In the lead after two stages was strangely enough a mixed team consisting of Helene Diamantides and Martin Stone. A woman in the lead of this macho race! The phenomenon required a closer study so I decided to follow Helene and Martin for a while. As long as we ran the roads in the beginning I found the pace very comfortable. But then we were going up to the top of Cader Idris almost 900m higher than the point we started from.

In the PDF download available below Helene Diamantides, the 1992 winner of the Dragon’s Back Race™ alongside Martin Stone, gives her perspective on the race and some useful hints for success. “Don’t win the first day. Especially if you are female as this enrages the opposition and spurs them on. It also upsets the paras who set up the showers (I thought they were SUPPOSED to be mixed?).

Fifty miles a day, day after day, with the Parachute Regiment carrying the tent: this, we must suppose, is a foretaste of what awaits the dedicated hillrunner in the afterlife. Enter Wales at the top end. Sleep all night, eat large military meals, and run all day, following roughly John Gillham’s ‘Snowdonia to Gower’ long-distance route. Emerge five days later somewhere near Swansea. There would be the cream of British fell running, as well as eminent guests from abroad.