The Dragon’s Back 22-26 May 2017
Race Report by Darren Graham
Two members from both local running clubs took part in the famous Dragons Back Race last week. John Minta (CVFR) and Darren Graham (Tod) took part in what is billed as the world’s toughest mountain race.
It starts in Conwy Castle and takes the runners five days to finish in Llandeilo, South Wales. The route is 315k with over 15000m of ascent and crosses wild, trackless and mountainous terrain. Each day, participants have to endure an average 63k route with over 3000m of climbing. The mileage and ascent is based on the optimal route choice and runners have to self navigate to each checkpoint so they could end up running further and climbing higher!
By modern ultra running standards, each days racing isn’t high but the cumulative of 5 days of ultra running test each runners mental and physical ability as some of the slower runners can be out for over 13 hours each day!
This years winners were Marcus Scotney (37.58.37) and Carol Morgan (48.41.47). John finished 71st in 61.44.40 hours and Darren in 86th place in 64.44.42 hours. With 232 starters in Conwy, only 127 managed to complete the full course to slay the dragon in Llandeilo and earn a pint or two to celebrate.