Yr Wyddfa Ultra 100 Mile Race

I booked in to the Yr Wyddfa Ultra 100 Mile race on a bit of a whim after failing to fully complete the Swiss Alps 100 mile race in Summer. I was still yearning to fully complete the 100 mile distance on a tough course this year. (The last time I had run 100 miles+ in one go was last year when I ran the Wild Horse 200).

Mindset

Learning from the Swiss Alps, I wasn’t going to let mind games win over me this time in preventing a finish. I’m happy to report I did complete this one. It was a LOT tougher than I had expected. Here is a quick before and after snapshot of my Yr Wyddfa Ultra 100 Mile Race.

Signing up

The entry process was a bit different to anything I had done before. Entry was via an online form, which asked for my race and distance/ultra experience among other questions such as “are you happy navigating by paper map and compass?”

A few days after requesting entry into the race, I got a personal e-mail back from one of the race directors saying they were happy with my previous experience to allow me entry into the 100 mile race.

It’s a very personal vetting system they have setup which must make for a lot of extra work on their side, but the plus is that they are looking out for the safety of everyone entering.

Yr Wyddfa Ultra 100 Mile Race Preparation

I didn’t have much time to prepare for the race, having only booked in about 6 weeks ahead. My training focus was to ease back into things after the Swiss Alps 100, paying special attention to allowing my right leg to recover as best as possible.

Training

To try and stay ‘sharp’ I added regular strides interval work, mostly being hill strides. These allowed me to reduce impact on the legs when at speed (as the hill angle means your feet land sooner and therefore with less impact).

I only managed 2 x long-ish runs in the lead up to the race. One in the Preseli Mountains local to me, and one on the coast path trails nearby, where I ran with Shaun, a talented runner I met when racing the OTT Ultra last year in November, and again ran with on the Pegasus PIGUM ultra (where he and I came in 4th and 5th place)

Here is a vlog I did on Youtube that shows my careful re-build process leading up to the Yr Wyddfa Ultra 100 Mile race.

Gear and camping

Gear-wise, I only needed to purchase the mandatory waterproof map the race asked for – in this case the Harvey Ultra Map – Snowdonia North XT40. The rest of the things such as waterproofs, weather shell, bivvy bag, compass, and so on were in running gear waiting to be recruited once more.

On the spending front I needed to keep this cheap. We spent a lot of money on our holiday through Europe, and on my race entries, so I wanted to minimise spending for the Yr Wyddfa Ultra 100 Mile Race.

That being said, I booked into the cheapest campsite I could find nearby. A 10 minute drive away from race registration / start / finish (Betwys y Coed). I would use an old fishing tent, camping roll mattress and sleeping bags to camp the night before, and the night after the race. The campsite was about £8 a night, but did not have any showers.

The race arrives, setting up camp

Soon enough I had arrived in North Wales (about 3 hours drive up the coast from where I live in West Wales). I registered Friday early evening, picked up a pizza from the village for dinner, and then retired back to my campsite for a bit of a chilly night camping alongside the river.

I tackled all my gear preparation and kit packing that evening, laying out the items I would run in so I didn’t have to fuss too much in the early hours of the morning.

Yr Wyddfa Ultra 100 Mile Race Day

I was up at 4am in the morning. I got an early breakfast and coffee in (gas stove for the hot water!) Got dressed into my race gear, and applied sudocream to my feet (helps with waterproofing and protecting feet in constant wet).

A quick double-check of my two drop bags was done too – they would need handing in at the race start when I picked up my shoulder mounted GPS tracker.

The 100 mile race started at 6am, with the 50 mile event starting 15 minutes later. The first half of the 100 mile course would be exactly the same as the 50 mile course, with us ending back here in Betwys-y-coed after roughly 47-50 miles for our first drop bag checkpoint.

Time passed by quickly after picking up my GPS, meeting and chatting with a few friends at the start line. (Thanks Mike, Neil, Sanna, and Gareth).

The first 50 miles, mountains and windy weather

We started out at 6am, the sky still dark. The initial section was a winding and undulating woodland, a little technical underfoot with lots of scattered rock and tree roots everywhere.

Once we exited the woodland we were on open land heading toward the mighty mountain, Tryfan. On this section I was passed by the leader of the 50 mile race, Mark Derbyshire. Our intersection happened at a gate/style, and I thought I would help him along and hold the gate for him. He later on got a new course record, so I’ll take credit for a few seconds of that, thank you very much! 😄

At the base of Tryfan we began the first big ascent, up “Heather terrace”. A very rocky section with significant elevation to climb and a number of areas where you need to use hands and feet to scramble up.

