What follows is a post that captures the awesome experience as we followed our Brother-in-Law (Chris) on his epic adventure as he took part in the Berghaus Dragon's Back Race 2019 in Wales, a race with the strapline 'the toughest 5-day mountain running race in the world..' We hope you enjoy the read in which includes the highs and lows of our week as we cheered Chris on and saw so many sights we would never have seen on a regular holiday to Wales.
After picking up our VW camper van, fondly known as Pauline, from our friends in Harpenden on Saturday lunchtime we made our way to Northampton to pick up Chris to travel up to Conway on Sunday afternoon and where the race started on the following Monday morning.
Our task during the week was to cheer on Chris at as many points down the near on 200 mile route and to collect him from the finish on Friday evening in Llandeilo should he make it that far.
Chris had to attend his race briefing at the huge 'Athletes Village' late on Sunday evening and as he had kindly booked all our camping sites for the week we decided to take a look at our first nights pitch and get our bearings seeking out some local restaurants, which were slightly hard to come by on a Sunday evening. Upon our arrival at the post code that Pauline had bought us to we were surprised that our first night 'camping' was due to be spent on the car park of a local pub! The saving grace of the pub was its location which provided us views that overlooked the estuary and Conway castle where the 400 or so hardy runners were due to start from at 7am the next morning.
We'd never been to Conway before and were impressed with its location on the mouth of the river that bears its name and the walls (which were built on the instruction of Edward I of England, between 1283 and 1289, as part of his conquest of the principality of Wales) that still stand and upon which we enjoyed a pleasant if not a little ticky walk on the Sunday afternoon prior to the race.
Pauline was well equipped to provide us with a very comfortable home for the week, a pop up roof with canvas sides in which we slept on a double bed, a fridge, gas cooker and storage space for our weekly supplies. However even with all the creature comforts the sound of our alarms seemed to go off much earlier than expected and after a quick freshen up in the local public toilet we left Chris to join the band of merry friends, many of whom we would see on numerous occasions throughout the week.
They were all gathered in the grounds of the castle and as we climbed up onto the battlements we were given a couple of flags to wave as we gained a wonderful view over the competitors and listened to the local Welsh male voice choir who belted out a rendition of 'you'll never walk alone' which seemed fitting for the fifth running of the event which was first completed in 1992.
Day One - Monday 2oth May 2019
The sight of the 400 runners waiting in anticipation in what was the hall of the medieval castle was a thrilling, people from all corners of the world from North America, Southern Africa, the Far East and Europe joined together, each one making final adjustments to their kit, or faffing as we came to know it, some saying their hellos to old friends, others focused on the task ahead. As we waved flags from the battlements all of a sudden on the stroke of 7am the race was on, Chris was off!
Chris had been very proactive prior to the run, printing off the 2017 route map which enabled us to follow the race along with a sheet giving his estimated arrival times at either the compulsory Check Point (CP) or road section so as soon as we'd seen the runners make their way along the walls and off onto the hills we made our way back to Pauline (remember the VW Camper) and travelled to the road section at which we were sure to see Chris.
By the time he reached us at Ogwen Lake at just past midday he had already run 18 miles up and over the summits of Carnedd Gwenllian, Carnedd Llywelyn and Carnedd Dafydd each one reaching up into the misty skies at around 1000 metres (3280ft) high.
Our vantage point from the car park overlooking the lake gave us a great view of the runners coming off of those high peaks, along a slightly uphill road section before the ninth Check Point of the day, however as we were to discover the road sections gave us a false sense of what these runners were going through as they made their way over steep mountain climbs with just a map and a compass to guide them.
We were somewhat surprised to see Chris coming through before his predicted time but prior to his arrival we had already cheered on the leaders who passed us a full hour and twenty minutes ahead of him. The first day was to prove the only day when we were actually able to tell the positions of each of the runners, the following four days the participants could chose their own start time, after 6am, but from what we were able to see Galen Reynolds from Canada was looking so strong as led the field on his way to CP9.
It was clear to see that this was going to be a grueling race and people were already beginning to flag and although each runner was fitted with a GPS tracker and a 'dibber' that has to be inserted to a device that recorded their progress along the high level route the race organisers had obviously thought about the well being of the competitors and the welfare of their support staff/Marshalls by putting in mandatory cut off times at two CP's during the day and an 11pm one at the end of the day.
What followed next was to play out so many times during the next four and a half days, that of us racing through the beautiful Welsh countryside in Pauline to get to the next accessible road section or CP before Chris. This was no mean feat, mainly because of the tight narrow roads up and down which I was to drive the precious Pauline along and the fact that parking at these places was quite limited. This was such the case at the CP at Pen Y Pass Youth Hostel which sits at a popular starting point for those attempting the Snowdon Horseshoe.
With no space at the car park we had to park around two miles away down the valley and yomp back up to ensure we saw Chris come past at around 15.30, the 22 mile point at which time he had run over the top of Tryfan and Glyder Fawr summits,......it was now clear to us that this wasn't going to be the chilled out holiday of reading books and listening to podcasts we'd hoped for!
Whilst waiting for Chris to arrive at his estimated time of 15.25 we ventured out to see the other runners come down the hillside and into the CP, it was at this point that we started to see some of the same runners who we'd already seen at CP9, this was also to become a familiar experience as we followed the race down into Wales.
Chris arrived bang on time and after a quick hello and top up of his water he was on his way up a very tricky part of the route, what awaited him was the rocky ridge of Crib Goch which overlooks the beautiful waters of Llyn Llydaw and the summit of Snowdon, the highest peak on the route, in fact the highest peak in Wales, standing at an impressive 1085m. After making the walk back to Pauline, who seemed to be happy to see us we made our way to our second campsite that was situated at the end of another stunning lake, Llyn Gwynant.
We had told Chris that we would meet him at the end of the first day, but hadn't factored in the fact that we would be camping at the other end of the lake to the official Dragons Back 'Athletes Village'/campsite which was over three miles away from where we were based. Not wanting to unsettle Pauline any further, we'd already set her up for the night, beds down, seats set to the table position, so we decided to walk along the northern side of the lake and watch the runners enter the finish of their 31 mile day one.
