Montane Dragon’s Back Race® 2023 Course Updates
The map for the 2023 edition of the Montane Dragon’s Back Race® will shortly go to print. This means we are busy liaising with the course stakeholders and reviewing information received from your recces, and ours. Thank you to everyone who has sent us comments and observations which are invaluable as we finalise the route. Inevitably there are changes from one year to the next and all the following comments relate to changes from 2022 to this year, and the map extracts below are from the 2022 edition of the map.
Some changes are forced upon us, whilst other changes are instigated by us to improve the runnability and/or safety of the course. For both, we have explained the rationale for each change below.
The Draft 2023 GPX files will be updated to reflect these updates. The 2023 Dragon’s Back Race map that is issued at registration will include all these updates.
Whilst we do not anticipate any further changes to the 2023 route, it is always possible that there will be some very late changes to the route for reasons outside of our control.
Enjoy reviewing these course updates and we look forward to welcoming our 2023 Dragons to Conwy in September.
Dragon graffiti art in Conwy.
Day 2 Recce. Amazing weather and panoramic views to the coast.
Day 6 Recce. Significant disruption around Merthyr Tydfil
Day 1 Recce. Working with RAW Adventure on an official recce day.
Day 6 Recce. The Taff Trail is most definitely closed!
Day 5 Recce. The grand traverse of Bannau Brycheiniog.
Day One Updates
Day One - Checkpoint 2 - Sychnant Pass Road Crossing
Change: Checkpoint 2 has been removed.
Why: We felt this checkpoint was unnecessary because there is no route choice option here.
Difference: This makes no difference to the route.
Day One – Checkpoint 5 - Carnedd Dafydd Summit
Change: Checkpoint 5 has been removed.
Why: We felt this checkpoint was unnecessary because the established route and path on the ground passes over this summit.
Difference: This makes no difference to the route.
Day One – Checkpoint 12 - Carnedd Ugain Summit
Change: This checkpoint becomes CP10 in 2023 and has been moved to the Pyg track path junction before Yr Wyddfa (shown with the Purple Circle below) and is now a Cut-Off at 19:00.
Why: Participants at this location after the Cut-Off time will be directed to the Overnight Camp down the lower-level paths. The new location is a more logical place to safely direct participants off the mountain if they are behind the Cut-Off time, or in the case of extreme weather.
Difference: This makes no difference to the route.
Day Two Updates
Day 2 - Revised Recommended Route between Checkpoint 5 and Checkpoint 6
Change: A small section of new recommended route between CP5 and CP6, and a slight adjustment to the mandatory route segment, so participants can still use the old route if preferred. This change opens up more route choice options but we would like to highlight the numerous high walls and difficult terrain in this area. We strongly suggest that participants follow either the new section of recommended route or (if they are familiar with) the old recommend route.
Why: This new route follows better ground and avoids areas which are often overgrown with bracken, which overall improves runnability.
Difference: The new route is probably faster.
Day 2 - Revised Recommended Route between Checkpoint 8 and Checkpoint 9
Change: The recommended route now follows the Cambrian Way between CP8 and CP9.
Why: The new section of the recommended route follows the Cambrian Way long-distance walking path and brings the Dragon’s Back Race® route into line with the most used route linking these summits. The Cambrian Way path is better, easier to see on the ground, and safer.
Difference: The new route is faster.
Day Three Updates
Day 3 - Revised Mandatory Route leaving Dolgellau
Change: New section of mandatory route leaving Dolgellau through the woods rather than up the road.
Why: The new section is a much nicer route reducing the amount of tarmac running through a lovely wood.
Difference: The new route is marginally slower than the old route.
Day Four Updates
Day 4 - New Checkpoint 1
Change: We are adding a new checkpoint at the southern end of the Bryn Diluw forest (shown with the red circle on the map below).
Why: This is a logical location for a checkpoint that we have marshaled for previous editions of the race anyway.
Difference: This makes no difference to the route.
Day 4 - Revised Location for Checkpoint 2
Change: This checkpoint becomes CP3 in 2023 and has been moved to the cairn approximately 1km northwest. There will be a pro-rata change to the Guidance Time at this location.
Why: The old checkpoint location was on a fence post about 20m off the path and every year, some participants ran past this CP forgetting to ‘punch’ the checkpoint causing unnecessary stress for them and the organizers! We want to make each checkpoint a logical and obvious location for participants.
Difference: This makes no difference to the route.
Day 4 - New Checkpoint 11
Change: We are adding a checkpoint to the start of the road section leading to Overnight Camp Four.
Why: This will better inform the Race Control Team who is where in the final stages of Day Four when there is zero mobile phone network coverage for many hours.
Difference: This makes no difference to the route.
Day Five Updates
Day Five - Checkpoint 1 - Cairn
Change: This checkpoint has been removed
Why: This area will be planted for forestry at some point in the near future, and given that there is an excellent track to follow, the deviation to this cairn seemed unnecessary.
Difference: This makes the route fractionally easier
Day Five - Revised Mandatory Route past Usk Reservoir
Change: Approaching CP3 at Usk Reservoir through the forest now uses the main tracks, as shown on the map below in red. This route was actually changed in the weeks preceding the 2022 event but was too late to be incorporated into the 2022 map.
Why: The new section of the mandatory route uses an excellent track and avoids some potentially muddy and less well-used tracks.
Difference: The new route is more runnable but fractionally longer.
Day Five - Revised Recommended Route to Checkpoint 7
Change: The recommended route now follows the main path to the summit of Fan Nedd CP7.
Why: The main path is more runnable and because it is more distinct on the ground, participants are less likely to get disoriented in this area if they cut the corner to the Checkpoint on the summit of Fan Nedd particularly in poor visibility.
Difference: The new recommended route is slightly further but more runnable and much easier to follow in poor weather.
Day Five - Revised Recommended Route to Checkpoint 8
Change: The recommended route now follows the farmer’s quad bike track to CP8 Fan Llia.
Why: This quad bike track is the easiest way to ascend to CP8.
Difference: The new recommended route is slightly further but more runnable and easier to follow in poor weather.
Day Six Updates
Day Six - Major Change to the Mandatory Route into Merthyr Tydfil
Change: The mandatory route no longer deviates into the Cwm Taff Fachen Nature Reserve, and follows the Taff Trail into Merthyr Tydfil, followed by various wiggles through the streets of Merthyr Tydfil. It is possible that due to the ongoing nature of these works a last-minute adjustment to the route will be required here.
Why: There is a major construction projection to dual the A465, which passes over Cwm Taff Fachen Nature Reserve and the Taff Trail. Both are closed.
Difference: This is a temporary change and we will revert to the Cwm Taff Fachen Nature Reserve route once these works are completed. However, this year the route has more running on the (tarmac) Taff Trail and a fiddly route through Merthyr Tydfil. Please pay attention to your navigation.
Day Six - Major Change to the Mandatory south of Nelson
Change: There is a new section of mandatory route south of Nelson shown in red on the map below.
Why: There are some ongoing access issuess to the common land in this area and we want to avoid inflaming the situation.
Difference: Unfortuneately this adds some additional tarmac, which we have worked hard to avoid in the route design, and distance to day six.