Descending Heather terrace and ascending Yr Wyddfa

Next was the descent, another rocky technical affair, partly on the “Miner’s track”. From the bottom, we then made our way up “Pyg track”, another technical trail, this time ascending Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa), the highest mountain in Wales.

The wind had really picked up now and was whipping everyone around like crazy. A lot of day hikers were out doing the ascent too. On more than one occassion massive gusts whipped up the side of the mountain and knocked people around. Many people on their way up or down with ill-prepared for the bad weather and didn’t have much confidence on the mountain. They were easily made out as the ones cowering or clinging with fear to rocks. Sadly, we also saw some families still trying to make their way up with younger kids in tow.

The cold wind was barely manageable in my base layer + shirt and shorts combination. I had a Sealskins waterproof beanie on though, which combined with a good power hiking stride up the mountain helped keep me warm enough till we reached the ‘finger stone’ (Bwlch glas) just 50 meters or so below the summit.

Here is a short video looking across toward Tryfan (videos need to be viewed directly on this website, they won’t work via e-mail digests):

At this point a GB Ultras marshall re-directed us back down the mountain again. It was only about 1km less off the route with 50 more meters to climb to the summit, but they decided to redirect us due the bad weather anyway.

The path back down lead us back down Pyg track for a short while, where we then forked right down Miner’s track for the remaining descent. On the way down I passed running friend Colin (who was on the 50 mile race). A great bear hug was shared and we both went on our way.

Up the Glyderau

Fast forwarding slightly, we then made our way up the third big climb of the ‘first half’ of the race, these mountains being the Glyderau. First Glyder Fach, then down and up a small saddle to Glyder Fawr.

The mountains and scattered rock give off an ‘alien vibe’. I love how everything looks up here, but it is technical to run along with high attention required on each step so as not to twist an ankle.

Video showing a bit of the top section of the Glyderau:

Just over the Glyderau, I met up with Mike friend, and talented runner from my part of the world in Pembrokeshire. He was out on the 50 mile course. It was good to run a little with him.

Devil’s kitchen and the descent

Coming down from the Glyderau is an initial sharp climb down a dirt and scree filled gulley. Toward the bottom the technicality gets ‘easier’ with larger chunks of rock and less decline to deal with.

Llyn Ogwen and toward the Carneddau

At the bottom the trail becomes easier and much more runnable. Llyn (Lake) Ogwen greeted us with choppy white-tipped waves as the wind continued to whip around us.

Llyn Ogwen, a video showing the choppy waves on the lake, and the cloud covered mountain we just climbed and descended:

Another lake was up next, Llyn Cowlyd. This is the same lake I ran along on Ultra-trail Snowdonia (UTS 100) earlier this year. It wasn’t pleasant a pleasant lake-side run though. As always, its a technical trail with plenty of chunky rock, boggy, muddy sections, and tons of water coming off the hills to the side to run through. It also feels like it goes on forever as you follow the length of the lake, which is about 3 to 4km.

At the end is a sharp turn to the right, followed by another (seemingly) relentless climb. More mud and bog to navigate!

The trails continued and the terrain stayed very wet and muddy until finally reaching Betwys-y-coed, just shortly before the 50 mile mark (roughly 80km). The final few kilometers to checkpoint 6 at Betwys-y-coed were back through the initial wooded trails we had ran earlier that morning. By now it was just turning dark for me, roughly 14 hours into the race.

As mentioned earlier, and having looked at the elevation profile before the race, I thought this first half was the tough section, and it was now done. I looked forward to the second half, and wouldn’t have thought it would take me more than say, another 16-18 hours considered fatigued legs and body.

The second half (another 50 miles to go)

I couldn’t have been further from the truth! The second half ended up being far more difficult in my opinion.

I spent 30 minutes or so at the checkpoint, taking my time to clean my feet, change clothes, socks, and shoes, and get some food in my belly. With headtorch now strapped on, I set off into the darkness.

The night was quiet, and the wind had settled a bit. I ran first alone, then picked up company on the way to the next checkpoint. Another chap who also ran the Dragon’s Back race last year with me. We power hiked this section even though it was quite flat, sharing stories of Dragon’s Back and camp life from last year.

