Out of The Mist!

Ras Dewi Sant 2021 – Round 1

Out of the Mist, Physical and metaphorically

Now the September 2021 version of the Ras Dewi Sant, might have been a modest affair. But for us it was another milestone and another event up and running.

However some things will always be the same, such as, the weather was yet again another talking point!

It was warm, it was windless, but quite fitting the morning started with heavy mist and poor visibility, but as the day went on the mist raised to uncover the spectacular sights of the St Davids peninsular.

A little bit like what the past 18 months has felt like!

The event itself passed without incident, which is always a bonus and the competitors were all so “nice” like they were just glad to be there and enjoy the run for what it is.

Saying that, Fraser Watson, wasn’t leaving anything for Chance on the 10K. Back in 2019 after what we can best describe as a misunderstanding at the start line! he finished that event in 2nd place. I mean he was that disappointed I have been waiting for him to use his journalistic clout to destroy us!

However it’s good to see he chose the righteous path, “Suck it up and come back to lay the demons to rest” 42 mins on that course is not a bad effort!

Mean while taking first place on the Half Marathon, We had Lieutenant Colonel Chris Fogarty, MBE and soon to be heading off to the Bunker Rooms in The Pentagon in the good old US of A, To commence a new role at the high end of keeping the world safe. Now that is an impressive CV, but one day Chris can look back and think – “I won the RDS Half” and I hope his trophy takes pride and place in his new Pentagon office.

And one day he can stand in a briefing, when times are hard and there is an imminent treat to the safety of the world and he can start by saying, ” This reminds me of the time I had to dig deep to win the Ras Dewi Sant Half”

Whilst Menna Davies saw off the rest of the female competitors to be the first lady home. So well done. And coming from Crymych Menna probably thought the course was flat!

The Marathon ended in an exciting finale, after 26.2 gruelling miles and some leg sapping coastal climbs, It saw the man from Spittal,  Darren Thomas and former North Pembrokeshire boy Chris Murphy, have a sprint finish. The story I have been told is Chris was struggling on the path and Darren slowed down to stay with him, then on the road the opposite happened (Or this could in fact be opposite!) Then as they approached the finish line, Darren said “lets race” and a 50m sprint finish saw DT beat Chris by 2 seconds! after 26.2 miles and 4hrs and it comes down to 2 seconds!!!

But as this was all going on (St Davids/Solva/H,West) girl Sarah Crisp was romping home to take the first lady trophy to go with her previous age grouper award.

But as always a massive thanks to all who rocked up and ran it, it was much appreciated, we hope you enjoyed it. But our final, final thought goes to the last man home on the marathon and therefore the day, on 7hrs was Raymond Hassler. 7hrs for the Marathon is respectful and on a full entry course there will be those pushing 8hrs. But Ray showed that age is no boundary at 70 years old. I won’t do him a disservice by saying I hope I can do that at 70, because right now I can’t even do it!

Ras Dewi Sant – Marathon 25th Sept 2021