UKC

This morning Will Birkett finished an unassisted solo round of the Classic Rock routes in Wales. I met him for the final route (Will o the Wisp) at Dinas Mawddwy around 330am to finish it just at dawn was breaking. Will started the lap on Saturday leaving the car around 6am pulling on to Great Gully at 6am. It took him around 21hrs 40 (i think?) to run the full thing, im not sure what it is total, but around 100-120km? 20 routes up to VS and 120 odd pitches?

Incredibly Will did this solo, no assistance (caff accompanied him for a few routes in the Pass, I picked him up for the last route and a ride home), no shop stops and with only 1 bag drop at Tremadog?! The final run between Creagh Ddu Wall and Will o the Wisp alone is 35 miles or so.... what a grind! An amazing effort, no ones managed it to date, I thought just finishing it would be incredible but he put in a mind blowing time too. Chapeau!

(|I expected him to come crawling over the col but that wasn't the case, after we'd done the route and the timer had stopped, he still had the energy to run the 20 mins down the mountain back to the car and tell me all about his adventure?!)

Bloody 'ell, superb effort, especially the Tremadog/ Cywarch bit. If I'd known I could have had tea and cake ready as he passed. 😛

ps. and a chapeau to Rachel. Strawberries, I hear!

Cheers Myfyr, yeah we both did it recently. It was great seeing Will complete it. Nice to experience the charm of Cywarch at the absolute crack of dawn too 

For sure - I had this mapped out for a go back when I could actually run, and that section was what put me off ever trying 😂 

Personally, I think using a push-bike for those 35 miles would be totally valid. So running it, big chapeau 🏆

Wow, that's a good effort. I'd need to look at a map but I'd have guessed half as long again would be the record.

jcm

Has anyone ever completed it totally on foot before in one push? 

Haha that would have gone against Will’s solo unaided ethos. I tried offer him something at Tremadog but he wouldn’t have it, even the Spar and Chippy Dre was off limits!

Absolutely superhuman effort, surely that record's going to stand for years?

There may (or may not) be others who could do it in a similar time (I've no idea), but the real hurdle is going to be mentally coping with the knowledge that you've still got that 35 mile run ahead of you. Is there anyone out there who fancies that?

Might be easier to take someone like John Kelly climbing until they have the necessaries to deal with the actual classic rock routes.

Going the other direction would mean a slog at the beginning instead but you'd have to finish up great gully. Hopefully UKC are planning an interview?

I don't know of anyone, but that doesn't mean much.

jcm

Good old Tim Blake came to his rescue at the end after trying to thumb a lift home - from Wills insta story

Starting at Tremadoc also means a lot more ascent and descent on foot rather than just having the ascent climbing. There's a pretty sensible linkup route starting from the Great Gully end which avoids too much uphill walking and extra descents.

We are indeed - in fact, I'm putting some questions together as we speak.

Anyone out there have any burning questions, other than "why on earth didn't you use a bike?!" 😂

Did he find any turds underneath any of the routes?

Savage!  poor Will is never going to live that one down. Don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story 🤣 

Excellent - that's some effort! Chapeau seriously bas