Approximately 8pm, Friday 26th June 2015, I entered Carreg Cennen castle and conquered the dragon. For those not in the know, the Dragons Back race is a 300km race, over 5 days, with 16000m of ascent along the spine of Wales. I was one of the lucky ones- out of 300 entries, 140 were deemed to have suitable experience for the race, and 128 made the start line- of those only 65 finished the whole 5 days. It was without a doubt the toughest thing I have ever been a part of and I am proud to have had the opportunity to participate in the event and even prouder that I just about managed to hold it all together enough to make the finish.

As the race goes on it consumes all, the only thing that matters is eating enough to keep moving forward one step at a time. This is the story of my race and forgive me for it being long- it was rather a long way!

Pre-race

0430, the alarm goes off and I snooze it for an extra 15 minutes, burrowing deeper into the duvet knowing full well that this would be the comfiest I would be for about a week. Barely being able to believe the day had finally arrived, I ate breakfast and packed the bags I’d spent most of the day before packing and repacking, into the car. The drive passed by quickly, and soon enough I was at the rugby club at the finish of the race in the Brecon Beacons, along with everyone else who was getting the coach to the start of the race.

The coach was quiet as it wound its way through Wales, taking four hours to travel past what we would spend the next 5 days running. Most people (including me) took the opportunity to get an extra bit of sleep in. Soon enough we were in Conwy and registering for the event, aided by the slick organisation and friendly marshals. With a bit of downtime left before the race briefing at 6, there was time to mingle with the other competitors and a pre-race pint. Talking to some of the other competitors made me feel rather inadequate as a runner and highlighted my comparable inexperience, as they all had a lot more experience than I did (the fact that many of them were a lot older than me didn’t help the feeling of being slightly out of my depth either).

However, I kept reminding myself to take it day by day, and knowing I could do day one due to recently having run the Welsh 3000’s was reassuring. The race briefing was entertaining with Shane, the race organiser, setting out his rules for week, an inspirational talk from Helene Whitaker followed with Shane and Helene both reiterating that they expected about half of us assembled not to finish. The enormity of the challenge finally hit when you look around the room and see so many good, strong runners from all over the world and I started to wonder if I, born and raised in inner London, only discovering the joy of fell running by chance at university was really good enough to finish.

Day 1

Another early start with a big breakfast served by YHA definitely worth the money. Lawrence (who is following the race in its entirety) came to give me a lift down to the start from the YHA although I’m pretty sure it would’ve been quicker to walk down. Being serenaded by a welsh male choir, whilst waiting for the race to start inside the castle was a surreal but fitting start to such an epic race. With the maps for the day given out as we entered the castle there was plenty of time to look at the route for the day. As I know Snowdonia fairly well there was little surprise in the route- a hard day certainly, but I was confident on getting through the day. I expected to be nervous, I expected to feel fear of what was to come but my main overriding feeling of the start was a sense of belonging, a sense of excitement for what was to come and at that point in time there is nowhere I would rather have been.

After talks by Shane and mayor of Conwy, we started precisely at 0700 with a gentle shuffle as everyone filtered through the gateway and out towards the castle walls. The race timing didn’t start until the end of the town walls and the race had special permission to run along the top of the walls at the start, which just added to the sense of belonging to something special. Out of the town and straight onto the first hill of the day, I was sticking to my plan of taking it slow and a lot of people came flying past me but I was content to stay slow, I knew how hard the first day would be, let alone the next four days as well.

Heading towards the Carnedds the cloud was low making the navigation “interesting” but fairly straight forward as I knew the ground. I was starting to overtake people now as they were taking more time getting the navigation right whereas I was using my local knowledge to good effect and soon came up behind another runner, who after talking to for a few minutes we realised we had met each other in January at the Hardmoors 30. His name is Simon and had massively helped me out back in January by helping me through the last 3 miles after setting off way too fast. Cloud stayed down all the way across the Carnedds, and we occasionally had runners join us from all sorts of strange directions as the clag made navigation very tough and unfortunately spoilt the good views across to Tryfan and the Glyders. Soon enough we were descending down to the support point in Ogwen Valley, where our kit bags, Lawrence and David were waiting for us.

