Tom
It has been 13 years since I last ran a 100km race, and I wanted to find out how much difference 3 kids, numerous injuries and a few more grey hairs would make.
The Ultra Trail Snowdonia (UTS) is the Welsh leg of the UTMB franchise, with a series of races ranging from 25km up to 100 miles looping round the beautiful mountains of Snowdonia.
Last year, whilst travelling back from an absolutely stunning weekend of running around Aguilles Rouges in the French Alps, Ricky and I somehow convinced ourselves that the 100km version would be very doable, and with very little thought into the fact that it might be actually be quite hard, excitedly signed up.
UTS bills itself as ‘‘Beautiful beyond belief. Savage beyond reason’ and it very much lived up to its tagline. Those from the club that had run it before had said things like ‘beautiful alpine-like trails’, ‘its somehow always sunny’ and ‘true test of technical trail running’… Now don’t get me wrong, I had a great day (and it was a whole day) out in the mountains, and I would definitely recommend anyone looking for a proper
challenge to consider this one, but it was a far cry from the lovely flowing trails of the Alps, and it definitely wasn’t sunny.
We started the day in Llanberis with a fairly lowkey send off from the organisers (due to noise restrictions) and following a whispered countdown and Ricky and I were off, along with 360ish hardy souls. Almost immediately the route started up the Llanberis path to the top of Snowdon. At this point, the weather was grey but dry and there was a lot of happy chatter from the runners around us. Before I knew it I had turned down the Pyg track and we quickly scampered down towards Pen-y-pas and into the first aid station about 15 mins up on schedule and feeling good. At this point it started to drizzle, but spirits were high as a group of us discussed the merits of bogs vs boulders on the long climb up to Moel Siabod.
Having run many mountain marathons, I am well versed with bogs, and I was feeling pretty good about my pace and effort. There was a bit of discussion about a technical descent but as the rain set in I didn’t think much of it. We hit the top and immediately dropped into a boulder field. It was at this point I realised that my downhill skills are not what they once were as those around me sped off down like the mountain goats they are, and I… well, I didn’t.
The next couple of mountains are a bit of a blur of bogs, climbs and general chat about what the best footwear choice is on wet rock and grass (possibly my mastermind subject), only broken up by seeing Beckys very cheery and welcome face at the aid stations, and as I got to the top of Moelwyn Mawr I was looking forward to a quick decent down to Croesor where I could collect my drop bag and change out of my very soggy clothes. It turns out this descent is long, steep and grassy, and I (and many others) simply couldn’t stay upright. Having lost a bit of time, the moment the route became runnable I decided to try and catch up a bit, missed a junction and ran for 5 mins in the wrong direction. A quick hideout behind a boulder to check my phone and relocate the course and I was into the half way point slightly up on schedule but feeling a bit battered and cold.
Having eaten my bodyweight in marmite sandwiches, a quick change of clothes and a cup of tea and I was off up Cnicht. Matt Wade had used the phrase Cnicht is a …yep, and I now know what he means. At this point the rain was pretty torrential so it was a case of head down and grind out the climb and the never-ending bog that followed and we were soon back down into Gwastadanas farm.
The next leg was the ‘flat’ section, and the run round to Beddgelert was low level so I managed to catch back up a bit of time and enjoy moving a bit faster. At this point we were catching lots of very forlorn, very tired 100 mile runners and there is something weirdly strengthening when you realise how much worse you could be feeling. This section of the route is much faster, and I managed to jog in to Bedgellert and the next
aid station feeling good and very happy to get a hug and some noodle soup from Bex. At this point I made my primary mistake of the day… Feeling good, I decided I didn’t need my gels and for some reason decided to hand Bex my stock (she did try to dissuade me) before heading out into the gloaming and the longest and trickiest leg of the day, the Nantlle Ridge.
It was about the top of the first climb where I realised I had only brought 4 gels and a bag of fruit pastilles for a potentially 5hr leg and a slight sense of dread set in. I did some ‘ultramarathon maths’ and decided I could allow myself 4 pastilles every 15 mins. I decided that I needed to slow up a bit to ensure I didn’t bonk and so I let the group I was running with head off into the dark. This leg took me 4 hours and the decent into the next aid station felt pretty sketchy as it was dark, wet and blustery. Thankfully I had cought up with a lad who seemed to know what he was doing and so I followed his head torch down into the last aid station.
I’m not sure whether it was because I had purposefully held back a bit but a quick toilet stop and I was determined to make up the time on the last leg. Having run this a few times previously with various Tringers, I knew it pretty well and managed to make up 12 places over the climb up and lovely runnable 5k down into Llanberis (fastest 5k of the day).
All in all, I was really pleased with how the day went. There is always something to learn from these things and having vowed on the finish line it would be another 13 years before I do anything like this again, I am already starting to work out how I can do things better on the next one.
My main takeaway is that I have thoroughly enjoyed the process of getting myself to the start line. A huge thanks must be said to Matt W (can 100% recommend him onboard for anyone considering one of these things) who has given me some much needed focus and structure, but also has been a relentless positive presence to have around. Also thanks to my long suffering wife Bex, the best crew a man could ask for
(on races and in life).
Bex had a quite astounding result… Having had about 1.5 hours sleep she somehow managed to podium on the half marathon the following day, beating some very stiff competition and rounding off a thoroughly enjoyable weekend.
So Ricky, which one are we doing next???