It's the day after and I'm recovered sufficiently to tell you about my very tough and wet day in the Welsh Mountains.
[2008 report, see end of post]
Some of the misery is my fault, some is mother natures fault, and some of my misery is down the the difficulty of the route.
I got up at 5:30am. I was going to only pack 7kg, but guilt got the better of me and by the time I packed up the list of required equipment as well as a couple of bottles of mineral water for ballast, I tipped the scales at 8kg. I ate some porridge and set off for Mid Wales. It was a 100 mile journey, but only about 5 miles of that was dual-carriageway, so the going was slow. It took me just over 2 hours to get there. So I arrived about 8:15am, plenty of time before the 9am start. There were around 100 starters I believe. Not many doing the 18 or 29 mile course, with most doing 43 miles, part of the Montrail Ultra Championship. I had considered the 43, but with a 40 mile event coming up in 2 weeks, plus the slight concern of a 12 hour cut-off I decided against it. How pleased am I that I took that decision.
The event started from a village hall which was filled with runners. The walkers had left at 8am. There was cereal and toast, tea and coffee all laid on. It was very welcome as I was already hungry after the drive down. I made 3 rounds of toast and marmalade and some coffee. Then someone asked me if I was Richard? Graham, another MDS2008 competitor introduced himself to me. We have exchanged emails a few times, and he told me he was down from Scotland to take part in the 43 mile event. We had a chat and I introduced him to Anne and Vaughan who arrived, also to do the 43 miler with their super-fit dog Daisy. They (not the dog though!) did the MDS in 2006, and I met them doing La Trans Aq in June this year.
At 9am they called out the 43 milers and set them off. I wished everyone good luck.
About 5-10 minutes later, after a quick briefing from the organiser we were set off too. There were only about 10 people starting on my route. It was already raining, and had been all morning, but it was not too cold. The rain was more drizzle, than driving at this time, so I didn't wear any waterproofs for the start.
Below is the route map, with the elevation profile, and my speed profile below. For reasons I will explain later, you can more or less ignore the speed profile after the 22 mile mark.
We set off on a steady incline, quite easy and enjoyable running, all on footpaths. Two and a half miles in I got my first taste of poor terrain. I knew there was a climb nearby, but before it there was a steady incline that was in filled with stones and wood washed down form the hills above, as well as mud. It was not possible to run safely, so I slowed to my first walk of the day. We then hit the first serious climb, which was as steep as any we would face all day, just mercifully shorter. There were some small sections of rock where we had to scramble on all fours to ascend though. My pace you will see from the speed profile, drops like a stone from an average of 5mph to about 1.5mph. It was this early on I began to suspect that my 4mph estimate for the day would not happen.
At the summit of the climb we were on our first section of open moor land. This section is marked with the big red number 1 in a circle on the map, and stretching from just before CP2 to CP4, about 3 and half miles. Most checkpoints were 'Self Clip' stamping an increasingly wet piece of paper as we progressed. Up on top of that first section of moor land the terrain was mixed. Some ground was ‘runnable’, some not so. You can also see from the picture below the low cloud which came and went throughout the day. Visibility was limited all day from the peaks.
I did try to take a few picturesque shots, but the miserable weather and moor land isn't very pretty is it? What this next shot does show you is the type of terrain that set the tone for the day. Bogs, moor and marshes, and very few paths and tracks.
Just after CP3 were joined a Roman road and got a taste of better underfoot terrain, which enabled running once more. This was some of the best ground we would see all day.
I had already pulled well ahead of all the 29 milers, and was catching up a passing a few 43 milers too. A group of 3 of them were ahead of me, but a little unsure of their navigation hesitated. I had programmed the route into my PDA with GPS, and so had the route with 100% confidence. I pointed everyone in the right direction and we ran on. One of the three of them was 20m ahead when he warned us of a bog. I stopped at the edge and chose a nice patch of sturdy looking moss to leap onto. I did so and promptly went straight in up my waist. If I had not grabbed hold of the other side as I leapt I have no idea how far I would have gone in, but a lady at a checkpoint told me that she had gone in up to her waist up there, on a horse!
