British Fell Relays 2025
Dinas Mawddwy, Gwynedd SY20 9LX
Leg 1 – Alys (written by Donna)
I was gutted, but I couldn’t run with my injury I’d got in the race the previous weekend, so it was a frantic few hours trying to sort out a replacement for me. As it happens, Alys, my daughter, had turned 16 in September so could run my leg, but I disregarded this as one of my crazy, out of this world ideas immediately. As the morning went on and the list of MDC women who I hadn’t asked got shorter, Alys saw my panic and guilt that I was letting the team down rising and she
actually volunteered herself for the leg. With no training and the only running done on a football pitch she knew it would be challenging!
Alys was definitely nervous especially in the warm up pen just before the start but she got on with it. We cheered her on after the initial crazy sprint into the first ascent. As I looked through Jonny’s binoculars about 50 mins later, it was a relief when I saw her coming down the last descent. She had a great finish and as she collapsed on the ground she uttered the words “I’m never doing that again”. Through gasps of breaths she then stated “I had to hold onto tufts of grass on all fours and if they’d come free I would’ve fallen back down it was so steep”. With over 500m elevation over 4.3km it had really pushed her! The fell relays were Sat 18th October and Alys was unable to walk properly, especially down the stairs, until Thursday 23rd October! I even had to send a note in for her PE lesson suggesting she may be moving stiffly and stretching would be more appropriate than netball!
But what a legend!
Leg 2 – Briony & Sarah
We cheered Alys in as she raced towards us, then as soon as she tagged us, we were off!
Thankfully we had about 1km on flat-ish ground to start. Then it was a long, steep climb (we were on all fours at some points!) up to the fence line and along to the high point of Maen Ddu 674m. The views were amazing and we loved doing a huge loop along the ridge above the event, although there were a lot of bogs to look out for so we couldn’t look at the view too often.
We both ended up quite muddy- running into quite a deep bog near checkpoint 1 (Sarah) and falling over in the mud along the top (Briony). But we managed to pass a few teams, avoid any other hazards (there was a drop into a mine working to look out for) and we both LOVED the descent. It was brilliant running side by side towards the finish with the crowd cheering us on.
We loved it!
– Briony and Sarah
Leg 3 – Clare and Katie
A brilliant build up to our leg watching Alys the Brave charge straight up and swiftly return to send Briony & Sarah on their way. I passed the time eating delicious homemade cookies that Clare must have whipped up in her spare 30 seconds of free time, half watching for runners on the skyline and soaking in the wonderful atmosphere of the fell relays. I received sage advice from Alice the Wise for my leg, which in essence, was not to interfere with running partner (and navigation queen) Clare.
Clare & I attempted a vague warm up before we spotted Briony’s shorts, with Sarah in tow, flying down the finish line. Off we went, through a tunnel (?) and then straight up. Maps handed to us at the tree. Feeling rather pleased with myself as I folded the map and confidently planned the first checkpoint route….until Clare, having already scanned the whole course, calmly announced “Not much route choice on this one.” I nodded, too out of breath to speak, realising
that I had a lot to learn!
You will be glad to know that I heeded Alice the Wise’s advice and followed faithfully in Clare’s wake, watching as she expertly and effortlessly guided us to each checkpoint in turn. My job was to dib. So dib I did, before desperately trying to catch her up again. Beautiful, varied running. Up, down, bog, rock, grassy paths. Biting wind up high and a delicious descent with wide open views. Lovely. Lots of huffing and puffing. Back through the tunnel to hand over to
Alice the Wise. What a way to spend a Saturday. Grass routes sport at its best.
Thanks MDC, for your company on the day and the rest of the membership for covering our entry. Next year anyone?
-Clare & Katie
Leg 4 – Jonny
Off the back of the rest of the teams amazing efforts, the pressure was on to bring it home for leg 4. After a smooth hand over from Matt and Josh who had stormed around the nav leg, I made the most of the brief flat section as after that I knew it was all about the climb. As the gradient increased, I went from running to walking, to hands on legs and then, after turning directly uphill for the second half of the climb up to CP1, to a full crawl. At CP1 there was a brief respite from the climbing, at least it would have been a respite if my calves hadn’t started cramping up, and then it was up, up again to the top of Maen Du (more crawling) . Through the CP at the top, a quick dunk in a bog, then a combination of running, sliding and falling got me back down the hill, but not before executing what I would describe as a rather elegant shoulder roll directly in front of the bemused marshalls at the last corner.
A dash for the finish was made all the easier by the shouts and screams of the MDC team!
-Jonny
