2022 Race Director’s Report
By Shane Ohly
Introduction
It is always hard to know what to say first in my Race Director’s Report. I have so much to say, but exhaustion from the event weighs heavily on my fingers as I put them to the keyboard. I’ll start with the simplest and strongest thoughts at the front of my mind.
I’d like to sincerely thank the truly awesome Event Team for all their grafting, hard work and dedication throughout the event. They really are the heart and soul of the event.
The participants. Wow – what an extraordinary group of people. You embarked on an incredible adventure with so much challenge and uncertainty ahead of you. I’d like to praise the way you approached this event, and hope that you have come away with the warm satisfaction of having given your all.
As is now traditional, I’ll kick off my Race Director’s report with a summary of the statistics from the 2022 edition and how they compare to previous events:
2022 – Starters 263, Finishers 102 – Finishing rate: 38%
2021 – Starters 367, Finishers 90 – Finishing rate: 24%
2019 - Starters 402, Finishers 251 – Finishing rate: 62%
2017 - Starters 223, Finishers 127 – Finishing rate: 56%
2015 - Starters 142, Finishers 65 – Finishing rate: 45%
2012 - Starters 82, Finishers 32 – Finishing rate: 39%
It is great that the completion rate has increased from the unusually low numbers of last year, when the first three days of the event were impacted by a heatwave. My instinct is that the finish rate of 38% is about right, as the community adjusts to the realities of the new six-day format and incredibly tough day five. My instinct is also that the finish rate will creep up at the next edition, as knowledge and experience of the six-day format increase.
The front of the women’s race this year was dominated by Lisa Watson, who became the first participant to win the race twice since it was reinstated in 2012. She also finished the race in fourth place overall. A truly remarkable achievement.
“It’s easy to run well when you’ve got a smile on your face… I love this race,” Lisa Watson ©No Limits Photography
The front of the men’s race was very exciting to watch unfold. Relatively unknown in the world of mountain running, Chris Cope dominated the first three days of the race. However, a combination of injury and fatigue slowed him on Day Four, and suddenly the huge lead he’d built up started to evaporate. Everything was to play for, and 2021 winner, Simon Roberts, was on the charge. For a few hours, it looked as though Simon was going to win again. But a sudden injury took Simon out of the race, and James Nobles jumped from third to first on Day Five. James had been reliably consistent on each day of the race, and I am certain that this is the right strategy for success. James was also a volunteer at the 2021 edition and had the benefit of understanding the event from the inside. It’s a big and well-deserved win for James and I’d like to congratulate him again.
“I believed that I could do it, but I had no idea whether or not it would happen,” James Nobles ©No Limits Photography
It is notable that many of the successful runners had volunteered at either the Dragon’s Back Race® or Cape Wrath Ultra®, and this is clearly a thorough way to prepare and improve one's chances of success.
Finally, I’d like to draw your attention to two blogs that I have written (linked below). I spend a lot of time thinking about event operations and striving for excellence in what we do. As a business, we have been running the Dragon’s Back Race® for a decade and to be frank, I’d expect us to deliver our plan to a high standard. The mark of a truly great team though is to adapt and pivot when the weather changes or unexpected events occur. So, if you are interested in a deep dive, please have a read of these two blogs:
Multiple Dragon’s Back Race Finishers
This year, I noticed many familiar faces from previous editions. Some of our finishers have now completed the race on multiple occasions. It is wonderful to see that people are so inspired by their experience that they want to come back year on year.
Therefore, we intend to have a league table of multiple finishers so that we can celebrate those with the determination and drive to keep coming back. This will be published on our Trophies, Prizes and Past Dragon Slayers page in the coming few weeks.
Wrath Dragon Finishers
The challenge of completing both the Cape Wrath Ultra® and the Dragon’s Back Race® in one year is yet to be accomplished. This year, Peter Huzan, David Hart and Niklas Löfgren completed the Cape Wrath Ultra® back in May. Peter and Niklas came close to finishing the Dragon’s Back Race®. Niklas, in particular, missed out by a fine margin whilst hampered by illness. It’ll be interesting to see if anyone will be able to achieve this remarkable feat in 2023.
