Race reports and ramblings about Ultra running. 50 milers and a couple of 100 milers under the belt so far. The 76th mile is a reference to the mile where people are most likely to DNF (or refuse to continue...)
I've known Allan Rumbles - the RD of Canary Trail Events - since the early days of the Wednesday nights head torch runs and done many runs with him. The most notable were when he joined me for part of a 50km Christmas day run and the ill feted attempt at Lon Las 2017 where I DNFed at 100 miles and Allan ended up at about 115 miles in the front room of a retired gold miner who still goes to raves.
I've followed his plans to create some epic races - firstly through the charity Christmas Headtorch marathons and Cluedo with Mark Thornberry - to fully fledged competitive race events like the Raven and Copthorne. I had volunteered at a somewhat chilly checkpoint last year at the Copthorne and came back this year as a runner.
The Copthorne weekend is based around Mickleham village hall with a 10 mile loop enabling 4 race distances of 50k, 50 miles, 100k, and 100 miles. I had entered the 100 mile event as part of a field of 22 - there were 103 runners across the 4 distances. We all set off en-masse at 8am on Saturday morning after a quick kit check where my origami canary passed alongside a few basic bits of ultra kit. Having a canary is non-negotiable entry requirement which is a nod to the miners background on the original Headtorch group.
There were a lot of familiar faces at the start - I think I recognised at least 20 from other races. I started next to running royalty in James Elson, John Melbourne, and Drew Sheffield as we headed towards the first climb. The first climb is fairly mild with a decent gradient and the major landmark of a pair of abandoned stolen cars on right. I'm amazed someone managed to get one car, let alone two here down the trail.
Leaonardmartin.photo
Just behind Drew, and just ahead of John Melbourne - early days though
All the good photos are by Lenny Martin - he was out there all day and took some amazing photos.
The hill flattens off onto Michleham gallops which are one of my favourite parts of the course. It is a nice grassy carpet-like section (although slightly uphill) and the field had spread out considerably by this point already. I was probably nearer the back than the front but I was planning to take things easy.
Next up is Kamikaze hill - a very steep pitch covered in leaves and roots. The advice was to run on the right as there were more trees to grab onto. There is a road crossing at the bottom of it so best to keep things in control. I made up a few spots as it was much grippier than it looked. The trail was in great condition given the time of year.
Leaonardmartin.photo
Quads like Derek Henry after my year training for Western States and UTMB
The first half of the course gradually gains height with the occasional step drop until the first set of steps in the Headley Heath part of the course. Despite being fairly flat, it can be tricky in places with some awkward muddy dips before opening up on the heath part through the gorse bushes which is my favourite stretch.
There were some belted Galloway cows which had turned out to watch
Leaonardmartin.photo
I did this climb 11 times due to the deviation on lap 6
After about 5 miles, it takes a left turn and joins a residential road and it is tarmac all the way to the halfway-ish checkpoint at Box Hill village hall. This is a big upgrade for volunteers and runners with access to toilets for runners, and a much warmer environment for the volunteers. A compulsory lap of the hall carpark and it was onto the second half.
Leaonardmartin.photo
Leaonardmartin.photo
The route joins up with the North Downs Way for a bit before taking the 2020 NDW 100 detour but in the opposite direction before merging back on Box Hill. This was a section to make up time with a smooth surface and gentle gradient. I took a couple of stops to take photos to document the glorious morning.
The original plan was to have a loop going over the ramblers bridge and back across the stepping stones but the river was too high so it was both ways over the bridge. The main climb of the route is the 148m vert of Box Hill. It is pretty much all steps which made it easier for me but might not be everyone's taste. The route peels off at the Box Hill viewpoint across Donkey Green for a lovely section through the wood to Broadwood's Tower.
There is a final sting in the tail of a short section of steps down towards the final road crossing at Whitehill Car Park with less than a mile to go. The last climb is ominously called Satan's staircase. It is about 500m of mainly steps but only about half of Box Hill. From there it is a descent to the finish with a section called "Goodnight sweetheart" before a right turn through the church yard and an alley before hitting the short road to the checkpoint. And that was lap 1 done.
I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of lap time but had aimed for 2h30 to build up a buffer on the 3h12 average I would need to complete the race. I was back in just 2:06 so already had built up an hour on the average pace needed. It didn't feel too fast so that was a good sign. I topped up my water bottles, grabbed some crisps, and a gel and set off for lap 2.
I was running with Paul Reader quite a bit and there was a lot of Western States chat. He was due to fly out to California to watch the draw with his 128 tickets (about a 70% chance of getting in - update he was drawn 9th on the waiting list so pretty much in) as part of a trip to the West Coast. He was a bit quicker on the climbs but I made it up on the flats and downs so we spent most of the first 3 laps in touching distance.
Leaonardmartin.photo
Leaonardmartin.photo
I also ran with Richard Stillion for some of it too. He had got a bit lost on the second lap so I had managed to catch up with him. He had raced TDS back in August so there was some UTMB chat for part of the lap too. The second lap was completed before getting lapped so that was a nice bonus. Cumulative time of 4h20 which put me a full 2 hours clear of the minimum so I was in very good shape so far.
Third lap was fairly undramatic and about 2h25 so added another 45 minutes to the buffer. I had been running with a base layer and tshirt which was generally a bit warm but was comfortable on the more exposed parts of the loop. I was lapped for the first time with Ajay flying past on his way to an 8h25 win in the 50 miler. First 50k done in 6h45 leaving 25h15 for 7 laps - less than 3mph needed for a finish now.
I ran with Paul and his usual partner in crime Matt Gaut for quite a bit.
Leaonardmartin.photo
You may have thought 3 x 10 = 30 miles is 48.3km. However the Copthorne lap is actually 16.56km making it perfect for a 3 loop 50k but it means that 10 loops of the course is 165.6km or 103 miles. Not a big difference but 3 miles is an extra hour at the end of the race.
The 4th lap was the last started in the dark - I knew it would probably be dark when I finished but I would see how far I could get. The marshals told me that all mandatory kit needed to be carried but I had my headtorches in my bag from the start. A bit of extra weight but not having them when needed would have been a disaster.
I joined up with Tom Hickman for some of this lap. We was doing his first official ultra with his previous longest run being a marathon virtual challenge. He was smashing it and looking forward to dinner in Spoons afterwards. The darkness was coming in as I made it to the Box Hill loop. I got to the view point and there were loads of cars for some reason by Donkey Green so in the interests of safety, I popped mine on. 38 miles done in daylight and it was the start of a very long night.
40 miles done in 9h25. I wasn't far off the 50k cut off of 9 hours and over 3 hours buffer had been built up. The 5th lap was done almost entirely on my own. I saw Tom on the Box Hill loop and cheered him on to his first 50 finish and shortly after finished my first 50 miles of the race in under 12.5 hours. Very happy days as this gave me nearly 20 hours to get the last 5 laps in.
Leaonardmartin.photo
Tom has the red number just behind me.
I have a 10/24 rule of thumb for 100 milers whereby you 50 mile time is 10/24 of your finish time. For a sub 24, you should aim to get to 50 miles in 10 hours. Given I was at 50 miles in 12h24, I was on track for a sub 30 hour finish. That would make the difference between a lunchtime finish and a cut off chasing sunset finish,.
My 6th lap started off as solitary trudge into the rain. The first landmark of the route is the right hand turn after 500 yards or so which is the point at which there are 10 miles left on the loop and when the first hill properly starts. Then it was gallops which was starting to get waterlogged. It was runnable on the first 3 loops but the combination of tiredness and the slippery terrain meant this would be another walking section.
By the time I got to Headley Heath, Drew had caught up with me. He was walking with me which I assumed was politeness but he said it was because he had mainly been walking the first 3.5 miles of the lap. His view was that the first 3.5 miles was the hardest of the course - I had been swayed by Box Hill being the toughest but the first part is pretty slow going with some decent climbing and energy sapping terrain.
He asked if I had about 55 miles on my watch - I had 54 or so - and then headed off into the darkness. He was pretty much the only runner I had spoken too out on the course in the about 5 hours. I then caught up with a guy who was a lap behind - he was struggling with injuries but wanted to get to 50 miles so was going fairly slowly. Then I was back on my own again.
Something felt quite strange as everything seemed to be repeating itself. No to be fair, it was my 6th loop so things were obviously going to be getting familiar but things seemed to recent. My watch had stopped counting down to the end of the lap but was dutifully tracking each turn. I reset the navigation but I was still stuck at 7 miles left of the lap despite being 57 miles in now. I should have been at the village hall by now.
Had Drew's magnificent calves caused a deviation in the time-space continuum? I was really confused but kept moving. Eventually I made it out of Headley Heath and onto the approach to Box Hill village hall. I must have got lost somewhere and I was trying to work out how much distance I had lost. I came into the car park with 58 miles on my watch. Even allowing for the 103 expected distance, I was quite a bit over where I should have been.
I stuck my head into the hall to say hello to the folks in the hall. Lindley and Spencer were there and I had a quick chat and share my bonus miles with them. I also figured it was worth speaking to someone to check I wasn't going completely mad and good to see some friendly faces before heading back out into the terrible weather. I've looked at the results since and I lost about 30-40 minutes with bonus miles.
It was a fairly downbeat lap. In theory, it should have been a good one as it started with being halfway done by distance, and crossed the midpoint by time - for a 100 mile race is typically 57 miles. Lap 6 was the half marathon lap...
I got back to the village hall and had a good laugh with the volunteers about my misfortune. They picked me up with a cup of tea and an excellent pasta Bolognese. I was going with the approach of taking on a chunk of calories at the start of each lap and then topping up with a sweets or a gel and some sports drink. There was one chap who was looking like dropping out and I shared my views on the course (incurring a swear jar fine). I headed back out with him still sat there gazing into the distance.
There was a slight recalibration of my target finish time after the 4 hour lap. I had finished 6 laps in 16h21 so had just under 16 hours for 4 laps left. Barring injury, there was no reason I wouldn't finish. I set off on lap 7 just after midnight having already run 25 miles in the dark. Typically 7 hours with a headtorch on would be enough to complete an entire night section of a summer race but this was just over half of the darkness done and close to 7 hours left.
On lap 7, I watched every turn with an eye to see where I had gone wrong. About 2.5 miles in, I could see on my watch there was a rogue line coming in from the side just before I headed up the steps. About 2 miles later, there was a left turn where most of the traces had gone, but one had gone straight on. I was briefly running with a lapped runner at this point and nearly missed the turn again. He was convinced the route was straight on but it most definitely wasn't. I don't think I'm the only person to miss this turn and probably won't be the last. It is clearly signed with an arrow and repeater tape when you make the turn so it was definitely my fault.
The lap had become much harder with the change in weather. It had been raining steadily from sunset onwards and the trail was muddy and slippery. It had been pretty much perfect for the first 40 miles but sections like Kamikaze hill were very tricky. The sandy section on Headley Heath had become pretty grim and pretty much all the first third of the course was walking now. The road to the Box Hill village hall became surprisingly tricky as the fog had come in reducing visibility to a few yards, and there was standing water by the speed bumps to avoid.
There was a chance to make up some time on the North Downs Way section. It was pretty good in places but towards Box Hill, the adverse camber of the trail made for very challenging underfoot conditions. Getting to the steps of Box Hill was a relief - at night time, the steps were by far the easiest part of the course as the stable footing more than made up for the steps.
