Dragon’s Back Race 2023
Intro
The Dragon’s Back Race is a classic route crossing Wales from north to south, over all the big Welsh mountains. It starts at Conwy Castle on the north coast and is a six-day stage race. Everyone finishes at the same camp at the end of each day and then starts out from there the next morning, until they reach the finish at Cardiff Castle on the south coast.
Anne had been supposed to do the original incarnation of the race in 1992, partnering Helene Diamantides. But in the lead up to the race Anne had had to have her achilles operated on so Martin Stone stepped in to partner Helene and the two of them won the event outright. If Anne had not been injured perhaps it would have been an all-female win — Anne would have by no means been the weaker of the pair.
In 2017 I had half considered entering the race but missed the entry date and turned to the Spine Race instead. But I’ve done the Spine now, so my fancy turned to the Dragon’s Back.
2022 to 2023
2022 was an amazing running year for me. After completing the Spine Race in January for the second time (in 14th place), I got round the 24hr Charlie Ramsay Round in the summer after four previous attempts. At the age of 56 I may well be the oldest person to have done it. For me that Ramsay Round is up there as one of my two running highlights, alongside my first Spine finish in the incredible snowy conditions of 2018.
2023 had not been so promising. However hard I trained, every measure on Garmin/Strava said that my fitness was plummeting. I tried to build up to a Paddy Buckley Round in June — to complete the big three rounds. I have supported many PBR rounds over the years but never had a go myself. But my recce runs showed that I could not maintain the pace required for long enough. I wasn’t fit enough or strong enough and I abandoned the idea.
In 2022 I had made plans to do the Dragon’s Back Race. I joined the support team that year to earn credits to pay for an entry into the race in 2023. Being in the race support team was a wonderful experience in itself! I was part of the hill team — putting out and bringing in controls amongst other tasks. The team I was with were all amazing mountain folk and it gave an insight into the impressive organisation behind the scenes.
My friend and clubmate Dougie Zinis, fresh from success at the Spine and a superb Wainwrights Round, amongst many other recent ultra-distance achievements, was also entered into this year’s race. It would be good to join Dougie in one of the 8-man tents on the DBR.
Preparations
So after abandoning a PBR attempt I spent the next three months focused on the Dragon’s Back, that would take place in the first week of September. I reccied almost all of the route — with the exception of the early section through Snowdonia (since I know those mountains quite well anyway) and the final stages from Merthyr Tydfil to Cardiff.
It rained on every single one of those recce weekends. A lot!
Two or three weeks before the event I stopped having any caffeine or alcohol — something I do before the big events.
Over the last couple of years my knees have got progressively more painful if I run more than an hour or two. So I sought help and advice from the excellent Charlotte at Back 2 Fitness (highly recommended!) She showed me how to tape them to reduce the pain. That worked perfectly. I also taped my toes where I know that in the past I have got blisters.
Anne volunteered with the support team this year. It will be a wonderful boost to see her at the camp at the end of each day.
With friends looking after our dogs at home we drove to Conwy on Friday 1st Sep. The race doesn’t start until Monday but Anne needs to be there two days earlier to get trained in setting up tents! We found an excellent guest house to stay in, “Rooms by the Castle”. Two Belgian runners, Uzi and Pawel were staying there too. They were great company.
Race Stats & My Results
Day 1: the big mountains
Relatively short mileage but over the biggest mountains in Wales — Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon), Carneddau, Glyders, etc.
The start of the Dragon’s Back is very dramatic — in the courtyard of the atmospheric Conwy Castle, in the dark, with a Welsh male-voice choir belting out stirring music.
We start by running along the battlement walls for some considerable distance. It’s single file with the narrow battlements and low portals (stupidly I banged my head despite being warned). Not being one to push to the front I was quite far back and it took nine minutes more for me to finally leave the battlements and start running than for Dougie near the front. In previous years they had taken your start time only when leaving the castle walls — which is great because it means no stress over the clock as you do that atmospheric start. But this year that wasn’t the case, presumably because of a change of timing software. Hopefully it will be reintroduced in the future.
