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Writer's pictureJames Bezant

Dragons Back Race Day 3


Dolgellau to Ceredigion


45.67 miles/73 k

11.204 ft/3414 metres


0600 am start

Time on feet 14h 51m



One of the biggest days is here, also some swelling in my right knee has arrived too!


When you enter this event, it consumes you, you watch every video there is, read every blog, even check the website for updates.


Some of the earlier editions of this race consisted of it being five days. And one of the points made was if you conquer day three, you have a good chance of finishing the race, this was obviously before Shane was so generous in giving us an extra day.


The day was longer, and roughly the same elevation, five miles extra may not seem much, but over this terrain everything just takes longer.


Shane and the team opted for the 30 minute heat allowances again, a great idea.


I've recced the whole of this day, so I knew what was in store.


Me and Steve head off at 0600hrs again, we had this routine cracked!


Same methods as the days before, push before the heat, biggest issue now though was my knee, swollen and struggling to bend it properly.


Pop some painkillers and use the poles, that'll get you through it.



As soon as you come out of the campsite, you are on some little roads before hitting the lovely town of Dolgellau.

(defo worth a visit).


We cross over the bridge into town, and that's right you guessed it.


The bloody bell is ringing again, Sam, Blayne and Jason are there

to see us all off.


I was fortunate on this day, I saw those guys three times.



You come out of the sleepy town and start making the climb on roads toward Cadair Idris, in my opinion the best mountain range on the event.


It's a slow arduous climb, and if my memory serves me right it's actually the biggest climb of the whole six days, only because you basically start at sea level in Dolgellau.


On the climb I can feel this knee, I basically hobble trying to not bend the knee, using the poles as efficiently as I can, its working.


You stroll past the first checkpoint then your into this flat section in the picture. It's really nice and runnable, this is just before Mynydd Moel.


The knee felt good on this, I just had to take advantage when I could, I was so slow on the downhills.


And before you know it that flat section is gone and your into a small climb. There were loads of us on this climb, doing the usual, looking at each other knowing what the day ahead of us entailed. At the top of this climb you can see Cadair idris in the distance.


This part is quite special, its like you are on a wide ridgeline, you have a stunning view to the right and the left, and you can see Cadair Idris getting closer in the distance.


You soon hit Cadair Idris, dib in at the checkpoint, then there is one of the funnest descents coming up (The Pony Path) but not for me, not Mr I can't bend my bloody knee, I end up getting the poles out and shuffling down using the poles to take some of the force, its working.


You come to the bottom and you've got some flat ground coming up, I knew there was a little shortcut coming up too, one I've reccied, I've done the legit GPX route and I've done the potential short cut, this one cuts out some unnecessary elevation.


There's a group in front of me and then there's this lady on her own, she's taking the line I'm going to take, boom, follow her, this made the job easier as it stopped me having to look at my watch every two seconds, you do go through some rough ground but then you are greeted by a lovely quad track.


A couple of minutes later I saw one of the top ten athletes coming past me to my right (Owen Rees) that confirmed to me that this was a good line, with the way my knee was, I needed all the shortcuts I could take.


Before you know it your back on the proper course, heading towards the

Twll Yr Ogof checkpoint, dib in then descend towards the campsite which was the first support point, as always as soon as you got into the low ground the humidity hit.


The support point was bloody baking yet again, usual procedure for me and Steve, dip hats reload water and get moving.


Leaving the support point and its slow going, plodding through some really warm farmers fields, no wind, just sun, this ended up being the hottest part of the day.


Someone in the distance is walking back towards the last checkpoint, who is it? It's Jon Shields, one of the guys in the top ten, he's a real nice guy and made the effort to speak to us even though he's in this event to compete. Unfortunately Jon had to retire from the race at this point, I think he had some real bad issues with his feet.


We finally get out of the farmland sauna, and there is a bit of a wooded descent then onto a busy main road. I remember this bit from a recce, time to get some caffeine gels in as I know this climb well, and I didn't enjoy it in the recce, I warn Steve of this too.


Another good thing about reccies is how it can help with managing expectations, you know what's about to come, this helps with preparing for it.


We head towards Tarren-fach, no wind and all sun, no streams either, we take our time on this section and you can see people who are far ahead, you are wishing to be them again, where's that bloody teleport machine when you need it?


We stop when we need to, finding shade in the weirdest of places, hugging the floor otherwise your head would still be in the sun.


We finally climb up Tarrenhendre, I take more breaks than Steve, he pushes on.


I know it's quite nice ground once you crest this, it's a bit of a downhill though, how is my knee going to feel?


Surprisingly good, right let's get back to Steve, I did this over the course of the week, it almost was a little goal to catch Steve, it helped with subsiding the fatigue/pain.


I catch Steve, then I push on, I know what's to come, the worst out and back of the week, Tarren Y Gesail! Yet again I find myself cursing at Shane.



Fortunately just before this climb there is a wooded (in picture) section, I take a few minutes rest, and take on some food, a lot of other competitors did this too.


Right, let's conquer this shit climb!


I was also aware of the time at this point, is this the first time I'm going to be a bit close to a cut off?





I make the climb, dib the checkpoint, and start the descent, Steve's here:


"James I've ran out of water"


Luckily I still had some in my Camelback to share.