Having run with Simon on the Carnedds, we were similar paced at this point and decided to continue running together. On long events I prefer to keep moving as much as possible and eat on the ascents rather than sit down and eat; so after quickly refilling water and grabbing the food, we set off up Tryfan. A steep climb but we set a slow pace and plodded up, reaching the top in what felt like no time. Crossing over to the Glyders I started to feel decidedly funny and realised although I had plenty of food with me I had forgotten to eat it as Tryfan occasionally requires a bit of scrambling. Cursing my carelessness I quickly wolfed down some food and drink and within 15 minutes was starting to feel much better. Low cloud again made visibility poor but knowing the hills paid off, and I led us straight to the summit and then on to the next Glyder. Descending to Pen y Pass we came out slightly lower than the youth hostel to avoid a small lump, this left Lawrence slightly annoyed as he had a good camera shot lined up on the approach that all the other runners used, only for me to approach from a different direction (not for the last time that week).

We’d covered a lot of ground that day but still had the Snowdon Horseshoe to go. Crib Goch was just magnificent to do, with the cloud lifting for us when we were on the top - it really is just an incredible bit of running/scrambling, and perfectly sums up what the Dragon’s Back Race is all about. I sensed Simon was a bit apprehensive having never done Crib Goch but he got across it without any issue. By the end of Crib Goch I felt really good and was a bit faster than Simon, after a brief discussion we both decided it’d be better if we continued at our own pace, I pushed on to the summit and then round to Lliwedd, once again local knowledge meaning I hadn’t looked at my map since the Pen y Pass.

The descent to the camp dragged on a bit but I reached it in 11 hours 15 minutes overall, all the marshals cheer and clap every single runner as they approach and ran down the funnel to dib. Having aimed for a 12 hour day, I was slightly faster than expected due to the lack of navigation required. On reflection, I got carried away, and sped up on the Glyders and Snowdon horseshoe, but then it’s supposed to be fun. Lawrence and David were waiting in the camp when I arrived, but soon left to find their own camp for the night. The marshals take your bags and show you to your tent each night so you always know where to go with the food tent supplying food constantly. I sorted out kit of the next day so I would have nothing to do in the morning- put more food into running bag and resupply bag, got a new t shirt out, had some more food and then crawled into bed, content at making it through the first day feeling quite good, as I was drifting off you hear the cheers and claps as each new runner finishes. 49km and 3800m of ascent down just 251km to go.

Day two

I wake at 0430 as the rest of the camp is full of people sorting kit, getting breakfast etc. Knowing I don’t take long to get ready I stayed in bed and dozed until 0515 before rising and joining the queue for eggs whilst being bitten alive by midges. Egg sandwich and a bowl of beans later and I’m ready to go, not a cloud in the sky, the day promises to be hot, and at about 0620 I was handed the map as I crossed the start line. A quick glance down and its Cnicht and the Moelwyns first, which is the extent of my knowledge of the route and then onto the Rhinogs. On paper it doesn’t look too bad, a bit further but less ascent then day 1, no visibility issues and I wasn’t feeling stiff- how hard could it be?

Between the two Moelwyns I’d fallen into step with another runner, Cathy. As it turned out this was rather lucky as she had recced the Rhinogs and so we made relatively good time heading towards the support point which was in a beautiful Cwn with a huge gap between it and the previous checkpoint. The first bit after getting off the Moelwyns was through pasture and woodland, which although I would’ve got through okay having someone who knew what the junctions looked like made the navigation slightly quicker and was the only time in the week I relied on someone else’s navigation (although I always made a point of double checking the whole time). We opted for the longer path by the side of Trawsfynydd reservoir with views across to the disused nuclear plant, rather than the direct but really rough and horrible section. I’ve no idea which is quicker and I’m not sure there is not much difference and our way is definitely easier on the navigation and legs and psychologically feels better as we were running rather than tramping across rough ground.

Cathy and I somewhere on the Rhinogs ©iancorless.com

After the support point it was the two big Rhinogs which are just really technical making it slow going. My confidence of the morning and first few hills replaced with the realisation that it’s not an easy day and look to just get to the finish without being too tired. Being out in the sun had taken its toll as well, with me drinking 2l of water in the support point alone. Seeing the back of the Rhinogs we got onto a lovely ridge and I was enjoying getting some running in after what felt like a lot of walking. Descent was down through a forest with mandatory route to avoid the road at the bottom, finally reaching the camp to finish the day in 13 hours 15 minutes. A much harder day then expected but 2 down, 3 to go and 197km left.

