Photo by Ken Price - on the cover of 1992 June/July issue of "Up and Running" magazine by Dave Woodhead. Kindly sent to me by Calvin Ferguson, Don Ashton’s grandson, who promises to race at Pen y Fan in 2019 (but fears he may not match his time!).

Note the snow on the slopes, as the Pen y Fan Race was then held in March.

This is what we had, i.e. the original results sheet, with Don as a Senior M and Roger Bell winning 1st V50:

And this is what Calvin was able to send me, from the Fellrunner, with Don correctly identified as 1st V50.

Calvin says Don was born on 3rd December 1938, so he would’ve been 53 on race day in 1992, which tallies with the Fellrunner version. So we are happy to correct the online results, and Don’s win can be seen here:

https://www.breconfans.org.uk/Results?race=PEN+Y+FAN&year=1992&sex=M&club=ALL&cat=MV50

Sorry Roger Bell, whoever and wherever you are!

And looking into this reminded me just what an incredible race that must have been!  Not only Keith Anderson setting the phenomenal men’s record, and Claire Crofts equalling the ladies’ record, but a star-studded field with a truly inspiring number of runners finishing in times rarely matched in the last ten years. As the present organiser, I’m wondering how we might attract this level of talent back to the race?  In previous years, I thought having the “bounty” record-breaker prize might help, but that obviously didn’t work. Ideas welcome!!

PS Don’s grandson promises to race this year. And if he has his grandfather’s genes he might just make an impression.

I hobbled round my second race since breaking the knee, and just clinched the V40 prize in about 1:25.

Emma Bayliss won the ladies race, and Mynydd Du won the male and female team prizes.

More photos will come later from Ali Tye. Now to process the results…

We hope Gerry Ashton makes a speedy recovery after his bad tumble on the descent, and thanks to Emily Rose for helping him off the hill.

"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.

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!

On Wednesday evening I made massive amounts of flapjacks, I think about 70, so perhaps one more batch needed. Good Housekeeping recipe, augmented with lemon juice + zest + raisins for extra yumminess.

A couple more entries in (after the closing date but no problem) plus several people contacting us through the site asking what kit required etc.

Great to hear that Mark Palmer is racing. He won the race 3 years in a row 2006-8, then took a couple of years off, so it will be interesting to see whether he can reclaim the crown. Certainly Mark's tumultuous descending will make it hard for Stewart Bellamy to retain his position as fastest from summit to finish. We'll try to give a prize for this, and fastest to the summit too, if we can work out the stats in time.

Unfortunately we have heard that last year's winner Martin Shaw cannot race this year: he said:

I just had a month off running after a very nasty fall (I know, hard to believe) in which I broke several ribs. Think I'm about better now and was thinking of trying a run this evening to get going again - the Fans Race flier has motivated me! Wish I could be there at the w/e and of course I'd love to be running - really enjoyed last years races. I rate them both very highly! I'm sure you'll have a great turn out and I'll be looking out for the results. Look forward to being back on the race scene again in the future.

Now I must get on with printing out entry forms, race maps, etc etc etc

Every good blog entry needs a photo, so here's me winning Pen Y Fan in 2004!