Peter (left) and Niklas (right) came close this year to this achievement ©No Limits Photography
The death of Queen Elizabeth II
On Thursday (Day Four of the event), it became clear that the Queen was gravely ill, as members of her family rushed to Balmoral in Scotland. The Dragon’s Back Race® was due to finish in Cardiff Castle, and we were aware that this venue is the primary location for ceremonial mourning in Wales should the Queen pass away. By early afternoon, we were under pressure from the authorities to cancel the Dragon’s Back Race® because they wanted to make sure Cardiff Castle was available should the Queen pass away. There was a period of uncertainty before the Queen’s death was formally announced when the pressure to cancel ratcheted up. Once the Queen had passed away, we knew we’d immediately lose Cardiff Castle as a venue. Although there was a period of several hours of uncertainty, within 4 hours, we’d secured a new venue, come up with an alternative plan for camping, and rejigged the logistics. It honestly felt like we’d pulled a rabbit out of the hat, and the blog I mentioned above explores the details of our decision-making. However, I would like to emphasise that all the participants helped enormously by making new accommodation and travel arrangements, with many leaving the event in Cardiff rather than returning to camp five. This really helped. Thank you.
Personal Highlights
After a week full of high emotions and drama, it seems unreasonable to single out individuals, and incredibly difficult to select standout moments… but nevertheless, as I reflect on the event, these are some of the strongest moments for me.
On Day One, Kevin Munt took a fall and ended up with a nasty injury to his face that required specialist hospital treatment. He arrived back at Camp One at 12:30am on Tuesday morning, and despite the disappointment of not completing the full course on Day One, he jumped right back into the event, determined to make the best of the remaining days. It is his positive attitude and fortitude that really stood out to me.
Defending Champion, Simon Roberts, did not have the race he had hoped for. At the end of Day Three, he was in third place and approximately 90 minutes off Chris Cope's blistering initial pace. I know many elite runners who’d suffer a mystery injury or illness, make their excuses, and bow out. Not Simon – he dug deep and showed real strength of character and determination to claw back those minutes. Before injury resulted in his own withdrawal, he had overtaken James Nobles to come in second at the end of day 4, and was on track to be in first place midway through day 5.
Simon Roberts came back fighting ©No Limits Photography
It would be fair to wonder why some participants get a big hug from me at appropriate moments throughout the event. Ellie Pocock has been a friend of mine for many years, and I watched with nervous delight as she persevered through each day to complete the race and earn her baby dragon. Well done Ellie – that was very well-deserved.
On Day Six in Bute Park, a member of the public collapsed whilst spectating at the finish. We invest a significant amount of time, energy and resources in providing a skilled Response Team (course-based), and Medical Team (Overnight Camp based) at the event. We had an ad-hoc group of both these teams based at the finish, and they immediately responded and provided initial care whilst we waited for an Emergency Ambulance to arrive. In the hot debrief afterwards, one of the doctors said we’d been slicker than her hospital team, and it was extremely satisfying to know we were able to provide such high-quality care.
Finally, there were some fantastic moments for me when I watched the various teams at the event come together for a briefing. The Team Leader (often an experienced volunteer) explained the job they needed to do, the group had some discussion, and then they simply got on with it without any need for involvement of the senior event team. I am a great believer in delegation (the philosophy of Mission Command if you want to Google it) and watching it happen in real-time at your event is incredibly satisfying.
Day One Earlier Start
We knew that moving the start an hour earlier would impact the event in various positive ways. More time for everyone on Day One is the most obvious example. This adds value and experience to the event, with the largest percentage of Day One finishers ever. However, what caught me by surprise was just how atmospheric the pre-dawn darkness in the castle was. As runners waited nervously, friends and family gathered, the international flags fluttered and the Côr Meibion Maelgwn (male voice choir) sang – it was a truly memorable and special occasion. A suitably grand start to such a substantial race. We’ll certainly be sticking with this change.
The earlier start time created a magical atmosphere ©No Limits Photography
Hatchling Course
You may be familiar with the formalisation of the ‘Reduced Course’ into the ‘Hatchling Course’ for 2023 onwards. One of the things I highlighted at the pre-race briefing was not to leave the event in a cloud of disappointment if your dreams of completing the full course were not to be.
