Supporting Kate in an Ultra

Yes, another running-related post! But this time it wasn’t me doing the running. 

Tough and strange people might consider doing the Dragon’s Back, a race from the north coast of Wales to the south coast, in six days. And the send you over every mountain they can find. It’s a beast! It’s not up my street. If I am on these amazing mountains I want to be in a position to sit on them with a flask of coffee and a piece of cake. And savour the view. That’s not happening in the Dragon’s Back! And as well; given the route they pick for you, most of it is either too steep up or too steep down to run, so you might as well accept you're not running, and just go for a hike.

There are people who have different thoughts about this. Kate is one. She wanted to do this race, but when it approached and she had been plagued by injuries and similar impediments to properly preparing, she decided to do the less strenuous version: the Hatchling, where you only run half the route. Every day you only run either the first half or the second half, and you get transported the rest. Strenuous enough as it is as far as I am concerned!

I wanted to support her, and the best day for that would be the first. I imagined travelling into the Ogwen valley after work to cheer her over that day’s finish. That turned out to be by Llyn Ogwen. But on the day it turned out that she might very well finish at 1PM. All runners carry a GPS beacon, and you can follow their progress online. And she had started at 6AM. Then you get to Ogwen by lunchtime! I suppose I hadn’t quite scrutinised the site, otherwise I would have noticed this before. There also was a 2PM cut-off at Llyn Ogwen. And I had a meeting in the diary between 11 and 12. And I was chairing it… would I make it? 

Tracking the participants

Additionally, the weather forecast for that day was rain and rain and rain. So I packed full waterproofs, and took the car to work. On bike I wouldn’t make it! And after my meeting I jumped into the car and drove to Ogwen Valley. There I checked Kate’s GPS position. She was still on the ridge! I was on time. And, unexpectedly, it was glorious weather. 

I walked up the path a bit, and where it was beautiful I sat down for lunch. I was starving! And I cheered on the other runners that passed me. After lunch I walked a bit further up. I looked at the dots on the hill. One of them was Kate! Which one? And then I noticed a yellow dot was moving quite like Kate. And when it approached I saw it was indeed her! And she saw me.

Found her! 

The rules for supporters are quite strict. Some of the challenge is that the runners have to carry everything they need from each day's start to finish, so you can't give them anything. You also are not allowed to run along with them. So I just cheered, and gave her a hug when she reached me. She didn't linger; she wanted to get in before cut-off time, and that makes sense. So I just followed at a respectful distance, got back to the car, drove closer to the checkpoint she was headed for, and then could cheer her on again when she arrived. I was not allowed to enter, but I could sit on the low wall that surrounded it and have a chat. I also cheered on the runners who arrived after her.

Kate vanishes in the direction of Tryfan

The checkpoint which was her finish for the day

She looked fresh as a daisy! Even though she had done 27 km, and 1700 m of ascent. And that was the mildest day the whole race would even have. I hope she'll have a whale of a time running the rest of the race! Even though it is not my thing, the feeling of accomplishment at the end must be amazing. And good stories for the rest of your life!