I finished up lap 7 a few seconds under 20 hours. This left 12 hours meaning I had 4 hours per lap left which was very achievable. Lap 8 would be my lap in the dark as dawn would break in about 3 hours or so. First up was my usual pit stop of pasta and tea before heading out into the darkness.
The 8th lap was a case of waiting for sunrise as that would give a big lift and also make for easier progress with the improved visibility. I figured it would be roughly halfway through the lap but the fog meant I ended up doing pretty much the entire loop with the headtorch on. It hit low battery as I made it past Broadwood's Tower and the combination of the low light of the morning and the weak beam of my headtorch saw me home. I came prepared with 4 headtorches and 2 spare batteries as it was going to be a long night. My first NAO+ battery only lasted a lap but the other did a solid 3 laps. The night section is probably twice as long as your average 100 miler night section.
On the last part of the lap, I hooked up with Paul White - we made it into Race HQ about 5 minutes before Drew came in to win the race. I had been lapped by Drew at about mile 53, Fumiaki at about 63, and Chelle at 78 but nobody had lapped me twice which was a small victory.
It was an extended break before starting lap 8 as Drew was presented with his winner's trophy and there was less urgency now as I had 8h15 for 2 laps. It wasn't going to be sub 30 but a finish was very likely now. It was time to head out with the headtorch safely stowed in the bag (I had a small emergency one in case something went wrong on lap 10)
Lap 9 onwards was a case of walking it in. The trail was treacherous in places and my required pace was only 2.5mph which is not a particularly fast walk. Having daylight helped quite a lot but it was still raining pretty heavily. The Goodnight Sweetheart section had gone from being easy to being like a slip n slide.
For the final pitstop, it was now a breakfast menu. I had a lovely slice of toast and jam with the compulsory tea - I also had a cup of coffee for a final boost. There were now only 4 people left on the course. There were 3 finishers so all that was left was Sinead just ahead, Paul & me, plus Alison who was a fair bit back and would have some work to hit the final cut off.
The lap of honour was kind of fun with each part ticked off in turn. The abandoned car, the gallops (which were now repopulated with dog walkers), sliding down Kamikaze hill, a final lap of Headley Heath, ... And then my watch ticked over to 100 miles just before I made the turning I missed 16 hours earlier. I popped into the hall to thank the volunteers for hanging out there in case we needed them. It is weird but having it there makes the lap much easier knowing you have a place to stop if you need it.
This left 2h30 for less than 5 miles so it was a stroll to the finish. One last climb of Box Hill, a traverse of Donkey Green, past Broadwood's tower, down the steps to Whitehill car park, a final climb of Satan's staircase and then the run into the finish. I had done the last 2 laps with Paul and he was safely finishing now with gravity on his side so I pushed on as I had a bit of running in my legs still as the previous 8 hours had been mainly trying to safely walk it in rather than chasing time. I had managed not to fall the entire race which was a minor miracle.
I put in a token sprint finish to cross the line in 31:18 with 42 minutes to spare on cut-off. 5th place out of 23 starters. Paul crossed the line a few minutes later and Alison was the final finisher with less than 5 minutes to spare. Unbelievably, this was Paul's first ever 100 mile race having only started running in 2019.
Mr T supervised my post-race tea and stroopwafel
As a running challenge, the 100 mile version is up with there with some of the hardest that are out there. There have been 12 finishers out of 46 attempts (26% completion rate) which compares with about 50% for Lakeland 100, and the Arc of Attrition which are regarded as two of England's toughest 100 mile races.
The looped nature of the course makes it mentally much tougher as it is easy to just call it a day if things aren't going to plan. It also feels a bit pointless compared with a massive loop like UTMB or point to point like the South Downs Way. You also know exactly what you have to do (and do multiple times). By dropping out, you aren't missing out on seeing things so that makes it harder to keep going.
There is more elevation than the Lakeland 100 but with 8 hours less to do it in. The Lakeland 100 terrain is much tougher compared with a dry Copthorne loop but when it gets moist, it is a different matter as the wet leaves and mud combine with tricky cambers to make it challenging. I used hiking poles Lakeland 100 but didn't here. I don't think the climbs justify it, and it is mainly running so I felt they would get in the way. However I probably could have benefited from them when on the last lap or two.
I also suspect that if the Copthorne 100 was in June, it would see a much higher finisher rate but being in November it has 15 hours of darkness and up to 50 miles done in the dark. The small field means you are often battling away on your own. All of this adds up to a great challenge and will should grow in popularity - especially now Wendover Woods has moved to July from its traditional November spot.
The race has amazing volunteers and hospitality. Also thanks to Leaonardmartin.photo for some great action shots - all the photos of me are taken by him. The central race HQ means that resources can be focused on one hall with great hot food and drinks provided through the night even with only a handful of runners still out there. The nature of the event also draws in crew members to help out non-crewed runners. A shout out to Drew's mum, and Team Imamura San who I'm sure were wearing crew t-shirts by the end. And thanks of course to Allan for putting on the race. Once the rush of the first lap was done, it was personal service every lap for the whole 30+ hours.
This is a race that should be on the bucket list of British 100 mile runners. It is a big step up in difficulty from Centurion 100 milers and you need to have pretty decent mental strength as well as physical ability to get round in the 32 hours. My slowest Centurion 100 was the NDW100 in 25:30 so this is maybe another 6 hours on top of that (and another 9 Box Hills). And it is currently one of the rarest medals out there and quite a few DNF scalps...
The Western States start line is one of the most famous in ultra-running. It is the start of a 100 mile adventure along the Western States Trail through the Sierra Nevada to Auburn. And I was fortunate to be one of 384 or so who would be attempting to complete that journey. Getting to the start line for me was far harder than getting to the finish line. It required persistence - 6 consecutive years of running a 100 mile qualifier - and a bit of luck as my cumulative odds were still only 31% of getting in after 6 years.
It was a fairly low key starting line as these things go. It is a relatively small field and as I was walking to the start, Camille Heron was next to me - you don't get to line up next to world record holder every day. It was pretty cold at 430am and I had just my race clothes on me so went inside the gondola station by the start until just before the gun. There were lots of other folks who had the same idea but also quite a few folks outside filming and getting excited
I was doing the race without crew and my bag had very kindly been taken to my finish line hotel by Mrs. Bennett so I had gone to bed the night before with only things that I would have on race day. This made race morning extremely easy as I just needed to put on the clothes I had lined up and eat my cookie that I had bought for the shop washed down with a cup of coffee. I left the hotel drinking a can of Dr Pepper and got a "breakfast of champions" greeting from a passerby - I wasn't going to be a champion today but it is one of my favourite non-coke soft drinks.
There was a good pre-start send off - I can't remember any of it but it wasn't too drawn out and there was a hard stop of 5am for the shotgun and we were off. Lots of stuff about being nice to each other and remember to thank the volunteers.
Start to Lyon Ridge (10.4 miles)
I had recced the first climb on Thursday and I had no fears about it - other than going too quickly. It was a reasonably steep service road which had quarry trucks travelling up and down it so not exactly technical. I had started mid-pack and gone backwards but I was happy enough with pace. As Ken F says, if you wouldn't run it after 50 miles, you shouldn't be running it after 3 miles so I walked it with a few jogs every so often to keep loose.
When you watch the videos on YouTube, the leaders are all running up the first bit and they cover the 3.5 miles in about 40 minutes despite it being a 2,500ft climb. I made it up to the timing point in just over an hour. This was the biggest climb of the race and also the highest point so a pretty good start. Par for 24 hours was a few minutes quicker than that but no point burning myself up on the first climb.
There were loads of people who had hiked up to the top and it was a pretty good atmosphere and the sun had just emerged - it was shortly after 6am now. Fortunately we were heading down the other side of the valley so back into the shadow of the mountain. The crowds were behind now and it was a lovely section of single track into the forest.
At 9:35 you can see me with my red top and distinctive white cooling arm sleeves
I went over the top in about 307th place and definitely towards the back of the back. There was a long line of runners and very difficult to overtake so I just took my place in the line. Without all the folks in the way, I would have pushed on a bit but on the other hand it wasn't a bad thing having my pace forced to be slower. There was chat in the race briefing about fallen trees, streams run through, and mud on this section but it was pretty benign compared with British winter conditions.
I picked up quite a few places on the section to Lyon Ridge - mainly folks disappearing to the woods briefly or stopping to sort things with their packs. The trail wasn't great and I think this is a rarely used section with pretty much all maintenance being done by volunteers from WSER. Very little chance to overtake without help from those being overtaken and in any case making a pass would just mean being stuck behind the next runner. I was aware I was still well over 7,000ft up in the sky so still worth managing the effort.
If you are a bit keener on getting a fast time, it is probably worth trying to push a little bit on the first climb as 10 minutes made a difference of 200 spots and a very different speed through the single track. This was the case for a warm year but it might well be very different in a snow year. 54 minutes was 150th spot and 64 minutes back in 340th.
I had hoped to be at Lyon Ridge in less than 2h30 but was there in 2h47. Not much in the grand scheme of things but it slightly disconcerting to be there just outside the recommend pace for 30 hours. However it is a 30 hours race and better to be 15 minutes too slow than too fast. First aid station was here and it was very busy. I was a bit disorganised getting my stuff together and eventually got refuelled and bottles topped up. I had some melon and coke before getting on my way. The massive sponges of water were appreciated greatly - it wasn't that hot yet but the sun had come out of the shadow of the first pass.
Lyon Ridge to Robinson Flat (30.3 miles)
I made good progress on the section to Red Star Ridge - I was chipping away at a decent pace and overtook a lot of folks. It was gently undulating and much wider so suited my style enabling me to ease past those who had set off too quickly. This was probably the nicest section of the race for me. It was starting to warm up but still a pleasant temperature and the views were stunning. Have a play on streetview as I didn't take any photos unfortunately. Classic California mountain views with pine trees and wide ranging views as funnily enough you are running along a ridge.
I caught up with Christian here and the field was starting to spread out so the aid station was fairly quiet. I had covered the section in 1h20 to make it here just over 4 hours for less than 16 miles so behind 24 hour pace in absolute terms and adjusted for pace. But I was now a solid 5 minutes up on the 30 hours pace. Still very early days and I had kept my effort under control so I was very happy to be making a solid dent in the distance.
It was quite a stretch to Duncan Canyon - the longest between two - and I was definitely in need of some refreshment. It was starting to warm up despite being only 11am and DC aid station certainly didn't disappoint. There was a great selection of food and massive buckets of ice plus an excellent range of canned beverages. It was also the first aid station with crew access. I didn't have crew but it was still nice to loads of supporters even though they weren't there for me.
I set off down to Duncan Canyon itself with possibly a bit too much ice. I had stuffed ice down between my elbow and wrist which started to really hurt before long. The Canary Trails Events buff was working much better. It was a nice temperature for all of about 3 miles until I got down to the canyon itself - the ice had melted by then and I was bone dry again. I had been told to make the most of the creeks and had a good soak here. Not quite a full swim as I had my phone and passport in my backpack but helped to cool things down again. The moment was captured for posterity in possibly one of the worst race photos ever.
It was a solid chunk of climbing up to Robinson Flat and it was getting seriously hot. Oh and I was working my way up to 7,000ft for the aid station. I had a good chat with Steve who lived in Texas and worked in oil and gas on the way up plus I finally tracked down Dick from Crickhowell. My parents had noticed him on the start list and had asked about him but I hadn't met him before until now.