I wasn't to know at the time, but that fall was to play a part in the stress and misery to come. I picked myself up, and noticed as I did that my PDA had been fully submerged in the bog. However, I had purchased an Aquapac, a fully waterproof PDA holder just a couple of weeks ago. Well, it works. How I thanked my foresight good sense at that moment.
We then began to descend towards the Craig Goch reservoir as seen below, and pick up the path around it, you can just see on the second photo on the left of the water (about half way up the picture at the bottom of the rocky section.
This was a nice downhill for around 2 miles, taking me to the first manned checkpoint on the damn head of the reservoir. After a quick cup of orange juice and a couple of biscuits I was off again. I had packed some nibbles (nuts, banana chips and M&Ms and was eating those too). The good running only continued for about half a mile when we hit the next couple of serious ascents in succession, with this short section in between pictured below. Not great running, but not bad at all, in comparison to the rest of the day to come.
I took these couple of photo's on that ascent, trying to give you a flavour of the countryside, and conditions which were moderate at the time of the photos. Still drizzle, but not too bad.
At the top of the second ascent I self-clipped at CP7 (marked on map), and began the descent on my own. I had sat nav, but I was just totally unable to find the footpath about half a mile after the self clip, enabling a safe descent down the steep hill. I ended up going through ferns over my head, and stumbling down and over some rocks. This was quite hair raising, but eventually I saw the zigzagging path below me and stumbled out of the undergrowth to join it and continue to the foot of the hill, around the 9 mile mark. It was as early as this point where I recognised that I was feeling more tired that I was used to at this early stage. I was still ok, but knowing my body, I could tell the terrain was taking a heavier toll. Between the section marked 'White Cottage' and CP8 Self Clip there was my first taste of nasty and totally ‘unrunnable’ terrain. This marshland could not get my feet any wetter, which were already soaked through and would remain so all day long. The long thigh-length grass was a hindrance though. I marched through and onto a very narrow path beside another reservoir. I caught up another couple of walkers just before the CP8 self clip point and chatter for a couple of minutes. I could see 2 runners who I passed nearby. We all clipped in, and set off close together for the next section. For me it would be a hellish 5 mile ascent.
A nice woodland path soon turned into moor land. At this stage, the navigation instruction changed. No more paths or tracks, just instructions on landmarks or compass bearings. We had to follow a stream over terrible terrain. The grasses were long and in clumps. The organiser had told us that it was beyond ankle breaking, it was leg breaking territory.
This photo and video really sums up most of the terrain for much of the day; longer than knee length grass, and at least ankle deep water. This wasn't just short sections, this was for miles. You should begin to detect from my tone of voice in the video that I was starting to get unhappy. All of a sudden this was not a running event for me anymore, as I could not run on the terrain. Look at the speed profile at 11 miles, notice the marked change from then onwards, to the previous 11 miles?
The grasses were even longer in some sections, and it was all leg-breaking and miserable. Everyone forced to walk.
At 12 miles in, where the ref flag above the circled number 2 is marked, the 43 mile route splits from the 29. The 43 mile route takes a fairly straightforward route west and joins a well marked track. I have marked it with a green dotted line. So the 43 milers had that easy, but of course are brutally punished with an additional 14 miles more than me overall!
Now, I looked at my PDA and saw the next section. I remember plotting it and the instructions said head for the peak of Craig Fawr which may or may not somewhere in the picture below. You see there wasn't really a peak. Off the left and right were little peaks, but nothing you could identify as an actual peak to take a sight-reference from and walk towards. This section is the big red 2 in the circle.
I could see no one ahead and no one behind me. There was no path, just marsh and bog. The terrain was bad. All long clumpy grass. There was no runing that could be done, even though it was not steep. I began a 'stagger' towards what the GPS said was the peak. I stumbled, I sank, I fell over lots of times. I trudged wearily over horrible ground. It began to rain heavily, and the cloud dropped, further hampering efforts to head for this peak. I can't tell you how demoralising this section was. The ground was the worst I would experience all day. I went up to my waist a second time, and had to constantly weave left to right to dry and avoid the deepest bogs. There were streams and pools everywhere that had to be crossed; either jumped or forded. I didn't much care how I got across as long as I didn't go in any deeper than my knees. I had been soaked to the bone for some time, but the wind was mercifully quite low and so I had not got cold. The driving rain seemed to make the wind think it was missing out on some action. It picked up and I began to feel cold for the first time. I caught sight of two walkers ahead with a dog. They were having a tough time like me, and I caught them up after about 20 minutes.