The walk was wonderful, taking us through woodland filled with Bluebells, so numerous that they took your breath away, and the sound of Cuckoos calling to each other across the valley. After a further fifteen to twenty minute walk we came across the sight of the large camp which was set up to provide food and accommodation, under canvas, for the 400 athletes. The sight of the large blue tents, each accommodating up to eight runners was impressive and the thought that the next morning all of that would need to be taken down, moved and resurrected before the end of the second day gave us an idea of the huge amount of logistics that take place behind the scenes to make this type of event happen.
After walking up through a farmyard in the late afternoon sun and watching the runners navigate down the slopes of Snowdon we caught a glimpse of Chris, yes he looked a little tired but after tackling some of the toughest terrain in North Wales for over 12 hours he seemed to be in high spirits which was good to see. All that was left for us to do was now find our way back to our campsite in the half light that was now filling the valley and make our dinner which was waiting to be cooked.
As it was getting dark we decided not to return via the same route through the trees and as we were so inspired by all that we had seen during our first day, plus needing to get back to the van and have a meal before it got too late, we started running down the road past the lake. Fortunately for us a lady in another VW Van, lets call the van Paul for sake of the story, pulled up and gave us a lift which probably saved us 30 minutes which was a true blessing.
Meal eaten, it was off to bed with so much to contemplate and so much to look forward to!
Day Stats:- 32 miles (52Km) - Height Gain 12,467ft (3,800m)
Day Two - Tuesday 21st May
Wake up, chase Chris, cheer him on and repeat for the following three days.........ha well yes that is what happened but I'm sure you'd rather hear the details, no? (well you can skip to the last couple of paragraphs to find out what happend!))
Not only did we awake to a beautiful morning but also to the call of more Cuckoos who were keen to make sure we were up at the crack of dawn. As the sun rose over the beautiful Llyn Gwynant we caught up with the real-time race tracker to learn that the race had already taken its toll on 44 competitors. Day two was supposed to be as tough if not tougher than the first with a further 36 miles to be covered over further mountain peaks, so as the 359 athletes set off there must have been much to ponder what with little sleep, aching legs and battered feet to contend with.
Without much mobile phone connection it was hard to know when Chris had set off, so we woke early, enjoyed a quick breakfast and warm shower to get on the road for our first rendez-vous at the road crossing at Maentwrog. Fortunately we arrived before him and had time to make a bee-line for a raised dyke where we could watch the runners come down off the hills along which the famous Ffestiniog railways runs.
It was at this point that we began to pick out individual runners, amongst others 'The Ninja', 'the high five man', 'the two french guys', 'Cas the crazy Welshman with his floppy hat' and obviously Chris who still looked strong as he made his way onto CP5 at about 14 miles (race total 46 miles).
The runners were now entering in to the Rhinogs, smaller in height but mountains that weren't to be sniffed at and ones that were inaccessible for us spectators. With that in mind we made our way to our third night campsite which we were sharing with the main support team and runners in the small town of Llanelltyd, just outside Dolgellau.
Instead of going straight to the campsite we thought we'd take a scenic drive out to the World Heritage site at Harlech, the castle there is set on a stunning hill overlooking a plain reaching out to the Irish Sea. From Harlech we took the road south down through Barmouth, where we followed a mobile home on the back of a flatbed lorry that added about 30 minutes to our journey, Pauline wasn't too happy about that!
The campsite was lovely, set in the grounds of Cymer Abbey, but only had a shower block with four showers for the whole site, on top of that the pitch we were given was right next to that block and knowing that we were going to share our showers with the 350 odd runners who would be arriving later in the day we took an early one to avoid the rush!
Once we had freshened up we made ourselves comfortable and spent the afternoon cheering in each and every person who had made it safely through the second day, we were also starting to build a rapport with certain runners who seemed pleased to see us at the end of their second day.
Unfortunately the 'live tracker' was showing Chris with about 12 miles to go so we thought we had time to go out for a late afternoon walk around the local village and enjoy the stunning views of Cader Idris in the evening light, therefore we were so disappointed to receive a message from him informing us that he had actually arrived whilst we were out and would wait for us by the shower block when we got back!
Once we met up with Chris he seemed a little weary, having not had time for a meal before the shower he stood for near on an hour until one became free and obviously didn't get to bed too early after having to 'sort out' his feet which were beginning to give him some jip.
Day Stats:- 36 miles (58km) - Height Gain 11,811ft (3,600m)
- Race Totals 68 miles - 24,278ft
Day Three - Wednesday 22nd May 2019
With Pauline being parked so near the toilet block we weren't surprised to be woken early, but 4.30am was a little too early, and it wasn't by one of the runners, a local guy who lives on the campsite was informing the world of how he had covered more ground on tougher terrain than any of the 316 runners who had made it this far as he served in the British army in some foreign land......to say we weren't best pleased was an understatement but it did ensure that we were fully awake to wish the first of the runners off at 6.00am with Chris following along around 30 minutes later.
As we watched the competitors passing Pauline as we enjoyed another quick breakfast (oats, chia and flax seeds, dried goji berries, walnuts, fresh blueberries and banana, topped with Almond milk a lekker and healthy start to the day) we were starting to see the full impact of the previous days on both the bodies and minds of those left in the race. Some came out as fresh as daisies, others struggled to put one foot in front of another and with the huge climb up and over the Cader Idris ridge facing them we were sure that some wouldn't make it to our first sight of them around 17 miles later.
Pauline was becoming more accustomed to the tight narrow roads upon which our Google Maps app was taking us along, delightful little lanes with grass or moss strips in the middle and banks of Bluebells and or Rhododendrons to each side of us. As and when we passed gateways into the stone walled fields not only were we greeted by the higher hillsides or lower mountain slopes, trees full of may blossom but also the sight of ewes feeding their newborn lambs, we tried not to think of where their tiny little bodies might end up but we fear that they were all breed for the table accompanied with mint sauce!