After a while the trails got a little more technical and wet, but we added a third to our group, a lady named Sandra.

Conversation was great, and we all continued on into the night, ticking away a couple of hours. Sandra and I were slightly more keen to run-walk, opting for running/shuffling on the flats and downs, with hiking up the hills, and we ended up leaving the other guy for a bit.

However, we took a wrong turn at one point, and he ended up ahead of us anyway.

A borrowed support crew

Sandra and I got along well and we ticked off the hours bouncing between checkpoints. Her partner was supporting her on the race, and as luck would have it, the longest section between checkpoints (about 30 km) was exactly where they were booked into a small cottage for the weekend.

Her partner had prepared oven baked curly fries and a variety of foods and water, setting them up on the hood of their car parked on the roadside. We ran past at roughly half way between checkpoints, and I was invited to stop and enjoy a short refill.

This was perfect timing, and purely by chance on their planning (and my luck running with Sandra).

I had hit a bit of a low, and although didn’t say so at the time, clung on a little to Sandra’s energy to help move through the night.

Early hours of the morning

Eventually we hit another checkpoint at what must have been 4am in the morning. There was hot food here. We had black coffee, and I had beans on toast. Another foot maintenance session for me, cleaning them off, and re-applying my ‘sudocream’. This cream really saved my feet on this race. They were already wet on and off through the night with the dew on the grass, but the next day held constant rain in store for us.

Sandra wanted to head off, and I needed a bit of a nap, so we parted ways at this checkpoint.

Climbing onto a half-deflated air mattress (faulty pump I think), I set my alarm for 20 minutes. I had only had 10 minutes of sleep when it started blaring next to my ear. I hit snooze and lay there for another 5 minutes, resting in the hushed corner of the checkpoint hall.

Kicking myself out of the saggy air bed, I gave my thanks to the crew and headed back out into the night. 5am now, and I was greeted by heavy rain as I walked out.

Back inside again to put my storm shell and gloves on, then I was out for the second time, more prepared this time.

Trail and weather hell begins

The trail was single track, and very slippery now with the heavy rain. To add insult to injury, it was also steep and technical in many places, with random, difficult to see rock scattered everywhere.

I was soon soaked through, waterproofs never work when you’re in the rain for hours. But at least I was warm.

Missing a trail turn through some dense foliage, I made several back-and-forth attempts to locate the missing turn. I simply couldn’t find it. I ended up scrambling up a muddy incline of about 60% grade, using bits of root to help pull myself up, and trekking poles dug in where possible.

Finally toward the top, I got lost once again, ending up in fern cover higher than my head. I attempted to correct the mistake by bee-lining to the GPX line I could see further to my side on my watch. The attempt failed as I was finally met with a random barbed wire fence and massive ancient stone wall in the thick brush.

My legs were now cut up from the bramble, and I had picked up at least 3 liters of water in my clothing from moving through all the wet leaves.

The next day I would discover 7 or 8 ticks on my legs, which I’m certain I picked up from this section.

This is what my mistake looks like as tracked by satellite… A good 20 minutes wasted.

Attitude improves, weather does not

Finally I managed to get a little more momentum. I was generally feeling much better after my short power nap at the previous checkpoint. Accepting the weather wasn’t going to get better also helped my mental attitude. I was 110km+ in now, and the morning light meant I could take my headtorch off.

It was still quite gloomy though with heavy rain and cloud cover.

To lift my spirits even further, as I ran through a small town in the early hours of the morning, three friends surprised me on the side of the road. Ben, Cassie, Wilf, and their dogs Oscar and Kip.

At first I thought I was hallucinating when I saw Ben in his Dry robe. But after spotting Oscar the dalmation, I clicked – they had been up in North Wales that weekend to do some running of their own. I hadn’t told anyone about my race, but they said I apparently ran across the road the day before (earlier in the race) as they were driving to or from their accomodation. The figured out which race I was on and started live tracking me, waking up early to meet me there in the town where they were staying.

This was honestly a huge mental boost for me. Just a few minutes of chatting and walking along with good friends really lifted my spirits.

Unfortunately after parting ways, I found yet another difficult to find trail (branching out of the town and onto the National Slate Trail). I ran up and down a hill and narrow trail littered in stinging nettles multiple times looking for the turn. Eventually I found it further back before the hill.

Another 15-20 minutes wasted!

