Ep 23 - Dragon’s Back Race 2022 Special - Part 2

Kev continues his race down the spine of Wales, riding the dragon all the way to Cardiff. 

This episode covers days 3, 4, 5 & 6.

https://www.dragonsbackrace.com/the-route

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 1:16

Croisou again and welcome to episode twenty-three of Aid Station and this is part two of the Dragons Back Special 2022, and you are going to join me at the start of day three. Day three, Dogethlo to Keradigion. This is a huge day. It was uh 70 kilometers and 3400 metres of elevation, and I knew this was going to be a real beast to get through on the day. It's the one that they sort of call the hump day. If you get past this one, you've got a chance of completing. Um, and I just wanted to get my first full day in the bag. Uh, and it starts off with a huge climb up Cadaridris, uh, goes on to the Tarrans, Tarran Hendry, and Tarran Igresil, and uh into Macuntlas, which is about two-thirds of the way through the race where the checkpoint is, and that gives you an opportunity to stop uh in the supermarket and grab some really, really delicious snacks and junk food that you're craving by this point, I can assure you, and then on over Plunderman 4 and down into day four camp. So, this was much more the sort of terrain that I like, it's a bit more runnable, although I really hate that climb up Tarran Hendry, which is um really steep, it's only on grass, but it just seems to go on for and ever and ever, and it's really boring. But the rest of it I really enjoyed. Um, you go down all the way uh down to a water checkpoint at the campsite, um, and I was going really well there. I did some really good descending off of Cataridris, felt like I was going pretty well downhill, didn't have any knee issues, everything held together, and it was all going fine and dandy. I got into McCuntleth. I went into the Nyssa garage in McCuntleth and got a plain cheese sandwich, uh, two cans of coke, two bottles of water that I put into my water bottles rather than get it from the water points, because the water points taste slightly chemically, as they have to, because it's all supplied out of a mobile tanker, and uh, so it was nice to have some ordinary still water out of um uh natural source bottles, and uh to smash down a couple of cans of coke is great and leave one in my drop bag. Oh, that was just delicious. The the cheese sandwich and the coke at that point of the race. I was glad that I went in there because there's another opportunity, there's a co-op that you actually run right past to get into the McCunth checkpoint, and I heard that they were completely out of coke, so everybody had raided them, certainly before I got there as one of the tail enders. I had my next uh major, well, I call it major, but my next big fall. Um, we were going up to uh Plund Lemon 4, and I was going up through a very tussocky route, which is the main route up, but there is a bit of an alternate which involves crossing a small river and a steep climb up onto a track, and then once you get on the track, you're on the right side of the climb, and obviously it's easier terrain over the track. And I saw again uh Gutu Evans take an early bailout to the right to go down that route, but I carried on past him thinking I might try going further up, um crossing higher up. Um, and I was keeping going when um a guy called Glenn Christie, who I'd not come across before, shouted across to me, um, I think we should take a cut here. There's a track across here. So I went across, followed him across the river, and as I jumped the river, slipped sideways off the bank and smacked my left hip on a rock, which really did um hurt, and I sat in well, stood in the river up to my waist for a while, um, just gathering myself together. Uh Glenn heard the shout, turned round and helped haul me out of the river, checked I was alright, gave me a load of uh wine gum type sweets to munch on, which took me ages to get through going up the rest of Blundeman 4, but he was a really nice guy and a really good thing for him to do and to help me. And I started to see quite a lot of Glenn along the way, uh along the route. And this again is the type of nice thing that you get, the people you meet, the things you do, and especially as you seem as you fall over as often as I seem to. Another um uh little note on this day was that uh I was passed by an Irish fellow who's I'm I'm afraid I don't know his name, but he said, Oh, are you the guy that uh smashed your mouth the other day? And I said, Yes, and he said, Can I have a look inside your mouth? Which was a rather strange request, so which I duly did, and he gave me a complete dental diagnosis of what was going on and what I needed to do, and what was possible and what wasn't possible. So I must thank him very much for the free consultancy. Um, and he was a dental uh surgeon, I believe. So that is the type of camaraderie you get on this event, um, and everybody's looking out for you, which is really nice to know. So, not too much to report on day three, except I had a really good day, uh, went quite well. I got in within 45 minutes of cutoff in about 15 hours and uh 14 minutes or something, which was really good. Had to come in on the head torch, of course, at that time, but I wasn't too worried about that. It's quite a nice run back down into camp of