Day 3

Same routine as the previous days, up at 0515 and usual breakfast for just after 6am start. Felt very sluggish this morning. Mainly due to getting a bit dehydrated the day before but running through 2 days of welsh hills probably had something to do with it as well. 68km today with 45km to the support point in Macchynleth- longest of the week but I knew that getting to the end of today would be a huge step towards completing the event.

I reached the first peak at a similar time as Cathy who I’d spent most of the day before with, but as we got onto the ridge I started to contour round some of the larger lumps rather then head up and over them all as some people were. I was also starting to feel really good and despite the low cloud hampering visibility I was increasing the pace- it felt so good to be running with the ridgeline just inviting you to go fast- I wasn’t pushing it too much as knew I had a long way to go. By the time I reached the first road crossing I’d overtaken most of the people who had started before me, surprising Lawrence who barely had time to set his camera up before I came across the road.

My favourite hill name of the week was next - Terrehendre - a cool name for a rather uninteresting round grassy lump. On the ascent of the next hill I had a really funny turn and needed to sit and eat a whole soreen, starting back uphill I felt better and was even better when heading down through the forest to the support point, running in with John who I met in Conwy but had only seen sporadically as he came zooming past me each day. The forest was tough with the map being incorrect (it was - honest!) but I made it to the support point. My tracker had been changed in the morning but they had forgotten to give me a new one and just given me a battery! I found out later this gave quite a worry to family and friends watching the tracker and didn’t see me start the day.

Quick change of food and refill of water and we were on our way again, I knew John was faster so didn’t even try and keep up with him. My knee and shin were starting to hurt so I slowed down the pace, after all it was only 23km left. It was mostly bridleways along ridges and in remote valleys after the support point, which I unfortunately wasn’t able to run as much as I would’ve liked in an attempt to try and protect my legs, but it was nice scenery and I was able to walk fast. Topping out the final hill, Pymlinmon, with a runner from Japan I stayed with him all the way to camp - getting there after 13hour 40 mins, not bad considering the injuries starting to slow me down. It also goes to show just how hard day 2, is as day 3 is much longer in distance but didn’t take me much longer time wise.

Although I still had 120km or so to go, I had done well over half the ascent for the week which meant the last two days, although not easy, would not have as many hills, meaning a faster pace. Shane’s briefing that night was “one more day until it’s just one more day” which got a laugh from everyone and I went to sleep that night tired but content I was making good progress.

Finish of day 3 and just about still running

Day 4

Now a familiar morning routine, I am up and starting the route at 0620ish. With my knee and shin niggling a bit from the previous day, I should have gone to the medics tent but I’m eager to get underway and I figured it would sort itself out once I got started. First section was cloudy and rolling heathery/tussocky stuff to the first checkpoint, I found the right fences and navved perfectly to the checkpoint. Descending past wind turbines and through forest tracks to the second, my shin started to really hurt rather than stop hurting, taking a few painkiller I carried on (not much else you can do in the circumstances). Rest of the section to the support point is a mix or road and tussocks. Getting closer to the support point and I’m in a really bad way- final descent takes me ages as the downhill aggravates the injuries. At the support point in Elan Valley the medics tape up my shin and knee although he says there is not much he can do about the shin and the taping probably won’t work. The next section is really pleasant running but I was mainly walking with a tiny bit of running where I could.

The rest of the day is on mostly bridleways (although I’m not sure I’d like to try and ride a bike on some of the paths) which means mostly easy navigation with clear weather. Reaching Dragan Fawr (last hill and checkpoint of the day) I was behind most people and on my own, not that I minded too much as I knew I would reach the finish for the day now. The last 10k of the day is all roads although it’s a very pretty road overlooking a reservoir.

The pain had been fairly constant since the support point, the knee was responding to the medics tape and painkillers so wasn’t too bad but the shin pain just got worse and worse. I didn’t quite realise just how much effort I was putting in just to keep moving, as I was solely focussed on the reaching the next checkpoint and keeping the navigation clean. On reaching the finish, I started to tear up, simply due to the relief at just getting to the end of day 4- a prospect which earlier in the day seemed a long way off and many times I doubted if I’d make it.