We want to recognise that staying with the event and completing the reduced days is an achievement in itself… in fact, it is an epic 180km multi-day expedition running event. If it weren’t being compared to the full Dragon’s Back Race, it would be considered a massive adventure in its own right.
To everyone who did complete the ‘Reduced Course’ this year, I want to offer you my congratulations on completing an incredibly tough mountain-running challenge. Well done on this incredible achievement.
Next year, the Hatchling course will be formalised
Visiting Checkpoints and Penalties
This year we had an unusually high number of people failing to ‘punch’ the checkpoints with their SI Dibber. Completing the Dragon’s Back Race® course is proven by the SI Timing system, not the GPS tracking. We see GPS tracking primarily as a safety management system, and secondarily as a brilliant dot-watching experience for friends and family. We gave the same penalty to everyone who failed to punch a checkpoint, but only when their GPS track showed them passing (more or less) over the top of the checkpoint: 1 Strike and a 15-minute penalty.
Even when participants had clearly run right past the checkpoint, we felt it was important to penalise them for not punching, as the vast majority of the other participants had taken the time and care to ensure that they did punch each checkpoint. At its heart, the Dragon’s Back Race® remains a mountain race, where mountain skills are required. This includes navigating (even if this is with the aid of GPS and technology) to each of the checkpoints.
That said, we had the unenviable task of potentially disqualifying a number of participants in the last few days because they had done this twice (we have a clear ‘three strikes and you are out’ rule). This would seem unnecessarily harsh when the runners in question had all but completed the course and therefore, we decided to enact the following rule:
8. Participants must visit all checkpoints (or other designated points) in the designated order (except score classes when checkpoints may be visited in free order). Failure to do this may result in disqualification or being ranked below all participants who have, regardless of overall time.
This resulted in any runner ‘mis-punching’ for the third time being given a super-sized time penalty, so that they would appear last in the results. I appreciate that our strict approach to punching checkpoints annoyed a few participants during the event, but I am certainly not going to change the rules on the fly, and I am most definitely going to apply the rules to everyone without exception.
At its heart, I think there is a mismatch of philosophy here. With a personal background in orienteering and traditional map and compass mountain navigation skills, visiting a checkpoint precisely and with purpose is totally fundamental to completing the course. However, I understand that a person coming from ultra and/or trail-running background may not attach the same level of importance to actually visiting (punching) the checkpoint. I promised to review our approach over the winter months, and if we do change anything, I will make this clear in future updates to participants and the event rules.
It’s important to always punch the checkpoint! ©No Limits Photography
Invitation to Day Six
Naturally, it was disappointing for everyone not to finish in Cardiff Castle. We had a very grand finishing experience planned for everyone, including an evening trophy ceremony for the 2022 Dragon Slayers. We expected the Cardiff Castle experience to be a fitting end to such an epic event, and we are so disappointed that all the runners – full course and reduced course – were not able to experience that. Therefore, we are inviting you all back to Day Six in 2023. Your options will be:
1) Run Day Six in full (63km), from the Day 5 overnight camp near Talybont-on-Usk
2) Run Day Six from the Support Point (30km) at Treharris
3) And/or join us in the evening for a presentation for 2022 finishers
We’ll be in touch over the winter with further details, but in the meantime, please put the date in your diary for a fantastic reunion event for 2022 participants: Saturday 9th September 2023.
We hope to return to the grand Cardiff Castle finish next year ©No Limits Photography
Donations to Mountain Rescue in Wales
When participants entered this year's Montane Dragon’s Back Race®, we asked if they’d like to make a voluntary donation to Mountain Rescue. We are delighted to have raised £6,077.75. We will share this equally amongst the eight Mountain Rescue teams whose areas the race route passes through. This includes:
· Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Team
· Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team
· Aberglaswyn Mountain Rescue Team
· South Snowdonia Search and Rescue Team
· Aberdyfi Search and Rescue Team
· Western Beacons Mountain Rescue Team
· Brecon Mountain Rescue Team
· Central Beacons Mountain Rescue Team
Ourea Events has rounded up the donations from the participants so that we can present each team with a cheque for £900. This is a total donation to Mountain Rescue in Wales of £7,200.
