ANY race with Eryri in the title is bound to be a challenge, with the mountainous terrain enough to send the shivers down the spine of all normal runners.

But Louise Barker of Aberystwyth Athletic Club is no ordinary runner as she took on the Snowdonia Eryri Ultra Trail 100km race, a race that means going up yr Wyddfa, not once but twice.

A sign of the magnitude of the challenge is that 715 runners started but only 431 completed the course.

Louise completed the 50k race last year and although this was her first 100km race she managed to finish in a time of 26.13.22, and apparently she enjoyed it.

She said: “This race certainly packs a punch with some 6,500m of climb over very technical terrain complete with bogs. This was my first run that involved running through the night from sunset to sunrise, and that was spectacular.

“I set off at 4.45am on Saturday morning, which was probably the worst thing, such an early start, and returned to Llanberis 26 hours 13 minutes later.

“With these kind of  races, though, there is a sense of camaraderie as you traverse the course and everyone is so encouraging. That certainly helps you along and I felt lucky to cross the finish line with only a couple of sore feet to worry about.”

Paul, Lynwen and Edd celebrating with their medals
Paul, Lynwen and Edd celebrating with their medals (Pic supplied)

While maybe not quite in the same league of difficulty, the Eryri Half Marathon still offers quite a challenge especially when run in scorching heat but three Aber AC athletes took it in their stride.

Edd Land finished in a great time of 1.33.50 and 6th overall with 2nd in his age category. Paul Jones was not too far behind in 1.41.24 while Lynwen Huxtable won her age category in a time of 1.58.03.

Paul felt the heat contributed to the difficulty: “A spectacularly beautiful race if you have the time to enjoy the scenery, but the searing heat, especially when trying to conquer the course hills made for a challenging time.

“The organisers also thought it was a good idea to keep the worst hill for right at the end! But a great day out and Aber AC again flying the flag.”

It was also good to see many of Aber AC’s members out supporting the recent Race for Life races on Aberystwyth promenade, a very important annual fundraising event.

If you would like to hear more about Aberystwyth Athletic Club and join in its activities visit aberystwythac.wordpress.com or find the club on Facebook.