Roy Austin reports:
Two MACs, Roy Austin and Chris Rouse ventured to North Wales to take on the last ever Man vs Mountain by Rate Race events.
In true Rat Race style, this was everything except easy. 22 miles and 5,816 feet of climbing. This legendary mountain adventure started at sea level in Canaerfon Castle which must be one of the most iconic starts of a race ever.
The weather gods promised us rain and cloudy conditions, only to be met by the hottest day of summer so far and pure sunshine (not fun for what lay ahead).
The course weaved its way all the way to the summit of Snowdon which felt never ending clocking roughly half marathon distance at this stage and then down the other side which to my surprise seemed even more difficult than the assent due to the technical terrain and masses of people on the mountain (as well as another event also racing to the top).
With the finish line at Llanberis just about insight, we had some extra climbs and miles to clock up and was sent up what felt like another mountain for the infamous Vertical Kilometre. We then entered the old slate quarries of Dinorwic, for an array of obstacles, including a kayak stage, ‘walk-the-plank’ and a water slide into Lake Padarn and then onwards for one last stretch to cross the finish line.
1st male finisher was George Appleby in 04:01, first female finisher was Catherine Williams in 04:41. Roy Austin finished in 320thin a time of 06:55 and Chris Rouse in 608th in a time of 08:02 out of 898 finishers (121 DNFs). Full results: https://results.opentracking.co.uk/event/mvsm2023