A slow start is no bad thing though, and nine minutes would be neither here nor there by the end. One of the few benefits of getting older is experience at pacing. I pace myself well at the start of things like this and then move past so many people who have gone out hard, too full of adrenaline. If the pace you are going at is not one that you think you’ll be able to do by the end then you’re going too fast.
I was pretty much exactly halfway in the field (148th out of 298) at the first checkpoint after 38 minutes, and still only in 111th by checkpoint two after 1hr45min. By checkpoint three I was 73rd and by checkpoint four I was 55th.
The race coincided with a heat wave in Wales. All week the temperatures got to about 27C. Even before dawn and late in the evening it was warm. That heat was going to be the big problem for pretty much everyone.
At the support point at Ogden I made an efficient pitstop — eating my custard, drinking lots of water, filling my water bottles, dunking my hat in the water butt, taking some more food from my bag and heading out away from the heat of the valley. It was only now that I moved into the leading 10% of the field — although I had no idea at the time that I was, and no expectation that I would be anywhere near that. By the top of the climb of Tryfan, five hours after the start, I was in 26th.
I passed the cheery Henry Gurney on the way up Tryfan, and the equally cheery Gary Thwaites. Both would be friendly presences all week, along with many other great characters who you end up running with. Gary was very strong — while I would finish ahead of him today, he would overtake me by the end of day 3 and then continue to pull ahead. Kev Hoult and I had narrowly defended our Old County Tops v100 title against Gary and Neil Robinson earlier in the year, although Gary & Neil had cut the gap from an hour the year before to a mere 3 minutes this year.
I skirted around the first of the Glyders — since it wasn’t a checkpoint and I know how rocky it is along there. It wouldn’t actually have been a problem when it’s as dry as this, but I’ve found it awkward when the rocks are wet.
It was when I got down to Pen-y-Pass after 7.5 hours that the heat finally overwhelmed me, and I would only get worse for the next four hours until the finish. There had been no breeze to alleviate the heat wave. At the water point at PyP I dunked my hat, refilled my water bottles, drank one of them straight down and filled it up again. My mistake was not to stay here longer, drinking and refilling until I was thoroughly hydrated and my body core temperature had lowered a bit. Instead I left too swiftly.
On the trek to Crib Goch I could only move slowly. I was fortunate to find a stream where I did stop for a while, drinking my fill before continuing. I had been in 22nd place at PyP but the 9 runners behind me either overtook or caught me up along here.
My heart felt like it was thumping out of my chest from the heat and exertion. The same thing had happened at the Fellsman and Old County Tops too, both times in hot/humid conditions. It feels at the time like my heart rate must be racing but it is actually the opposite — my heart rate has slowed with the heat but my heart is straining, having to pump extra powerfully to maintain the blood flow. I know that I need to ease back and I had a long sit down in the shade at the start of Crib Goch to get things under control. I found it really difficult to eat on the hill in these conditions, as I think most people did too. But while sat down recovering I could take on food.
Crib Goch itself was dry, which made the scramble onto the ridge a lot less scary than my recce — when water was flowing down the rock! This ridge is fun. There were half a dozen mountain rescue crew posted at intervals to help guide runners where to put their feet. The pinnacles section of the ridge had been quite scary on my recce with one very exposed move, but the mountain rescue guy showed me an alternative.
Carnedd Ugain is no longer a checkpoint so I opted to contour below it. That worked well and I was surprised to hear the marshal at the next checkpoint say that I was only the third person so far to take that route.
At the top of Snowdon I still needed more fluid and to ease my level of exertion. Surprisingly there wasn’t too much of a queue at the café at the top, so I bought two bottles of fanta, taking five minutes to drink one in the cool of the café and then carrying the other on with me.
The next climb is Y Lliwedd, but again there is no checkpoint on the top so I opted to contour around it. I don’t think this gained me much time, but I don’t think I lost time either.
I arrived into camp at about 17:30, dripping with sweat. It was great to see Anne in camp. She told me I must be high up in the results since not many full-course runners had come in yet, but I didn’t believe her! I also couldn’t believe that Dougie had only just come in. He was only one place and 8 minutes ahead of me — something that never happens! Dougie had suffered from the heat even worse than me, lying down to sleep on Y Lliwedd.