Slate mines and teaming up with Sandra once again

After the town, and the nav error, I snaked my way toward the mountains once again. I was heading toward a massive slate mine. The climb up was difficult and fairly significant. At the top it was a cold, foggy, windy and overall harsh environment. The soft ground at the top was completely water logged and flooded.

I ran through ankle and sometimes shin deep bog and water most of the way through the plateau. Here I was met with stone miners housing, long since abandonded. Further climbing afterwards, was followed by a descent back down the mountain. Initially difficult, but finally easing off into a nice gradual angle down.

My pace quickened as I was familiar with this descent. A good 2-3km down easy gravel road. I was thankful for this after the hellish time up at the top, where I was certain a rolled ankle could have landed me in big trouble in those conditions.

Catching up

At the next checkpoint I caught up with Sandra. The checkpoint was a small, cosy room with heaters set up. I sat down, drenched from head to toe. One of the volunteers brought me tea, along with beans and toast. A second helped refill my water and took over my task of squeezing all the water out my gloves and drying them with paper towel. They’re heavy duty ‘waterproof’ gloves, which remain waterproof for about 1 hour in heavy rain, but eventually soak through.

Sandra left 5 minutes before me, but I made an effort to catch up with her on the trails out.

It was great to run together again. We both donned full waterproof outfits now. We ran along at good speed making quick work of the next 10-15km.

Checking off checkpoints

The hours went by and we continued our journey through waterlogged trails, heavy rain, and extremely boggy wetland and marsh. In between each were rocky trails, now totally submerged in rivers that had formed from the rain.

We pretty much ran ankle deep in water for at least 5-8 hours during the day, but importantly we moved with more consistency as a team.

Finally we reached the last checkpoint. A volunteer I had seen the day before was here, and I was pleased to see him, as he was me. I had voiced concern chatting to him the day before at a checkpoint. That being an issue that had cropped up in the first 50 miles with my left knee. It was painful below the kneecap on all the descents.

Thankfully my body had forgotten that pain after the half way mark, and his confidence in me getting this far had been correct.

Sandra and I fueled up on beans on toast once more, along with hot tea/coffee, preparing for the final 13-16km.

A turn in weather and to the finish line

The rain had finally stopped!

We ran out and put in one hell of a shift considering the accumulated fatigue. We ran some of our quickest pace of the day in the final section. Hip flexors in agony on one particular road section.

We planned to make it in before darkness set in. Sandra was also cruising along in 2nd place in the female category which was really great work on her part, especially considering this was her first 100 miler.

We met back with the technical wooded trails, and a final descent down these brought us back to Betwys-y-coed.

Some camera crew found us and ran along wielding their gimbal-mounted gear as they filmed us.

Finally the finish line appeared, and we ran in to finish, the golden hour sun setting the forest above the trails we had emerged from alight in a fiery glow. I insisted that Sandra cross the line first, to get a good photo coming through in her category second place.

Total time was just over 37 hours. A lot more than I had thought, but I’m happy to have finished quite well ahead of cut-off too. Final placement 22nd out of 62 starters.

A huge thank you to Sandra for the company through much of the race. I think we fed off eachother’s energy and I know I certainly benefited from the good conversation and pacing through a low point at night.

Race finish, re-fueling, and back to camp

We enjoyed 30 minutes or so at the finish line, sitting in deck checks and trying to stay warm. I had a nice chat with runner friend Neil, who had finished shortly before me. We had crossed paths at the 4am checkpoint, where he leap frogged me as I stayed for my nap.

Across the village field, was a popular pizza place, still serving. I hastily waddled over (my legs now very seized up) and ordered a pizza loaded with toppings. I towed it back to my nearby parked car and scoffed it up before making my way back to my camp site.

With all the previous day’s wind, I hoped my tent was still there.

Thankfully it was. I crawled in, and cleaned myself as best I could with wet wipes, changed into clean clothes and soon passed out.

Waking up in morning, I discovered those previously mentioned ticks. A nasty suprise, but hot coffee and some breakfast soon cheered me up.

It was Monday morning. Work for me. I pulled out my work laptop and got to work. A tough weekend and start to the week!

This was my first GB Ultras event, and I thought their preparation, organisation, and checkpoints (+ lovely volunteers) were all top-notch. I would highly recommend trying their events across the UK.

Photo credits and thanks to 📷
1. @ridgelinemedia
2. @snowdon_ultra / GB ultras
3. @joeljamesonphotography
4. @danbentleyphoto