The Pumlumon Challenge: 27th September 2008 by Clare Griffin - Goyt Valley Striders
I decided to do this race on a whim: I go mountain biking around the forest trails of mid-Wales quite often but have never explored the area on foot.
I arrived at the Nant yr Arian forestry centre on a beautiful late September morning in time for breakfast and a look over the large map provided for each competitor. As the start time arrived there were still only around forty of us milling around; I think it was the smallest field of any race I’ve ever entered! I suppose this is because it is sandwiched in between three other important RunFurther races. It’s a shame though as this is a great event.
After a quick ‘welcome and good luck’ briefing from the race organiser we were off. The first few miles were wide forest trails, giving way to moorland. After labouring up a steep climb the route took us over miles of undulating sheep-cropped turf with fantastic views down towards Nant y moch reservoir. Soon however we dropped down into a valley full of those Welsh speciality closely-packed tussocks with chasms in between to swallow the unwary runner. This slowed me down somewhat as I have all the natural agility of a stack of wet cardboard boxes.
I teamed up with Karen at this point and we chatted as we climbed Drosgol, with our calf muscles singing an accompaniment. After a few more miles of rough ground we rejoined the trail network and also met up with Karen’s friend Simon. Lulled into a false sense of security by the paths we took a wrong turn. As these things usually do, it involved half a mile of climbing. By a huge stroke of luck we were saved by my friend Marianne who lives locally and was out with her motorcycle trail ride tour group: she saw our mistake and came after us to turn us back (although unfortunately we’d put on a spurt when we saw her coming, to try to look like proper fellrunners!).
Shame-faced, we trotted past some walkers for a second time, muttering something about trying alternative routes. A couple more miles, one or two small hills and a sprint finish (sort of!) brought us to the end in six and a half hours, in time for a hot bowl of Cawl and some welsh cakes before heading home. A great little race and definitely one to do again next year.
