Date: Saturday 30th April 2022
Official miles: 50 miles
Strava says: 52.27 miles
Elevation: 10,761 ft / 3,280 m
Weather: clear, warm and dry
Start: Llanbedr
Finish: Llangynidr
Route type: A to B
Conditions: Dry
Website link: Blacks to the Beacons by Limitless Trails
Describe the route in three words: phenomenal mountain trails
Blacks to the Beacons 50 2022 - Race Report
I gathered with the others in a field that I was all too familiar with, this was the way to Table Mountain and the field I had run through on my FKT of the Black Mountains Circular, I knew I had a big long climb ahead immediately out of the starting corral. I wasn’t nervous, I was just keen. Keen to get going and excited to finally find out whether all my mountain excursions were going to be enough to get me though my most challenging race to date.
My friend Hannah (and co-owner of the outdoor fitness group I attend, Blaze Fitness) was racing too. I say racing because she and I are both pretty darn competitive. I couldn’t be certain, but I felt like we had different agendas today, just from quick conversations leading up to today’s challenge. For me, today’s event was all about putting my new found mountain skills to the test, and completing the route with a smile and feeling strong throughout. I hadn’t necessarily put in the long runs in terms of milage, but I certainly had in terms of time on feet and elevation. Hannah on the other hand, has a full family schedule with childcare commitments, pets and multiple businesses. She had sacrificed family time in order to train seriously and be here on the start line. I knew that her goal was primarily to have an enjoyable day out, but she had also mentioned to me in a passing comment that she wanted to come away feeling that she had done her best and the time training away form family would be all worth it. It was this reason alone that I felt certain she would be motivated to finish at the front of the field way ahead of me and keep the pace up.
Three coaches had been put on to deliver us from the race HQ at the finish to the start. The lady next to me was eating falafel, I was marvelling at the fact that she could eat falafel at 7.15am in the morning, especially as I find it so dry! (Una Miles was first female and 10th overall)
Hannah’s coach had arrived after mine and she came over to me, “Are you running the start” I said, “No way!” she said. Me neither, I know how long this climb is, I’ve done it before! At around 7.25am, the countdown began, and on “go”, what did we all do? We all ran! Every single one of us! I started giggling as I knew it’s an instinct ingrained in to us all, you hear go, you see a start line, and you just have to run over it! As soon as I had crossed the start line, I fell immediately into a power walk, as did most of the others.
The long climb up to Table Mountain was on, my Strava recorded my first mile as 1,127 ft of elevation with a pace of 21.38 /mi! Hannah was just in front of me to start off with and it wasn’t long before I was carrying her poles so she could remove her long sleeves and run in her vest in the warm sunshine. After a while I was in front of her and I have to confess, I found it a bit stressful. I knew that she’d be finishing way ahead of me and I didn’t like knowing she was behind as I was concerned my competitive nature would get the better of me and I’d try to stick with her. It’s also the first time I’ve been in an event where I am not anonymous, I found it strange having not only a friend running with me, but one of the session bosses at my boot camp who knows my fitness capabilities better than myself!
I reached the trig at Table Mountain at 7.59am and pulled my phone out for a selfie, I heard Hannah come up behind me and exclaim at the views, “Trig point selfie?” I called to her but she was already gone. I felt relived that she was in front of me, as I knew I’d definitely stay at my comfortable pace now she was ahead and not risk sabotaging my efforts by trying to keep up with her. Photo taken and I set off again.
We were running along the ridge line now, the views were outstanding, really the most perfect day for a run. I could see Hannah ahead having a FaceTime with her family which meant I was catching up with. We ran together chatting for a bit and then one of us pulled away. It later transpired that this was going to be a constant theme throughout the entire race, we would either run together chatting, or one of us would be in front of the other but always within eyesight.
We reached the impressive cairn by Waun Fach at 9.33am and this time Hannah gladly joined me for the selfie. As we were running down from the cairn I realised I had absolutely no idea how long we had been running or for how many miles, I had a look at my watch and was surprised to see that it probably would not be that long until the first checkpoint. I didn’t feel hungry yet, and I thought I may as well wait until the checkpoint until I ate something.