One poor guy had collapsed at the start of the final descent from the heat and had been unconscious. The next runner pressed his emergency alarm and race support went up to help get him down.
In camp, first thing I did was to cool down in the stream, to bring my core temperature down. Only then could I do other things like eat. But still it took me ages to digest the food. I wasn’t the only one — most people were the same.
A third of the 298 starters had either quit or been timed out after this first day. Anyone who drops out or is timed out can continue through the week if they wish on the ‘Hatchling’ course, doing half-days (for instance running to the halfway point and being bussed from there to the finish, or being bussed to the halfway point and running from there to the day’s finish) but are no longer counters on the full course.
To my amazement I was in 21st place — I really hadn’t believed Anne when she said I was high up.
Getting ‘dragon mail’ was wonderful — seeing messages and knowing people were watching my dot was a real mental boost to keep me going.
I am organised in camp — I have to be because otherwise the time just rushes past. I had a checklist of things to do: eat, wash, charge watch and phone, hang kit to dry, talc feet, have recovery drink, retape knees, clean teeth, replenish food in rucksack for next day, replenish dropbag with food for the support point.
I didn’t sleep very well and had to go to the loo twice in the night after drinking so much to recover from being dehydrated.
Day 2: quieter mountains
Generally a longer day than yesterday, over more remote mountains: Cnicht, Moelwyns, Rhinogs.
Although it was even hotter today, this was the only day with a stiff breeze. So much so that my hat kept blowing off. But the breeze did alleviate the high temperatures and today I didn’t feel so much heat exhaustion.
Runners can start at any time from 6am. Rather than queue for breakfast, kit check and the start with all the people wanting to get the earliest possible start, I tended to start after the rush, at about 6:20 each day.
The first half of the day went pretty smoothly, a slight nav error on the way to Moelwyn Bach aside. After being 160th to start I overtook people all the way through to be 14th to the support point some 6.5 hours later.
To mitigate the heat, the organisers had encouraged everyone to take half an hour at the support point, to cool their bodies down and take on water. They would subtract your time at the support point from your finish time, up to 30 minutes, to encourage you to do this — but I didn’t realise this. In the following days I realised and took pretty much the maximum 30 minutes each time, but today I left the support point after just 17 minutes.
I took a direct route, that I had reccied in advance, up to the first Rhinog. It cut out a big corner, though it probably doesn’t gain a huge amount of time. Alyssa Clark the Californian runner saw me take it and asked if she could follow — fine by me. She was good company and very strong, pulling easily away once we neared the top.
On the way down from that first Rhinog, the leader and eventual winner Hugh Chatfield came flying past. He was going at a very impressive rate down the tricky descent.
Then on the way up the second Rhinog, the exhaustion and heat got me. I had to sit down in the shade and concentrate on eating some food. I didn’t mind losing places as others came past — it was more important to make sure I got to the end. My tiredness and slow pace continued for the next couple of hours until we turned to descend from the final peak Diffwys. Once we hit the long track down — 10km from the final checkpoint on descending forest track and road — I started motoring again. I didn’t gain any places amongst those still on the full course, but felt good.
In most years, day 2 would take runners quite a lot longer than day 1, being significantly longer. But this year day 1 had been so oppressively hot that for me both days were similar in time.
19th for the day would be my best day and moved me up to 16th overall. Over the next few days I would drop back down the results. My strengths on both the first days had been on the steep climbs and descents (not surprising really with my discipline being fell running!) and there would be less of that on the flatter sections to come.
My camp priority all week was first to dunk in cold water to bring my core temperature down (at the end of day 2 is the one time in the race that there are showers — wonderful!), then to eat and do all the maintenance and prep for the next day.