day four. And again, once I was in camp, no chance, no time to wash or jump in streams at that time of night, so it was all wet white washes spraying on deodorant and generally um carrying on life in camp like some sort of tramp. Dragon mail, royal news too called sacked Royal News Potter is your new manager Riley Keep going Kev Sending you lots of positive motivation, positive motivation, positive motivation, positive motivation, positive motivation, positive mo you get the idea. Day four and through the Elam Valley. Uh this was a day I've been looking forward to right from the start of the race. Uh, it's more my sort of day when I record I really enjoyed it, um, and it took me about 12 and a half hours to do it. Um, clearly, this was going to be different three days uh after three days worth of hard mountain effort before in the really big stuff in Snowdonia. Uh, but this is uh 69k or 43 miles and 2,300 metres of vert, so nowhere near as high as the previous days, a good thousand metres down on that. Uh a lot more runnable. There's a 10k of road section at the end that's all runnable, uh, and quite a few runnable tracks through the wind turbine areas as well, but it's very exposed, very remote. There's a lot of what people refer to as baby head uh tufts of grass in the Eland Valley, lots of bog. Um, so there are other things to slow you down, it's not all quick running, but um, and uh I got going at six in the morning. Uh did all my usual uh camp admin, got it done in about two hours, taped my feet, all the usual stuff. Uh, really got out uh quick and got cracking, so I was quite happy uh with that. Um there was uh got into a bit of a train going through the forest, it's a very steep forest section near the start, quite dangerous. I'd seen subsequently that Kate Worthington and her team and quite a few people have been out there wrangling, as they call it, before the course, clearing the area through the forest to get down. It was bad enough anyway, so I hate to think what it was like before. Um, and had a really good run every time I got out onto the road sections, picked up the pace, ran well downhill, didn't have any um issues with legs or feet. Everything kept going really well, so I was really pleased with that day out. Caught up with uh Sophie, Jane, and Steve towards the end of the race on the road section down and breezed into camp at uh in 13 and a half hours, so I was well pleased to get in in the daylight. It was the first time that I'd got back to camp in the daylight. I did think about getting in the river for a wash. Uh put my crocs on, wandered across there, but it I just was shivering going across, so I thought, well, there's no point in going here and getting really cold, so it was back for the usual wet wipe, wash down, use of deodorant and spray, and just trying to keep the smell down as much as possible. Um, had really good meal in the evening, as usual. Took my time over that, read my dragon mail, uh, got things all together as much as possible. Uh, that's the great advantage of getting into camp earlier on day four, it really buys you some time for the next day's start, and as day five was going to be such a brutal start, we uh really needed the time, and of course, once we got back into camp on day four, we got the rather awful news. Dragon Mail, Royal News, the Queen's dead. There was quite a lot of talk when we got into camp on the end of day four, about besides the fact it was such a sad occasion that uh our queen had died, that there was a rumour going round that the organisers would have to cancel day six because of our use of Cardiff Castle as the finish. And I mean there was a lot of rumour going on, um, nobody really knew too much what was happening, and there was a lot of speculation about how this would all pan out. And of course, it's hard for people who would put in a really strong four days, um, then had to do day five and weren't even sure if they would uh get a day six dragon or whether they would get their baby dragon for doing five days, and obviously, there were a lot of people with other issues like um logistics um and hotel accommodation and all sorts of things to consider, and it must have been an absolute nightmare for Shane and Aurea events and uh everybody organizing the logistics of the event, but things were handled really really well. I can't praise Shane highly enough for actually what he did. We were met at breakfast of the morning with a uh small note on exactly the options. There were three options provided, um, which included him keeping camp five at camp five and not setting up the end of day six at the castle, um, and that the finish would be a much more low-key affair, but there was going to be six days, and I'm sure most people were happy with that. I certainly was, and I wasn't even a contestant at this point. I just wanted to get those four days in a row done, and I was delighted with the decisions that were taken um and and the actions that were put into place to make it all happen for us. So day five, which was the huge day, takes you out all through the Brecon Beacons. It's a 70k day, which is 43.5 miles and 2,300 metres of vertical elevation. There are about 10 tops that you actually do on this one with some very steep climbs up the side of them through the Breckens. There's a nice little start for me, anyway, out to Landovery. A lot