Our first view of the runners was down a long and winding road where we met a lovely young lady called Emma who was following her husband Ian who had been one of the first to set out that morning such was his worry about missing the cut off point just outside or Machynlleth at 3pm that afternoon. Emma had taken the week off work to follow Ian and she became a further friend who we got to know well after offering her a cuppa brewed on the gas stove.
Ian actually came through leading the field and would go on to finish in 54th place overall and 50th in the men's race (including Veterans), other friends followed including 'the man in the pink hat', 'Ian Holloway look a like' 'Charlie Austin look a like', 'The French lady by the showers', 'Swiss Roger' and of course Chris who was again looking strong after coming off Cader Idris at the 17 mile mark (85 mile total race distance!).
We had a major meet up with Chris arranged at the White Lion Hotel in Machynlleth for about 3pm where he was due to download his GPS watch onto his laptop using the free WiFi at same said pub. Thankfully we had a smooth journey and made it in good time to set up the laptop, purchase a couple of beers, one each, and set ourselves up to watch the rest of the field navigate their way through this lovely market town.
What followed next was quite funny, in amoughts the local people shopping were groups of runners coming out of the local stores with bags of goodies, pasties and pies, cans of coke and even slush puppies (frozen iced drinks) such was their desire to fill their bellies and relieve the craving of such said sugary and meat filled 'delights' which had been off limits at the catered for tented village.
Whilst waiting at the pub we heard from Chris that he had forgotten the cable that linked his GPS watch to the laptop that we were holding, whilst this was a little disappointing and would have further ramifications later in the day it was probably for the best as the next CP had a Cut-off time which would have been a little tight for Chris to achieve.
We marched up the High Street with Chris and saw him safely through CP8 and onwards and upwards towards the finish of the third day, where we would see him again later. The story wasn't so good for quite a few of the other runners, who were either suffering from the impact of the race upon their bodies or who had spent too much time in the local shops and we saw them dashing towards the CP, and unfortunately half a dozen missed it and were out of the race.
After leaving Chris to run a further 15 miles to the end of Day Three we made our way to a delightful Eco Campsite where we were greeted by a very friendly sheep farmer who was very happy to see us but was somewhat surprised that we turned up at the same time as the only other person who was camping there that evening....surprised because not only was she driving another VW Camper but her surname was also Walker and that she was following her husband, Donny, on the Dragons Back Race!
We soon were chatting with Adele who we built up a lovely rapport with straight away and whom we not only shared the same space with at the campsite with its straw toilet and solar powered shower shed, but saw on numerous occasions over the next few days.
It was our plan to spend a chilled out evening enjoying the sunset over the stunning valley so whilst Maz got out her 'colouring book'!, I took the opportunity to venture out for a 16km run up into the mountains that sat above the farm into a secluded Forestry Commision valley, I was out there on my own but felt very inspired by Chris and the other runners who we'd been following since Conway.
Aldle, our new friend in the other VW Camper, went out to see Donny over the finish line which laid about 15 minutes down the valley, which prompted a little guilt knowing that Chris would be at the same point a few hours later, so after another quick supper and with the fact that Chris needed to download his GPS watch we made the same journey. We stood waiting at the bottom of a long hill, as the light was fading with a couple of the wonderful marshals who were guiding the runners over a busy road towards the finish.
We have to say that the whole event team, from those catering for the athletes, to those responsible for the pack down and put up of the village, those out on the mountain tops putting out the GPS Dibbers, to the medics and further support services were some of the happiest people we've seen at such an event, this must have created a great atmosphere for the competitors and I know that Chris was very appreciative.
At last we caught sight of Chris and after walk/running to him along a longish road section at the end we made sure that Chris was able to complete his electronic device faffing thus enabling him to upload/download his runs and although it made a very long evening for us we were glad to be able to help out and cheer him in to his third day finish... and hey that's what we were there for anyway!
Day Stats:- 44 miles (71Km) - Height Gain 11,482ft (3,500m)
- Race Totals 112 miles 35,760 (or higher than Everest).
Day Four - Thursday 23rd May 2019
Hopefully this won't sound too boastful but we have spent nights under canvas in the Okavango Delta with the call of Hippo, Elephant and Baboon waking us, heard the call of Lion near our tents in the Kruger National Park, trekked Gorillas in Uganda, swam with Great White Sharks in South Africa and Turtles in the Caribbean, heard the call of Lemurs in the rain forests in Madagascar but nothing can quite beat the sound of the 'Dawn Chorus' in the British Isle and unless you've heard it you can't quite explain its uniqueness. Since we moved off of the pub car park in Conway we were getting used to waking to the sound of the early morning bird song and we were so blessed to be able to do that.
On the morn of day four the race was hotting up between the leading ladies with Lisa Watson cutting into the lead of Sabrina Verjee whilst the men we settling into their rhythm with Galen Reynolds leading Jim Mann who was keeping the Canadian honest with Robert Barnes in third. The weather was also maintaining the sunshine and clear skies that the runners had experienced since scaling the first few heights way back on Monday morning.
Another thing that was becoming clear to us was that Pauline was gathering her own fan club amongst the runners and we were becoming known as the couple who had that van. Pauline seemed to be quite pleased with this new found fame and helped us reconnect with Chris even when the mobile phone reception was poor!
After leaving our campsite we were keen to get to the first section where we were sure we'd see Chris and after setting up camp for a quick cuppa we watched the runners come off Graig y Lluest and make their way over a footbridge, taking their time to top up with water from the little babbling brook. Yet we didn't see Chris, what had happened to our intrepid explorer?
What had happened was that we had under estimated his time to that point, which had given us a great view of both the male and female lead runners who looked so fresh, but now we were on the chase to catch him up, down with the pop up roof, off with the kettle, come on Pauline we've gotta move!......it was so good to see him along the next road section where we agreed to meeting him at the midday CP6 at Elan Village Green.
To get to Elan village we took a detour around the Elan Dams, made famous in World War Two and the part they played in developing the 'Bouncing Bombs' which the 'Dambusters' would use to cause havoc and more in similar valley in Germany in 1943. It was a lovely drive where we also saw farmer/shepherd working his six sheepdogs bring his sheep off the side of a mountain which was a delight to see.