There is a ninety degree turn which takes you from the ridge line onto the Dragon’s Back, it is conveniently marked with a small cairn too. Hannah and I were running stride for stride chatting away. I could see buildings in the distance and knew that the checkpoint would be someone down there. We reached the tree line and passed through a gate, onto a rocky path that is probably a full flowing waterway in the winter and then onto a lane. We overtook some guys who were walking but broke into a run as soon as we passed, Hannah joked with them that it’s amazing the renewed energy men can find when they get overtaken by two girls! I heard cattle bells and was surprised that Checkpoint 1, Pengenffordd 9.55am was suddenly upon us. I had a couple of watermelon slices and a jelly baby and pocketed a Freddo for later. And then felt a bit awkward. I had started with 2 litres of water, my plan was to drain the back bladder first, then move on to the front bladders keeping the back one empty and only refilling the fronts until checkpoint 4 where I knew we’d need extra water for the long stretch. I also knew that Hannah only had one litre with her and that she needed a refill as well as have a loo stop. We had agreed before today that we would run our own races so I made the decision to leave the checkpoint and not wait for her. I have to confess, I felt a mixture of emotions, I felt guilty for just leaving without saying anything (I think she was behind a bush at that point!) and I also felt concerned that she would think I was racing her and trying to get a head start! At this point, I was still completely confident she would finish at least an hour in front of me.
Leaving the checkpoint, it’s a gentle downhill lane then on to a flat field. I thought that two slices of watermelon really wasn’t going to cut it so I dug out a bar and walked across the field as I ate it. Just as I finished and broke into a run again, Hannah joined me and the climb up Mynydd Llangorse commenced. There was a photographer here and I thought I’d do something ‘different’ to my usual race photo of eyes shut and tongue hanging out so I told him I was going to do a star jump, he caught it perfectly! Mynydd Llangorse 10.23am.
The stretch along here is pretty flat, although high it’s grassy too and there were Welsh ponies grazing, Hannah commented how mythical they looked with their long flowing manes, I suggested they just needed a horn and would look just like unicorns! I thought that this section although enjoyable today, would actually be pretty brutal on a bad weather day, I expect it has the potential to be very drab, wet and windy up here.
Hannah and I were running downhill now, already not too far from the next checkpoint, we spotted another photographer and both threw out hands in the air shouting “weeeeeeeee” as we steamed past.
We popped out into the little village of Llangynidr (which is also the finish), Hannah had moved ahead of me, a chap raking his garden told me to go straight down rather than right as the sign was pointing, luckily my gpx agreed with his directions. I caught up with Hannah again as well as a group of marathon runners and we all went over the pretty Llangynidr bridge which crosses the River Usk and promptly arrived at Checkpoint 2, The Walnut Tree Cafe, 11.36am with lovely salted chips and a real indoor toilet!
I refilled one of my front bladders, ate a crisp and a few chips washed down with a a cup of cola. Hannah told me she’d be on her way but would see me soon. I popped to the loo and grabbed a handful of chips then I was off. I fell into stride with a marathon runner as we started our ascent of Tor y Foel. I remarked that I was impressed that he was doing it without poles, and he said he was jealous of mine! We chatted about this and that and just as I told him that my friend Hannah was ahead and I doubt I’d be seeing her again until the finish line, she came into view, I was so surprised that she was just there! I’d really thought I wouldn’t be seeing her again! After some time, I caught up to Hannah and she said, “This hill is kicking my arse!” “You’ve got this Hannah! It’s so much more fun than doing The Wall 10 times” (The Wall is a short steep hill local to us that we did a bit of practice on to try and add some elevation to our doorstep runs).
I’ve been up Tor y Foel before, albeit from another angle, but I know it is infamous for its false summits. After the fourth false summit the marathon runner I’d been chatting to was beginning to despair and drop back a little. We all three reached the top pretty much together at 12.32pm, Tor y Foel and now we had the enjoyable descent. The weather was delightfully warm and we could see the runners from the half marathon coming towards us. We cheered them all and I said to one, “Lucky bugger, you get to climb the easy side!” Turns out they’d already climbed it once the way we had come and were now on their second climb!
There was a water refill point at the bottom and the marathon runners split off from us here. Hannah and I arrived together again at the water station. There certainly was a theme beginning to emerge, we really were never that far from each other. We had another long climb and I powered on up the hill. I was feeling elated that we were already well on our way to the next checkpoint which would mark the halfway point and would also have our drop bags. As I continued uphill, I had fabulous views of the Talybont Reservoir. Thanks to my recces of the Gwynne-Harris Round, I'm getting to know this area really well. I picked out my nemesis Allt Lwyd, I'm planning to re-visit it the following day to see if I could find an easier route to it. I marvelled at the enormity of the Talybont Reservoir too, and reminisced back to running alongside the length of it thinking how long it was!
I brought my thoughts back to the present as I reached a gate and as I opened it, the whole thing fell forward, me doing everything I could to stay upright and not fall with it, I screeched, “Oh my God!” because I really thought I was about to fall flat on my face.