The man told me he had run it last year, but the route was different and had not crossed this section. He also said the event was run later in the year and all the grass was much shorter and generally easer to run on. He didn't envy me trying to run this year. He had done it in 7.5 hours, which is what I had guessed at, but already knew was going to miss by a long way. I had caught them right on what passed for a cairn on the peak, and he told me the route I had planned to take down was bad. He had chatted to the organiser before and was told it was waist deep water. I thanked him for the information and picked another route down the manned checkpoint CP10. I was very cold when I got there.
The organiser was at that checkpoint and I just said "that was horrible". I think he got the message, and everyone must have said the same; it was a very hard section. I had packed a long sleeve Helly Hansen top, and so quickly changed into it. I put on my waterproof jacket, my hat and gloves too. I spent about almost 10 minutes stuffing myself with assorted cakes and biscuits, and getting warm. The checkpoints were all well stocked all day, well done to the organiser for that, and thanks to the people who sat there and got as wet as I did all day. I mixed up my first electrolyte drink too. I had been feeling quite low after that march, but felt better as I set off with some food inside me. I had already got through 70% of my nibbles. I was clearly using a lot of calories even though I had done more walking than usual.
The next section showed a track for the next 3 miles. A flat section too. Easy running I though, but the organiser said "You might be swimming the next section. I soon saw why. If it had all been like the two shots below it would have been fine. However, most of the time it was totally flooded and I had to go into the marshland on either side.
The last mile of that section to CP13 was better, and some on road. I picked up my pace again, and had also warmed up. I packed up my gloves and hat again. I passed some walkers just before CP13. I recognised their faces from the first ever LDWA event I did last year. They didn't recognise me of course, now being a runner. They told me the next section was a 5 mile ascent with very very difficult navigation. They stressed how hard the navigation was a couple of times. I didn't like to say I had GPS, so I thanked them and ran onto the checkpoint. I literally stayed 2 minutes as it had only been 3 miles from the last one, and set off one the ascent and the section marked with the big red 3 in the circle.
After a couple of miles of steady climb on good visible track, we were to take a right on a barely visible path. I was overtaken at this point by three of the 43 milers. The only people who passed me all day (three others were aleady ahead before thr routes merged). None of us saw the 'barely visible path' and over-ran it by a 1/4 mile and then took a steep path up the mountain and back onto the familiar tough moor and marsh terrain.
I've taken a close-up of the map for this section which was about 4 miles long, but felt like 10.
I had marked the route on my PDA to follow the footpath, the red dotted line. The line I actually took was the black line. You can see for the first half I did fairly well, even though there was NO PATH to be seen anyway! This section was essentially a rough moor crossing, followed by a descent into a valley, then another steep climb, all in horrible terrain.
I was very miserable and very cross at this point. I was annoyed because the terrain was so bad, and I had not felt forewarned. It was the harshest terrain I had ever experienced on an LDWA event and I was not mentally prepared for it. All due respect to the Montrail Mountain Championship people who must expect it and do it anyway (although some afterwards said it was harsher than they expected). I wanted to run more, not walk, but just had to stumble on through marshland much slower than I expected to.
This video will give you an idea of my state of mind.
On reflection now at home, those comments were too harsh. At the time I was angry and miserable at the time. This is the kind of terrain that you should expect on a fell race, so I was caught out badly really.
Sorry, that's the last photo or video I took as I was got miserable at this stage and had another major concern. I found the marked path to descent the first peak. It was wide and I could run. I got so carried away, I ran a little too far and that's is where on that close-up map you see I lost any kind of path going forward to the next peak (near where it says standing stone on the close-up map). In reality I'm not really sure there much of a path anyway, but it would probably have been easier than the route I had to take to get to the summit of Drum Ddu. It was on this tough steep ascent (at least from the direction I came at it) that I heard a noise that chilled me to the bone. The 'battery low' noise from my PDA. I had been running it with the screen too bright, compensating for it being in the waterproof bag. At that moment there was nothing in sight resembling civilisation. I opened my bag to find the backup map I had printed of the route was ruined, by the waist deep dip (or dips) into the bog. The water had seeped through the Velcro seal and the ink had run, rendering it unreadable. I then reached into my pack and pulled out the written route instructions, or rather a sodden wet lump of folded paper. Useless (lesson learned!).