I ran out of water going up to Robinsons Flat and was massively struggling but pushed on as I figured I would only get more dehydrated if I hung around. This was a key milestone for me as I had split the race into 3 parts and this was the end of the high country and the start of the middle third. There was a massive aid station where with loads of people and a party atmosphere. It was 12:30 now and the sun was pretty hot but being up at 7,000ft probably helped take the edge off.
The thing I found quite strange was that at no point in the race did I really feel sweaty. It was clearly high temperatures but low humidity so any sweat or water evaporated quickly - certainly faster than I was sweating.
I had my first drop bag here. Amusingly I ended up putting more into my drop bag than I took out. Jill and Simon had very kindly taken my bag to the finish line hotel so I had spent the previous night with just me race kit. My only luxuries I had kept behind was a toothbrush and deodorant which both were put back in my drop bag as I would need them when I finished.
I had considered changing shoes here and packed some in my drop bag but decided to stick with the ones I was wearing. I had worn them round Lakeland 100 without issues so figured it was best not to fix what wasn't broken. The first 70 miles probably justified lighter trail shoes but I was fine with slightly chunkier one.
I was pretty happy with progress to here. I very much hoped for a time beginning with a 6 but it was 7h30 unfortunately. Still a slim chance of a sub 24 but I would need to have a great race. Par was 8h10 and the cut off was 9h10 so I was looking very good for a buckle. The pacing was going the right way having hit the first aid station outside the 30h pace but was 40 minutes up now so I was pretty relaxed.
I was one of a small minority of runners without crew or pacers and as a result had different travel plans to most. The standard way for the Brits was a direct flight into San Fran and then a hire car from there - it about a 3.5 hour drive from there. I hate driving so flew into Reno via Phoenix and back home from Sacramento via Dallas.
The drive from Reno is about 50 miles and I had originally planned to get a taxi/Uber from the airport but as I was grabbing my bag from the carousel, I heard someone was "good luck with your race" and figured it was someone doing Western States. I had a chat with him and it confirmed he was indeed one of the 384. I figured he might want to share a taxi but he had a hire car and I so offered gas money for a lift
I had been warned not to race too hard on the 13 miles or so to Last Chance. I had run walked this bit with 3 aid stations and 13 or so miles in about 2h50. Sub 24 pace would have been about 2h40 and Sub 30 was 3h10 so I felt like I was just about holding on - especially as I felt I was managing the effort nicely.
There were some crappy dirt tracks with generally considerate drivers but one bell end with a cobra kai sticker. I guess pretty much everyone was with the race so was happy to give us room. It ducked in and out of the trees so was fairly pleasant and either flat or gently sloping down.
After Last Chance, it felt like a roller coaster was about to start. I knew there was a massive legendary canyon coming up but just waiting for it to start. The lead up to it was pretty cool as the trail contoured along the valley but it looked a hell of a long way down to the river and a long way back up.
Eventually the hairpins started and I paired up with Steve again - it took me ages to realise it was him as I he had changed top. This was a pretty brutal descent and being a pair helped massively as it kept us both honest and pushing on. I felt like this must be making up decent chunks on both the cut off and 24 hour pace. The drop of 1,500ft in 1.5 miles was pretty tough going but there was the reward of the creek underneath the iconic Swinging Bridge and took less than 20 minutes.
There is a little beach and I went waist deep into the water. I had taken off my pack and took a minute or two and cooled down before the climb up Devil's thumb. The canyon was very deep so the sun had moved behind the hill even though it was only late afternoon. I suspect the climb is very different for those who hit it under the midday sun rather than at 4pm. And so the famous Devils Thumb began...
Hiking poles are banned on the Western States and I definitely could have used them here. The climb up the other side was also 1,500ft in 1.5 miles but was significantly more than 20 minutes. In fact the 2 miles up to the aid station were like 1 hour and 20 minutes. Climbing is not my specialty - particularly steep long climbs.
Getting to the aid station was a key milestone - almost halfway and one of the two big canyons out the way. Unfortunately I reached the 47 mile point in 12 hours which confirmed it wasn't going to be a sub 24 day - but it almost meant I had 18 hours for 53 miles which is below 3mph required. There were quite a lot of folks in sat in chairs chilling out - I figured I might as well do the same for a bit to recover and set up for the push to Forest Hill and the dark.
The aid station crew were pretty adept at getting people out of the aid station - "you don't get a buckle sitting in the chair" - "the buckle is that way" etc. However I hadn't sat down for more than a minute or so which was at Robinson's Flat where I sorted my drop bag stuff so figured I could spare 3 or 4 minutes. The aid stations were very well stocked but I noticed something different at this one - a bottle of insect repellent. I asked if I could have some and a quick spray which definitely helped on the next canyon. I was covered almost head to toe but had some exposed spots around the knees and neck.
I was off now towards the second big canyon - El Dorado. The next aid station was 5 miles away and about 2,500ft lower. This would be the last of any altitute issues as we were half the height of Emigrant pass and would be down to below 2,000ft at the bottom of the next Canyon. I took it fairly easy on this section in comparison to coming down Deadwood Valley - I figured trashing my quads for a gain of a few minutes and potentially risking my race wasn't worth it. Maybe if I was here an hour or two earlier... but I wasn't.
El Dorado canyon was less steep than Deadwood and also had the added bonus of an aid station at the bottom. It was a fairly bijou one but it is impressive that there was anything down here as it would need to have been carried here on foot or horseback. Final proper big climb of the race was going to take me up to Michigan Bluff which was less than 3 miles away. I can also confirm it is nothing like an overpass in Florida.
I had in my mind the Michigan Bluff was the key aid station to get to. The main challenges of the race would be done by then - the high altitude would be done, and the last of the 1,500ft+ climbs out of the way, and the worst of the heat should be done too. At 55.7 miles, it was also well over halfway distance and probably just over halfway by time too.
This was the first point in hours where there were people outside of the race bubble. It has been almost entirely racers and race volunteers since Dusty Corners with no crew allowed and it was pretty remote so very few spectators. There were a few people watching and cheering which was nice - it was the closest thing to a town on the route so far but would barely be classed a village. It did however have an excellent aid station. I had the usual cola and ice but added in a cup of vegetable broth to mix things up.
The food
Michigan Bluff to the River
I headed off with an aim to get to Forest Hill without a head torch but it was a bit of a long shot. It was 630pm and cooling down a bit, with initially some easy gravel roads to run on but it was about 10km/6 miles to get done before darkness. I ended up running with a guy who was keeping an eye his runner. He was in street clothes carrying a big bottle of water and his runner had nearly dropped at Michigan Bluff after an extended stop there so he was checking in case he turned back.
For future editions, the Last Chance to Michigan Bluff section is likely to very different to when I ran it as the Mosquito fire burned approximately 120 square miles including about 12 miles of the Western States Trail. There are quite a few sections which have been burned over the years and it recovers eventually but this is significant burn with 78 structures destroyed but fortunately no deaths or serious injuries. My day job used to include modelling California wildfires so I was well aware this was a very high risk area and quite a few historic burn scars were noticeable.
You are allowed pacers if you get to here after 8pm but I well in advance of that so I having an official pacer would not have been allowed but we just happened to be a couple of folks running on the trail at the same time. We chatted for a while - he had been to Royal Ascot the week before - and there was a bit of good chat. When we got to the bottom of Volcano Canyon, he dropped me as his runner must have had a decent revival as I had been running relatively well and the other runner was nowhere to be seen.
The climb up towards Forest Hill wasn't too bad - certainly not serious switchbacks - and it wouldn't be too long until the big aid station where pacers were allowed for everyone. I had about 2 miles to go on my GPX so was counting things down as the light was reducing. It looked like the sun would win but it would be a close thing.
I caught up with a guy and said something like 4km to go the aid station and his response was "I know". It felt a bit chippy but then he started laughing and showed me his number. They all have the runner's name and where they from - this was Dave Hope from Forest Hill which was where the next station was. What were the odds?
We ran together towards the aid station and picked up his pacer along the way. She gave updates on all the front runners - the top 5 men had already finished and we had 38 miles to go. Sadly Camille's hopes of finishing in daylight weren't happening as she was outside the top 5 and still had a quite a few miles to go. She also gave a bunch of updates on mid pack local folks who I didn't know but was strangely quite entertaining. She also had a pair of headtorches - one for her and one for Dave so I didn't bother getting mine out.
It was pretty handy as I could just follow their feet into Forest Hill - it was pretty dark but all either road or smooth gravel so easy enough. Before long, the bright lights of Forest Hill school and the major aid station were here. Time to pick up the big head torch plus a few bits and bobs for the night section. Also a change of top as the current one absolutely stank.
Pretty much everyone picked up a pacer here but I hadn't got one organised. I had half-heartedly tried through the pacer portal but was arriving solo. I had heard of people picking one up along the way into Forest Hill as some people turn up to pace but didn't see anyone on the way in.
As I came into the aid station I saw the unmistakable figure of Gordy Ainsley. I passed on a greeting from Tim Lambert and had a quick chat - he asked if I needed anything and I asked if he could get me a pacer. He said he would see what he could do...
I sat down and did my admin and a volunteer came over and told me all the freelance pacers were taken and I was there too late. I wasn't too bothered as I'm pretty comfortable running through the night on my own. I set off down the road and it was a lot trickier to navigate in the dark and in town. I had put a GPX on my watch but it is harder to work out which alleyway/footpath is the WSER trail. A couple of other runners came past so followed them and was back in the woods and on track.
The next section was a bit of a low point - I had hoped to get some company for the next section but was ok on my own. Most races - even with pacers - tend to have some element of grouping up overnight where this was almost entirely people running in pairs. It hadn't really felt like a race to me but some of the pacers seemed quite competitive and would try to push their runner on when I started to catch up. It cracked me up as I was in something like 200th place not exactly at the sharp end.
I had been recommended to save the legs until after Forest Hill as the running is much easier - it was very much easier now it was cooler, no altitude and generally undulating rather than big climbs. However I couldn't really be bothered to push it so just kept chipping along with a bit of run-walk. The field was fairly spread out so didn't really see many folks on this stretch.
There were three really cool night time aid stations of Cal-1, Cal-2, and Cal-3. The trail was probably really cool to run during the daytime but was a bit meh at night. Pace was reasonable - well above 3mph so keeping pace with cutoffs but not exactly blistering. This was a section of just getting it done interspersed with a few chats with aid station volunteers and working out what to eat. I think the best aid station was Quesadillas which were excellent and possibly an excellent grilled cheese sandwich at some point.
This section was also somewhat overshadowed by having Rucky Chucky River Crossing coming up - one of the highlights of the course but also a bit scary. The years with lots of snow tend to have boat crossing due to the higher melt rate feed the river so given that this year was almost no snow, it would be a crossing on foot. The lack of snow made for faster going but would be offset by a slower river crossing.
I was pretty excited about the river and there were loads of people watching including the British crew - they were not far behind me. Lots of action at this point of the course - no chance to waiver about onwards progress or ponder too much. Other folks were chilling out on camping chairs with their crew but I wanted to get on with it.
