Hoping to use the event as a platform to get his running back on track, Mitch Griffiths was in western Wales for the 14 mile Rotary Challenge put on by Twyn Rotary Club.
The course was a mixed terrain, sort of out and back route, but with one key difference. Aside from just competing against other runners, you are also racing against a train!! So essentially, as you run through the fields alongside the railway track, a steam train is also going in the same direction, with the same destination. Then, upon reaching Abergynolwyn, it’s then 7 miles back in the other direction back to Twyn.
The train takes 1 hour 47 minutes to complete the journey, so in order to beat the train, the runners need to get through the course in a quicker time than that. And whilst it may sound simple enough, terrain makes it a real challenge, particularly on the way back.
You’re probably also thinking how does a person run faster than a train. With the ones you get on Network Rail these days, that would be impossible of course. But the small old fashioned steam trains like this one don’t move quite so fast. Also, it has to stop a couple of times so they can attach another engine to get it up the hill and refill its water. Then the engine has to be detached afterwards.
Therefore, if you’re on foot and you can keep a decent pace going on very tricky terrain and up steep hills, then you’ve got a chance.
The steam train runs along the same 14 mile route as the runners
After losing his running mojo a bit during lockdown, Mitch has struggled to rekindle his love for it. Doing this race could represent a step in the right direction toward that though.
Getting through the first half of the race quite quickly, Mitch was well ahead of the train by that point. You need to be though as it gets so much harder in the second half.
The first half of the race was straight forward enough but then it got tough
There’s a very steep climb that goes on for the whole of the eighth mile and a bit of the ninth mile which is quite tough going. It also entailed heading along the face of the hillside on a narrow sheep track that was only a foot wide. It was then up and down some slate trails, through a bog, up the side of a waterfall… you get the drift!
Mitch could see other runners slipping and sliding all over the place and when the train went past them at mile 11, many heads dropped and some people started walking. They must have felt that that was it. They’d lost the race against the train.
The runners give their all to try and stay ahead of the train
To his credit though, Mitch didn’t throw the towel in. He kept going and thankfully, the train stopped against whilst they removed an engine. Mitch took his opportunity and got back ahead of the train.
Reaching the finish in 1 hour 45 minutes and 54 seconds, Mitch had made it! He’d beaten the train by just over a minute and he was the penultimate person to do so.
That meant he was 35th quickest out of 437 participants. He’d done what he set to do, which was to beat the train, and that was a cracking achievement and one he’d certainly had to graft for.
Mitch Griffiths did well to beat the train by just over a minute
Sullivan Smith of Cambridge and Coleridge was the quickest man on the day, completing the course in 1:29:27. That put him just ahead of Daniel Floyd of Royal Sutton Coldfield AC who got round in 1:30:49.
With an average pace of 7:41 minutes per mile over the 13.78 mile route, Mitch handled the hills well, wracking up an elevation gain of 773ft.
Mitch has since signed up for the Boscombe 5k Winter Series which consists of four races – one every month from November onwards. He’s hoping that will really give him the kick up the backside he needs to get back into competitive running and rediscover his enthusiasm for it once again.