of road running there, and a lot of nice downhill uh cross grass stuff. I decided to put in a good effort once we got onto those stretches to try and get some time in the bag because I knew this was going to be a long day, and um, you know, you can while away the time a bit on the easier sections and then lose out later on. There, but there was one thing I couldn't miss was that the uh there's this wonderful cafe you pass in Hlandovery on the way through. I got myself an oat milk cappuccino and an almond slice and munched that on the uphill stretches up road. Uh, and then uh the weather turned bagged, and when we were climbing Fran Brechio Brechiog, um the wind and rain was the worst of the whole week, really. It was horrendous conditions. Um, some people were in double waterproofs, even, and it was getting quite cold. Uh, and I started to feel quite drained by that, um, and was thinking, God, this is going to be a long day because it was going to be tight for time anyway. Um, but pressed on, the weather cleared after about half of the day. Uh, by the time we got over to the Breckens, and certainly it was sunny uh the Cray Reservoir and the Cray Reservoir River crossing, where I was passed by Jane Gauld, who normally was running with uh Sophie Bennett and Steve Bennett, and I said to Jane, you know, where's Sophie? Because I knew that it was very important to her to get this day done. I knew that it was very important to her to get this day done. Um, and she said, I I hope she's okay, I'm sure you know she's gonna be fine. And obviously, Jane was pressing on a bit. So we carried on with a steep climb after that river crossing is a really steep climb up to the top. I can't remember of which one of those it is, but you go on over about another three tops out in the Breckens. I was on my own a lot, it was quite remote, but some very runnable stuff off the backs of some of the uh mountains, they're a lot more grassy and gentler than it as it is up in Snowdonia, obviously. And I dropped down into um the water point at Story Arms. Once I'd found my way through the tunnel, I was saved by going the wrong direction from another runner, which was good of them. There's a lot of that goes on. Uh, and uh we got into the water point there where I was met by the crazy gang as usual, they're so brilliant, those guys, really supportive. Uh Kaz and uh Deanery's um Davis, I think his name is, and a load of the guys told me about the burger van, which I made full use of. Obviously, I didn't have a burger, but I had a dried bat with grated cheese in it and a Coke, which, as I trudged up the uh Breconway up to Cornew, um was one of the best meals I've ever eaten in my life. It was really amazing. Uh, it's incredible how your body craves that sort of stuff at that stage. But um, I was really getting slower and slower at this point. I bumped into Paul Telford there, who I was really shocked to see because he'd been going really well, and he said he was having quite a bit of shin issues. Um, he'd taken his time there, but he needed he needed to uh press on out because uh we then had the uh Breckenbeacons horseshoe to do. Uh anyway, got right to the literally to the top of Cornew or just below it, and Sophie and Steve came up behind me, and I said, Oh, I was delighted to see them and to see that Sophie had got this far. Um, and with that she passed me and uh fell backwards onto me, and I think I saved uh quite a fall actually, but um it was nice to do her a favour in uh saving her um and because they later paid back that favour, which I shall get on to, but um we ventured off from there across obviously to Pennyvan and over to Kribbin. Yeah, we ventured across to Kribbin, and when we got to Kribbin, um Sophie said that we were about a minute behind their schedule uh and pushed on, and uh Steve said to me quietly that actually we were about eight minutes ahead of the schedule because he'd given her schedules that uh bought her some time with padding in that she didn't realise, which I thought was a really clever move by Steve. Um and so I felt more confident as well that we were moving at the right pace and within the uh time to get us back on what is a very tight schedule for us tail enders to get back in at 10 on day five. Um, and the trek round the escarpment and out to the obelisk was really windy, quite cold. Um, it we went over to head torches at this point, and it was here that I took my third major slam and did my usual trip on the slabs and hit my right shoulder pretty hard on one of these large slabs that were on the escarpment. Um, took two guys pulling my arms to try and get me up, and then I felt these two arms come under my armpits and haul me up from behind, which was Steve, who knew how to get um a dead weight off the ground uh and knew what he was doing, made sure I was alright. Um, I was a little bit shaken, but okay, I'd had enough force by now to get on with it. But I was really grateful that he was there to keep things moving along, and uh we pushed on, and uh it was a lovely sort of harvest moon, uh clear skies, and quite a nice run round the rim, other than the wind. We were glad to get down out of the wind, but then the descent into camp is really um quite horrible. It's rocky, wet, goes down by a river uh through almost jungle-like conditions. Um, you're like literally uh going from branch to branch