Snowdonia Marathon

I missed this one - thanks to Daniel for words and pictures

Nine of us travelled to Wales this weekend to spend Saturday marshalling at the 27th Snowdonia Marathon. The weekend has been a fixture in the MNTV calendar since the 1990's and for some of the group putting the clocks back one hour and spending Saturday night at the Hendre Isaf basecamp go hand in hand!

Tim, Karin, Arthur, Mick, Pip, Hazel and Adrian manned the Bryn Gwynant (8 miles) and Llyn Dinas (10.5 miles) feedstations between them and handed out drinks, sponges and words of encouragement to the passing runners. Thanks for all your efforts guys! Successful staging of the race relies on a host of volunteers and you did a great job.

Daniel and Patrick completed the pact they made last year and both ran the race this time, clocking respectable times and battling through some foul weather on the higher ground. Their hopes of reviving at the finish with mugs of sweet tea were dashed by a power failure at the local sub-station that plunged the Community Centre into darkness!

We all met up back at the basecamp from 6pm and after hot showers were soon tucking into a hearty supper of spaghetti Bolognese, garlic bread and pineapple-upside-down cake with custard. Meanwhile the drying room worked overtime drying our cagoules, overtrousers, boots/trainers and assorted clothing. With all the exertions of the day we were glad of the extra hour in bed.

The weather cleared overnight and we spent sunday morning at Bodnant Gardens, using our 50-hour and/or membership cards to get free entry. The gardens have recently featured in the BBC Two series "A Garden in Snowdonia" and we enjoyed the beautiful autumn colours and saw the changes made by the recent £3m improvements.