Exciting new era for the Dragon’s Back Race with sixth day and Cardiff Castle finish
World’s toughest mountain race gets tougher…
The 2021 edition of the legendary Dragon’s Back Race® will mark a step change in the evolution of the event as organisers add a sixth day to the race, which will see the race finish at the iconic Cardiff Castle.
Cardiff castle will provide the perfect finish for this epic adventure through Wales
This change increases the overall distance of the event from 315km to 380km with a new monster day five traversing much of the previously omitted Brecon Beacons to set up the sixth day, which races south into Cardiff Castle for a spectacular finish in the capital city of Wales.
The new finish at Cardiff Castle will be a fitting finish for such a monumental race and the event’s final overnight camp will be hosted inside the castle walls. It will also provide an incredible venue for spectators to watch the runners finishing the race and being awarded their coveted dragon trophies.
Race Director Shane Ohly describes his thoughts on the new format, “When I resurrected the Dragon’s Back Race® in 2012 I considered extending the route further south. However, the complexity of the event and my relative inexperience as a race organiser meant I chose a more cautious approach and opted for the five-day format and a route similar to the original 1992 event. Over the years I have reflected on that decision and feel that now is the right time to make a decisive change in the event format. I want the Dragon’s Back Race® to realise its full potential in the years ahead. The full and logical journey down the spine of Wales, from Conwy Castle in the north to Cardiff Castle in the south is realised at last”.
A sneak preview of the new route through Wales including the revised day 5 and the new day 6 - see you next year Cardiff!
Much of the work to update the course was completed at the end of 2019 when extensive on the ground reconnoitring of the obvious finishing options to extend the route south, and how they connected with the established route, were checked. This represented 100’s of kilometres of walking and running investigating finishing options as far apart as the Gower in the coastal west, to Abergavenny in the mountainous east. And then the COVID-19 outbreak happened and the final on the ground course proving and consultations were delayed until recently.
Ohly continues, “After careful consideration of the options we felt that finishing at Cardiff Castle was by far the best choice. First of all, this means no changes to the established route on days one to four. The new day five begins as before, but rather than heading west over the Black Mountain, the new route turns east and completes an extended traverse of the Brecon Beacons. This means that the new day five is a monstrous 70km, which truly embraces the ethos of the event by continuing the journey along the mountainous spine of Wales’ most southerly mountains. It is an awesome mountain running day maintaining the wild, remote and adventurous theme of the first four days of the race. Day six continues on this theme initially before linking together brilliant tracks and trails that speed participants south and straight into Cardiff Castle for a spectacular and fitting finish in the capital of Wales.”
Full details of the new day five and six route, as well as the new finish arrangements will be released later in 2020. If you want to be the first to hear, please ensure that you are signed up to our email newsletter.
With the addition of the sixth day we are increasing the entry fee by a modest £20 per day for 2021. We want to acknowledge that the Dragon’s Back Race® is a premium event and will not be affordable to everyone who might wish to take part. However, we continue to recruit volunteers to join the event team, who are rewarded with an ‘event credit’ equivalent to the cost of a standard race entry.
Shane Ohly commented, “Regardless of an individual’s financial circumstances it is really important to me that anyone from the mountain running community who wishes to take part in the Dragon’s Back Race® has that opportunity, and we will continue to provide a pathway for anyone who volunteers at the event to take part using their volunteer’s event credit.”
If you are interested in volunteering at the 2021 edition please have a careful read over the volunteering pages on the Ourea Events website.
At the same time we are confirming the new day six and Cardiff Castle finish, we are announcing further changes to the event format which can be reviewed in this article.
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