Elan Village proved to be a great place to watch the athletes come in to their Day Four Cut Off, they'd already run 20 miles with a further 22 till the end of the day, running across an old bridge over the river.
We were also able to catch up with Emma and Adele, as well as cheering on the familiar faces which now included some fans of Pauline who informed us that they looked forward to seeing her at the CP's each day.
We left Elan and made the narrow drive to the CP at Abergwesyn where we made a further drive up and into a stunning valley where we were greeted by hundreds of runners making their way along a single track road.
At a small parking area at the end of the valley we stopped by another steam, gathering water for another cuppa, I then made my way up into the woods where we had seen swaths of Bluebells which set me up for some of the best photos that I was able to take of the runners during the whole week. In fact when I ventured further up the valley I found a large number of competitors, especially those from further afield, the French, Canadians and those from the United States stopping to take their own photos such was the beauty. One runner commented as he ran past, 'the beauty the pain'.
After making our way to the campsite down some very tight and steep roads which was once again set against a magnificent backdrop, we enjoyed a more chilled evening and didn't venture out to see Chris at the end of Day Four, which was a pity but we thought that we'd done very well to see him so often during that day that we needed a well earned rest.
By the end of the day Lisa Watson had had a great day and had overtaken Sabrina on the aggregate times which meant that Lisa would be setting off ahead on the last day with Sabrina chasing her down toward the end. The men were set in the positions that had become the norm with Galen still leading Jim with Robert Barnes in third.
Day Stats:- 44 miles (71Km) - Height Gain 7,874ft (2,400m)
- Race Totals 156 miles 43,634ft
Day Five - Friday 24th May 2019
The beginning of Day Five saw us rise from our comfy bed high up in the pop up roof that had been our abode for the week with slightly heavy hearts, this was the last day of the race and whilst Chris and the other runners were obviously very glad of that fact we were sad that this would be the last day where we could cheer on these amazing athletes who had become good friends over the past four days.
With 39 miles to cover as the runners made their way into the Brecon Beacons National Park it would have been unwise to think that the end was in sight, this day was going to be tough, tough for a number of reasons, there was the small matter of getting up and over 'The Black mountain', to do it with sore legs and battered feet that had already covered 156 miles and all that with minds that were deprived of sleep.
We saw our first sight of the runners at about 9am, they were running down a road section towards the smallish town of Llandovery, where once again a visit to the bakers bought the runners some of the food that they had been craving for the past few days.
Our second sighting was in slightly more picturesque surroundings, that of the Usk Reservoir. This was the site of CP3, the first cut off for Day Five, and after standing watching the leaders come through (Lisa was now well ahead of Sabrina, who also finished in second place in 2017) we made our way up and over the dam wall into the woods that sit on the northern side of the water.
The runners were at about the 16 mile mark and there were some very weary legs that not only had to make the CP but then mount their attack on the last big challenge of the week, The Black mountain. Chris seemed to be in high spirits but others that we saw after him were struggling, could they make it to the end, a further 21 miles away? We cheered them on with as much energy was we could muster and hoped for the best for all of our new found friends.
We made our way to CP7, the final cut off point before the finish, get past here and there was one further climb up and over Carn Pen y clogau and on towards the finish at Llandeilo. After eating some lunch and meeting up with Adele and Emma who were cheering on their husbands, Donny and Ian, we thought we'd take a stroll to the top of Moe Gomach, at 616m this now stood in the mist as the much missed rain, it had been sunny all week till that point, descended turning the mountain and sky into an indistinguishable slate grey scene with only the runners with the brightest clothing standing out against the angry clouds and intimidating mountain.
After seeing Chris safely through CP7 we drove to our final campsite, which sat on the side of a hill which didn't bode well for a good nights kip, and then ventured to the finish passing the final castle of the race Carreg Cennen Castle, where we would hope to see Chris a few hours later. We were able to secure a good parking spot and watched and waited, cheering on the hardy souls who trying their best to run up the last grass path towards their goal!
There was much emotion as people high fived us, some even stopping to hug us just before the line and thanking us for all the support we had shown, others just collapsed over the line, some greeted by family and friends, others walking off in a daze hardly believing it was all over.
We had been following Chris the whole race on the GPS tracking webpage, which wasn't too reliable given the patchy signal, so we knew he was nearing the end, however it was a true delight to see him turn the final corner, run up the last 200 meters and make it over the line in an amazing 68 hours 56 minutes and 22 seconds. He wasn't the winner by a long stretch but he had made it, 5 days of gruelling physical and mental torture, 195 miles plus bagging all the highest peaks in Wales, he truly had defeated the Dragon on the 2019 Berghaus Dragon's Back Race.
It was a real pleasure to be able to join the 250 or so competitors who had completed the race as at the prizegiving meal where they were presented with their Dragon, no medals here, to see their faces, hear them share their stories and once again for them to introduce us to their friends and family as their best supporters and people who had helped them so much over the whole event was quite moving and something we will probably never forget.
For the Record Galen Reynolds from Canada held off Jim Mann to finish first in a awesome and quite staggering time of 37 hours, 48 minutes and 6 seconds, with Robert Barnes claiming third place just holding off a fast charging Austrian Konrad Rawlik who was actually the quickest man home on that final day.
In the women's race Lisa Watson won in a time of Lisa Watson 44 hours, 33 minutes and 23 seconds, which was good enough for 9th place overall in the whole race!, Sabrina Verjee came in second and the Swedish runner Kerstin Rosenqvist finished third.
Whatever the result, each and everyone of the people who entered were true hero's/heroines and those who actually made it to the finish deserve all the credit they are given and more. For us Chris was our hero and that week will be something that we will treasure for a very long time.
Day Stats:- 39 miles (63Km) - Height Gain 7,217ft (2,200m)
- Race Totals 195 miles 50,851 ft
If you are interested in reading more about the Dragon's Back Race 2019 then please click on Chris' personal blog where he has posted from his perspective and also John Kynaston who we cheered on during the event has written a longer post about his experience.