Day 3: a route of two halves
Busy mountain (Cadair Idris) and quieter hills first, then rolling trails for the second half
The third day starts with the six mile Cadair Idris ridge, the final big mountain in North Wales before we cross the centre of Wales and head to the Brecon Beacons in the south. It’s a lovely, broad, high-level route and on this beautiful sunny day there were lots of walkers out. Of course I (and most of the runners) would have preferred cooling rain to the heat which we knew would become a problem once we left this high ground.
I passed Dougie on the way up to Cadair Idris, hoping he would be OK in the heat today.
On the far end of the ridge I deliberately took a lower route that is slightly easier running. I think it gained me a grand total of about a minute.
On the way into the water point, the first two women, Robyn Cassidy and Victoria Thompson came flying past. Like Hugh yesterday it was very impressive the rate they were shifting at.
Down in the valley the heat was getting oppressive. At the water point I drank lots, filled up my bottles again, dunked my hat in the water and was off again.
I gained a minute on another shortcut on Tarren Hendre — completely irrelevant in the overall timings, but still nice to do. But it was not long later, after six hours of exertion, that the heat got to me today. We were in lower hills and I had run out of water — or at least I thought I had run out, I actually had more left than my dopey brain realised. Still, there was nowhere after Tarren Hendre to fill up until we started the descent into the forest. I remembered a good big stream here, but when I got there to my horror it was completely dried up!
Trudging up Tarren y Gesail was a slow march for me. I was questioning my life choices at that point. I stopped at the top for a break and to get some food down. My descent through the forest was considerably slower than it had been when I had reccied it.
After the descent we go through the town of Machynlleth, a veritable oasis. In the Spar I bought an ice-cream, some frozen yoghurt and a drink. At the support point shortly afterwards I took the full allowed 30 minutes and a bit more. I finished eating the stuff I’d bought and more food from my dropbag and tried to cool down. Being sprayed with cold water on the way into the support point was heavenly!
After the support point comes a lot of rolling trail, but the initial climb went on far longer than I remembered! Every time I left a support point during the week I was on a go-slow. I couldn’t get any speed up, mostly because I was still digesting the food I had crammed down — being unable to eat much while moving because of the heat meant it had to be done when stationary. But that eating meant that an hour or so after the support point, once I could move well again, I had enough energy to get into a good pace.
Unfortunately Dougie’s race would be over at this support point. He came in an hour after I left and tried to get going from it but it was futile. He had been affected by the heat even worse than me.
At the end of the day there is one final, smallish climb to Pumlumon Fawr. On the way the supplied GPX route takes you on a horrible trail on one side of the river, but it is far better to cross and go on a better path on the other. That gained me about 5 minutes.
Finally into the finish camp at a little before 8pm. Day 3 was my longest day at 13 hours. I had slipped a few places in the overall results, now that we are out of the big mountains and after feeling badly affected by the heat today.
With a relatively late finish, time seemed short to do everything needed in camp — wash/eat/prepare/etc. But on the plus side, the camp staff had dammed a stream to form a lovely plunge pool to cool down in. And equally welcoming, ice-lollies were handed out at the finish line… what a great idea!
It was sad to see Dougie go home.
Day 4: low-level running
Through the remote Elan Valley (Rhayader) and rarely-walked hills
I knew that today was the fast day. We don’t go above 640m (2100’) and have lots of firm forest trails and quiet roads to run on. But also some lovely grassy hills and some wild country around the hill of Drygarn Fawr. I was really worried about the heat today, having to push on at pace and with no very high ground to get some respite. But today was the one slightly overcast day, so that was brilliant! I even felt half a dozen raindrops at one point. I had been praying for rain.
I made a relatively early start for me (6:16 with the first starts at 6:00) to maximise the cool morning before the sun came up. There were still well over 100 runners starting before me.
I did another of my planned alternate routes on the way to the 4th checkpoint, again gaining all of about a minute.
It was good to see Phil Wilkinson, my team leader when I was in the volunteer team for the race last year, out on the course yet again — he keeps popping up both in camp and out on the course.
With the slightly overcast day I didn’t feel as bad from the heat as on previous days. Again I took the maximum allowed time at the support point to recover. I’m able to eat better on the hill today, and that would continue for the rest of the week, so that was a real boost. Shotbloks, homemade date & apple slices, Supernatural fuel pouches and Wiggle/Clif/Torq gels all went down well. A small tub of custard or rice-pudding in my dropbag at the support point was heavenly.
