Another race that all week I was weather watching to see if it would be favourable or not out west, well the forecast changed every day I looked so I really didn’t know what we were getting until the day, which was wet and enjoyable fun to run in, mud, mud glorious mud.

My brother and I set off early to travel along the M4 to arrive with an hour to spare to register which was nice to get signed in and grab a coffee before the race briefing, when I arrived at the registration table my details couldn’t be found anywhere ohhh no I thought no race for me, but after providing the team with my email confirmation on the phone they issued me with a rouge bib no 99 so I could still run after all phew, otherwise it was a long walk home for my brother because I was the driver haha as if I’d do that.

So we gathered in the race briefing tent to be met by Elvis, yes you read that right, ELVIS was singing in the briefing tent wow, not THE Elvis obviously but a tribute, which was a nice light hearted way to get a race underway.

I purposely didn’t check out the route or the elevation before the race, I didn’t want to make the same mistake as Coed-Y-Brenin by knowing when the hills would hit us, so this would be a total surprise, which wasn’t long into the race, in fact it was about 2 miles in with a climb for ½ mile or so, a nice introduction, but to be fair this was the biggest hill on the course.

The rain was relentless, even with the best kit in the world, you were getting wet, which of course brought the mud, puddles, streams, rivers oh and did I say mud? Which just added to the fun.

At mile 2 ½ there was a farm track with a right hand turn that a few of us almost missed, this section could have done with a directional arrow, it did however have a red and white marker tape tied to a telegraph pole but it was some way up the track and if you didn’t look for it, you might have carried on and got lost, but thankfully we were a bright lot and alert with it being so close to race start.

The pathways quickly turned into streams, creating even more mud!! Love the Mud!! Despite the rain and mud the marshals were very chipper, enthusiastic and very wet, there was a band crammed under a military tent blasting out some tunes, absolutely brilliant, this really made me chuckle.

There was an area where an orange smoke bomb was set off creating a wall of smoke with someone on the other side in costume, again a nice touch to break the race up and take your mind off it, at one point one of the marshals was dressed up in Snorkel, life jacket and flippers haha he seemed to be enjoying it too much.

Before I knew it I had covered 12 miles through some horrendous conditions and oh yeah MUD, the time just flew by I was having such a blast, well that was until the last mile, that was all uphill, but nobody seemed to care that much because they knew the finish line was in sight.

And all wrapped up in a great event was the fact that it was to raise money for a few charities, it was noted that the total raised will be in excess of £15,000 excellent effort – well done

Pros:

-       Well organised

-       Great Venue

-       Well-marked route (Mostly)

-       Well stocked aid stations

-       Good price

-       Volunteers #awesome

-       Registration staff brilliant and friendly

-       Dare I say it again – MUD, glorious MUD

-       Raising more than £15k for charity

Cons:

-       Tarmac, I know there was only a small amount but for a Trail runner its too much

-       Charge for the toilets of 20p each time, we appreciate it was council run toilets and not a reflection on the event but still on race days people go a few times because of fluid intake

-       Carpark charge, I don’t have an issue with this if I know in advance to be prepared with change, I don’t remember reading anything about this in the email information – apologies if it is

I have to say though that this has been my most enjoyable race this year! With time just flying by, I just loved splashing around in the MUD, I felt like I was 6 years old again and yes I did get told off by my Wife this time instead of by Mam for getting my clothes dirty haha, this made it even more authentic and added to the memories – well done

I Remember before the race asking the organiser to provide sunshine, they ignored my demands and I’m so glad they did, did I mention that I loved the mud haha

My final word must go to those long suffering supporters, spectators and volunteers that waited around for hours in some pretty horrible weather, I can only imagine how rubbish it must have felt at times so a massive high five for you guys #youramazing