Minor changes to event format

Day 1 - Beth Pascall (4th Overall : 2nd Women) climbs Tryfan at the 2015 Berghaus Dragons Back Race™ ©iancorless.com

Updated cut-off times

We have carefully reviewed the split times of every participant that finished later than our 23:00 Course Closure Time in 2015, and working back through their splits, we have revised the Cut-off Times so that participants travelling at the same speed in 2017, will be Cut-off. Essentially, we are making the Cut-off Times more challenging, but this should affect only runners who would not have made the 23:00 Course Closure Time. We are doing this because runners finishing very late (in 2015, some finished after 01:00 in the morning!) disproportionately affect the event; image that our admin team, medical team, safety team, catering team all must stay up until the last finisher is accounted for, all the while the generator and lighting needs to stay on, which affects all the participants. The Cut-off Times will be clearly displayed on the map.

Weight limit on support point (22L) dry bag

We have introduced a 5kg weight limit for the midway support point drybag. This will be strictly enforced. This is because there is a combined limit on the weight of the bags we can transport each day, and because it is not intended that participants' Support Point Bags should be an overflow storage facility for their main Overnight Camp (59L) Drybag.

Passage points removed

Previously we had planned to have unmanned checkpoints with no SI Timing Station, which we referred to as ‘Passage Points’. Participants' progress through these locations would have been confirmed with the GPS Tracking. We have now decided to only have ‘Checkpoints’ on the course, which will always have an SI Timing Box and orienteering kite to mark their location. Participants' adherence to our Mandatory Route will be monitored always via GPS Tracking.

Start times / breakfast

On days Two, Three, Four and Five participants are given an advised start time when they finish the night before. The start time will be a 30-minute window, based on their overall time for the previous day. The advised start time, will now also include an advised breakfast time. This is because it will simply be impossible for us to serve breakfast to all the participants between 05:00 and 06:00, and we will need to spread breakfast between 05:00 and 08:00.