Once again the strength of Eryri's travelling clan was on show this weekend as only 1 of the entered 4 teams made it to the big fell running event showdown of the year - The UKA British Fell Relay championships.
This year the event was hosted by Cumberland fell runners up in the North West Lakes, which meant a long-ish journey for the ever present Eryri male sextet. The team was made up of new man Martin Cliffe, the Doc Sam Smith, Chris Near and the regular and reliable travelling trio of Rich Roberts, Iain Ridgeway and Math Roberts.
Rich gave the fella's an amazing start by coming home in 4th and only seconds behind 1st place Gareth Raven of Sale Harriers. Martin Cliffe and Iain Ridgway ran well on the paired second leg to bring the club home in 14th, by now the weather had come in and most of the route was thick fog. Luckily nav king Chris Near ran superbly with Sam Smith to bring the club back in 8th, the last leg was ran by Math Roberts who unbeknown to him was in 3rd place overall for most of the run (as the first 3 of Mercia, Bingley and Pudsey had all been disqualified). Unfortunately Math was passed on the final steep climb by Calder Valley which left the club finishing a mere 9 seconds off the bronze medal spot.
Still a good day out and once again the first Celtic club home!
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