and scrambling along and grabbing hold of any vegetation to stop yourself slipping into the river. Um, and there is no chance if you're in a hurry and you're trying to make that cut-off time of getting any speed up until you hit the road with about 1k to go. Um, and Steve and Sophie set off at pace, but I realised I was going to get in and decided not to really up it, and got in with 12 minutes to spare. So I was delighted with that, and really big thanks to Steve and Sophie for pacing me back uh from the top of Cornew to get down there and and get it done. So I was really pleased to get in, but of course, there wasn't much time to do much once you get into camp at 10 o'clock at night. Except get your sleeping set up all organized and get into bed. So I decided that I was as it was day five and we had a uh bit more time on day six, though I had to do all my admin on uh day six in the uh in the morning when I got up. Day six, so that is Talibont Reservoir Takada for the day that everybody's been looking for in all of this race, and it's probably an easy day in the terms of the time that you get to do it in. Of course, it's still the 16 hours, and it's still a 40 miler, and I think it's only about 1300 meters of elevation, so not too bad, but of course, you've got to factor in that you've had a big five days in your legs behind you, a very big day on day five, um, and it really is carnage. It's like the army uh returning from a war or a big battle. Um, some of the scenes that you see, the people literally relying totally on their poles to get them home, and not much more than walking. Uh, but I had my worst camp at mid-morning, took about two and a half hours to get ready and got out of camp at 6:30, uh, and just couldn't get going that well. It was probably my worst start physically to get moving, and eventually we came out into some open countryside on grassland with some very gentle downhill all the way, which was really nice, and I got going across there, uh, and then I heard this literally screaming behind me coming along, um, and it was Glenn Christie again, and I've never seen anybody run shouting out loud, uh, but that's what he was doing, he was in so much pain moving along. Um, and he passed me, and I just followed him down for a while, and then he stopped. It got too much for him. Uh, and so I stopped with him, um, encouraged him. Um, you know, I mean, he's a really tough character, and I knew he'd he'd get through and get it done, and I was happy to help out any way I could after what he did for me earlier, and uh we got going again, and I sort of set the pace for a little while, paced him down. Um, he'd noticed another runner coming by with much more of an ultra runner's gait and shuffle, so he adopted that, kept his stride shorter, uh, and seemed to work through it. And we leapfrogged off and on throughout the day, and uh was so pleased to see him at the finish that he got it done. But um, yeah, you come down through onto the tough trail uh down through Merth Tidville. There's an opportunity to stop in the co-op again and get more food and coke, which just seemed to become a regular thing with me in the last few days, and I loved it. Um, and then there's a bit more climbing, and you go out uh, and eventually you end up going through Nelson and then down into open countryside and back to the last water point, which uh is at a pub, and the atmosphere at the pub was fantastic, and again, all the crazy gang were there, um, giving it their all right at the end. Um, I got loads of encouragement, encouragement, and cheers there. Uh, I also saw Neil Saxer, who um I was chasing, if you like, a loss. There was a there was a big diversion that we had to take. I don't think it added any more to the course, but it was 4k of road, mainly uphill, which was quite hard work. And I was sort of using Neil as my marker to keep me moving across there. And eventually we passed each other on and off until the pub where Neil sat down in the pub, and I think he just wanted to enjoy the English pub atmosphere. Um, and you'll see Neil, everybody knows him, I guess, by now because he's a guy that runs around with a cat with a propeller on his head. And uh, you know, I'm not laughing at him, he's a serious runner, but uh it certainly attracts the photographers to him. Um, and uh he got down and got ahead of me and also got it done. I think he he tried last year and failed and uh or wasn't successful, I'm not allowed to say failed, I've been told off for that before. Um, and uh he was successful this year. Um, so anyway, uh I got down from the pub and got to the eventually the last eight miles where you hit the tough trail fully just above Cardiff, um, and then it's all down that straight into Cardiff on hard pack trail or tarmac. And oh, really, it is quite a slog to keep going, and the more level it gets, the more tarmac there is, and the more repetitive the foot movement. Um, and you really do can only do, you know, unless you're like one of the top guys, um run walk, run walk. You know, you you tend to run or jog until you you can't stand the uh pain or pressure anymore and do some walking, then it eases off and you go again. And so that um is where I am at, and where you join me in the last mile heading into Cardiff. Well, I'm on the tough trail coming into Cardiff Castle now. I'm about I think I've done 39 