the toughest race in the world? The Dragons Back

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bennevis Sep 2012 8:12am, 4 Sep 2012 7 posts	0 bennevis dragonsbackrace.com First day's report here (Day 1 Carneddau, Glyders and Snowdon area Straight line distance and height gain: 30 miles (48 km) / 19,700 ft (6,000m) sleepmonsters.com Looks like it's going to be an epic race! Pics are here sleepmonsters.com
Derby Tup Sep 2012 8:17am, 4 Sep 2012 2,385 posts	0 Derby Tup Womens race will be close. Nicky and Helene are amazing athletes
flyingfinn Sep 2012 9:38am, 4 Sep 2012 311 posts	0 flyingfinn When Steve Birkinshaw comes in leading 2 hours over the winning time estimate and says he was a tough day you know that there are going to be a lot out there suffering! I wasn't surprised to hear that most of the Spanish contingent had had to cut Day 1 short, given the more trail like nature of continental mountain races they must have felt like they'd landed on another planet! Looking forward to seeing how the race develops. It looks like there will be a good battle in the ladies and I'm interested to see if Rob Baker can stay with Steve. Rob only decided to run about 2 weeks ago and is a very classy athlete but yesterday's result was new ground in a race over that sort of terrain and of that length.
Northern Exile Sep 2012 10:03am, 4 Sep 2012 1,694 posts	0 Northern Exile It's pretty exciting isn't it? Interesting to see how runners from other nations are doing, that first day must have been very hard.
The_Saint Sep 2012 10:10am, 4 Sep 2012 5,394 posts	0 The_Saint For the uninitiated here is Feet in The Clouds author Richard Askwith's Independent article on the race. independent.co.uk
flyingfinn Sep 2012 1:53pm, 4 Sep 2012 312 posts	0 flyingfinn So out of 80 starters only 37 completed Day 1! That's some attrition rate. How many will complete all 5 days?
Mountain Cat Sep 2012 2:40pm, 4 Sep 2012 2,609 posts	0 Mountain Cat I usually like RA's writing, but I must say that I don't like it when things get billed as "the toughest X", "the most extreme Y" etc. Only 37 completed the full course on day 1 (the hardest day of the race), but there are plenty of others who are still racing, but non-competitively as they've just missed a checkpoint. They're still doing an enormous race even if they do miss a couple of sections due to cut-offs.
Mountain Cat Sep 2012 2:43pm, 4 Sep 2012 2,610 posts	0 Mountain Cat "much of it was barely suitable for scrambling, let alone running" What does that even mean? If RA thinks that Crib Goch is at the hard end of scrambling he's got a nasty surprise when he trys anything actually hard! The race is impressive enough without all the hyperbole, so I wish reporters would stop it.
The_Saint Sep 2012 2:58pm, 4 Sep 2012 5,395 posts	0 The_Saint I thought it was shrewdly posed as a question anticipating the inevitable "Four Yorkshiremen" type responses.
lunaman Sep 2012 3:03pm, 4 Sep 2012 2,413 posts	0 lunaman Thanks for this - I was wondering where one of the regulars at our track sessions had got to this week! Liz Barker - going great guns by the look of it.