Beacons Ultra - the tour of a fool over Tor y Foel

I was both looking forward to and a bit concerned about running the Beacons Ultra again this year as last year I was not in a good place with my fitness/health something that was reflected in the fact that it took me nearly 9 hours to complete the course.  I know that this was still a respectable time, but my level of physical and mental commitment was sorely tested on the second lap as the big hill almost broke me and I had to have a serious talk with myself in order to stop me turning round and hobbling the 3 miles back to the start/finish point.

This year I have been slowly getting myself back to full fitness and trying to create a good solid base from which to put in some quality session in an attempt to regain something like the speed and endurance I had before.  Having recovered from whatever was wrong with me (and we never did get to the bottom of it), I have had six months of steady build up.  The Round Rotherham was my first ultra back but the Beacons was going to prove whether I was really back in the game again.   

Although the race followed almost the same route as the five previous years, this year’s course contained a small detour to protect an area of ash trees from the cross-contamination of hundreds of feet running through them.  By my Garmin, this made the course 46.4 miles and although this didn’t make the course much longer than usual, it did add another long incline to the race creating a bigger challenge for us runners but HEY – we don’t do this stuff because it’s flat!!!

We set off at 07:30 along the canal and myself and Kevin (who was another member of the Witney Roadrunners Team) started at a steady pace – determined not to get sucked into the sprint for the start of Tor y Foel at Llangynidr.  We both had the aim of achieving a solid first lap so that we could then see what we had left for the second.  Kevin and I stayed together until we topped the hill when I pushed on to take advantage of my ability to speed down hills (knowing that Kevin would probably catch me up again on the flatter section of the old railway line).  I managed to reach mile 11 before Kevin and another couple of runners caught up with me and we ran as a group almost all the way up the Gap Road to the Saddle.  As the terrain dropped away again, I pushed on and I didn’t see Kevin again until the end.  However, I was always expecting to hear his footsteps and an ‘Alright sham’ from behind me as he is a tough cookie (coming from Irish farming stock). 

I managed to do the first lap in 03:40 and was happy with that.  I didn’t feel spent and my head was strong enough to take on the 2 mile climb up the big hill.  I was really chuffed that I didn’t stop once on the hill, maintaining a steady walk/plod to the top and then descending as fast as I could (which was not as fast as the first lap) before beginning to work hard again along the Tal-y-bont track above the reservoir.  My wife Alison had parked up at the 11/34 mile point where you turn onto the Taff Trail and it was great to get some encouragement – especially when your body is knackered.  I had been running on my own since the start of the second lap and I was beginning to feel that it would have been good to have a running buddy as I was starting to feel that I was running on at an ‘auto-jog’ at this stage.  However, on looking round I could see other runners not too far behind which gave me an incentive to pick up my pace and work hard up to the Saddle for the second time.  Just as I reached the Saddle, I was joined by the second place lady Sallie Holt and we had a quick chat before I was off again in my usual free-fall running down the rocky slope.  At the bottom of the hill at the last checkpoint before the finish I had some food and filled my water bottle for the last time before getting my head down and trying to run as strongly as I could for the last 6 miles. 

At Llanfrynach  I caught up with Gary Davies and we ran together for a short while before I pushed on hoping that my second wind would let me stay ahead until the end.  As I reached the bridge onto the canal at Pencelli, I looked back to see that Gary had made some time and distance up (he told me at the end that he had also put the hammer down to try and catch me) and I knew I had made the right decision to press on.  So onto the towpath and just two miles to go and I think I was concentrating as hard as I’ve done in any race on driving my legs forward – managing just about to put clear space between me and Gary.  I was so intent on moving forward that I didn’t see Alison on the bring until she shouted at me to push all the way in.

I was very happy to finally finish 18^th place overall in a time of 08:16:54 especially at this stage of my training.  The idea is to improve my fitness over the next 9 months until my 50^th year and then to try and race competitively with other V50s out there.  My days of trying to be a racing snake (not that I ever really was one) are well and truly over!!). 

The third member of our team and our best runner Justin Young had a brilliant race to come in in a time of 07:12.52 in sixth place, mixing with some quality runners and giving a great account of himself.  Kevin was not too far beind me in 25^th place in a time of 08:33:05 and we came 4^th in the team standings. 

The Beacons is a great race.  The organising team are VERY friendly and there the marshalls are always a fantastic bunch.  The race sells out very quickly but it is well worth staying up until silly o’clock in the morning to secure a place!!!