I got to the river and they put a glow stick around my neck - I had been slightly worried about doing a Jim Walmsley and heading off down the river so at least they would be able to see me float away. I slowly eased into the water but got stuck behind a very slow moving pacer - the runner had moved much quicker across the river and was almost out but the pacer was moving very slowly across the river so I had to wait. This could be an excellent strategy but I doubt that was the case
It was kind of nice having the legs cooled down - a bit like an ice bath - but the shorts area was much less fun. There was a decent gap between the rocks you needed to step on so it wasn't that easy to cross in fairness to the slow moving pacer. It was also fairly slippery. The volunteers were reminding me to keep my backpack above water if I had electricals in it - I was much more concerned about my passport not getting a soaking though!
I had a mild panic in the water as there seemed to be loads of bugs biting my legs. I asked the lady holding the rope what they were and it was a bunch of seeds which had got stuck to my long socks. Panic over and just getting across the river to worry about.
River to the Buckle
The river is the lowest point of the course so obviously it was a climb up from there. Less than 2 miles to the next aid station but all uphill. A steady 7-8% gradient and a gravel road so not too bad but just a bit of a drag - 2 miles in about 45 minutes or so. On the upside though, there were some stunning beautiful stars to look at every so often to take the mind off the grind.
For the Elites the race is said to start at Rucky Chucky but for me it was getting towards the end as I had less than 20 miles to go and almost 8 hours to do it in. Just a couple of mid-sized climbs and it was fairly cool so no real objective challenges apart from cumulative tiredness to worry about. A few more miles through the forest to get to Auburn Lake Trails.
I caught up with a pacer and runner on this section. The pacer was talking a lot and the runner was silent. I figured I would chat to the pacer a bit who seemed happy to have someone to talk to/at. We talked about various races and then I mentioned I done a 253 miles race through Wales at which point the runners pipes up in an unmistakable Welsh accent. It was Dick Jones who I ran with back on the way to Robinson's Flat.
The pacer asked if we knew each other and we hadn't met before race day. When I had first met Dick back at mile 30, I had asked if he knew my aunty but didn't. However his mind has clicked into gear and my Aunty Gillian and Uncle David where better known to him as Gill and Dave - his neighbours. Wales is often a very small world and likewise ultra running.
They were steaming along and I hung onto the back of them until Auburn Lake Trails. My headtorch had gone to low battery mode but I managed to hang on until the aid station where I had my spare - or rather third headtorch. I always carry at least two with me for night sections. I also took the unusual step of having a cup of tea. I quite like hot drinks during ultras - even if it is quite hot - but that isn't really a thing in California. I had a lovely cup of breakfast tea and dawn was starting to break so I cracked on leaving Dick and pacer behind as they were taking a longer stop.
The next section was one my favourites - I suspect if I was chasing a silver buckle and hit it in dark it would be pretty dull but it was lovely trails with a gradual downhill towards the penultimate aid station of Quarry Road. It was getting warm but not quite hot yet and there was the famous blue skies above.
There was a bit of surprise here. There were about 4 or 5 volunteers and one of them looked just like Scott Jurek - turns out it was the 7 time champion who had turned out to help. It was pretty cool to be able to chat to an absolute legend. I had read Eat and Run cover to cover on the flight over so it was all fresh for me.
There is a section about doing something great with their lives and finishing Western States - whether in 14 hours or 29:59 - counts as doing that. I said that I was very pleased to be able to have that chance. Turns out Hal Koerner was also on the aid station who won WSER in 2007 and 2009. He has less distinctive hair though. The maths to finish now was 4.5 hours and 9.5 miles - hence my happiness to have a chat with Scott and get a souvenir selfie.
It was starting to get quite warm now as it was 630am - still really early but it was going to get very hot on the Sunday. There were a couple of hills which look tiny on the course profile but when you are on the ground with 90 miles in the legs, a 900ft climb (1.5 Box Hills) isn't trivial. About an hour of uphill trudging to the last real aid station of Pointed Rocks - I always thought it was called painted rocks but pointed makes more sense.
There was the famous crossing of Highway 49 where I had State Troopers stopping traffic for me. It was quite a strange experience as I was going pretty slowly and seeing cars having to stop for me. I did get a bit of a hustle on so I looked vaguely like a proper runner but then resumed walking on the other side.
The last aid station was amazing with a full array of breakfast items with pancakes, blueberries, bacon, and lots of other things. I just stuck with gels and coke plus a couple of other things as I didn't want to take my chances so close to the finish. There were loads of people here and it was quite an atmosphere. I just wanted to get to the finish though.
I had amended my goals here to finish ahead of golden hour. About a quarter of the finishers are in the last hour but I wanted to avoid the drama and actually watch it rather than being part of it. This gave me just over 2 hours for about 6 miles. Plenty of time to spare for a comfortable finish.
I could see one last canyon to cross - one more view of the American River and a last climb of the race. It was the famous No-Hands Bridge. I would say that I have ticked pretty much all the Western States boxes but going over here in broad daylight is a bit meh in comparison to the glory of a night time crossing with the fairy lights and massive party. Now just for the last drag up to the finish.
The last climb was very much a pain in the arse to be honest. It has got really quite hot despite being only about 9am and it was pretty steep - a straight up climb with no switchbacks. The other slightly annoying thing was that the locals were out for their morning exercise. After over 24 hours of having a deserted trail with everyone going the same way, it was tough to deal with folks coming the other way. Runners are really annoying when they come towards you and try to take the line you are going for. I just stuck with my lines regardless and they moved as I was going so slowly.
I didn't really count the Robie Point (like wardrobe rather than Robbie) as an aid station when I looked at it on the map but it was set up with a full array of things despite only being about a mile from the finish. I got a final spray down with water and made the victory lap into Auburn. It was an incredible atmosphere with almost every house having people outside cheering you in.
A lady asked where my crew and pacer were and if they were going to run in with me. I pointed out that I had neither and had "done it on my own". Here response was "well done you badass" - I believe this an American complement. This however was fairly far from the truth as whilst I had no pacer or crew, I wouldn't have got much past Lyon Ridge - or even to the start line - without the help of the hundreds of amazing volunteers. There are typically about 15 runners who finish without pacer or crew each year out of the 400 or so starters.
I regret not having a pacer for a couple of reasons. The night section was a lot less social than other races as runners were generally paired up and already had someone to talk to so weren't going to talk to a random guy. More importantly though, having a pacer gives someone a chance to take part in the race - could be a local who runs the trails every day and gets a chance to see them on race day. I would recommend giving the pacer portal a go as some of the Brits did that. Likewise if you know people who did it last year, see if you can get in touch with the pacer they used.
I had thought it was going to be downhill from here but it was pretty flat and I'm sure was uphill in places. I had a reasonable amount left in my legs but not enough to run in it for the last mile. I then got close enough to see the famous Placer High school (like French place rather than finishing place). I kept pushing and then taking a walking break until I finally saw that it was the end.
I had one of the live stream guys join me and I was absolutely flying when I got to the track. No doubt I could have finished much quicker than I did but this was a run rather than a race against the clock. Something to be measured by how much I enjoyed it rather than places or times. I was shifting and flew past a lady on the last bend who had a massive crew of folks and I steamed across in the middle lane with arms in the air - text book finish. 28:26:43 with 90 minutes to spare. Nowhere near a silver buckle but ready to watch the folks of golden hour.
As overheard at the first indoor checkpoint after 100 miles. Mark was stood next to a camping stove outside the CP boiling up some water for a cup of tea. The road book had no mention of hot water so this came as no surprise to me - especially after the Kettle related bantz between Karl Shields and Mark from the 2017 edition.
So what is Lon Las Ultra? To quote the website:
A 250 mile non-stop race from Holyhead to Cardiff Bay down the centre of Wales crossing several mountain ranges. Mostly on road, you will be virtually self sufficient which will make this an incredibly difficult challenge as you would come to expect from COCKBAIN EVENTS.
You will follow Sustrans cycle route 8 all the way, with the last 55 miles along the 'Taff Trail', making this possibly the longest non-stop road ultra in the UK. As will all our events this will be no-nonsense, basic and low key designed to push you to your limits'.
Time limit 88 Hours
Support: Water ONLY every 25 miles. Drop bag access every 50. Minimal shelter
Hardness Rating 9.5
Mark Cockbain RD
I had a DNF on the first edition of the race back in 2017. I had finished the Centurion Grand slam in 2016 and originally had signed up to the Thames Ring 250 as a step up from that (GUCR was the other option but clashed with half term). I saw Lon Las and switched to that race as the route seemed a lot more inspiring. A combination of the weather, navigation errors, poor kit choices, and the scale of the race led me to bail out after 100 miles. I then had DNS in 2019 due to illness (starting with a cough/cold was a bad idea) so I was now back for a third attempt.
It is a pretty long journey for me up to Holyhead and I was due to head up at lunchtime but managed to get my work to-do list cleared the night before so headed up mid-morning. I ended up meeting up with David Harvey at Euston station and had lunch while we waited for our trains. It was a chance to compare note on Lakeland 100 and other races.
I had to change at Crewe and David had to change at Wolverhampton so we went our separate ways. David's train got delayed by trespassers on the line so I ended up getting to Holyhead quite a bit earlier than he did. I checked into my Travelodge room and headed off for some provisions at the local ASDA. I was tempted by the McDonald's and was amused to see Dave Fawkner tucking into some fries as I walked past with my layered cheese salad (probably less healthy to be fair). I picked up a 9 pack of snickers which I bought largely for comedy value as my race would be 9 marathons (the old name for snickers).
I had expected to have registration at the Travelodge but there must have been a better deal on rooms at the Premier Inn for Mark so I had a mile or so walk there to register and pick up my tracker. I walked back with Duncan and hardly saw a soul apart from a few other runners making the trip to check in. I was back in my room in time to catch a bit of Painting with Bob Ross - hard to find something more suitable to wind down before a big race. I followed this up with Rick Stein eating his way around the Mediterranean.
I made an absolute Horlicks of packing last time which resulted in getting to the start late. I had tried to allocate things for each checkpoint but this time I just went with a bag each for food, clothes, and electricals. I also left quite a bit of room in my bag so it wasn't too heavy (both for me and the crew). I had everything packed the night before including my race bag. I laid out my race kit so everything was ready in the morning.
I had a couple of Elvis Juice beers while watching yet another Rick Stein and then called it a night at about 10am. I had a decent night of sleep and was up at 5.40am for a breakfast of Clif Builders bar, and canned coffee. It would be quite some time until I would be in a comfortable bed again. The drop bag van was parked right outside my window and the runners were starting to assemble so I checked out and joined the mass outside.
I dropped my bag into the waiting van. My bag was probably about the same size as the others in there so I was pleased to have picked the right "average-sized" drop bag - it was probably about 8-10kgs so not too bad really. We then had our hi-viz checked by Karen. I had bought an extra one so had one covering my body and the other wrapped around my bag. I was also wearing a hi-viz gillet and socks so was very visible.
It was then a nervous walk back to Holyhead train station for the start line. I recognised a few from 2017 and it was quite a sociable journey and it would be my only interaction with some of them. There was then the briefest of race briefings with the key points being follow the blue signs, if you are a second over 88 hours you don't get a medal, and a quick description of the Barmouth detour.
The race then started after a quick photo and blast of an air horn. It was a strange feeling starting the race with the thought that I was amongst a group of people who thought they could run to Cardiff. Based on history, the vast majority of us wouldn't make it but some of us would.