We are grateful to all of the mountain rescue teams along the route ©Ross Brackley
Results
A full list of the finalised results is now available here:
Everyone should be incredibly proud ©No Limits Photography
Thank you to the Event Team
It goes without saying that this event would not be possible without our incredible Event Team.
With each event I am always overwhelmed by the dedication and passion of our Event Team who work tirelessly to make sure things run smoothly. It is honestly your hard work and enthusiasm that makes this event so special. The enormous contribution the Event Team make to the event was made clear to me through my conversations with participants, many of whom were keen to pinpoint their interactions with the Event Team as being a highlight of their experience. It is a privilege to have worked with each and every one of you, and I can’t overstate my gratitude. Thank you.
Medical Team
Abigail Coombes
Alli Holland
Ally Middleton
Cat Slater
Charlotte Hattersley
Michael Peirson
Morag Bowie
Neil Middleton
Nick Watson
Robyn Cassidy
Sarah Hodgson
First Response Team
Dan Romberg
Dave Howarth (and Fern!)
Iona Pawson
Paul Horabin
Rich Griffiths
Stuart Smith
The Response team dropped into Support Point, along with their most important member, Fern the search dog ©No Limits Photography
Mountain Safety (Day 1)
Helen Teasdale
Libby Peter
Rory Shaw
Rusty Bale
Sam Farnsworth
Stuart Lade
Will Hardy
Race Control Team
Abbi Forsyth
Matthew Gemmell
Wrangling Team
Kate Worthington
Nick Stafford
Marquee Team
Anton Fleming-Williams
Callum Clark
Chris Moss
Jess Byrne
Jim O'Reilly
Jonathan Lees
Joshua Branch
Kieran O'Sullivan
Mike Schneider
Patrick O’Reilly
Seb Boulton Oliver
Zak Benaton
Technical Services Team
Andy Norman
Barry Hirons
Danny Richardson
Paul Beeson
Phil Sturgeon
Tom Rouse
Media Team
Chris Lines
Christiaan Le Roux
Harriet D'Alessio
Jimmy Hyland
Lowri Morgan
Marie Cheng
Matt Ward
Reuben Tabner
Ross Brackley
Steve Ashworth
The media team were hard at work ©No Limits Photography
Main Camp Team
Alec Major
Alun Wood
Andrea Harwood
Andy Nuttall
Andy Warner
Braddan Johnson
Daren Piper
David Mackie
Debbie McCart
Emily Walker
Emma Runciman
Gilly Marshall
Glenn Shreeves
Gordon Cameron
Graham Pepper
Guy Redmond
Hannah Bellamy
Helen Cromack
Ieuan Belshaw
Jon Dodd
Liz Warner
Marcus Taylor
Martyn Holman
Matthew Allen
Michelle Creed
Peter O'kane
Quentin Somerset
Robert Campbell
Russell Mather
Sian Davies
Tina Usherwood
Tom Marriott
Tony Hall
Zoe Murphy
Thank you to the Main Camp Team for building the blue tents every single day ©No Limits Photography
Start/Finish Team
Ashley Middlewick
Christian Quick
Debs White
Pam Nix
Sandra Williams
Sharon Dickson
Victoria Green
Our start/finish team were always on hand to give encouragement ©No Limits Photography
Info Point Team
Andy Dean
Angela Emms
Info point were happy to help with all your queries ©No Limits Photography
Support Point Team
Alex Heath
Andy Towne
Caz Phillips
David Wood
Dean Thomas
Ian Brandreth
Ian Cowie
Littledave Cumins
Matthew Girvan
Mike Hogan
Trish Patterson
Rob Brown
The Water Point always brought a smile to our participants’ faces ©No Limits Photography
Course Operations Team
Phil Wilkinson
Bill Johnson
Colin Harding
Derek Allison
Fiona Brannan
Helen Teasdale
Jade Phillips
Mark Blythe
Michael Murray
Susan Nicol
Catering Team
Caroline Jones
Sam Edwards
Sarah Norman
Stevie Clare
Jamie Dale
Steve Evans
Emma Hadley
Finlay Harrison
Fiona Massey
Hilary Malyon
Laura Smith
Michael Burke
Paul Hadley
Pip Symonds
Tom Bolton
Tammy Ruvino
Tim Glasby
Thank you for keeping us all so well fed ©No Limits Photography
Timing / Tracking
Chris Mills
James Thurlow
Gordon Parker
Ourea Management Team
Charlie Williamson
Eleanor Claringbold
Graham Gristwood
Greg Mickelborough
Janie Oates
Jen Edson
Lisa Knipe
Lucy Scrase
Neil Davies
Shane Ohly
Sue Dowker
Tom Hecht
The Ourea team have to work in some unusual locations ©No Limits Photography
Dragon Mail™
One of the many small touches that makes the Dragon’s Back Race® so special is the Dragon Mail™ service, whereby supporters can send messages of encouragement to our participants. This proved incredibly popular, with nearly 11,000 messages sent over the course of the week. If you would like to read your messages, they are still available if you head over to the tracking page. If you tap on your name, the messages will appear beneath your photo.