miles, there's only about a mile and a bit to go, and I'll have a round up of how it's been. I've not gonna have to do hardly any podcasting at all, and uh it's been a lot of tarmac, there's a huge amount of tarmac at the end, must be 10 miles a bit or something. Um, and that's obviously not good on most people's feet. Um, my feet have coped with it really well. I don't think I've even got a blister in the whole thing, but I'll get on to that when I do a review of the race. So I'm not gonna get uh a baby dragon, but it's not the end of the world. I've set a new target, I reset my aims after getting hospitalized and was really pleased to get in. I did actually race for all six days and have done well two-thirds of day one and uh just over half of day two, and then all four of the last days. So I'm really pleased with that considering I'm gonna accept that as it. I think people get a bit hung up with uh you know, fixated with doing this and getting the thing, and there's a lot of people that will be getting it, which I'm so pleased about, people like Nicola McNally Roth, and then another woman, Sophie Bennett, who her and her non-relation partner in running, Stephen Bennett, same name, same initials, uh, no other relationship. They got me round yesterday, and Steve was brilliant with his timings and everything, so that was really good. And she has uh sorry, this is all a bit garbled, but my mind is completely frazzed. Um might sound like I'm running my manager sort of not even walking fast, but so anyway. So I'm gonna be quite happy. I'm gonna hi cheers met by my wife, my stepdaughter, and my grandson Harry, who's been dot watching it avidly all week, which is fantastic, he's really got into it. Um, and has been sending me Dragon Mail. The other thing is off so much dragon mail, it's been fantastic. So, all those people that sent me dragon mail, I'm so delighted. There's some lovely messages on there, which um I will get round to covering later. Anyway, it's up to for now until get to the castle. It's not been that bad. It's definitely the world's toughest man, anyway, but got most of it done. So that was my Dragon's Back race. So at the finish, um, there was just this fantastic welcome in. My grandson Harry was there, who'd been watching me all all the race, and he ran in with me. My wife was there, and my stepdaughter Rebecca, Becky, Beck. Um, and uh I just fell apart actually. At the end, I cried like a baby. I think a lot of people did. I the emotional strain of what you're doing and what you're taking on, and the targets you set yourself. Um you know, people had sort of made me out to be a bit of a hero coming back from AE and running the thing, but deep down inside I'm a big softie really. Um and just you just make yourself harder for these things, um, and uh it doesn't do any harm to have a good old cry about it at the end. One of the nicest things of all was that the race director, Shane Oley, came up to me and said some really, really good words. He was I think he was sort of pleased that I'd stayed in and stuck with it, and that you know, a lot of competitors should stick with it longer, get more out of it, and be strong. I certainly I am not disappointed one bit not to have got my dragon. I think I had my the race that I could have had in the circumstances maximised every bit of it I could, made so many new friends, the the the whole the support for each other for the athletes in the event and for all those volunteers helping and everybody who's on the paid crew and everything is just immense. Uh the the whole reluctant to call it a circus, but the whole thing that runs down like the Tour de France through Wales is just incredible. Um, and it's great to be a part of that family. And I can't recommend it highly enough if you feel like you've done enough of uh that type of ultra running um and you want to get yourself into uh condition to do it, you've got a year to do, and uh, I'd highly recommend that you give it a go. It is my without doubt my favourite event, it is without doubt the hardest thing I have ever done, and it's the hardest ultra marathon there is, I believe. Certainly hardest mountain ultra. So, congratulations from me to all those who got their baby dragon. There, that's just an enormous achievement. Uh, to get that trophy, it's memories for life, just shows your complete mental, physical um uh toughness, and the achievement is just undescribable in running, and I'm I'm so pleased for everybody that got it done, especially um uh Sophie Bennett, Nicola Mandali, who I know had come back to give it another go. Uh, Neil Saxer as well, I believe that he didn't get it done the first time round. So, all those people, and anybody else who did, and if you did it in your first attempt, absolutely amazing, well done. And a hundred, I think it was 108 finished out of 322 that were on the start sheet. So that gives you an idea, you know, there's only a third of this field finished again. There are very few dragons who have slain the dragon, um, even now, even after all this number of events. So, well done to you all. I've got to stop waffling. Um, the whole thing has been such a part of my life for the last 18 months or so. It's hard to give it up and let it go. But um, love to you all out there, and keep going and hope to see you at future events. And until the next A station, bye for now.