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| Chris and a Knight in Conway |
Pauline was well equipped to provide us with a very comfortable home for the week, a pop up roof with canvas sides in which we slept on a double bed, a fridge, gas cooker and storage space for our weekly supplies. However even with all the creature comforts the sound of our alarms seemed to go off much earlier than expected and after a quick freshen up in the local public toilet we left Chris to join the band of merry friends, many of whom we would see on numerous occasions throughout the week.
They were all gathered in the grounds of the castle and as we climbed up onto the battlements we were given a couple of flags to wave as we gained a wonderful view over the competitors and listened to the local Welsh male voice choir who belted out a rendition of 'you'll never walk alone' which seemed fitting for the fifth running of the event which was first completed in 1992.
Day One - Monday 2oth May 2019
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| The athletes inside the Castle ready for the start |
The sight of the 400 runners waiting in anticipation in what was the hall of the medieval castle was a thrilling, people from all corners of the world from North America, Southern Africa, the Far East and Europe joined together, each one making final adjustments to their kit, or faffing as we came to know it, some saying their hellos to old friends, others focused on the task ahead. As we waved flags from the battlements all of a sudden on the stroke of 7am the race was on, Chris was off!
Chris had been very proactive prior to the run, printing off the 2017 route map which enabled us to follow the race along with a sheet giving his estimated arrival times at either the compulsory Check Point (CP) or road section so as soon as we'd seen the runners make their way along the walls and off onto the hills we made our way back to Pauline (remember the VW Camper) and travelled to the road section at which we were sure to see Chris.
By the time he reached us at Ogwen Lake at just past midday he had already run 18 miles up and over the summits of Carnedd Gwenllian, Carnedd Llywelyn and Carnedd Dafydd each one reaching up into the misty skies at around 1000 metres (3280ft) high.
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| Galen Reynolds the eventual winner looking strong as ever |
Our vantage point from the car park overlooking the lake gave us a great view of the runners coming off of those high peaks, along a slightly uphill road section before the ninth Check Point of the day, however as we were to discover the road sections gave us a false sense of what these runners were going through as they made their way over steep mountain climbs with just a map and a compass to guide them.
We were somewhat surprised to see Chris coming through before his predicted time but prior to his arrival we had already cheered on the leaders who passed us a full hour and twenty minutes ahead of him. The first day was to prove the only day when we were actually able to tell the positions of each of the runners, the following four days the participants could chose their own start time, after 6am, but from what we were able to see Galen Reynolds from Canada was looking so strong as led the field on his way to CP9.
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| Pauline, Maz and Chris! |
It was clear to see that this was going to be a grueling race and people were already beginning to flag and although each runner was fitted with a GPS tracker and a 'dibber' that has to be inserted to a device that recorded their progress along the high level route the race organisers had obviously thought about the well being of the competitors and the welfare of their support staff/Marshalls by putting in mandatory cut off times at two CP's during the day and an 11pm one at the end of the day.
What followed next was to play out so many times during the next four and a half days, that of us racing through the beautiful Welsh countryside in Pauline to get to the next accessible road section or CP before Chris. This was no mean feat, mainly because of the tight narrow roads up and down which I was to drive the precious Pauline along and the fact that parking at these places was quite limited. This was such the case at the CP at Pen Y Pass Youth Hostel which sits at a popular starting point for those attempting the Snowdon Horseshoe.
With no space at the car park we had to park around two miles away down the valley and yomp back up to ensure we saw Chris come past at around 15.30, the 22 mile point at which time he had run over the top of Tryfan and Glyder Fawr summits,......it was now clear to us that this wasn't going to be the chilled out holiday of reading books and listening to podcasts we'd hoped for!
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| Where are you off to next Chris, oh up there! |
Whilst waiting for Chris to arrive at his estimated time of 15.25 we ventured out to see the other runners come down the hillside and into the CP, it was at this point that we started to see some of the same runners who we'd already seen at CP9, this was also to become a familiar experience as we followed the race down into Wales.
Chris arrived bang on time and after a quick hello and top up of his water he was on his way up a very tricky part of the route, what awaited him was the rocky ridge of Crib Goch which overlooks the beautiful waters of Llyn Llydaw and the summit of Snowdon, the highest peak on the route, in fact the highest peak in Wales, standing at an impressive 1085m. After making the walk back to Pauline, who seemed to be happy to see us we made our way to our second campsite that was situated at the end of another stunning lake, Llyn Gwynant.
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| Walking to catch up with Chris before the next section of the race around the Snowdon Horseshoe |
We had told Chris that we would meet him at the end of the first day, but hadn't factored in the fact that we would be camping at the other end of the lake to the official Dragons Back 'Athletes Village'/campsite which was over three miles away from where we were based. Not wanting to unsettle Pauline any further, we'd already set her up for the night, beds down, seats set to the table position, so we decided to walk along the northern side of the lake and watch the runners enter the finish of their 31 mile day one.
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| Day one Athletes Village |
The walk was wonderful, taking us through woodland filled with Bluebells, so numerous that they took your breath away, and the sound of Cuckoos calling to each other across the valley. After a further fifteen to twenty minute walk we came across the sight of the large camp which was set up to provide food and accommodation, under canvas, for the 400 athletes. The sight of the large blue tents, each accommodating up to eight runners was impressive and the thought that the next morning all of that would need to be taken down, moved and resurrected before the end of the second day gave us an idea of the huge amount of logistics that take place behind the scenes to make this type of event happen.
After walking up through a farmyard in the late afternoon sun and watching the runners navigate down the slopes of Snowdon we caught a glimpse of Chris, yes he looked a little tired but after tackling some of the toughest terrain in North Wales for over 12 hours he seemed to be in high spirits which was good to see. All that was left for us to do was now find our way back to our campsite in the half light that was now filling the valley and make our dinner which was waiting to be cooked.
As it was getting dark we decided not to return via the same route through the trees and as we were so inspired by all that we had seen during our first day, plus needing to get back to the van and have a meal before it got too late, we started running down the road past the lake. Fortunately for us a lady in another VW Van, lets call the van Paul for sake of the story, pulled up and gave us a lift which probably saved us 30 minutes which was a true blessing.
