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Thread: Dragon's Back Race 2021

  1. #41
    Master molehill's Avatar
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    Coming out of Merthyr to find you are "barefoot running" and a local dealer is wearing your trainers. Your GPS tracker is already on ebay and your mum has had a call from your iphone asking for a weekend cash loan 😂.
    Simon Roberts is a local Pontypridd lad so should cruise through ok, as for the rest of them........
    Don't roll with a pig in poo. You get covered in poo and the pig likes it.

  2. #42
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    Quote Originally Posted by MarkL View Post
    It's not really a race, is it? It's an executive running holiday. It's an event which allows execs an opportunity to say "When I was on the Dragon's Back race" at dinner parties. The complete lack of vetting for the so-called toughest blah blah is a bit of an indicator - the entry requirement is that you are well-off/stupid enough to pay that much. It's obviously tough and there will be a high drop-out rate,but the number of drop-outs on day one is a testament to how stupid, vain, underprepared, unqualified many of the field are.
    The rest of the running community needs to gave Dragon's back name-droppers the kudos they deserve. For most of them little, if any.
    But if you finish as quite a few did, you do deserve kudos! It's a long way with a lot of hills. Sorts the wheat from the chaff!

  3. #43
    Master molehill's Avatar
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    I'm not being drawn into MarkL comments, either a deliberate troll or just plain stupid with zero understanding of what goes on.
    Look forward to ba-ba commenting on his experience of the whole event, well done to him and a great run, reward for a massive training effort.
    Don't roll with a pig in poo. You get covered in poo and the pig likes it.

  4. #44
    Master ba-ba's Avatar
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    Dragon's back: A summary in daily finishing positions:
    Day 1: 4th
    Day 2: 4th
    Day 3: 4th (just)
    Day 4: 5th
    Day 5: 20+
    Day 6: 50+
    Overall: 8th

    Good to see Moley on Thursday. Thankfully the pub were persuaded to open for a few hours so I had a half of Jemima.

    If you haven't seen my 'dragon mail' on the tracker, some of it may entertain you. Moat will make little sense depending on your cultural references

    I'll write more about the event and the race when at a keyboard next week!

  5. #45
    Master Travs's Avatar
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    Brilliant from ba-ba...!

    Looks like exactly 90 finished the full race.

  6. #46
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    Looking forward to ba-ba's race report. Well done!

  7. #47
    Moderator noel's Avatar
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    Well done ba-ba. Top ten finish - nice one.

    It must have been really gruelling. I find it hard to imagine how tired you must be on the last few days.

  8. #48
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    Given the contrast between ba-ba's performance on days 1-4 and on the last two days, I am wondering what molehill spiked his drink with at that camp near Rhandirmwyn.
    In his lifetime he suffered from unreality, as do so many Englishmen.
    Jorge Luis Borges

  9. #49
    Master molehill's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by anthonykay View Post
    Given the contrast between ba-ba's performance on days 1-4 and on the last two days, I am wondering what molehill spiked his drink with at that camp near Rhandirmwyn.
    Ha! He admitted to a solitary 1/2 pint of Jemima in the Towy Bridge, whereas when he was on his recce earlier in the year he muttered something about having consumed 6 pints.
    I rest my case that less is not necessarily better, another 5 pints and would have been flying over the Beacons.
    Don't roll with a pig in poo. You get covered in poo and the pig likes it.

  10. #50
    Master ba-ba's Avatar
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    So in summary, the first 2 days were WARM and getting water on board and easing off were the name of the game. Day 3 was still warm, but with a nice breeze and more cloud cover at times to improve matters. Day 4 was a bit misty and murky - until the bits you really didn't want it to be when the sun came out! Days 5 and 6 were better, but by this point my body had hit the wall and on each of these days I managed ~3h of OK running before a long walk to the finish, putting on layers to keep warm. I didn't use any GPS, electronic device or poles whilst racing, completing the route in the manner I wanted to.

    I never quite felt quite right from the start. I developed some sinus issues later in the week and am not sure if this was due to putting my body through immense stress, or a cold picked up (OH developed a cold earlier in the week). I was very nervous beforehand and didn't sleep very well. I also wonder if being quite busy beforehand (starting new job, 'planning' a wedding) took more out of me than I expected. Training was OK but I struggle to train well during summer and whilst I managed the big specific weeks I wanted, I did lack a bit of consistency (the consistency that saw me piss out a 17h40 BG last summer). I'm disappointed with the final third fade and might return in the future but the main itch has been scratched and I'm looking forward to plenty of marshalling before christmas before getting back to racing the fells proper in 2022.

    As for the event itself, it both is and isn't fell running. It's a logistical feat but I already knew this after volunteering 2 years ago. The route is what I'm there for. A lot of the other bits I don't care for, but for the event to run it has to be commercial (you can't get a bunch of scouts or an MR team to run this!), and for this to happen Shane and co need to attach bells and whistles (and GPS traces) that I'd prefer weren't there but can accept. Once on the hill you can ignore most of these. Shane says that he's not in the business to make money, he's in it to deliver excellent exciting outdoors events, and he doesn't half deliver. I'm not entirely sure how he gets away with the no vetting of entrants without more issues - there are a fair amount of people who enter this having absolutely no clue (I overhead one person saying he started running in January; Hannah's dad strava stalked some of the early drop-outs and noted one bloke never got above 20km a week in the last year, but had at least been on a poles course!). There are people who can't look after themselves in camp and really impinge upon others' enjoyment of the event. But there are idiots everywhere so by dint some will end up here. The event rules are well written and granular in their detail (and I assume backed up legally) to ensure people of all ability can take part. Shane's RO report is worth a read around the 'come one come all' aspect and how they deal with this.
    Last edited by ba-ba; 15-09-2021 at 06:29 PM.
    Nic Barber. Downhill Dandy

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