On the road at the end I ran alongside Andy Richardson. We got a pretty good pace going on the 10km of road to the finish. I’d met Andy several years ago on an event when he was training for the Spine and I’d already done it. We both did the Spine that year and he smashed it. He and I were rivals for the v55 title here but I managed to stay ahead of him through the week.
Today was a good day for me. I regained a couple of places overall. I find the trudge to Drygarn Fawr takes forever and grinds me down — I was moving slowly across there — but apart from that it was good.
I had developed a big blister on the top of one of my toes. Strangely it didn’t hurt or inconvenience me, but it looked impressive. I went to the medic tent to get their advice on whether to leave it alone or do anything with it. The medics are so busy — there was a queueing system so I put my number down and waited an hour or so. In the meantime I fixed a couple of other hotspots: a sore place on my back where my pack rubbed, so I put some tape on it, and a sore shoulder that I thought was rubbing but was actually sunburn. I put some tape on that too to relieve the pain from my pack.
When Ally the medic saw the blister she said it was full of blood and needed to be drained now, where it could be dressed to prevent getting infected. The blister was also going under my nail and about to force it off. So she skillfully cut into the blister, drained and dressed it.
It was in that evening’s camp that I had my worst experience of the week… one of my water flasks was stolen. I honestly didn’t think something like that would happen on an event like this.
In order to conserve time and effort I combine trips in camp. Before settling down for the night I needed to fill my water flasks, use my toothbrush and hang wet clothes in the drying tent. So I carried all those things from my tent to the communal area. I put down my three softflasks and washbag in a neat pile outside the drying tent while I went in to hang my clothes up. When I came out there were only two softflasks there.
When I reported it to Kate, course ops controller, I did not make a big deal of the ‘stolen’ part. I realise that people may believe I’d probably just dropped it. But I am very organised and methodical in camp. I know that I put three flasks down and there were two when I came back. With the washbag there too, no-one would have accidentally picked a flask up. It certainly did not show up in lost-property by the end of the event.
I guess someone had either lost their own flask, or just decided they wanted extra water-carrying capacity for the next day, and decided to take mine. It’s unbelievable, not just the theft itself, but because the person who has had their flask stolen (me) probably needs it to be safe in the hills. I tried not to become angry because that would not have helped.
Fortunately, thanks to Anne, I managed to borrow a spare flask so that I could pass kit check in the morning and more importantly be able to carry enough water on the day.
Day 5: Brecon Beacons
Minor roads first and then lots of hills, including the Brecon Beacons
The theft now out of my mind, I prepared for what is, for many, the biggest day. Lulled by flatter routes yesterday and for the first part of today, the steep climbs and descents that come swiftly one after the other on the second part of this day can be make-or-break. Get through this day, though, and there is only one more, shorter, day left.
I made an early start (6:17) but was still in the later half of those still on the full course.
There is a hill to start with, on which on my recce I had struggled to find the right way through the quarries but I’d learnt from that. That’s followed by three hours of mostly road, that I managed to get a decent pace going on. The top runners, forced to start later, came past me on the ascent of the first proper mountain, Fan Brycheiniog, the highest point in the Black Mountains and an impressive, isolated mountain that I remember from previous visits.
The mountains come fast on the second half of this day, after Fan Brycheiniog: Fan Gyhirych, Fan Nedd, Fan Llia, Fan Fawr, then after a water stop at the Storey Arms (where I bought a burger from a burger van — perfect!) it’s the Brecon Beacons (Bannau Brycheiniog): Pen y Fan, Cribyn, Fan y Big followed by a remote cairn in the east and a very steep descent and seemingly never-ending woodland path to the finish.
Because of the continued heat, the organisers had allowed 30 minutes rest at two places — your time at both (up to 30 minutes each) would be taken off your total time. Like pretty much everyone I made the most use of that, cooling down, drinking and eating. As before I am slow to start after each one — I took ages to get up Pen y Fan after the second break (my split was 143rd out of 189) — but it pays dividends in the end.