Meal eaten, it was off to bed with so much to contemplate and so much to look forward to!
Day Stats:- 32 miles (52Km) - Height Gain 12,467ft (3,800m)
Day Two - Tuesday 21st May
Wake up, chase Chris, cheer him on and repeat for the following three days.........ha well yes that is what happened but I'm sure you'd rather hear the details, no? (well you can skip to the last couple of paragraphs to find out what happend!))
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| Llyn Gwynant at dusk, the site of Day One campsite |
Not only did we awake to a beautiful morning but also to the call of more Cuckoos who were keen to make sure we were up at the crack of dawn. As the sun rose over the beautiful Llyn Gwynant we caught up with the real-time race tracker to learn that the race had already taken its toll on 44 competitors. Day two was supposed to be as tough if not tougher than the first with a further 36 miles to be covered over further mountain peaks, so as the 359 athletes set off there must have been much to ponder what with little sleep, aching legs and battered feet to contend with.
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| Blueskies blessed the runners for most of the race |
Without much mobile phone connection it was hard to know when Chris had set off, so we woke early, enjoyed a quick breakfast and warm shower to get on the road for our first rendez-vous at the road crossing at Maentwrog. Fortunately we arrived before him and had time to make a bee-line for a raised dyke where we could watch the runners come down off the hills along which the famous Ffestiniog railways runs.
It was at this point that we began to pick out individual runners, amongst others 'The Ninja', 'the high five man', 'the two french guys', 'Cas the crazy Welshman with his floppy hat' and obviously Chris who still looked strong as he made his way onto CP5 at about 14 miles (race total 46 miles).
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| Chris running along the dyke |
The runners were now entering in to the Rhinogs, smaller in height but mountains that weren't to be sniffed at and ones that were inaccessible for us spectators. With that in mind we made our way to our third night campsite which we were sharing with the main support team and runners in the small town of Llanelltyd, just outside Dolgellau.
Instead of going straight to the campsite we thought we'd take a scenic drive out to the World Heritage site at Harlech, the castle there is set on a stunning hill overlooking a plain reaching out to the Irish Sea. From Harlech we took the road south down through Barmouth, where we followed a mobile home on the back of a flatbed lorry that added about 30 minutes to our journey, Pauline wasn't too happy about that!
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| Stop off at Harlech castle |
The campsite was lovely, set in the grounds of Cymer Abbey, but only had a shower block with four showers for the whole site, on top of that the pitch we were given was right next to that block and knowing that we were going to share our showers with the 350 odd runners who would be arriving later in the day we took an early one to avoid the rush!
Once we had freshened up we made ourselves comfortable and spent the afternoon cheering in each and every person who had made it safely through the second day, we were also starting to build a rapport with certain runners who seemed pleased to see us at the end of their second day.
Unfortunately the 'live tracker' was showing Chris with about 12 miles to go so we thought we had time to go out for a late afternoon walk around the local village and enjoy the stunning views of Cader Idris in the evening light, therefore we were so disappointed to receive a message from him informing us that he had actually arrived whilst we were out and would wait for us by the shower block when we got back!
Once we met up with Chris he seemed a little weary, having not had time for a meal before the shower he stood for near on an hour until one became free and obviously didn't get to bed too early after having to 'sort out' his feet which were beginning to give him some jip.
Day Stats:- 36 miles (58km) - Height Gain 11,811ft (3,600m)
- Race Totals 68 miles - 24,278ft
Day Three - Wednesday 22nd May 2019
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| Early morning start for Chris and two other competitors |
With Pauline being parked so near the toilet block we weren't surprised to be woken early, but 4.30am was a little too early, and it wasn't by one of the runners, a local guy who lives on the campsite was informing the world of how he had covered more ground on tougher terrain than any of the 316 runners who had made it this far as he served in the British army in some foreign land......to say we weren't best pleased was an understatement but it did ensure that we were fully awake to wish the first of the runners off at 6.00am with Chris following along around 30 minutes later.
As we watched the competitors passing Pauline as we enjoyed another quick breakfast (oats, chia and flax seeds, dried goji berries, walnuts, fresh blueberries and banana, topped with Almond milk a lekker and healthy start to the day) we were starting to see the full impact of the previous days on both the bodies and minds of those left in the race. Some came out as fresh as daisies, others struggled to put one foot in front of another and with the huge climb up and over the Cader Idris ridge facing them we were sure that some wouldn't make it to our first sight of them around 17 miles later.
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| Cader Idris from our Second Day Campsite |
Pauline was becoming more accustomed to the tight narrow roads upon which our Google Maps app was taking us along, delightful little lanes with grass or moss strips in the middle and banks of Bluebells and or Rhododendrons to each side of us. As and when we passed gateways into the stone walled fields not only were we greeted by the higher hillsides or lower mountain slopes, trees full of may blossom but also the sight of ewes feeding their newborn lambs, we tried not to think of where their tiny little bodies might end up but we fear that they were all breed for the table accompanied with mint sauce!
Our first view of the runners was down a long and winding road where we met a lovely young lady called Emma who was following her husband Ian who had been one of the first to set out that morning such was his worry about missing the cut off point just outside or Machynlleth at 3pm that afternoon. Emma had taken the week off work to follow Ian and she became a further friend who we got to know well after offering her a cuppa brewed on the gas stove.
Ian actually came through leading the field and would go on to finish in 54th place overall and 50th in the men's race (including Veterans), other friends followed including 'the man in the pink hat', 'Ian Holloway look a like' 'Charlie Austin look a like', 'The French lady by the showers', 'Swiss Roger' and of course Chris who was again looking strong after coming off Cader Idris at the 17 mile mark (85 mile total race distance!).
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| Adams Ale to refresh the body |
We had a major meet up with Chris arranged at the White Lion Hotel in Machynlleth for about 3pm where he was due to download his GPS watch onto his laptop using the free WiFi at same said pub. Thankfully we had a smooth journey and made it in good time to set up the laptop, purchase a couple of beers, one each, and set ourselves up to watch the rest of the field navigate their way through this lovely market town.
