UKC

Dragons Back. 2015

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Moley 20 Jun 2015
We are off soon, drive up to Conwy in a few hours (wedding to attend first). Meet other marshalls and mates in the YHA tonight and registration for runners tomorrow.

I think this could be a good race, interesting possibilities. I always had my money on Jez, but after last weekend that is a big ask on his legs for 5 days. We shall see, you can follow it all on tracking and stuff. Weather looking ok for running generally - but all that can change in the Welsh hills!!!!
 Simon Caldwell 22 Jun 2015
In reply to Moley:

http://www.dragonsbackrace.com/live-tracking/

Jim Mann's got a good lead, but it's early days...
 ablackett 22 Jun 2015
In reply to Simon Caldwell:

Jim's an animal, he won't slow down that's for sure. Jasmin Paris is only 1km behind him going up Crib Goch so either she is flying or Jim is taking it easy - only time will tell which. Jez Bragg is middle of the pack and looks already out of the race.

This is going to be a great race.

I am going for 1st Jim, 2nd Jasmin, although I don't know Konrad, Damian or Andre, all of whom are doing well on D1.
 steveriley 22 Jun 2015
In reply to Simon Caldwell:

Oh, I wish I hadn't clicked that link, it's horribly addictive. I've got a couple of private bets about who's going to speed up/blow up but won't share them for fear of jinxing/looking foolish
 galpinos 22 Jun 2015
In reply to ablackett:

I noticed Jez Bragg wasn't up there, a uni aquaintance is doing it and seemed to be on Jez's heals so either Jez was slower than normal or my friend was on fire!

Very addictive.
 ablackett 22 Jun 2015
In reply to galpinos:

Jez broke the record for the Ramsey Round last week, so it's amazing that he is walking let alone running the DB!
 galpinos 22 Jun 2015
In reply to ablackett:

Did he? I missed that, I guess I'll let him off them....
 ablackett 23 Jun 2015
In reply to Moley:

Another stonking day for Jim Mann, he has over 2 hours lead now after Andre Jonsson looks like he fell apart in the second half of the day. Jasmin Paris in a strong second place - impressive!

http://www.dragonsbackrace.com/leader-board/
 Roadrunner5 23 Jun 2015
In reply to ablackett:

I'd have expected him to have recovered a fair bit in a week. Jim's strong on the rough fells so I'd have fancy him to beat Jez tbh on that terrain. It's just attrition now but Jim can afford to just cover and see who can make moves on him. I get the feeling Jez is still struggling to get over NZ physically. I quite fancy an quick AT attempt one year but physically its really hurt people in the past, for a number of years afterwards.
 ablackett 25 Jun 2015
In reply to Moley:

Jim Mann has a good lead now, Jasmin mentioned in an interview yesterday that she would try and close the gap. Should be another exciting day of dot watching!

Jim has raced a great race, staying well within himself for the first couple of days, setting off last, so he doens't feel chased all day and he has company late in the day. Fingers crossed that he keeps it up!

Go on Jim man!
 Bob 25 Jun 2015
In reply to ablackett:

I'm assuming that, other than day one, they set off in reverse race position order presumably at one or two minute intervals? It gives the leaders a bit of an advantage as they have targets to chase down.
 mountainbagger 25 Jun 2015
In reply to Bob:

Yes, that's right (not sure about the interval length), but they do try to set them off in reverse order:
http://www.dragonsbackrace.com/details/#displaySTARTTIMES

Click on Start Times for more info.
 steveriley 25 Jun 2015
In reply to Bob:
I've a feeling 2 years ago you could start whenever you wanted to suit your style, sleep, breakfast, etc? The person I'd ask to confirm this is out setting checkpoints so a bit busy - hope he got an early start

Ah right, read the link above now...

Post edited at 09:42
In reply to Moley:
Only about half the original field are still going! Quick day 3 report on UKH here: http://www.ukhillwalking.com/news/item.php?id=69806
Post edited at 09:47
 Bob 25 Jun 2015
In reply to Dan Bailey - UKHillwalking.com:

The attrition rate (by far the best way to describe it) in these long events is high. The Highland Trail 550 typically only has 30% finishing of those who make it to the start line. There's so much to go wrong and the continual battering on both body and kit will find the weak points and expose them.

The Tour Divide in Canada/the States is also on at the moment and that's two weeks for the leaders of around 200 miles per day. Bikes simply fall apart even for the best prepared.
 mountainbagger 25 Jun 2015
In reply to Dan Bailey - UKHillwalking.com:

Thanks Dan.

I've also found their "ecological briefings" for each day fascinating (maybe it's just me):
http://www.dragonsbackrace.com/news/
In reply to mountainbagger:

Thanks - that is interesting (it's not just you)
 Simon Caldwell 25 Jun 2015
In reply to ablackett:

> Jim Mann has a good lead now, Jasmin mentioned in an interview yesterday that she would try and close the gap. Should be another exciting day of dot watching!

> Jim has raced a great race, staying well within himself for the first couple of days, setting off last, so he doens't feel chased all day and he has company late in the day. Fingers crossed that he keeps it up!

Seems to be a change of plan today, he started relatively early and is already not far off the front. Looks like he and Jasmin are running together.

Jez Bragg's out, unless his tracker's badly malfunctioning.
 Bob 25 Jun 2015
In reply to Simon Caldwell:

> Jez Bragg's out, unless his tracker's badly malfunctioning.

Looks like Jez has quit and is being driven to the day's end point.

Jim probably doesn't have to do anything spectacular for today and tomorrow, basically track Jasmin and Konrad, he's unlikely to lose 90 minutes.
 GraB 25 Jun 2015
In reply to Bob:

I was watching Jez Bragg's tracker and thinking he looked like he was crawling earlier this morning. Shame.