I reach the welcomed wooded descent towards Machynlleth, the main support point of the day, a lot of this was shaded.


I get this feeling that I haven't felt all week yet, am I going to get timed out?


Basically there is certain points on each day to have to reach by a certain time, if you don't, you get pulled off the course.


Right, headphones in, let's put some bangers on and get moving, what's funny about this feeling of potentially being timed out is the pain subsides, it's almost an adrenaline rush.


I caught up to a lady called Thia, we have a little chat then I push on.


She was in the 2021 edition and had some IT band issues and had to pull out, it was great to hear she felt stronger this year.


I'm in the town, I see a well stocked petrol station, right let's get some normal food, I opt for a can of coke and a all day breakfast sandwich and get moving to the support point, I walk this point in, I had bags of time.


Typical me, worrying about a cut off I wasn't going to miss, right let's smash this food, probably not the best option to have on the sandwich front, high protein and fibre aren't always the best for digestion, plus a fizzy drink that I couldn't finish.



Walking to the support point and I see two familiar faces, Sam and Blayne.


They walk with me for a bit, complimenting me on my efficiency with timings, if I'm honest I had to take every advantage there was, this knee was causing me havoc throughout the day.


It was great to see them.





On the sections where people could be quick, I was slow, and on the slower sections were the bits I could push.


Slow downhills, push on the flats/uphills, this all depended on how many painkillers I could take also.


I'm in the checkpoint, its hot, I see people taking advantage of the shops, people coming back from the pub too.


I saw quite a few people pull out at this support point, there's a lot of shiny objects here (pub/normal food) that can lure you to fall back into that normal life.


But I was still here, knee niggle but I can walk, still roughly coming in an hour under cut offs.


You deserve to be here, it's a privilege, keep trucking on!


Right, reload and go, I start making my way up the first climb, this was one of those days where the back half of the course is actually nicer than the first half, I see some shade, I sit there for five minutes, I need to let this food go down.


I power hike over the next section, a lot of rolling hills, and then comes this track climb, its cheeky, I take a break at the top, and there she is, it's Hayley, she seems a bit panicked.


She mentions what her watch ETA is suggesting, It's saying well over 10pm, I quickly say it's taking that measurement off your current moving pace, so if you are walking slow it will have you coming in at X time, then once you start moving quicker it will have you coming in earlier, I consoled her and said she would make it to camp in time.


I know this from an Ultra I done a few years ago when I was looking at my watches ETA feature, I was running along a road section reasonably quick, and it was saying I'd be in about 1 pm, I didn't finish that ultra until about 5:30 pm.


That's when I realised its best to have that feature turned off, it can really play havoc with your mindset.


I'm not going to lie though, it made me think am I going to make the evening cut off? And just like that the adrenaline is back, Hayleys ETA thing put a rocket up my arse, even though I thought it was off, I can't take any risks, let's get to camp!


I smash this section, running freely!


The last climb towards Pumlumon Fawr is coming, just before the climb there Is a shortcut again.


As you start heading towards the reservoir of Llyn Llygad Rheidol, there is a bit where you can go over a bit of rough ground but then you are onto a nice track to the right, this definitely worth doing, I've done the recommended route before and fell down some dangerous holes, it's not worth it!



I'm here, the main last climb done and one of the last checkpoints before camp, it's getting dark, the first time I'm coming into camp in the darkness.


The photo sums up how the day felt.



Time to get the head torch out, it's nice rolling hills before the camp descent.


What's that sound? it's that bloody bell!!


What legends, Sam and Blayne are high fiving us all before we have the camp descent.


A lad catches up with me called Phil, we talk about the race and also that shortcut I took, he was in front of me, but that line I took put me in front, I let him know I've taken the route he took before and it's awful and dangerous.


As always, message me if want help with this line.


I'm at the bottom of the descent and I can finally see camp!


I walk it in while eating my salt and vinegar crisps.


I got in about 2050hrs, I was happy, a few scares earlier in the day, but I'm here!


One of the first major hurdles is done, my knee is giving me jip, but I can still carry on.


Same routine, eat straight away, fill bottles up, go for a dip then eat again, as the week went on I got more efficient, minimising time walking to the camps luxuries.


This time when I got back to the tent after eating, I bumped into a tent mate and training partner Shaun, he told me about his knee, this was an issue before the race too. If you have any previous niggles this race will certainly bring them out and exacerbate them.


He got timed out and I was absolutely gutted for him!


Day three took out a few competitors, the distance combined with the heat, but at least the Hatchling option was available.


Also Hayley made it before the cut off, she came in at about 09:30pm which was an hour quicker than what her watch predicted!


First major hurdle completed, I deserve to be here!



You could definitely start feeling the overall energy deficit kicking in now, most of us were burning over 5000 cals per day.


If you missed the watch alarm for whatever reason you could feel the energy dip come, which was a new weird feeling.


Learning points from day 3


- Keep the gels coming, so easy to digest.

- Having a mixture of normal plus flavourless gels worked well

- Stick to the watch alarm for food.

- Its ok to feel shit after the main support point. It's hot plus you've just wolfed down some solid food.

- Good choice on not having your watch ETA on.















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