This was the day that having Lawrence around helped most- as there is a big gap between checkpoints, having extra points to break down the route to aim for helps psychologically, and every time I found myself feeling negative about finishing I could just focus on the next road crossing to where I knew Lawrence would be waiting. I thought then nothing could stop me- 244km done, just 56km to go and not that much ascent left either. I thought surely even if I walk and keep navigation clean then I can do the distance well inside the required time.

Just about still smiling 10km from the end of day 4

Day 5

I wake at my usually 0515 and try to get up but pain shoots up both legs and they refuse to take any weight, I crawl to my kit bag and neck a couple of ibuprofen before gingerly rising to my feet again. Barely being able to stand, my first few steps are very unsteady but I manage to hobble off down to the medics tent to find it closed until 6- they had plenty of other runners to deal with in the meantime and a runner who had been out for 23 hours the day before only arriving in camp at 0530!

Instead of sitting around, I go to grab my usual breakfast of two egg sandwiches and a bowl of beans. I join Carol and Simon for breakfast and try to keep up conversation although I had only negative thoughts in my head- how can I walk 56km if I can barely make it to the start line? As I’m sitting there the first runners start, I could see in their faces the toll the previous four days had taken but in their eyes there was only excitement and a desire to finish. Seeing them start, combined with the painkillers and breakfast gave me renewed energy to at least try and start the day.

In the medics tent the doctor pokes my knee a bit, grimaces and sets about re-taping my knee and rubbing stronger ibuprofen gel onto my left shin/ankle before sending me out to start. Lawrence has already filled my water for me and takes my bags to the waiting van. With no point in waiting any longer I get my rucksack and head to the start tent. Charlie hands me the map and gives the briefing for the day, I barely hear it as all I can think is how far it looks. As I dib my dibber to start the day, I remember my mantra for the week (focus on the next checkpoint) and ‘my heart and my mind will carry my body when my limbs are too weak’. Ian Corless waits at the end of the field to take our photos- in mine – to the horror of Sarah - I look like I’ve aged 20 years.

The previous 4 days have left their mark

I set off at 0645 in the end and refusing to look beyond the next checkpoint I set off walking along the road. By 0930 I’ve made it to checkpoint 3 where Lawrence and the medic team are waiting for me- I’m still not in a good way either mentally or physically. I’ve made good time up to this point despite not running as the easy nature of the terrain meant I could walk quite fast. The tape and pills mean my knee barely hurts but my shin is absolute agony especially on the steep downs. There’s a long road section before a hill over to the support point and I was pretty sure I was in last place and hadn’t seen anyone since the leaders bombed past.

But as I ascended the hill and I could see further in front I came across quite a few runners and even overtook a few! This gave me a wave of positivity- so much so I managed to break into a jog down through the forest and across the dam to the support point, reaching it at 1215, 1 hour 45 before the cut off at 2- all of I sudden I knew then finishing wasn’t just possible but was inevitable if I just kept walking. I sat down at the support point and took shoes and socks off to give them a break whilst my knee was re taped and more gel was applied to my shin. My feet had held up remarkably well for the first four days but were now starting to deteriorate with blisters appearing everywhere, Claire did a sterling job draining and taping them all. By the time I left the support point after 45 minutes and a malt loaf I was in last place by a long way, not that I cared because it was all about finishing.

Ascending Fan Brychiog the weather closed in with wind, heavy rain and low cloud. There wasn’t much of a path but plenty of trods and solid compass work bought me to the high point of the day. With the tape Claire had put on starting to rub I had to stop in the rain to take shoes off and sort it, getting really cold, really quickly I put on all my layers including some new gloves. Setting off again my compass was behaving weirdly, spinning wildly and not giving a consistent north direction, meaning I was in cloud, on mountains I hadn’t been on before without a working compass. Not really knowing what else to do I headed rightwards, abandoning the direct bearing I was on, contouring to what I was pretty sure was the edge of a ridge which I could handrail along and use to navigate. As I started a jog, I was warming up again and was soon taking off layers- as soon as I took my gloves off the compass worked perfectly again. I haven’t worn that pair of gloves and hadn’t realised they have a magnetic chip in to hold the two together - a complete gimmick and one which interferes with the compass. The gloves were the one item I hadn’t used before and I picked them up just before the Dragon’s Back to replace my other thin pair with lots of holes in.