C'mon Carol Morgan!!
 steveriley 25 Jun 2015
In reply to Moley:

There's some good little film updates on https://www.facebook.com/DragonsBackRace?pnref=story
 tony 25 Jun 2015
In reply to Bob:

> Looks like Jez has quit and is being driven to the day's end point.

Looks like there are a few in that boat, judging by the numbers of trackers on the main road!
 ablackett 25 Jun 2015
In reply to Dan Bailey - UKHillwalking.com:

I don't have the exact stats, but I'm pretty sure that less than half the field finished day 1 two years ago. Someone told me that "the problem with Shane (Race organiser) is that he doesn't understand what normal people are capable of" so he makes his challenging races too hard. Clearly he has learnt from last time and the attrition rate looks sensible for a race billed as one of the toughest in the world, but not too tough to put off very high quality mountain runners from entering.
 Roadrunner5 25 Jun 2015
In reply to ablackett:

I dont know.

It is billed as tough and the stats show it is just not for the average runner. I've only done 3 days of 100 miles and 30,000+ feet of ascent and that was great fun but to do more than that like these guys are doing would really test my body attrition-wise.

The inclusion of all the 3000ers upset people last time I know, but that was more from a scrambling perspective.
 steveriley 25 Jun 2015
In reply to ablackett:

I think the complaints were that the Day 1 cut off was a bit harsh. It is basically the Welsh 3000 so shouldn't really have come as too much of a shock. There was quite a merry band of people running all or part of subsequent legs after missing the cut-offs and that seems to be happening again.

http://www.dragonsbackrace.com/results/2012-results/ for 2012 (I thought it was 2 years ago too!)
Moley 25 Jun 2015
In reply to Moley:

Just popped home from the campsite (a mile away), brilliant week of running, I cannot believe how strong some of them are. Many others in pieces. Jim and Jasmin have it in the bag, barring misfortune or accidents.
The women have been awsome. Great atmosphere and good humour, but us Marshalls are flagging, up at 5.30 and working through till near midnight we are bolloxed but having a ball with appreciative runners and lots of laughs. Swim in the river this afternoon.
Another day and its over...........we can smell the beer!!!!!
Moley 25 Jun 2015
In reply to tony:

Jez has been unwell, not just tired.
 Simon Caldwell 25 Jun 2015
In reply to ablackett:

> Someone told me that "the problem with Shane (Race organiser) is that he doesn't understand what normal people are capable of" so he makes his challenging races too hard.

I think the problem 3 years ago was that too many normal people entered - you have to be way beyond normal to do the Dragons Back. It's certainly far too much for me, yet at the GL3D that year I was out-performing people who were using it as a training run for the DB (some of whom couldn't finish the GL3D but started the DB anyway).
 Roadrunner5 25 Jun 2015
In reply to Simon Caldwell:

Yeah I think that first year many underestimated it.. Finishing a few hundred mile races with cut offs is much easier than doing day after day in the mountains.. I did the GLD3 one year when joe made it much harder, it was 100 miles over 3 days, about 3-4 of us were leading but we were still doing 8 hour days.. Most of the field were doing 12+ hour days. Those guys going that slow don't get a chance to relax, eat and recover..

It looks good now though, you can enter it and do as much or as little as you want band just use it as a trail running holiday
 Simon Caldwell 26 Jun 2015
In reply to Roadrunner5:

> I did the GLD3 one year when joe made it much harder, it was 100 miles over 3 days, about 3-4 of us were leading but we were still doing 8 hour days.. Most of the field were doing 12+ hour days.

We did that one too - my only ever DNF! We took about 14 or 15 hours day 1, so missed out a big loop on day 2 and headed straight for the campsite (you still got there before us!). Managed day 3 though
Moley 28 Jun 2015
In reply to Moley:

Ended on a bit of a low for me, I felt "odd" during the prize presentation and went to my tent for a lie down, woke up being violently sick and was found by my wife semi conscious on the grass outside my tent. Ambulanced to hospital (precaution) and bunged on a drip, a violent gastro bug went through me both ends + general exhaustion etc. Back home and ok now - knackered!

Great event and atmosphere with runners and support staff. Brilliant to have Wendy Dodds and Helene Whitaker helping us all week - shows the comradeship this sport has, with previous legends giving up their time to muck in supporting the next generation of mountain runners.

Logistics of the event are huge, with 45 voluntary support staff on hand working their bollocks off all day and night (in some cases). Added to 140 runners, that means moving a tented village for 180 people every day, no mean feat, sometimes we wished we were running!

2 years till the next one, I see this event going from strength to strength, it really is an iconic Welsh route and provides a test for the all-round athlete who can cope with the rocks and scrambling of Snowdonia + the trails, bogs and tussocks of mid Wales and finally up onto the western beacons.

Time to put your daps on and start training for the next one........
 Roadrunner5 28 Jun 2015
In reply to Moley:
Well done Moley, I volunteered at a race last week, I've done checkpoint marshaling but it was really fun being involved in the bigger aspects of the race. Makes you appreciate how much some RDs do.. Sadly some don't..

What do you get for this by the way? I thought the normal reward is entry? Can you do other events instead?
Moley 29 Jun 2015
In reply to Roadrunner5:

Shane runs a form of credit system, where volunteering on his events gain you credits which go towards entry on his other events. So helping on a 5 day race would give you 5x the credits of a 1 day race, that's the principal anyway. Then obviously different races require different number of credits to enter. Seems quite a fair system to me, though I've never used mine.

Berghaus the primary sponsors provide some free kit for us, so we are decked out in their gear - always welcome!

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