By Jenny Hartley

I was medically discharged from the Army a few years ago and as part of my recovery journey I attended the Invictus Games in September 2023. At the final training camp the Team Manager said we should make sure we had something to focus on when we got back home to continue our recovery journey. I had heard of this race called the Dragon’s Back but never even dreamed I would be good enough to enter. That speech inspired me to give it a try and enter it the following year. 

Entering this race really gave me something to focus on with planning recce weekends to Wales and spending as much time running as I could. I developed a knee injury for which I am waiting for surgery and this hampered my training but I still really wanted to do the race.

The first 3 days of the race were tough but I kept battling through. I saw other competitors drop out due to injury and then the next morning they regretted it when they realised that maybe they could have gone a bit further. I did NOT want to do this! By the end of day 5 my knee had flared up to the extent that I could only go down hill backwards which really slowed me down. I knew I was close to the cut off at the final check point on day 5 and used everything in my power to get down the hill to the cut-off: I slid on my bum, I ran full speed (backwards!), and I ran in sobbing to the check point with 10 minutes to spare. The marshal at the checkpoint gave me a hug, filled my water bottles, and then encouraged me to continue on. I spent 4 hours in the rain and approaching darkness running /sliding as fast as I could but despite this I came in to camp 5 minutes over the cut off. Shane the Race Director put his hand on my shoulder and told me that sadly I was now out of the race but could still run the 2nd half of the final day and finish in Cardiff castle.

There was never any thought in my mind about quitting or going home and I proudly ran those final 20 miles in to the finish at Cardiff with tears streaming down my face.

My 4 top tips for anyone thinking of doing Dragon’s Back Race are:

1) NUTRITION. I trained my gut for a year to take 60g of carbs per hour through a mixture of gels, chews and real-food (sandwiches, crisps etc). I never once had a dip in energy levels throughout the week.

2) RECCE. I recce’d every mile of the route which helped me mentally when I was tired as I didn’t have to focus on my watch. But most importantly it helped me emotionally as I had dropped ‘memory nuggets’ on route. I would be running along feeling low and suddenly remember that this was where my friend and I had sang Iron Maiden songs on a recce, or where my dog fell in a bog!   

3) STRENGTH. I did 2 hours of heavy weight training every week and this really helped me speed-marching up hills and not having quadricep DOMS from all the descending.

4) HIKING UP HILL. Without doubt the most important thing you can do to train for Dragon’s Back race is spend hours and hours hiking fast up hills. Spending 12 hours hiking fast in the mountains is far more beneficial than running fast for 2 hours.  

Feeling inspired to take on the full Dragon’s Back Race or The Hatchling in 2025?