North Wales, as apparently it can be hard to gain the necessary permissions. So we were rather looking forward to this year's RAB, starting and finishing in Bethesda and heading into the heart of the Carneddau. Even the ominous weather forecast didn't put us off too much.
The format of the event is time limited, with 6 hours on Saturday, 5 on Sunday (an extra hour per day for the Elite class), to pick up as many points as possible. Controls scored anything between 5 and 50 points, with most of the big ones being a long way away; points are deducted for being late. The master maps displayed in the event centre contained rather too many out-of-bounds areas for my liking, too often this leads to limited route choice.
The strong Friday night winds in the campsite (school football pitch) didn't bode well, and the next morning it was raining for good measure and views of the hills were non-existent. We were raring to go!
A quick glance at the map as we crossed the start line and marked up the control list gave a number of options, but the one that stood out headed up onto the high tops for some high scoring controls, with various options available near the mid camp depending on how well we were going.
Heading south east towards the lower slopes of Carnedd Llywelyn we were soon faced with our first big decision, whether or not to take on a 350m climb to the north ridge of Carnedd Dafydd for an extra 40 points before losing all that height again, or just to contour up the valley to the next control. What the hell, might as well go for it. It turned out less hideous than it looked, and only added around 50 minutes, so probably a good move. From here we lost all the height we had worked so hard for, with the next control down in the valley bottom. A group of people were looking too hight and by the wrong stream, but we went straight there by following the right stream throughout. As we left, one of them spotted us and made for the checkpoint – one person then stood by it and whistled loudly and waved to her partner on the other side of the valley, so giving the location away to everyone within a mile or two!
We now followed the main ridge northwards, with detours off each side to collect controls, and as we had plenty of time spare managed to add in an extra dog-leg for 20 more points near the end. Finished in 5 hours 50 minutes, timing it well (despite both forgetting to note exactly what time we started!) with 10 minutes to spare, not enough to have added any extra controls, so we were pleased. 255 points, 39th out of 300 overnight, though that fell to 44th after they'd adjusted other teams' points due to two missing controls.
The weather had gradually improved all day, with rain turning to showers before stopping, and cloud gradually lifting to give a fine sunny evening. The overnight camp was excellent, in fields at the edge of the open fells above Abergwyngregyn – lots of space, so easy to find a pitch, and plenty of soft vegetation to make for a relatively comfortable sleep.
The next day we were greeted by continuing sun, and were soon off. Again, one route suggested itself immediately – unfortunately this was pretty similar to Saturday's route, visiting many of the same controls and following the same ridge. As it turned out, probably due to the improved weather, it all seemed very different.
A steep slog up the hill at least had the benefit of getting us onto the tops as soon as possible. After revisiting two of the last controls from the day before, we dropped over a col to another of Saturday's sites, but from here we contoured round the side of the ridge rather than going over the top. This leg was potentially confusing in mist, luckily it was clear, and as we approached we saw the usual group of people clustered round the control, showing everyone else where it was (for once I was pleased!). Another short climb back to the ridge was followed by some more contouring for a 40-pointer. We were wondering whether to go straight on or right after this, but everyone else headed left, so I checked the map and found an extra easy control hidden over the fold – so we duly followed them leftwards.
We were now thinking of options for the finish. An extra 15-pointer involved 150m ascent so we ruled that out, but there were 3 5-point controls near the end, I reckoned we'd probably get them all with 10 minutes to spare. Carmen didn't believe me, and was right, we got one of them and sprinted in with just 7 minutes left.
210 points, 42nd on the day, so pretty consistent, and pulling us up to 41st overall out of 300. Very pleasing, given that we've done very little preparation this year and I had a knee op in January.
Alan K was the other club representative, running solo. After a disappointing Saturday he pulled the stops out on Sunday (scoring the same points as the day before) to finish 134th.
An excellent weekend, in an interesting and unusual area. Next, an appointment with the OMM…