I was worried at this point. All I had was a compass now, and no map to take a bearing off.
I regained my composure and formulated a plan.
I set off and took a rough heading off my GPS and then turned off the PDA to save battery. I would just turn it on every few minutes to see where I was. This is why I said that after 22 miles, ignore the speed profile. You can see it goes strange, the wave turns square, as it only got a lock every few mins. My other big worry was that maybe my Bluetooth GPS battery could give out. It had been fully charged and I had tested it to 9 hours 45 minutes. What worried me was that I had recalculated my estimated time of finish to over 9 hours. I could do nothing about that, and just hoped for the best. I struggled up Drum Ddu, getting a GPS location now and again. It was steep and I was a little weary, and of course worried. The cloud was low, and I couldn't see more than a couple of hundred yards. GPS my saviour, got me to the cairn at the peak and the self clip.
There was no path down, but I remember the instructions said descend to the left of two ravines. I managed to do that with the aid of occasional GPS and made my own route onto a road and ran down half mile to the manned checkpoint. They were such nice people at the checkpoint. They made me some tea, and I stuffed myself with more sugary food. I even sat down for a few minutes as I was feeling a bit rough at this point. They told me I was the 6th person through, the first 29 miler. The other 5 were on the 43 mile Montrail championship. I was just getting up to leave when another 43 miler came in. I did expect him to catch me up later, but I didn't see him again until the end. He had done 14 miles more than me, so I am not that surprised I guess!
I set off at a walk to finished off my second cup of tea, which I had sugar put in (I never have sugar in tea). A few minutes later I was revitalised and ran on right to the foot of the final steep climb of Pistyllgwynn. Only periodically turning on my PDA I did not appreciate that I had a tough climb coming up. I am glad of that, as I would have been really demoralised If I had known. The climb was tough, made harder by heath plants blocking the path;it was like wading through treacle. I made the summit and self clipped in and headed on a good path, then onto a bridleway and long welcome descent. I descended quickly, over 6mph, proving I had plenty of run left in me because of all the walking I had done. At the foot and the remaining 2 and half miles to the finish I ran well.
I had one moment of humour that afternoon. At the foot of that hill was wide river, the Afon Elan. It was about 30m wide I would say, and I could see it said 'Ford' on the map. I got the edge and looked across. That is wide I thought, and it looks too deep at the ford point. A 4x4 car could manage it. Plus, it was flowing quite fast. I though, wow this is pretty hardcore for an event of this type. I went 15M upriver where it was more shallow and proceeded to wade across the river. I was 3/4 of the way across when I glanced to the left and saw the large footbridge which had been hidden from my view by some trees, just 20M past the Ford! The written instructions would have set me straight, if they had not been a ball of papier-mâché. I laughed to myself, up to my knees in water and continued on and out.
The last couple of miles were plain sailing, following either road, abandoned railway or footpath. I knew the end was near and felt better. Maybe it had not been so bad after all. No, hang on, it had! I arrived at the finish, 9 hours and few minutes it had taken me. I had done 30 miles and 6504ft of ascent!! That's an average of about 3.3mph. I was first '29 miler' back. There were the five 43 milers back ahead of me. Amazingly the winner, who I believe is a very well known fell runner, did 43 miles in 7.5 hours. Hats off, and I bow at his feet. I'm told the people who finished ahead had 'reccied' the route in advance. I guess they are competing in a championship, so that's what they do. Well done to them.
I had some hot tea, but passed on a meal because I needed to get home.
If I do this in 2008, I will be prepared better, mentally and physically!
[EDIT: I did this again in August 2008. I was better prepared, and knew what to expect, so it held no surprises. I expected it to be tough in places, and it was. It was a slightly easier course than 2007, but still 30 miles with 5600ft of ascent, and still very tiring in places, coupled with low cloud, challenging terrain and heavy biting rain over the longest moor section. I packed and ended up wearing extra clothes, waterproofs and a hat too. I carried less weight overall, around 4-5kg. I completed it much faster this time; 7hrs 37. This is a tough event, not for the faint hearted, and you really need to know how to navigate and/or use GPS.]