I turned around to shout back to Hannah but I couldn’t see her rounding the corner before it. I ran on and kept checking behind me, as soon as I saw her I shouted, “Watch out, dangerous gate!”
This next section I really enjoyed, I was flying along as it was an easy path to follow. I passed through another gate and the easy path became a Roman Road, I find these lumpy stoney roads really hard to move along. After a while I came to a hairpin bend and was pleased to join a gravel track. Hannah pulled alongside me and said that we weren’t that far from the next checkpoint, I was quite surprised as I checked my watch which confirmed she was absolutely right, I think this was the first time that I thought maybe we would finish in roughly the same time. I broached the subject with Hannah, telling her that I was so surprised I was still with her and I wondered if we’d still be together on the canal? Hannah had told me that she thought I’d be much quicker than my estimated finish time of 18 hours and closer to her estimated finish time of 14 hours.
As we came through another gate, the gpx told us to make a right turn. There was clearly no path here. We’d been told at race registration the night before, and this morning at race briefing, to follow the markers rather than the gpx here. Both of us forgot this and ploughed our way through the undergrowth, over a stream, over a fallen tree, up a steep embankment, the odd swearword here and there and both commenting that this was pretty miserable and it was nice that we were experiencing it together. We finally popped out on to a lane just a hundred foot or so from the checkpoint. As we ran into the checkpoint, some runners appeared up some paved steps which had a handrail, we both laughed as we suddenly remembered the instructions we had forgotten!
We were at Checkpoint 3, Parkwood at 1.44pm. For me it was a cup of tea, half a cheese sandwich (I pocketed the other half for later) and some salt and vinegar crisps with half a banana and a cola. I sat on the floor for the true picnic experience and grabbed a couple of things from my drop bag. I was very content.
Hannah headed out of the checkpoint calling back, “See you in a minute!”. This time I believed her, we had been such a similar pace up until now, I probably would see her again soon! I grabbed some mini eggs as I left and I was off. I got a bit flummoxed almost immediately by a gate, I didn’t know whether to go through or turn but luckily realised I needed to turn. Then a narrow footpath lead me off the lane and I could see a runner coming down the lane from the wrong direction. We had a brief chat, and I asked him if he was ok for food as I knew he’d missed the checkpoint, he explained that his mum was crewing him and she had got lost, apparently he had been waiting for her up the road for 30 minutes! He sped off and I saw Hannah ahead. I felt a surge of energy flowing through me, wow it really didn’t take long for the caffeine in the tea to work its magic. I ran to Hannah calling, “Hannah, I’m caffeinated!” I ran past and started babbling away, I’m not sure if it was to myself or to Hannah but this entire stretch of road I certainly was on a high. I knew exactly where I was too as I’d driven this road, and run the later part of it as part of the Brecon Beacon Horseshoe. The lambs were frolicking in the fields and it made me feel joyful, I started singing to them and was excited for the climb after the Neuadd water tower. It dawned on me that at this rate, I’d be on Pen y Fan in daylight, I had thought by the time I got there, night would have fallen.
I took the climb at a steady pace, a small part of me had hoped that I might be a bit quicker than the two previous times I had made this climb but I realised now that having 30 miles in my legs, I would not be getting any PBs on this climb today! Once on the Craig Fan Ddu ridge I employed a run-walk technique, more on the walk side. I’ve never had cramp before during a run but I kept getting waves of tightness which I felt could potentially become cramp. What to do? I had a Dextrose tablet and kept taking small sips. I’d definitely grab a banana at the next checkpoint.
Hannah caught up to me Craig Fan Ddu 3.26pm and we completed the ridge line together, I told her that I’d not run down to Pont ar Daf before and was looking forward to it as it is on the Gwynne-Harris Round and along with the climb from Storey Arms, were the two short sections I’d be unable to recce. I see now why this is such a popular route with tourists! The path is wide and direct, we ran the whole way down, luckily my legs had stopped threatening to cramp. I commented that the car park did not seem to be getting any closer but I was pleased to be running down this section rather than up. We finally neared the bottom, we crossed the bridge and I could see the Limitless flags and a marshal with an illuminous yellow tabard a bit further up. We both dashed into the portaloos (although Hannah dashed straight back out and went behind them!) luckily mine was pretty clean, just no loo roll. All the wall sits and squat holds I do at Blaze were perfect training for this situation!
