Lake Vyrnwy half is a very picturesque, friendly and well organised half marathon. It is quite easy to get to from Herefordshire, only taking us an hour and a half and once you are there, all I had to do was warm up and I was ready to go!
The race starts on a lane in the village of Llansantffriad, then the first mile is a gradual uphill to the dam. Once you cross the dam, the next 11 miles are clockwise around lake Vyrnwy on a relatively flat winding road, which suited me as you never got bored, which can sometimes happen on long straight sections. The road wasn’t closed but I only encountered about 3 cars on the whole course. Then the last mile drops down into the village again for the finish. There was a fantastic atmosphere at the finish with hundreds of people cheering and a speaker calling out runners’ names as you crossed the line. Everyone got a medal and a t-shirt, which was a nice memento. There were 1500 runners, so the field was big enough to always be running with someone of a similar pace, but not too big so you have to weave in and out of people. I think it was a fantastic race with great pb potential.
I ran it in 1hour 27min and came 6th female overall winning £40 of prize money… which was a nice surprise! So if you’re looking for a nice, scenic half marathon, lake Vyrnwy is one to do!