I was up 15 minutes already on 2017 as I was late to the starting line due to the packing faffing so I had already learned from the previous experience. Last time I got to set my own pace but this time I had 28 other people around to run with. I was at the back of the pack when I crossed the line and had a nice chat with Richard McChesney - the NZ race walker and for a few paces was in last place.
We then headed up the first hill and I got a bit of a jog going. I then saw I had the opportunity to do a "David Hellard" and put a burst of pace and took the lead going up the hill. I have a feeling there was someone filming at this point so I apologise if I had a photobombed the footage. I then dropped back into more like 10th or so place as the initial groups started to form.
It was still somewhat dark as we headed through some woods after 2 miles but then it was becoming daylight as we crossed the causeway to leave Holy Island. Last time it was a lovely sunrise but today it was a bit grey. However it was not raining so I was happy enough with that. I ran with Gordon and Vic for a bit along this stretch. My family are Welsh so we had a chance to chat about Welsh stuff for a bit.
Tom Garrod joined us for a bit as we headed past RAF Valley. There quite a few training flights so this added a bit of interest. There were some Tornadoes as well as some training jets. It also seemed to be rubbish collection day for Anglesey so we also had some bin lorries to keep us company.
Tom and I took an early walking break. I had picked up a copy of Geraint Thomas's second book and there is a phrase in there which came to mind. "Don't chase the pain - it will come to you soon enough". He was talking about the Team Time Trial but was equally valid here. It is easy to go off to quickly on these things so it was definitely wise to take things easy. A little way down the road, we ended up going past Vic and Gordon again.
I had been chipping along at just over 5mph which was a nice balance between pushing along and conserving pace. A 2:23 half split was nice goldilocks pace and the first highlight was Llangaffo post office at 20 miles or so in just under 4 hours. Nice stop here for a bottle of Coke and Snickers Duo with a brief rest sitting on a wall. Tom had a tight chest here and dropped back a bit and I pushed along on my own for a bit. My first GPX track was complete which was a nice landmark. Next one would take me to CP1 and off Anglesey.
I made the left turn shortly after the stop which I missed back in 2017 so was even further up on last time. This section was quiet country roads with not too many cars but it still required concentration and careful lines around the bends. The marathon mark was achieved in just under 5 hours - not exactly speedy but you only need 9 hours per marathon to make the cut offs so I had 4 hours in the bank and at minimal physical cost.
There were some great place names here including Llandaniel Fab, Star, Porthaethwy and of course Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (Llanfair PG to the locals).
I made a stop at Menai Bridge petrol station. I had the option of the Waitrose over the road but only needed to get to Caernarfon which was 10 miles away so picked up a couple of drinks and some ready salted crisps. I went for a Dr Pepper to mix things up. Gareth Allen was just in front of me in the queue and had gone for IrnBru. I ended up having a lovely chat with a little girl (maybe 3 or 4 year old) in front of me. She asked if I was doing sports and I replied yes, I was doing PE. She then talked me through the dolls she had created on her tablet. Looked like Elsa from frozen to me but apparently it was totally different.
I crossed over Menai Bridge and onto mainland Wales. The first checkpoint was in the shelter on the Gwynedd side with a couple water canisters provided. I got there about the same time as Stephen Davies and Gareth Allen in just under 6 hours. I had been aiming to get to the next checkpoint in less than 13 hours so was on track nicely. I had a brief catch up here with Karen and posed for the compulsory "proof of life" photo. I was in 10th place or so but that was fairly irrelevant at this stage.
Menai Bridge - CP1
The route then heads along a pavement beside the A487 for a few miles. I ended up running with Gareth and Stephen along here. Fairly uninspiring terrain but safe, smooth, and flat so a chance to make good progress with a run-walk of 12-13 minutes a mile. I had seen Gareth at LL100 so we had a chat about that and Stephen had also done it. I was pleased to dip a few minutes under 35 hours whereas they were both sub 30 finishers. Stephen had also done the Hardmoors 160 in about 40 hours so a pretty decent pedigree. He would go on to win...
I stopped to open my packet of ready salted walkers that I picked up at the petrol station and let Gareth and Stephen crack on. The Lon Las Menai cycleway starts here in Y Felinheli and is probably one of the best parts of the route with quiet flat treelined paths all the way to Caernarfon. I had made it to 35 miles in just under 7 hours which was bang on plan. The cut off for the race is 2.9mph so I was 5 hours ahead of that.
Tom appeared from nowhere on this stretch - he was in much better form than when I had left him 3 hours and 15 miles previously at the post office in Llangaffo. He had been struggling with chest / breathing issues from an illness in the build up to the race but was in much better form now. A couple more flat miles and we were in Caernarfon. The "what would Karl Shields" plan had a stop at Morrison's on it but Tom suggested heading into town as there were some great cafes which would be quieter.
For May half term, I had visited Snowdonia including a visit to Caernarfon Castle so knew there to be many great cafes. I also knew not to be confused by the Lon Las signposting around the Castle - it is easy to end up in an infinite loop. Tom follows a vegan diet but there were still plenty of good choices - we ended up in Caffi Maes. I went for a cheese toasty and Tom had veggie soup - possibly the best cheese toasty I've ever had (the Lakeland 100 one was a close second).
I'm normally a grab and go guy but it was really good to sit down for a bit and have something to eat. Sitting down for a bit meant my body had a chance to digest and rest. It was about 3pm and I had been out for 8 hours or so and almost 40 miles down. It was a moment of being civilised with a proper tea pot and everything. I had a quick look on the tracking and we had technically overtaken a bunch of people who had stopped at the Morrison's cafe slightly earlier.
Tom was working his way through a particularly wholesome soup so I set off with an eccles cake Tom had bought me in my pack and I felt much better for the small break. I felt pretty good after I had started moving again and joined up with Duncan and Javed through Caernarfon and made our way to the start of Lon Eifion.
The Lon Eifion section is what I imagined most of Lon Las to be like when I signed up for it in 2017. Back then, there were a lot fewer 100 plus races and having just finished the Centurion Grand Slam, I was looking for something a bit longer and GUCR was during half term so the only other real option was the Thames Ring 250. I had signed up for that but switched to Lon Las - both were 250 mile races so I figured I would go for the most interesting route. Little did I know the difference between the two...
The route runs alongside a heritage railway so is pancake flat and has stunning views of Snowdonia. There were a few cafes on the route but I was well fuelled from my extended stop. I managed to knock off 10 easy miles on my own in about 2 hours which was another hour up on cut off. The 50 mile mark came up in 10h40 or so - I had been hoping for closer to 10 but I had spent 40 minutes or so in the cafe. I was still on my plan for getting to Dolgellau in about 24 hours.
The route takes an abrupt change in Bryncir as it heads up a hill through a farmyard before joining up with some quiet single track roads. It was starting to get dark and I still had a lot of work to get to the second checkpoint. Back in 2017 I had just about made it without using a headtorch but that definitely wasn't happening this time. I had held off using my head torch as long as possible but the route headed into some wooded areas and that was the end of head torch roulette.
I was on my backup headtorch as I had planned to get to CP2 at dusk like I did in 2017 as I figured I was much faster this time but wasn't. I had the big dogs in the drop bag but took two small ones with me - it is surprising how many people don't take headtorches with them to save a few grams but could risk a DNF (or DQ) if it goes slightly off plan.
I had stayed in this area during May half term. I was looking forward to running past the place we had stayed but got my bearings mixed up and thought I was much closer to it. I ended up going past it in the pitch black - it was opposite David Lloyd George's grave (we had stayed in his former residence). I knew it was still a couple of miles to get the checkpoint and felt pretty crappy at this point.
I came down the hill to CP2 in Criccieth just before 8pm. There was no official cut off at this point but a key point on the route had a cut-off - the Castle chip shop closing time. This was a highlight of 2017 and I had also eaten there on my May holiday. It was a fabulous chippy with a queue of over an hour during the summer. I hustled my way through the checkpoint with some provisions and the big headtorch. I also grabbed another layer of clothing or two.
I got to the chip shop at 8:00pm and it shut at 8pm - lights were still on but it was very much closed. Crushing disappointment but not the end of the world as there was a NISA shop just round the corner if I needed it. I figured I would just crack on to Porthmadog Tesco which was 8 miles or so down the road. 59 miles in 13 hours was decent - goldilocks pace hopefully.
Back in 2017, this was the point my race started to unravel. I had faffed massively in Cricceith as I didn't realise quite how far the chippy was from the Checkpoint so spent about 30 minutes walking back and forth along the seafront getting chips. It also started to rain at this point and I was caught out without my waterproof during the walk. Note the use of checkpoint rather than aid station - it is basically a bus shelter - standard Cockbain events luxury.
Back in 2017, I was relying on the maps and signs but this time I had the GPX route on my watch. I can't understate how much difference this made - my watch gave turn by turn navigation which is one less thing to go wrong. Speaking of things going wrong, I had an unplanned detour of 25 minutes back in 2017 due to a missed turn coming out of Cricceith so despite being arriving over an hour late at CP2 I was ahead of my 2017 effort - mainly due to 3 fewer miles to get to the same place.
It is a pretty decent climb out of the CP and a relatively busy road which initially has a pavement but then it turns into running along the side of the road. I made the turn I missed in 2017 and it is not very obvious. Lon Las turns into a minor side road at this point and I could start to relax again. 60 miles and 13h15. Still nicely on course for 24 hours for CP4/100 miles.
As part of my prep, I had taken the GPX track for the route and carved it into bitesize chunks. The natural points were the 10 checkpoints but I also broke it up for other points of interest such as the Llangaffo post office, and the Morrison's cafe. The next up from here was Porthmadog Tesco at 68 miles. A full size supermarket with everything a runner could possibly want.
It was quite disorientating suddenly being in a regular situation with lots of bright lights. I picked up a few bit and bobs - fizzy drinks, canned coffee, crisps, chocolate bars, and a token piece of fruit. The staff were helpful as I couldn't find the coffee (with the dairy products). I really enjoyed my apple last time but there weren't any loose ones so I picked up a conference pear instead. 68 miles / 15ish hours - tidy.
I had made the Tesco closing time with less than an hour to spare - there was a garage on the way out of town which was the contingency plan but it wasn't needed. Next up was the cob - a manmade causeway over to Portmeirion. Back in 2017 there was horrific weather by this point with machine gun like rain being driven by strong winds coming inland. The wall of the cob was very welcome shelter but this time it wasn't needed as the weather was very mild.
The last trace of civilisation came and went as I passed Penrhyndeudraeth Spar. I could see the pool of light from the shop as I went round the corner but I had enough provisions for now. It would be just be a water stop for the next 30 miles or so.
This area is lovely and a very popular tourist destination with Portmeirion, Harlech Castle, and stunning views with a combination of the mountains of Snowdonia and sea views. However this section is done at night so it is just a massive steep hill to go up and down with an exposed route. Fortunately it was benign weather but it was fairly windy and there was some fairly light rain.
There was a long descent down to the coastal village of Llanfair for a water stop. Apparently it is pretty little village but all I remember of it was a car park next to a church and the A496. Byron was dishing out the water here and providing moral support. He even had a couple of chairs put out - very civilised. Gareth Allen was sat here having just dropped out with a calf injury and there were a couple of other runners here too.
It has started raining reasonably heavily now and it was now a case of following the cycle track along the A487 to Barmouth. Lon Las takes generally follows backroads where possible so this meant a few detours where you come of the main road and then re-join it a mile or two down the road. Typically the detour involves a nice hill but on a deserted single track road at least. There were a few nice cafes on this stretch but obviously they weren't open at 3am. Also a part-time petrol station.
