What a day!
Working as a paid ML on an adventure race.
I was teamed up with another ML on a safety checkpoint West of Beddgelert forest. The duty should have lasted for 7hrs, but instead went on for 10, and then we had to split company and walk the course in either direction, clearing it of tags / markers once all runners had come through our position.
A long day spent looking after the runners coming through. No major emergencies, although two situations arose which are worth mentioning.
1) A lone adult walker (not part of the race) arrived at our CP. He had started the day with his dad who gave up on the walk early due to its strenuousness. The adult son then continued the walk but got lost without a sufficient map and ended up finding our race markers. He thought this was his route so followed them until he arrived at our CP, by which point he was Km's away from his intended route. With some discussion and a plan in place I escorted the man to the nearest identifiable feature that he could use to get home, and ensured he was happy with his plan.
2) on completion of the route clearance, I was high up on the Nantlle ridge in thick mist when two race runners came towards me; they should have been going in the same direction as me! In the mist they had become disorientated and turned around thinking they were still on course. I spoke to the next nearest CP via radio who sent a marshal in our direction. When we met with the marshal I handed the runners over to him and continued my journey off the mountain.
Fantastic fun which I will be signing up for next year.
Area :
Moelwynion
The Moelwynion (a Welsh plural, sometimes anglicised to Moelwyns) are a group of mountains in central Snowdonia. They extend from the north-east of Porthmadog to Moel Siabod, the highest of the group. The name derives from the names of the two largest mountains in the group, Moelwyn Mawr (great white hill) and Moelwyn Bach (little white hill).
