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Hay Hotfooters outing to the Begwyns Sun 10 Jan 2010 Due to the lack of a cross country race this weekend and the need for some Hotfooters to get an adrenalin fix, eleven foolhardy, oops I meant hardened Hotfooters decided to run the Magic Roundabout in extreme wintry conditions. I am pleased to say I counted them all out and counted them all back in again. It was an experience which some may wish to forget and some may say was a shocker or that we were all just barking! To provide you with some idea of what we went through at least one fifth of the route was waist deep drift snow. Even though I had stated conditions would be easy going post my run earlier in the week! Sorry.

That said, one magical moment was observing a lone figure on the horizon heading towards us (this was very reminiscent of Omar Sharif, clad in black and riding a magnificent stallion in Laurence of Arabia and appearing our of a heat haze in the desert (or was it a scraggy camel and Peter OToole?)) Whatever, on this occasion, having arrived late, it was simply Ashley clad in grey and struggling in the conditions whilst slowly appearing out of a snowy haze in the distance!

To take our minds off the deep snow we were quite often hit by stinging blizzards (neck scarves and tinted glasses were a must but few were on show!). I am sure everyone at some point (or maybe at two or three points) thought what are we bloody doing up here. A case in point may possible be Ange, having decided she needed a closer inspection of the snow, she duly obliged by disappearing face first into the nearest drift (I missed the dive but the general consensus being 9.5 was a fair mark). Overall the run took the best part of 2hrs 40mins which when you compare to an average time of 55 minutes in normal conditions demonstrates just how poor the weather was. Fortunately for the purpose of boosting morale there was coffee and cake back at the car.

Not wanting to sound too American or cheesy I would like to highlight that todays run was pretty hardcore and all 11 runners should look back with a quiet satisfaction and huge sense of achievement. I would say that for most it was one of the toughest runs completed recently and I have no doubt it took a huge amount of personal effort, strength and determination on the part of everyone. Now we are off the hill I can confess to being quite concerned at times!! As is the norm, six Hotfooters made it back to the pub (the Olde Black Lion, Hay) for a very welcoming Sunday lunch. David was fashionably late, as is also the norm but now catered for in our planning.