Just like the route profile I had a series of ups and downs today — struggling at times, but feeling like I was flowing easily at others. Once I loosened up, I really enjoyed this section. I was on my own for large sections. The heat had been sapping again but now we were up high so it was tolerable. I felt ecstatic that I was going to make it into camp before dark — neither the descent nor the woodland path at the end would have been much fun by headtorch.
I arrived into the camp at 19:40. One more day to go. It would still be a long day, and there could still be a disaster or injury, but hopefully I would make it to the end.
Day 6: industrial towns to Cardiff
Through Merthyr Tydfil and industrial lands to Cardiff Castle
Much of the final day is fast — trail, cycle path, road. But as was the case with the whole week I am very impressed with how well planned the route is. They could have easily taken us on direct roads but instead there are a lot of interesting little paths on the way, and some hills — like the initial broad one up to old quarries high above Merthyr Tydfil with a lovely long, wild-pony inhabited, gradual grassy run off.
This is only the second year that the Dragon’s Back race has been extended to six days, to finish in Cardiff. Before that it was five days. You can understand why in the past it ended before the built up areas of South Wales, but equally it feels much more complete to reach the south coast, and go castle-to-castle.
The roads on this day were never going to suit me. I found it especially painful descending on tarmac. But I maintained a decent pace.
At one point during the run I realised that my shorts were inside out! Can’t have a finish line photo with me looking more ridiculous than normal! So a quick sort out of my apparel in toilets along the way was necessary.
We got to the water point, which was in a pub carpark, after 7.5 hours. Again we were allowed a 30 minute break here as well as at the earlier support point. The pub was open and many runners were getting drinks and sandwiches. But it was so busy I didn’t feel like stopping. I only stayed a short while and then set off again, and now I felt great! It was less than two hours but I motored from there to the finish, passing about 30 people — admittedly most of them on the hatchling course.
video link of me finishing: https://youtu.be/fyI_I-B7MLs
And so it was I reached Cardiff Castle at 4pm. There were huge crowds lining the finish route and it was a tremendous atmosphere. I could see Anne cheering and I crossed the line… 18th overall, first v55 and with a new v55 record for this 6-day route.
One of the finish line crew told me that they’d had a bet beforehand on who they reckoned was most likely to finish, and he had picked me. He was more confident than I had been!
Anne had booked us into a hotel room for that night — originally I’d thought I would be in the tents for one more night, but that would have been terrible! There was nowhere to wash and it was not the best of camping spots. To have a proper shower was absolutely fantastic. Then back to the presentations to get awarded with a dragon memento before crashing out in an actual bed. Tomorrow will be a long bus trip back to our car at Conwy.
Aftermath
My blistered feet are still sore a couple of weeks later. My feet have swelled up, but nowhere near as bad as on the Spine and they returned to normal size after a week.
But thankfully no injuries. I am still glowing, not just from the sunburn but from the highs of the event. I had far exceeded my expectations.
Now Anne and I are toying with volunteering to help on the Cape Wrath Ultra in 2023 with a view to me doing it in 2024…
Kit
Shoes: Salomon Speedcross 6 on days 1–2, Hoka Mafate Speed 4 on the other days.
I had brought VJ XTRM 2’s in case it was wet, but with the forecast didn’t bother with them and left them in my car.
All three of those pairs are slightly larger than my feet to allow for 2 pairs of socks and for my feet to swell. These days I prefer more room in my shoes!
Run clothes: 2 pairs of compression shorts, and 3 T-shirts; I rotated between them
a fresh pair of injinji socks and a fresh pair of outer socks each day
Food: shotbloks, Supernatural pouches, homemade date & apple slices, occasional gel (Wiggle/Clif/Torq)
custard or rice pudding at support point, plus half a Peperami pizza bun
Water: 3x 500ml soft flasks, usually 2 full at a time and the 3rd spare
Other of note: bonjela for tongue sores, paracetamol (average 1 a day), K-tape for knees and toes, caffeine gum
