"I have concluded that the fastest sustained descent rate ever recorded in any mountain race is 1.365m/s, achieved by Keith Anderson in the 1990 Pen-y-Fan Race, when he descended the 580 vertical meters (in 2,450 meters horizontally) from the summit of Pen-y-Fan to the finish at Cwm Llwch in 7:05. Just to show that this wasn’t a fluke, he did the same descent just 5 seconds slower in 1992. No one else has come anywhere close to this descent rate in any race in which descent times are recorded, but, of course, faster descents may have been achieved but not recorded at other races."

Anthony goes on to suggest Pen y Fan has the perfect gradient for a fast descent. However anyone who has done the race will know this is divided into a hellish steep first section, then a gentler section across the boggy bit, then a gradient in between, on fairly smooth grass. For me the decider is the ability to get down the upper steep bit fast - the gradient here is too steep for a running action and so technique is everything; many very good runners are reduced to a tentative totter.  Keith Anderson was apparently the ultime descender, and it must have been an almost unique ability to tackle this first section that puts his two descent times more than half a minute faster than anyone else. The next fastest was Colin Donelly; in 1990 he was 36 seconds ahead of Anderson at the summit, but must have been gutted to finish 2 seconds behind with a descent of 7:43.

For the ladies, the only recorded descent under 10 minutes was Tricia Calder, who did 9:15 while setting the 38:15 record in 1990 - it must have been a good year.

and embedded a panel for it into the home page of this site. I expect a turnout of at least 5000 after this sophisticated marketing campaign.

Please all "like" it a lot, then go for a run in the hills...

Maybe one year I’ll be able to run the race…

The full series is:

• the Welsh Athletics Mountain Running Championships
• the WFRA South Wales Summer Series

Entering is easy… just use the “ENTER” page to add one or both races to your cart, then proceed to checkout. Payment is via PayPal, but you do not have to have a PayPal account – you can just pay with a card if you want.  You will then receive a confirmation email, and an order reference.

Bring this to registration on the day to collect your race number.

When I get results from Mark I'll put them on the web site. However I'm away with work all week, so it might be next weekend.

So, in summary, a good turnout over 100 entries; weather not half so bad as it could have been, though screaming wind round the horseshoe; James Waldie from Cornwall won (and took the series prize), Ben Thingy from Dark Peak was 2nd, Ed Gamble from from Cheshire was 3rd.

Helen Fines smashed 3 mins off the ladies record.

I came 5th, Mynydd Du got the team prize, and everyone had a lovely time!

Click here for photos from Corn Du and the finish. Unfortunately we didn't get a full photo of James Waldie's total wipe-out in the finishing straight, as he tried to overtake Daniel Hooper (256), but it will stay with me. This shot was taken about 0.1 seconds before the crash with James visible in extreme right, about to eat the turf.

And here's another great set of photos taken by Gerry Ashton above the stile.

Roll on Fan y Big!   I'm feeling lardy and unfit, and drank far too many bottles of Breconshire Brewery's finest ales yesterday, but we'll see what we can do.