Contouring around another rise rather then up and over, the cloud lifted until I could see all the way to the next checkpoint. A combination of the sun out, gentle grassy slope and being on a ridgeline meant I was actually jogging for sections. I met another runner at the top of the next checkpoint, she headed off at a completely different direction to me but sticking to my way I found a trod and was flying onwards to checkpoint 7 of the day. At the top of checkpoint 7 Lawrence was there to greet me with his camera, he jogged down to the road crossing with me where the medic team were once again waiting for me, another quick rub of gel and on I went- 8km to go- One last bit of ridgeline and I could see the finish!

The medic team and Lawrence waiting for me 8 km from the finish

As I made my way up the hill to the castle, Claire came to offer encouragement and to make sure I ran across the finish line. Turning the corner, in through the archway and into the finish was just an incredible feeling - a fitting location to finish such an amazing journey. Getting in a car felt very strange to get a lift to the rugby club, and my brain simply couldn’t cope with how fast things were going past the window. I managed to make it back just before the award ceremony.

In the end I came in 47th position out of 66 finishers but the final position didn’t matter- finishing and being awarded the trophy with my peers and marshals watching (people who just 6 days before were complete strangers but now I knew many of them from time shared on the hills) was just the best feeling. I managed about half a pint and one bowl of food before I had to head to bed- still in the tents. The next morning after saying goodbye to everyone and my usual breakfast of beans and egg sandwiches, (it was so nice to sit at a table inside and eat, rather than outside in the mess tent with the midges), I climbed into my car and headed for Alton Towers for my uncles surprise 50th birthday party.

Summary

Family and friends were able to send messages via email to the competitors via the organisers throughout the week as there was often no mobile phone signal in the overnight camps. It was so nice to be able to get back each night and have a couple of messages waiting for me from friends and family, they were all greatly appreciated, with the highlight being a witty limerick from Poppy and Beth each day with a final poem for when I got back to Sheffield:

Ode to Matt the Dragon Slayer:
You have slain the mighty dragon,
Leaving behind all that were flaggin',
Your calves of steel have served you well,
As you forged through mountain and fell,
We look forward to the mighty tales,
Of how you managed to conquer mighty Wales,
Your trophy you should hold up high,
With beaming pride, up to the sky,
A hero to Sheffield you shall return,
and from your wisdom we shall learn,
We hope these poems have seen you through,
And show you just how proud we are of you.

Overall the race was probably as expected but I wasn’t quite ready for just how brutally hard mentally it would be or how close I would be to stopping. It’s hard to say for certain but I’m pretty sure I was at my limit by the time I reached Carreg Cennen. Proved by the fact my body temperature was high all night which is a sign of my body working very hard to recover. The weather was also pretty good; only rained at the start and the end, it was mild temperature (apart from day 2) and whilst there were sections with low cloud, affecting visibility, it could’ve been a lot worse.

Things that went well:

No major navigation mistakes- a few silly errors here and there when not thinking clearly but by and large I did well on navigation, proved on the last half of day 5 when I overtook 8 people whilst only seeing 2 and them, all having a large head start on me and moving faster.
Training was good in the 3 months leading up to the race meaning I arrived at the race in good injury free condition, if I hadn’t been injured in December/January I maybe would’ve lasted longer before the overuse injuries hit after the halfway point. I just don’t think I did the right volume of training enough months prior to the race
Managing to walk at a fast pace after the injuries which meant I wasn’t anywhere near the cut off was a bonus and meant I didn’t have that anxiety of being cut off to deal with.

I would like to thank the marshals and organisers- so friendly and helpful the whole time, even though they were getting less sleep then most of the competitors. Lastly, I would like to thank the Jack Bloor Trust and the Lord Mayor of London’s Anniversary Awards trust for providing some funding towards the race fee, which enabled me to turn a dream into reality.

The only question is what next...

Conquering the Dragon by Matt Harmon