A MOUNTAIN race claimed two victims on Cader Idris, with one woman being airlifted to hospital.

On Saturday 19 May, whilst providing support for the annual Ras y Gader fell race, Aberdyfi Search and Rescue Team (ASART) volunteers were faced with two seperate but simultaneous incidents on the prominent south Snowdonia peak.

At the top of the zig-zags on the Pony Path, at a junction known as ‘the 560’, a runner suffered a bad leg sprain, quite close to the position of a Team vehicle monitoring the race. The man found walking difficult but was not in great pain when resting.

In the meantime, a runner suffered more serious lower leg injuries near the Pen y Gader summit.

The woman was attended to by mountain rescue volunteers and race marshalls, and given her injuries a helicopter evacuation was requested.

With the local Coast Guard helicopter already deployed elsewhere, R187 was dispatched from St. Athan in South Wales.

The woman was airlifted to Bronglais Hospital for further assessment and treatment.

Once the summit incident was resolved, volunteers made their way downhill, and the runner at 560 was given a lift down the mountain in a ASART vehicle.

After a long and hot day, everyone was safely off the mountain by 7pm.

See this Thursday’s north editions of the Cambrian News for more on this year’s Ras y Gader