What followed next was quite funny, in amoughts the local people shopping were groups of runners coming out of the local stores with bags of goodies, pasties and pies, cans of coke and even slush puppies (frozen iced drinks) such was their desire to fill their bellies and relieve the craving of such said sugary and meat filled 'delights' which had been off limits at the catered for tented village.
Whilst waiting at the pub we heard from Chris that he had forgotten the cable that linked his GPS watch to the laptop that we were holding, whilst this was a little disappointing and would have further ramifications later in the day it was probably for the best as the next CP had a Cut-off time which would have been a little tight for Chris to achieve.
We marched up the High Street with Chris and saw him safely through CP8 and onwards and upwards towards the finish of the third day, where we would see him again later. The story wasn't so good for quite a few of the other runners, who were either suffering from the impact of the race upon their bodies or who had spent too much time in the local shops and we saw them dashing towards the CP, and unfortunately half a dozen missed it and were out of the race.
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| Day Three campsite, very eco friendly |
After leaving Chris to run a further 15 miles to the end of Day Three we made our way to a delightful Eco Campsite where we were greeted by a very friendly sheep farmer who was very happy to see us but was somewhat surprised that we turned up at the same time as the only other person who was camping there that evening....surprised because not only was she driving another VW Camper but her surname was also Walker and that she was following her husband, Donny, on the Dragons Back Race!
We soon were chatting with Adele who we built up a lovely rapport with straight away and whom we not only shared the same space with at the campsite with its straw toilet and solar powered shower shed, but saw on numerous occasions over the next few days.
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| Under Bridges over bridges to our destination! |
It was our plan to spend a chilled out evening enjoying the sunset over the stunning valley so whilst Maz got out her 'colouring book'!, I took the opportunity to venture out for a 16km run up into the mountains that sat above the farm into a secluded Forestry Commision valley, I was out there on my own but felt very inspired by Chris and the other runners who we'd been following since Conway.
Aldle, our new friend in the other VW Camper, went out to see Donny over the finish line which laid about 15 minutes down the valley, which prompted a little guilt knowing that Chris would be at the same point a few hours later, so after another quick supper and with the fact that Chris needed to download his GPS watch we made the same journey. We stood waiting at the bottom of a long hill, as the light was fading with a couple of the wonderful marshals who were guiding the runners over a busy road towards the finish.
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| A couple of wonderful Marshals |
We have to say that the whole event team, from those catering for the athletes, to those responsible for the pack down and put up of the village, those out on the mountain tops putting out the GPS Dibbers, to the medics and further support services were some of the happiest people we've seen at such an event, this must have created a great atmosphere for the competitors and I know that Chris was very appreciative.
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| Electronic Faffing at the end of Day Three! |
At last we caught sight of Chris and after walk/running to him along a longish road section at the end we made sure that Chris was able to complete his electronic device faffing thus enabling him to upload/download his runs and although it made a very long evening for us we were glad to be able to help out and cheer him in to his third day finish... and hey that's what we were there for anyway!
Day Stats:- 44 miles (71Km) - Height Gain 11,482ft (3,500m)
- Race Totals 112 miles 35,760 (or higher than Everest).
Day Four - Thursday 23rd May 2019
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| Maz encouraging Chris on Day Three road section in Elan |
Hopefully this won't sound too boastful but we have spent nights under canvas in the Okavango Delta with the call of Hippo, Elephant and Baboon waking us, heard the call of Lion near our tents in the Kruger National Park, trekked Gorillas in Uganda, swam with Great White Sharks in South Africa and Turtles in the Caribbean, heard the call of Lemurs in the rain forests in Madagascar but nothing can quite beat the sound of the 'Dawn Chorus' in the British Isle and unless you've heard it you can't quite explain its uniqueness. Since we moved off of the pub car park in Conway we were getting used to waking to the sound of the early morning bird song and we were so blessed to be able to do that.
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| Selfie time |
On the morn of day four the race was hotting up between the leading ladies with Lisa Watson cutting into the lead of Sabrina Verjee whilst the men we settling into their rhythm with Galen Reynolds leading Jim Mann who was keeping the Canadian honest with Robert Barnes in third. The weather was also maintaining the sunshine and clear skies that the runners had experienced since scaling the first few heights way back on Monday morning.
Another thing that was becoming clear to us was that Pauline was gathering her own fan club amongst the runners and we were becoming known as the couple who had that van. Pauline seemed to be quite pleased with this new found fame and helped us reconnect with Chris even when the mobile phone reception was poor!
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| Chris and Luke arriving over the footbridge into Elan Village Green CP |
After leaving our campsite we were keen to get to the first section where we were sure we'd see Chris and after setting up camp for a quick cuppa we watched the runners come off Graig y Lluest and make their way over a footbridge, taking their time to top up with water from the little babbling brook. Yet we didn't see Chris, what had happened to our intrepid explorer?
What had happened was that we had under estimated his time to that point, which had given us a great view of both the male and female lead runners who looked so fresh, but now we were on the chase to catch him up, down with the pop up roof, off with the kettle, come on Pauline we've gotta move!......it was so good to see him along the next road section where we agreed to meeting him at the midday CP6 at Elan Village Green.
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| And off again |
To get to Elan village we took a detour around the Elan Dams, made famous in World War Two and the part they played in developing the 'Bouncing Bombs' which the 'Dambusters' would use to cause havoc and more in similar valley in Germany in 1943. It was a lovely drive where we also saw farmer/shepherd working his six sheepdogs bring his sheep off the side of a mountain which was a delight to see.
Elan Village proved to be a great place to watch the athletes come in to their Day Four Cut Off, they'd already run 20 miles with a further 22 till the end of the day, running across an old bridge over the river.
We were also able to catch up with Emma and Adele, as well as cheering on the familiar faces which now included some fans of Pauline who informed us that they looked forward to seeing her at the CP's each day.