Dragon Mail gave our participants a welcome boost ©No Limits Photography
Event Coverage
We hope your friends and family watching from home enjoyed our live coverage of the event from our brilliant media team, and also watching the participant dots gradually head south on the GPS Tracker page. Following the Queen’s death, you may have noticed that we reduced our coverage out of respect.
However, we are pleased that we have now recommenced sharing the media, so keep an eye on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube for this.
Event blogs
The daily event blogs in the news section of our website give a great insight into how the journey unfolded for all participants, those at the back of the race and also those leading the way. It’s full of quotes from participants, so definitely worth a read to see if you can spot yourself!
Photos
No Limits Photography were on the ground every day capturing some amazing shots for the official event photography – you can view some of these on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, on our website, and in the press.
Bib Number Photography were also in attendance, taking some excellent shots of each participant, every day on their journey. These photos are now available to view (and purchase) here:
Despite the challenges, there were many smiles ©No Limits Photography
Film
Steve Ashworth, Jimmy Hyland and Ross Brackley were out on course shooting some excellent daily highlight films along with presenters, Lowri Morgan and Matt Ward. Day 1-3 were released during the event. We are thrilled to now release Days 4-6. These are available on Youtube, Facebook and Instagram. They paint a real picture of the real challenges and raw emotion of the event. We hope that participants will enjoy watching these to be reminded of their adventure, and that future dragons will use them as inspiration for an adventure of their own.
Ongoing health
Whether you completed the full course or not, every one of the participants’ bodies has taken a significant battering, and we would highly recommend an extended period of recovery now. Anecdotally, it seems that having 4 weeks rest, followed by around 10 weeks of light exercise works well. All too often, we have seen participants in our expedition length races return to running too early, and end up with chronic fatigue and injury problems. Take the time to let your bodies heal!
Feedback
Feedback is very important to us. Whatever you have to say, positive or negative, we are keen to hear your thoughts. Whilst we don’t promise to incorporate every piece of feedback received, we do promise to read and consider it carefully. Participant feedback has helped refine and improve the event from one edition to the next and it has been instrumental in polishing the details and the event is better for it. So, please don’t be shy and send any comments you have using our contact form or email us directly.
We hope you had a fantastic time ©No Limits Photography
What’s next?
Entries are open for next year
Want to improve on your time? Perhaps you’d like to complete the Hatchling course? Or finish the full course this time round? Join us from Monday 4th September to Saturday 9th September for the 2023 edition of the Montane Dragon’s Back Race®.
Will we be seeing you again next year? ©No Limits Photography
You've explored Wales – is Scotland next?
Join us from 21st–28th May 2023 for the epic Cape Wrath Ultra.
Experience the complete remoteness of North West Scotland on an 8-day long journey.
Immerse yourself in the last true wilderness of Great Britain on this incredibe life-affirming adventure.
Join us in the Scottish wilderness ©No Limits Photography
Ready for a different kind of challenge?
Now you've completed a stage-race, why not tackle a continious race next?The SILVA Northern Traverse is a continuous race that follows the famous Coast to Coast route from St Bees to Robin Hood's Bay, taking in 300km of glorious trails through the Lakes, Dales and Moors.
Join us from 1st-5th April 2023 on Britain's newest National Trail:
Take on a journey Coast to Coast ©No Limits Photography