There was a pavement all the way to Barmouth - easy undemanding running until the edge of Barmouth when the route takes a right turn down to the beach. I had been running with Allan since just after Cricceith and he was struggling a bit with sleepiness so we had a brief rest down on the beach on some picnic tables. A minute or two with feet off the ground helped restore things a bit.
Back in 2017, this was some of the worst conditions I've ever been outside in, let alone trying to race in. There was 40mph+ wind blowing rain and sand onto the promenade but this year it was pleasant as the rain had stopped now and there was just a light breeze. It was a pretty easy mile through town. I knew from last time there would be nothing open so not the disappointment of previous years. Not much is open in Wales at 4am.
Lon Las leaves the A487 to cross over the iconic Barmouth Rail bridge before picking up the Mawddach trail - a "stunning multi-use path following the old disused railway line along the edge of the beautiful Mawddach estuary". However the rail bridge was closed for repairs so we had to continue following the less than stunning, mono-use A487. This should be a one-off for the 2021 edition only.
I had been a bit worried about this section as running along busy A roads without pavements isn't safe or fun. I had recced it on streetview which confirmed it would be a bit sketchy but at least I had put things in my favour by getting here for about 4.30am. It would be after late night drivers coming home from the pub and before early morning commuters heading to work.
It wasn't a huge amount of fun but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. We generally stayed on the right hand side of the road except when approaching bends. There were mainly delivery lorries and vans with not many boy racers. We were generally given a nice wide berth by approaching traffic as the road was quiet and easy for them to move out of the way.
We were almost through the 6 mile A496 section when a car with super bright xenon headlights was approaching. People generally dipped their headlights as we were jogging along in some pretty decent hi-viz. This nobhead kept his on full brights and was sticking tight to the kerb. I was tempted to start shouting or waving my hands but figured I would just step off the carriage way and avoid confrontation. As the car got closer, I could make out the letter HEDDLU on the side - it was a police car. Probably a good call to keep my head down.
At about 6:30am, the turning for the toll bridge appeared. This was only open from 8am onwards but Mark had contacted the owners and they said it was ok for us to jump over the gate as long as we paid the toll. There was a gate at the turn off which was easy to climb over. This was a major milestone in the race as the rest of it was within my control.
It turns out there are two gates to cross over with one at the other end with massive spikes on the top of it. The leader of the race at this point decided not to chance the gate and ran the long route staying on the A496. David Harvey in second place jumped over the side of the bridge by the gate which was fairly marshy. One the Facebook discussion, this was viewed as the best option unless the river was high in which case risking the spikes was the option. We just used the unlocked pedestrian option...
I felt pretty good at the point as the somewhat dangerous A road section and the risk of being impaled was much lower. 97 or so miles done in less than 24 hours. It was an easy 3 miles to the checkpoint which I ran with Colin and Allan to arrive at about 7:45am with the sun just about to come up. I had hoped to be in during the hours of darkness as it would be much easier to sleep but I was happy to be in good shape here.
The jog across the rugby grounds was very different. Last time it was waterlogged fields and a phone call to my parents to be picked up. This time it was a beautiful morning and I was definitely carrying on. I could see the mountains in the distance which I would be climbing soon - but first some rest.
Dolgellau - Allan posing with his medium sized bag
I had hoped to get in before daybreak but unfortunately it was starting to get light which would make it harder to sleep. I got into the Rugby club and was allocated a spot in the "drops" room. There hadn't been many drops up to this point so it was pretty quiet. I got my sleeping bag out and Karen said she would wake me up in an hour.
It probably seems a bit mad to have been running for nearly 25 hours to only have an hour of sleep but it is a balance between too much time lost, stiffening up, and the issues with lack of sleep later on. I didn't really sleep but it was a chance to reset myself - a bit like trying to sleep on a short haul flight but with more leg room and a variety of exquisite pains to endure. Not much sleep either way though.
I packed up my things and headed out for the next leg. Allan was still packing his stuff up so I got have a chat with Mark and Karen out the front of the Rugby club. Mark was putting on a brave face but you could tell he was absolutely gutted that the weather was so nice. A bit like an Australian cricket fan expecting the pomms to be smashed only to find them putting up a decent batting display. Practically sunbathing weather and it would help reduce the DNF rate - Mark was cagey about how many medals he had but needed a few more drops to make sure every finisher got one. He thought the weather might be a bit hot and people would get dehydrated - clutching at straws a bit...
Allan and I headed into Dolgellau looking for food. It was quiet a nice moment for me as I knew I had at least beaten my DNF from last time - everything would be new from now on. After asking a few locals, we ended up at Popty'r Dref bakery. There was quite a few cafes to chose from but this was the best looking one. I ended up coming out with a couple of cans, a latte, a cinnamon swirl, and a slice of cold pizza. It was a decent trek to Machynllyth so good to have some provisions.
It took a while to find the right road out of Dolgellau - it was then a couple of miles of fairly steep single track road before we got to a turn off for a traffic free road - and more climbing up to the plateau crossing the A487. Lon Las followed the A487 for a only a few yards before crossing over for some more off-road climbing.
We had been pretty much on our for this section. Some people like Colin had arrived at Dolgellau at a similar time and cracked on, and some had taken longer so the race had spread out quite a bit. Adrian Martin came past looking speedy heading up the hill but that was it apart from a very strange chat with a farmer in an old Land Rover Defender. This was probably the most beautiful section of the race - well best of the parts you see during daylight.
It had taken the best part of 2 hours to travel the 6 miles to the high point - this was on track with the required 3mph but with a decent chunk of climbing. The reward was a great view back towards Barmouth and several miles of descent to make up some time - we were about 7 hours in hand on cut-offs at this point.
The descent levelled of in Corris after passing some slate mines and more Snowdonian scenery. Tom had mentioned that it had a great little cafe but we didn't find it. I still had a massive slice of pizza to keep me going to Mach so didn't spend too much time looking for it.
Corris to Mach was a nice single track level road. It follows by the river and the main road for about 5 or 6 miles before we hit some construction and a footpath diversion before joining a cyclepath alongside the A487 in to town in search of lunch. It was about 2pm (31 hours race time) and the halfway point wasn't too far away now.
Machynllyth was a lot more artisan than I was expecting with a quite a few nice shops and cafes. We ended up at Ty Medi. This was a vegan/vegetarian cafe which had some great options. I was slightly concerned about a snow plough of roughage coming through after two days of mainly beige food. I ended up going for a cheese toasted sandwich with potato wedges and tea for two.
There was a slight "Karl Shields" moment as both Allan and I had ordered tea for two but only one turned up. Eventually the second pot arrived and we polished off the food in about half an hour. It was 3pm and we had a quite a bit of time before dark to get to the half way checkpoint. Speaking of Karl, we bumped into him and Tom outside the cafe. Karl had knee troubles and sadly dropped here.
Fortified by tea and cheese, it was time to start the climb up to CP5. It started off pleasant enough after leaving town with a golf course which had far more sheep than golfers on it. It was a just about double width road but no road markings. Just about enough room for cars to pass each other but not leaving much room for runners if timed badly.
I figured we would take a turning off at some point onto a quieter mountain road and the traffic would disappear. It wasn't exactly the M25 but there was a steady stream of cars as we were into the Friday afternoon school run and leaving work time. However it seemed there was only one way over the mountain. It had been a gradual incline for 3 miles or so before a turn off and the proper climb began.
Day 2 featured two big climbs - the top of the second one would be the high point of Lon Las and it was net downhill all the way to Cardiff from there. The second climb also started pretty much at sea level so it would be a full 1,500 feet of climbing and about 6 miles or so. It went on for nearly 2 hours and just when you felt like you were almost there, you came round the corner and there was a lot more hill to go.
I was still a decent way short of halfway and over two days on the road to go. I had considered the idea of calling it a day at Rhayader, or Erwood but after a chat with Allan it was back to taking each day as it comes. Allan then took a pit stop and I was back to making my way up the hill on my own for a bit. My naïve original plan had me with option of a short detour into Llandiloes to but it was coming up to 5pm and that was a long way in the distance and there was a lot of road before the stop for the evening.
With a few bends to go, the view started to open up. It was into a quite decent road now with good visibility. As I got towards the summit, a guy on a bicycle was coming towards me. Rather than taking a racing line around the corner, he was hugging the outside by the verge. I thought it was a prick of a cyclist trying to make a point but it turned out to be Byron who had come out to meet me. A couple of miles to the checkpoint from here.
There was no real summit - more of a plateau below a modest peak - no grand vista as a reward ahead for the climb. It was pretty decent view back towards Mach though. Time to pick up the pace as the road headed downhill and widening up. I even had my first sub 15 minute mile since Corris. It was back to double width normal roads for the last stretch to CP5 / Dylife.
It was relative luxury here with a couple of camping chairs and some refreshing tap water. Glorious surroundings of a gravel car park next to a road. There had been a pub a short distance from the checkpoint but that had ceased trading. Lots of nothingness as far as the eye could see.
Byron gave a quick synopsis of the route ahead - about a marathon to the next checkpoint. No shops or cafes - there is one pub on the route which has had runners before. Karen then reminded us it would be cold so make sure we wrap up warm now. It was about 5:30pm now so hopes of making last orders in Rhayader had evaporated and with a marathon to go now it would be the early hours if I was lucky.
I had also been lucky with my GPS files. Before the race I had split the route in bite size chunks but had missed to upload the Dylife to Llandiloes section - about 13 miles or so. I realised this when I was in the cafe at Mach and managed to freestyle draw the section on my phone and the snap to roads function did the rest and I had a perfect GPX file.
Having recently plotted the route, I knew what to expect. It was a last couple of miles on B roads before turning onto backroads. No dramas until Staylittle and then it was backroads all the way to Rhayader. Having said that, it is easy to make navigation mistakes as I think Ronnie Staton and Adrian Martin both too wrong turnings in the Hafren Forest. The RAC Rally used to have special stages in these woods and the headtorches were on when went past the Hafren sign into the pine forest.
If you take one piece of advice from my entire blog, it is beware of trailers. There was very little traffic on this section but there were a few farmers out an about with 4x4s. It was easy enough for them to pass the single track but the risk is to step back into the road too early and get taken out by the trailer. It is a mistake you only make once - or at least have a near miss when you almost step into the road and feel more breeze come past.
Allan and I caught up with Tom and we have a decent chat through the forests and alongside the upper reaches of the Severn River. The river helped reduce temperatures even further to go with the dark starlit skies. It was frost conditions in places and quite cold. It was very beautiful in places with a fullish moon lighting some of the hills. It was one of the more pleasant sections despite being pitch black by now. I suspect this would be beautiful section if you were lucky enough to hit it during daylight hours.
Lon Las emerges from the Hafren forest for a couple of road miles before the Llanidloes turn. Some regard CP5 as the halfway point and others have Llanidloes as halfway. The true point by distance is somewhere in between. It was about 9pm so 38 hours to halfway left a fairly generous 50 hours for the second half.
It was a half mile detour in town from here but I decided not to add any bonus miles. Back in 2017, I had lunch here on the Friday in a cafe. I figured if I was running really well, I could have spared time for a return trip but it was about 930pm and I didn't fancy a pint in town and a bonus half hour of run/walk. Sadly this also meant that I wouldn't be making last orders in Rhayader.
