Ultra Wales® Race Review – Michael White
We all crossed the line together. It was great to have such good company
GBUltras Ultra Wales 50
It’s no secret that I love Wales. When I saw that GB Ultras had taken over this race in southern Snowdonia I just couldn’t resist entering. The route looked absolutely awesome and having now completed it (barely) it didn’t disappoint. I had an amazing time, even if I did struggle with my fitness. It was also great to be able to catch up a little with some of the friends I have made at GB Ultras events.
Starting and finishing at Coed y Brenin Forest Park the route heads south via the stunning Precipice walk with amazing views across the valley before dropping into Dolgellau for CP1.
Continuing south to Minffordd (and CP2) I found myself with Christian Quick, Szilard Csisha (Seal) and Norbert Kozak and we pretty much stuck together the rest of the way. I knew Seal from last years Chester Ultra® 100 where we ran the last 70 odd miles together and it was good to catch up again.
Taking the Minffordd path, the long slog up to the top of Cadair Idris begins. I’d not done Cadair Idris before and was looking forward to it. It was a tough climb from 50m elevation to 893m.
As we rounded the corner to head up Craig Cwm Amarch (you can see this impressive peak and its ragged cliff face behind us in some of the photos) we found ourselves in very strong winds and it started to rain. We stopped to put waterproofs on. A good decision as 5 minutes later that rain turned to hail stones. That was a little extreme together with the strong wind.
Once over the peak we drop down into the valley between the two peaks for some respite from the weather. Here we bump into Wayne Drinkwater, the Race Director at GB Ultras (hence the photos) doing his thing and looking after runners up the mountains. It was also good to see Alan Wraight further up and re-directing us as due to the strong winds we cut out the last 50 metres of ascent to the Cadair Idris peak. Heading down the pony path we had more freezing wind and hail. My hands were so cold I could not feel them, which made trying to stow my poles back in my pack rather difficult.
The drop down to the valley and the River Afon Mawdach is pretty nice and mostly runnable where we pass through CP3. Reaching the river it’s then 5 very flat miles into Barmouth along a cycle path and then over the iconic wooden Barmouth bridge. Along this section we picked up Matt Croasdale into our merry little band who suddenly appeared from the wrong direction.
The CP here is in a hall so we get nice toilets, hot food and a bit of a sit down for a while.
Leaving Barmouth, with 20 miles to go, we are all feeling the exhaustion so progress is fairly slow heading North over Mynydd Egryn to CP5 before the big climbs over Y Lethr (756m) and Rhinog Fach (712m) and more freezing wind and hail.
The drop from Y Lethr is proper gnarly, just piles of rocks and large drops and extremely slippery in the wet and you have to be really careful to avoid a fall.
We bump into Wayne here again before the climb up Rhinog Fach. Reaching the summit, there is Alan again waiting for us, toughing it out in the very inclement weather and making sure we take the right path down off the mountain.
Like the previous descent this is tough and goes on for a very long time, again over very slippery rocks and mud and just trying hard not to slip or fall too much. That long descent was the toughest and most brutal part of route and I was so glad to finally reach the valley between the Rhinogs.
On a normal day I love this stuff but at that time I was so exhausted it was just so hard and didn’t feel like much fun. As always, looking back, it was a tremendous experience and I wouldn’t change anything.
From there the last 7 or so miles were pretty uneventful. A bit of a route march to get the job done and so much looking forward to just being able to stop. As we got closer the last couple of miles saw us picking up the pace as we were trying to get in under the 18 hours.
We all crossed the line together. It was great to have such good company.
As always, huge thanks must go to GB Ultras for putting on another great and unforgettable event.
It was sure a tough one, comparable with the Snowdon Ultra 50 mile and possibly even tougher.
Thanks to all the staff and volunteers at the checkpoints and on the mountains keeping us safe who were fantastic as always.
It’s always so good to see familiar faces en-route, many of whom I’ve shared more than a few miles: Jim, Becky, Fred, Ryan, Laura, Ian, Wayne, Alan, Shannon, Gaz and Caroline. You are all amazing, wonderful people. Here’s to the next one. Now that I’ve recovered for a few days things always feel more positive. Now I’ve got to get out there and get a few more long runs in.
Written by Michael White
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