Absolutely brilliant trail race! 🏃‍♂️⛰️ The 13-mile route was challenging but incredibly rewarding, with Pen y Fan included along the way. The views throughout were absolutely stunning and made every tough climb worth it. The organisers were fantastic and really supportive throughout, which made the whole experience even more enjoyable. A brilliantly organised event, beautiful scenery, and a great atmosphere. Definitely a race I’d recommend to anyone who loves trail running and a bit of adventure! 🙌

First of all, I thoroughly enjoyed this event and would do again, there was one issue, but that really didn’t spoil the enjoyment. This was my second Off The Tarmac (OTT) event this year and the organisers really seem to care about picking great trail routes and runner enjoyment. On this one, I ran parts of Pen y Fan that I hadn’t done previously so whilst I’ve done Pen y Fan a fair few times it was mostly new trail. The scenery is fantastic and there’s plenty to look at. The route is technical but was more than doable for everyone that took part. Definitely a great intoduction if you’ve not done this sort of running before (and there is a 5 mile version if you fancy). The race etc was well organised and the mountain rescue cover the race for extra safety. A bonus is that a photographer is on the course and you get the photos free (a very different and welcome approach compared to the rip offs at a lot of events) The issue that we had was that about the first 30 or so runners ended up going anti-clockwise round the large loop on the course and rest clockwise due to a Marshall sending us the wrong way. Did it spoil it, no, but lucky it was a circular route so no one got lost and in fairness the sweepers made sure we got back to the right point. There were some mitigating issues including a ongoing mountain rescue at the time and I’m very sure OTT will have this sorted for future events. Overall, an event I will do again in the future. 

OK so this was my second year attending this event, I asked for one thing to change from last years event, which the organiser gladly and astonishinley agreed to, that one thing was to turn the temperature down haha last year it was a baking 28deg and swealtering, this year a more modest 14-18degs so thank you .

OK so onto the race, I took a team of 17 to attend, 2 of them completed the 5 miler and the rest the 13 miler.

So we started at the Storey Arms and started with a steep climb right from the off, so for those that didnt have a proper warm up first, this Im sure came as a bit of a shock .

So up Y Gyrn we go to link in to the Graig Cwm Llwch path looking down to the left over Llyn Cwm llych pond, this is where the path started to steepen as we headed for Corn Du (2864ft) where visablity was poor and the wind was howling, so we didnt stay long to catch our breath so headed down and across the rideg to summit Pen-Y-Fan the highest point of the race (2906ft), this is where there was some confusion where the marshals on the top had sent people the wrong way, they sent about 30 people down Jacobs Ladder when they should have gone left and down the sharp fall to the spine of Cefn Cwm Llwch, this is my favourite part of the race, i class myself as a down hill lover and let go here, in fact because of the misshap on the top, I now found myself out infront - i know I couldnt believe it either, however I managed to keep this lead up until the 10 mile point where i stacked it into the dirt hurting my shoulder, knee and hip, thankfully I was OK and could carry on but slower than I wanted to, it really does show that you need to respect these here hills.

So my lead, albeit by technical default was gone  but heyho it happens, I was ready to give up until Diane came up and spured me on to the finish after tackling Jacobs Ladder and pen-y-fan one last time before the down hill to the finish at Storey Arms.

Did I enjoy it? Hell Yeah 

Will I be back next year? Hell Yeah

This is one of my favourites, I may be biased because its in my training backyard but I have always loved it up here, I think this must be my happy place.

A few well dones and Thanks You go to:

Thank You to - Diane Edwards for dragging my sorry arse to the finish after I fell, your a star

Hengoed Harriers for being a great team of supportive nutters

The Marshalls - Shit happens (Psst its your other left)

Jon and Joni of OTT for providing a great race again

and lastly a massive WELL DONE to my 16 yearold son for smashing his first and possibly toughest 13 mile Trail Race - In honour the pic I attach is of my son summitting Pen-Y-Fan for the second time 

This is also a link to my youtube video -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuHm9o-yyZQ&t

We will return!!