Adrian Martin in his distinctive cyberman outfit was on the junction and was slightly confused by our arrival. He was trying to head down a different route but we had seen the Blue 8 so were definitely on the right track. After a bit of discussion we were on our way. About a half marathon standing between me and sleep.
The last bit of civilisation on this section was Llangurig. We had made it here in time for last orders at the pub but it wasn't clear if it was still open as it was nearly 11pm. I suspect we could have got a drink at the Lion hotel or the Bluebell Inn but the post office was most definitely closed. I did however take advantage of the bench outside it for a brief rest.
Adrian reappeared at this junction and he had a brief chat. It turns out he made significant detour in the Hafren Forest and had added a good hour and several miles to his race. He was not a happy bunny - I tried to give some supporting words but to be honest my brain was pretty battered at this point and basically just said that I had made that turning without issues.
I had got my nav perfect to this point. A detour can be truly demoralising and cause a massive dip on morale - especially when it means you are out on the road when you should be tucked up in a sleeping bag. It was still 10 miles to go from here and I ended up getting into the checkpoint about 30 minutes ahead of Adrian whereas he would probably have been at least an hour ahead for the detour plus he was moving quicker than me generally up to that point.
I can't really remember anything of the next 3 hours. It was a little back road which followed the River Wye and had the A470 on the other side. It went through the odd farm yard and was fairly easy nav. I have a vague recollection of a guy coming out of a house with a head torch to have a chat with us. I thought it was a concerned farmer but it was a chap who had got into running and in a previous year had rescued someone with hypothermia from a hedge who was in a bivvy bag.
There were a few extended rests on walls - sitting on a 4 foot high wall with your feet of the ground and head in hands in lovely for a minute or two. Eventually Rhayader arrived - Lon Las arrives from the opposite way that I was expecting so it was a nice surprise when the School hall suddenly appeared just before 2am on Saturday morning. 150 miles in just under 43 hours leaving about 100 miles / 45 hours. Halfway by time for sure now.
Day 3 follows the River Wye for most of it. Although CP6 is referred to as Rhayader, you technically don't set foot in Rhayader as the Wye is the border between Cwmddaudr and Rhayader and you don't cross the Wye until Newbridge on Wye 10 miles downstream. It is a pretty quiet start to day - especially if you leave the CP at 430am. Very limited civilisation although you could take a detour to a 24 hour garage and Greggs at Llanwrthyl after 4 miles or so.
Photo of morning
The route heads into a national trust common for some traffic free miles until emerging near Newbridge. A few quiet country roads and then the first stop of the day at Newbridge post office. Except it didn't open until 8am and I wasn't going to hang around 20 minutes for it to open - it isn't a lock that it would open then anyway. Instead I sat outside on the wall and had a can of coffee and snickers. It did look quite a good selection of good though. Next stop would be another 8 miles and I had enough provisions to last that long.
The roads towards Builth were some nice quiet country lanes. Gently undulating and never that far from the River Wye. Pretty easy start to the day with 15 miles done in 5 hours - no further time give up to the cut off since Rhayader. Now it was only 90 miles left and 36 hours to do it - I was about 5 hours ahead so safe but still a lot of work to do.
It was nice to come into Builth as that was the meal stop for the day. Builth parkrun was just finishing up as we went through. It was nearly 10am so they volunteers were packing up. We had a quick chat with them as we came past. I had a debate with Allan as to whether we would have done the parkrun if we were there on time. The answer was no but partly due to not having our barcodes with us. Lon Las is definitely set up for a parkrun double as the Builth one could line up perfectly if you are slightly quicker than me.
When I first scope out the route in 2017, there was the holy grail of nutrition stops here. Sadly Little Chef went bust so there would be no Olympic breakfast with a side of jubilee pancakes. It had been replaced by Burger King which has excellent facilities but a menu which resembles car tyres - I didn't fancy a whopper for breakfast and the rest of the menu was a bit meh. Fortunately over the road as an excellent option in Greggs.
I had learned form my fuelling mistake the previous day so it was coke straight away followed up with a ham and cheese toasty and flat white. Excellent toasty with cheese on top as well as in the middle. A Belgian bun was tucked away for later. I was all fuelled up for one of the worst sections of Lon Las - here until the Erwood CP.
This section started off with a some riverside paths before heading through an industrial estate then about a mile along the verge of the A481 - no footpath but a decent verge to bail out on. Then it was a turn off for the B4567 for the next 6 miles or roughly 2 hours.
The B4567 is mentioned in the notes as being a bit sketchy. It was fairly quiet but being a B road, it had a national speed limit and not much in the way of verges. The drivers were very decent - if speedy - and would pull onto the other side of the road. The only issue was if was two cars were coming from opposite directions - that then meant jumping into the hedges just in case as there wasn't room for 3 to pass safely. There were a few nasty bends - particularly with narrow bridges but I made it through safely without an real issues.
I had recced this section back in March. It would have been illegal at the time but I was there for my grandmother's funeral which took place about a mile from Lon Las. I knew it wasn't too much B road to go until the aid station from here. I have family connections most of the way on Lon Las - I have family in Holyhead, Rhayader, and Erwood so have seen quite a few sections of the route before.
Soon it was time to pull into Erwood station for some refreshing tap water. There were quite a few people here. A couple of Karen's friends had kindly turned up for CP duty with a camper van and had some chairs set out for us. I grabbed a seat and a refill of the bottles. It was quite a relief to be off the road and slightly weird to be chatting to someone other than Allan.
My parents had turned up to say hello. They live a few miles further down the route. They were not able to provide an assistance and just had a quick chat from a safe distance away. I probably smelt pretty bad so that might also explain the wide berth. My uncle even made an appearance letting me know he could have easily done this but didn't have time to spend 4 days jogging across Wales.
Karen then told us to jog on as we were cluttering up the aid station. 175 miles covered in 54 hours. Cut off was 60 hours to here so a moderate buffer but no time to hang around. It was roughly a marathon to go until the overnight checkpoint and it was about 1pm so on for a reasonable bedtime hopefully.
The route thankfully comes off the B4567 at Erwood and it is back to country lanes to Boughrood. It was here that I was Ronnie on his 2017 finish. I was about 6 or 7 hours slower than Ronnie to this point though. There was a village store here but didn't bother grabbing anything as I still had loads of stuff my bag and didn't feel like stopping.
It was then back on B roads for about 3 miles or so but it was a pretty wide and quiet so easy going. Nothing too memorable apart from a road kill badger. Nothing too weird about that apart from the fact it had been skinned - perhaps Mike R had been on the route earlier? My parents came past in the car and we had a brief discussion about the badger and they were on their way. They live about a mile from Glasbury which was our next village.
My feet were absolutely battered by this point. It was 33 miles and 11 hours to this point and the last 20 or so had been pure road. I was moving reasonably well but when I ran, my feet really hurt. It was also about 4pm and surprisingly warm so it was time for an afternoon rest. Time for a 10 minute lie down with the shoes off by the river.
The rest made things more manageable and it was time to cross the Wye again. There was a garage here but for some reason decided not to stock up here - apparently it has some great homemade cakes. About 15-20 miles to go so it was a case of cracking on to get things done for the day.
We were now into the Brecon Beacons with a steady climb up from the river. This was one of the Lon Las detours where you avoid a major road by heading up into the hills for a bit. Through the village of Felindre which has a lovely looking pub which wasn't open despite it being 6pm on Saturday evening. It was also home to a perfectly spherical man who we had very entertaining chat with. He was absolutely baffled that we were heading to Brecon tonight as that was at least 13 miles away. He had assumed we were lost as we were miles from anywhere.
It was then back down onto the A4078 which fortunately had a nice cycle path alongside. This meant it wasn't long until Talgarth which had a good range of provisions including a chip shop, Coop, and various pubs. The first we came to was the Castle Chip shop. It had the option of sit down service but went for the chip shop counter. To be honest the restaurant might have been faster but eventually I was on my way with a chip butty (plenty of salt and vinegar), a can of coke, and a sprite.
I had been struggling with pain in my side - possibly digestion related - and the chip butty seemed to ease things a bit. It was a mile or so along the main road before heading up into the hills again along single track hedgerow lined roads as the sun was setting. Half marathon between now and sleep. Unfortunately I had 40 miles in my legs already so it was going to be a slow half marathon.
I had been pretty good with the sleep deprivation but soon after the head torch went on, my eyes were already starting to play tricks with me. The shadows that are cast by the light made the hedges look like they were cardboard cut outs and the patches of water on the road formed faces with trees being all sorts of things. It was going to be a long third evening.
Fortunately for my sanity, and couple of head lights were catching us up and it was Colin and Rich who had caught up. This was the battle for the Europa league spots as were in 5-8th position overall. This was the first time since Hafren the previous evening I had seen anyone other than Allan. It was strange to be in single digit placings in an ultra but this isn't a typical race.
It was a solid half hour of climbing out of Talgarth - very little traffic but a few 4x4s with trailers. Remember the advice to stand back in case it isn't just a car. I suspect this would have been a beautiful section and I seem to remember it being cold with some stars. Having looked at streetview, this would have been a lovely section to have hit 4 hours earlier but there was a view out with the light of villages in the distance.
Soon enough, there was the tunnel under the A470. I had thought there had been many bridges and tunnels up to here but the trees were playing tricks with the light so it was weird to actually go under a tunnel. This also meant Brecon was pretty close and shortly after Lon Las reached the outskirts of Brecon - just in time for Saturday night drinking time.
It was very disorientating to suddenly be in an urban environment with roundabouts, streetlights, and people. I had a very surreal moment where I thought I saw two police officers waiting by a house but it turned out to be a laurel bushes. There were quite a few groups of yoofs out on the lash and driving round in cars. No issues at all and we go on with our route through town. Shops were closed but I could probably have grabbed something from a pub if it wasn't a short distance to the CP.
It was a pretty quick slice through town and there was the very welcome sight of the Brecon canal which marked the start of the Taff Trail. In my sleep deprived state, I had it my head I would be running alongside a canal for the next 50 miles. First up it was 3 miles or so to finish up today's work.
It was a couple of miles along the canal which were really challenging. I was really struggling to stay awake and it felt like running through a dark tunnel and my eyes started to go funny following the hi viz in front of me. I suspect if it hadn't been only a mile or two until the CP, I might have gone for a sleep in a bush somewhere. I had not had any caffeine since the chip shop so I could sleep properly but it had worn off a bit early.
Lon Las comes of the canal for the last mile of the day. It was a climb on a deserted B road which felt like it went on for ever and I nearly fell asleep going up it. I looked afterwards and it was a whopping 15 metres high. It was about 1030pm so wondered if there would be a pub open in the village. As I approached the CP, I thought there were a load of people dressed in biker and military gear outside a pub. I got closer and it was actually a bed of roses outside a house. It was definitely time for sleep.
It was wonderful getting into the CP. The four of us arrived at about the same time. James McNamee in street clothes - I assumed he had won and got a lift back - and Tom was getting ready to set off again. There were some sleeping dogs and plenty of space to get some sleep. Dinner was a snickers and then I put my watch and phone on to charge and settled down for some sleep. I had gone for 90 minutes as a compromise between rest and cut offs.
