Snowdon Race is added to Skyrunner® World Series
When a relatively young Stephen Edwards took on the organiser’s mantle of one of the biggest and most historic mountain races in the UK two years ago, the weight of expectation weighed heavy on his shoulders as he headed up the Snowdon Race...
Snowdon 2010 - the start
Stephen had grown-up in the village of Llanberis and watched as a child as Kenny Stuart romped up and down the 1085m of Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa in Welsh) in a little over an hour. Kenny’s record time from 1985 of 62:29 still stands to this day.
One goal that Edwards had in his mind to take the Snowdon Race back to its former years of International stardom, when some of the world’s best mountain runners visited it slopes – turning the atmosphere of Llanberis into a continental one for the race weekend, typically the last weekend in July.
Three years on and the ‘international’ is being put firmly back into the Snowdon Race, as in 2011 it will be a trial race on the prestigious global mountain racing series the Skyrunner World Series.
Event release
The ISF is pleased to welcome a new race onto the Skyrunner® World Series 2011 calendar. The International Snowdon Race on July 23 in Llanberis, Wales will replace The Ben Nevis Race as a Skyrunner® World Series Trial offering national and international competitors the chance to gain valuable ranking points.
Certified by the ISF as a “Skyrunning Race”, Snowdon is 16 km long with 1025m elevation gain from Lake Padarn (60m), at 1,085m it’s the highest summit in Wales and England.
Crib y Ddysgl from Snowdon summit
Free entry is granted to the top ten SWS ranked athletes and free accommodation is offered to the top three ranked men and women.
This “new” race is actually 36 years old with a history of international runners from more than ten different countries participating in a field of around 500+.
The records stand at:
Men – 1h02’29” – K Stuart (1985)
Women – 1h12’48” – C Greenwood (1993)
Summit men – 39’47” – R Bryson (1985)
The legend that is Robin Bryson
Entry opens on May 1st at www.snowdonrace.co.uk or contact [email protected] for elite entries.
Skyrunner World Series®: Open circuit to individual skyrunners and commercial teams based on the sum of the best 3 World Series’ results and one World Series Trial.
Ranking points breakdown: 100-88-78-72-68-66-6O4-62-60-58-56-54-52-50-48-46-44-42-40.
The ranking points in the final race will be increased by 20% for all World Series competitors.
Final Prizes: € 10,000
Same information is within the ENTRY category regarding ‘entry’ details for the main open/ international race and Skyrunner World Series® – There will not be 2 different race, all will run together at 2pm on 23 July 2011 at Llanberis
Reactions so far
Jason Kehoe Mar 10, 11:16 AM
Well done Stephen! To replace Ben Nevis is no mean achievement. It’s going to be some event this year!
Matt what part did you play in this if any?