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| Pauline enjoying the views of the Bluebells |
We left Elan and made the narrow drive to the CP at Abergwesyn where we made a further drive up and into a stunning valley where we were greeted by hundreds of runners making their way along a single track road.
At a small parking area at the end of the valley we stopped by another steam, gathering water for another cuppa, I then made my way up into the woods where we had seen swaths of Bluebells which set me up for some of the best photos that I was able to take of the runners during the whole week. In fact when I ventured further up the valley I found a large number of competitors, especially those from further afield, the French, Canadians and those from the United States stopping to take their own photos such was the beauty. One runner commented as he ran past, 'the beauty the pain'.
After making our way to the campsite down some very tight and steep roads which was once again set against a magnificent backdrop, we enjoyed a more chilled evening and didn't venture out to see Chris at the end of Day Four, which was a pity but we thought that we'd done very well to see him so often during that day that we needed a well earned rest.
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| Tiptoe through the Bluebells! |
By the end of the day Lisa Watson had had a great day and had overtaken Sabrina on the aggregate times which meant that Lisa would be setting off ahead on the last day with Sabrina chasing her down toward the end. The men were set in the positions that had become the norm with Galen still leading Jim with Robert Barnes in third.
Day Stats:- 44 miles (71Km) - Height Gain 7,874ft (2,400m)
- Race Totals 156 miles 43,634ft
Day Five - Friday 24th May 2019
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| Lisa Watson (in Purple) the eventual winner of the ladies race |
The beginning of Day Five saw us rise from our comfy bed high up in the pop up roof that had been our abode for the week with slightly heavy hearts, this was the last day of the race and whilst Chris and the other runners were obviously very glad of that fact we were sad that this would be the last day where we could cheer on these amazing athletes who had become good friends over the past four days.
With 39 miles to cover as the runners made their way into the Brecon Beacons National Park it would have been unwise to think that the end was in sight, this day was going to be tough, tough for a number of reasons, there was the small matter of getting up and over 'The Black mountain', to do it with sore legs and battered feet that had already covered 156 miles and all that with minds that were deprived of sleep.
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| Day Five feet! |
We saw our first sight of the runners at about 9am, they were running down a road section towards the smallish town of Llandovery, where once again a visit to the bakers bought the runners some of the food that they had been craving for the past few days.
Our second sighting was in slightly more picturesque surroundings, that of the Usk Reservoir. This was the site of CP3, the first cut off for Day Five, and after standing watching the leaders come through (Lisa was now well ahead of Sabrina, who also finished in second place in 2017) we made our way up and over the dam wall into the woods that sit on the northern side of the water.
The runners were at about the 16 mile mark and there were some very weary legs that not only had to make the CP but then mount their attack on the last big challenge of the week, The Black mountain. Chris seemed to be in high spirits but others that we saw after him were struggling, could they make it to the end, a further 21 miles away? We cheered them on with as much energy was we could muster and hoped for the best for all of our new found friends.
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| Maz giving out high fives en route under grey skies |
We made our way to CP7, the final cut off point before the finish, get past here and there was one further climb up and over Carn Pen y clogau and on towards the finish at Llandeilo. After eating some lunch and meeting up with Adele and Emma who were cheering on their husbands, Donny and Ian, we thought we'd take a stroll to the top of Moe Gomach, at 616m this now stood in the mist as the much missed rain, it had been sunny all week till that point, descended turning the mountain and sky into an indistinguishable slate grey scene with only the runners with the brightest clothing standing out against the angry clouds and intimidating mountain.
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| High Five toward the finish line! |
After seeing Chris safely through CP7 we drove to our final campsite, which sat on the side of a hill which didn't bode well for a good nights kip, and then ventured to the finish passing the final castle of the race Carreg Cennen Castle, where we would hope to see Chris a few hours later. We were able to secure a good parking spot and watched and waited, cheering on the hardy souls who trying their best to run up the last grass path towards their goal!
There was much emotion as people high fived us, some even stopping to hug us just before the line and thanking us for all the support we had shown, others just collapsed over the line, some greeted by family and friends, others walking off in a daze hardly believing it was all over.
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| And he's done it, an emotional ending to the Dragon's Back Race |
We had been following Chris the whole race on the GPS tracking webpage, which wasn't too reliable given the patchy signal, so we knew he was nearing the end, however it was a true delight to see him turn the final corner, run up the last 200 meters and make it over the line in an amazing 68 hours 56 minutes and 22 seconds. He wasn't the winner by a long stretch but he had made it, 5 days of gruelling physical and mental torture, 195 miles plus bagging all the highest peaks in Wales, he truly had defeated the Dragon on the 2019 Berghaus Dragon's Back Race.
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| The Prizegiving meal at the end of Day Five! |
It was a real pleasure to be able to join the 250 or so competitors who had completed the race as at the prizegiving meal where they were presented with their Dragon, no medals here, to see their faces, hear them share their stories and once again for them to introduce us to their friends and family as their best supporters and people who had helped them so much over the whole event was quite moving and something we will probably never forget.
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| Chris and friends receiving their well earned Dragons! |
For the Record Galen Reynolds from Canada held off Jim Mann to finish first in a awesome and quite staggering time of 37 hours, 48 minutes and 6 seconds, with Robert Barnes claiming third place just holding off a fast charging Austrian Konrad Rawlik who was actually the quickest man home on that final day.
In the women's race Lisa Watson won in a time of Lisa Watson 44 hours, 33 minutes and 23 seconds, which was good enough for 9th place overall in the whole race!, Sabrina Verjee came in second and the Swedish runner Kerstin Rosenqvist finished third.
Whatever the result, each and everyone of the people who entered were true hero's/heroines and those who actually made it to the finish deserve all the credit they are given and more. For us Chris was our hero and that week will be something that we will treasure for a very long time.
Day Stats:- 39 miles (63Km) - Height Gain 7,217ft (2,200m)
- Race Totals 195 miles 50,851 ft
If you are interested in reading more about the Dragon's Back Race 2019 then please click on Chris' personal blog where he has posted from his perspective and also John Kynaston who we cheered on during the event has written a longer post about his experience.