There were some chairs set out so I slept with feet on the chair. I alternated to feet down which was quite painful but good to mix things up. I was completely fast asleep for the first time in the race and woke up to see the clock on the wall showed 230. I was cursing as I had intended to be up at 1am and figured I had slept through my wake up. I looked at my phone and it was 12:57am. Excellent - time to pack up and get going for the last time.
Breakfast was a pot noodle - chicken and mushroom - before heading out into the darkness. It was about 1:30am on Sunday morning so I had left myself 21 hours to knock off the last 52 miles. Seems pretty simple if you don't factor in that it would be a self supported double marathon having slept for a grand total of 2-3 hours in the previous 3 days and the small matter of 200 miles covered on foot.
The pot noodle and canned coffee was seen off in the first mile or so of walking so I would be fuelled up for a couple of hours as the pot noodle is 400 calories and the coffee about 100. It was now a case of chipping off each mile left through villages with nice pubs and everyone asleep.
I had some quite funny hallucinations in the previous night and thought I had another here when I saw a hedgehog. Except it actually was a hedgehog. I stopped to take a photo which was probably a bit harsh as the bright lights can't have been nice - but on the other hand, it made its way off the road so probably good overall.
This is quite an attractive section as it wends it way alongside the canal and then up into the hills on a quiet backroad. Except it was pitch black so just a case of plugging away to get to the first reservoir and climb of the day.
It was about 3am crossing the reservoir and starting the long climb up. I had seen on the course profile that there was a long climb up from here - only about 300 metres but a very slow gradient so it would take a while - but once at the top, it would be flat or downhill all the way to Cardiff.
To say the climb took a while is a bit of an understatement. "Taking a while" is the Whitchurch to Reading section of the Autumn 100, or the Wallington to Clifton Hampden section of the Thames Path. Those take about 2 hours and a relatively featureless. The climb up from the first reservoir was 4 miles of forest track with no features or shelter - just plugging away at 23ish minutes a mile.
It had also started to rain heavily now so it was a pretty grim section. Colin had caught up on the climb so there was a general chat about life and the position we had found ourselves in. Walking slowly up a hill in the pouring rain with about 20 miles to go until the next aid station. This is also a reception blackout zone so no option to go on Facebook live and get lots of supporting "U ok huns?" to get you through.
Lon Las attracts a certain kind of person. If you hear that the first aid station of your 100 miles race (admittedly run in hot English summer conditions) has be removed due to potential COVID overcrowding, do you go on Facebook and post on the race group panicking that you are going to dehydrate before the first aid station (ideally with a stupid background and large font)? Or do you just pack an extra soft flask which you carry at the start in your hand. Do you read every page on the RD's website or are you the person who posts on the facebook group (in massive font and stupid background) asking when the race opens for entries even though it is on the website in a massive font.
I was having a bit of a shocker going up the hill but still plugging away. Colin and Allan eased off into the distance and it was a bit of a grind but eventually after nearly 2 hours on the slope, the path opened up to join a road. Ironically this made things much worse as the trees which had been providing protection were gone so the wind could whip the rain in without obstruction.
The top eventually came after 2h30 of climbing at about 6am. 10 miles covered in 4h - average pace of 24 minutes a mile. Terrible under normal circumstances but what was needed today. The only thing resembling a place to take a break was a traffic barrier which Allan was resting briefly on. It was back on minor roads now with a few cars coming past to add to the fun. Very little in the way of shelter still - just empty car parks along the way - it was at least downhill now.
The second reservoir of the day appeared - Ponsticill - but rather than taking the direct route alongside, it was trademark Lon Las detour up into the hills again before re-emerging a short distance further down the route. It was probably a lovely section but it just felt like you were going round in circles - I think a lot of people have got lost here and I can imagine it would be easily done without GPS.
I hadn't really researched the last day of Lon Las as I figured I probably wouldn't get there and if I did, I would work it out. There also didn't really seem to be anything in the first 25 miles but figured there had to be something there. I was 15 miles in without a trace of life but had broken my GPS sections up a Ponsticill as it was a village which had some amenities.
As I made my way round the Taf Fechan forest, I had built up my expectations of the cafe that was in the village. It would have lots of dog walkers who would be asking us about our race. There would be home made cakes to go with a chocolate sprinkled cappuccino. A lovely view out over the reservoir and a chance to dry out and set off towards Merthyr. It was on the edge of a national park with lovely walks so the ideal spot for one.
I got to Ponsticill and there was a big sign for the Red Cow Inn - traditional ales and snacks - but not at 7am on a Sunday morning. The village came and went without any trace of a cafe, post office, or shop. It was however only 6 miles now to Merthyr. I had a 150ml can of coke and a mini snickers. The mini cans of coke were a pretty good purchase as they give you a decent chunky of sugar without having to smash down a full can. When combined with snack sized bar, it was well over 300 calories which would be at least an hour of fuelling.
Dawn arrived by the reservoir and the Ponsticill water treatment plant with the rain easing. Lon Las then turned off the road onto a lovely runnable section which was a former railway line with a gradual downhill gradient for several miles and soft gravel surface. It also excellent benches for a break every so often.
This was a pretty fast section with several sub-15 minute miles and well over 4 miles covered in the hour after joining the railway trail - probably the fastest hour since the first day. We "flew" past Colin again on the way to Merthyr with carrot of getting to McDonald's before they stopped serving breakfast. The rain had pretty much stopped and South Wales was waking up and taking their dogs for a walk.
The distance to Merthyr had been quite variable on the Lon Las signposts but I had my countdown to the McDonald's which was the other side of the town centre. I had done quite a bit of work editing the GPX into bite size chunks and this section would finish at the door of the McDonald's. First up was crossing the Cefn-Coed viaduct which was a glorious feat of engineering which was now reduced to carrying cyclists and pedestrians across it. For most it not have been the most inspiring view but seeing the panaroma of the industrial revolution town meant were through the Brecon beacons and starting the finish towards Cardiff. It was also a first view of the A470 dual carriageway which would be a companion for much of the rest of the day.
Merthyr Tydfil did have its moments with some interesting industrial heritage parts and generally nice cycle paths but it does have quite a bit of running alongside dual carriage ways or through back alleys which aren't obvious. The GPX was very handy through here though and before long the golden arches were calling.
One of the great inventions of modern times is touch screen ordering. There were plenty of screens so I got to choose my meal without having to talk to anyone. I thought I was perfectly coherent but it was nice not to take the risk. I added coffee, then a hash brown. Deciding the main item was slightly tricky but ended up going with an egg mcmuffin as it was the closest thing to a cheese toasty (it has cheese between bread). It then offered to make this into a meal so I had to remove the coffee and hash brown I had already put in. In hindsight I should have gone for two coffees, two hash browns, and zero egg mcmuffins.
McDonald's breakfast is very overrated in my view with egg being basically made of rubber but the coffee and hash brown was excellent. However on Lon Las sometimes you just need the hope to get you to the next point and then regroup to work out what the next target is - and occasionally you get a great moment like the cheese toasty back in Caernarfon.
I hadn't looked at my phone all day but now had a chance to catch up how the race was going. Bizarrely, Allan and I still could win the race. Stephen and James were on the outskirts of Cardiff with a few miles to go, with Tom and Adrian halfway down towards Cardiff. Rich and Colin were nearby - turns out Rich was only a minute or two ahead but gained a big lead by not stopping at for breakfast - Colin was in the other McDonald's. Weirdly, it seemed like David and James Mac were on the retirements list.
One of the amusing aspects of tracked races is that everyone can see exactly where you are going. In this case, Karen had predicted we would end up in the McDonald's and was obviously correct which confirmed by posting our location on the Cockbain event page. It also meant should was there in plenty of time to set up the aid station for our arrival. The aid station was a 5l bottle of water.
We got a debrief on what was happening with the race. There were 13 of us still in it with 4 miles ahead and 5 back in the reception deadzone. We were left with 27 miles to go in 13 hours which was pretty comfortable but it was going to be a lot tighter for Vic and Gordon who had an almost impossible 48 miles to go.
My last GPX section was titled "Merthyr to the medal". It was going be 28 miles or so which would hopefully be no more than 11 hours leaving 2 to spare. I had broken up all the other sections into smaller chunks but couldn't really be bothered by this point plus there were plenty of towns along this section so didn't figure I needed to.
From here to Cardiff, it was suburban cycleways and minor roads. Smooth with some non-tarmac sections which the feet appreciated. I suspect Fred Dibnah would have found quite a lot of interesting features along here - there were some former tramways and disused railway lines which made for efficient progress. It was a mix of semi-rural parts and cycle paths down the back of terraced gardens. Also so genuinely ugly bits.
There were probably loads of options just off the path but the first place food stop was Pontypridd Londis with about 15 miles to go. Bottle of coke and snickers later, it was back on the route - sort of. The GPX I was using was based on Northbound route so was at odds with the signposting on the ground due to the Pontypridd one way system. My watch was shouting that I was off route but I was following the Blue 8 signs - and the signs were pointing me through a lovely park rather than alongside a busy A road. I figured there might have been a diversion in place but it turns out the North and South routes are different here.
Next major landmark was crossing under the M4. Generally nice trails with only negative being that other people were also using it as it was a beautiful afternoon in Cardiff. Lots of folks walking with dogs to dodge, and electric bikers who were in a desperate rush to be somewhere. My pace was basically a sedate walk so it was generally fine - although it seems Welsh people share with the folks of Surrey the lack of spatial awareness that if you are walking side by side with your partner towards someone it is impossible for the someone to get out of your way if the path is only two people wide. However if you move to one side, it easy for you to both pass each other.
Blackweir bridge was another landmark which meant it was Cardiff proper. Past Sophia Gardens - scene of Monty Panesar and Jimmy's last wicket stand to earn an Ashes draw. Then it was past the Millenium stadium - home of Wales rugby and then the finish was just round the corner. In my head, the finish was right by there but instead you keep going off into residential areas and random parks with hidden gates. Having looked on the map before and after the run, the finish looks simple but even just being a street away from the river loses your bearings.
Principality stadium
The Lakeland 100 finish is the benchmark for UK ultra finishes for me and perhaps if Lon Las had a few dozen marshals for the last section, that might have been close to replicated but it was a somewhat frustrating scenic route round the riverside parks to the finish where you feel like it almost there but not quite. I had hoped to get things done before sunset but thanks to the street lighting, I wouldn't need a head torch.
The had been a dearth of people asking what were up to but there was a pearler in the last mile. A guy asked if it was the Cardiff half and we let him know we were just finishing the Holy Head to Cardiff race - yes all 253 miles of it. His face was a picture.
I was expecting to finish with Allan having run with him for the previous 70 or so hours but he told me to crack on finish on my own as it meant more to me to do so. I took him at his word and put on a spurt for the finish. I was could see the finish ring and was heading towards it but Karen sent me off to the far end of the quay. I thought this was so that I could have better finish video but it turns out the end of Lon Las is actually by the Senedd so technically stopping at the ring wouldn't be all of Lon Las.
Mark gave me medal and finisher top and I banged out the traditional BBR press-ups and Lon Las was finished. Allan finished shortly after and it was all over. 83h40 (just under 3.5 days) and joint 7th place.
Lon Las - completed it mate (epilogue to follow if you have managed this far)
A huge thanks to Mark, Peter, Byron, Lindley, and Karen for being there along the way plus Julie and the camper van.
Also thanks to my fellow runners - especially Allan for putting up with me for nearly 200 miles.
Final words go to Ronnie as I feel the same but slightly less well… Ronnie like…