We reached Checkpoint 4, Pont ar Daf car park at 4.06pm. I plonked myself into a chair, grabbed a banana and passed my back bladder to the marshal, "Please may you put around 1 litre in this?” The second marshal told me I should have something salty as my face was white. Hannah was already off and 30 seconds later appeared on the path just above me, “I’ve forgotten my poles!” A runner called Ian who had just arrived did some excellent javelin throws with them and she set off again, calling back, "See you in a few minutes!" I chuckled, as I knew I would. Bladders refilled, I tipped a shot of peanuts into my mouth and set off, pulling out my cheese sandwich. Peanuts are very dry. It was a bit of a struggle to eat them. I also realised that I should have perhaps also have explained to the marshal that although my back bladder had a 2 litre capacity, I only wanted it half full, she had filled it to the top and it was so heavy. This now meant I had 2 extra kilograms of weight to take up to Pen y Fan rather than just 1 kilo. I opened the valve and let some water drain out. I caught up with Hannah and told her I was feeling a bit weighed down by the excess water.
This was a long climb up to Corn Du and I think Hannah was getting a bit fed up with it, every once in a while I’d say to her, “I’m just going to stop for a few seconds to admire the view!” Sometimes Hannah would join me on my little leg rest, sometimes she would just soldier on. The views over the Llyn Cwm Llwch were truly spectacular, apparently it is the best preserved glacial lake in South Wales! I was elated by the fact we were going to make Pen y Fan in daylight and this constantly spurred me on, we’d also have a clear sky up there so we’d be able to see the views, I couldn’t wait to get to the top! We reached some rocks and made the steep climb up them, and then we had arrived! I was quite shocked, the climb had taken so long and all of a sudden, it was over. Corn Du 5.09pm. I took a selfie and angled the camera to get Hannah in, I realised she was not planning on stopping, as she wasn’t there, “Hannah, you have to have a photo after that long climb!” - she turned beaming and made a triumphant pose. We trotted off, Pen y Fan was next.
We reached Pen y Fan at 5.17pm and were blown away by the views, as we started to make our descent we were surprised to see a photographer, he instructed Hannah to switch to the other side of the path, she ignored him at first, I think keen to get down, but he was quite insistent and Hannah chuckled saying she’d never been told off by a photographer before. It was absolutely worth it though, the photo he captured of the pair of us has got to be my all time favourite race photo!
Hannah lead me down Pen y Fan, I told her earlier on that I’m really slow coming down here, there is something about that paved path that makes me think I’m going to slide and fall over. It was so nice having Hannah with me, I followed her step for step allowing my confidence to grow and checking back on my Strava, I got a PB by 4.5 minutes for that descent!
I know this part of the route really well, I knew we had a short but steep climb up to Cribyn, I think Hannah was slightly ‘over’ the hills at this point and didn’t seem best pleased we had to go up it, I tried to shine a positive light on the situation and say it was nothing compared to what we had just done, it was only a little one. We made it up in no time and I knew we pretty much had a fabulous ridge line run with a gentle downhill theme to it until we got to Fan y Big, I love this path and flew along it. I realised I ought to eat something so dug out my Freddo at the bottom of Fan y Big and chomped on it as I started the ascent. Once at the top, a couple of campers had put up tents, they offered us plenty of encouragement and told us we only had 10 miles to go. We had a really long and rocky ridge line to run, Hannah had momentarily disappeared, turned out she’d stopped for a toilet break and to switch her water bladders around. I knew I needed to eat more and started on one of my bars. I have to confess though, it was a real struggle to eat it. After what felt like an eternity I finally swallowed the last mouthful, just as Hannah caught up with me and we ran together.
We started descending down off the mountain, I felt sad because I knew that was the last of the mountain running for the day but I also felt happy as I knew we really didn’t have that far to go now. As we crossed a field we started talking about the end. I confessed to Hannah that I really was dreading the canal section, four miles of flat. I also knew that this was a part of the route that Hannah would be particularly strong on, we discussed the potential outcomes. We could run the canal together and finish together. We could start the canal together and Hannah could potentially pull away, or Hannah could just go steaming off at top speed. Hannah said that if she was just a teeny bit ahead, then she just wouldn’t feel right finishing without me after coming all this way together. In the end, we agreed we’d stick together and cross the line together, even if it meant Hannah had to hold back a bit on the canal. She teased me and said that I better not sprint off at the end. I reassured her, I know I am competitive, but I am also a good sportsman and I hoped she knew that. We arrived at the final Checkpoint 5, Talybont 7.55pm and both filled our water bladders, I grabbed a cup of cola and we headed off with a renewed spring in our strides. I fished around in my bag and pulled out my shell-less Skittles, jackpot! I would have eaten any of the items I had pulled out first but these were actually the ones I really wanted, I easily unsealed the bag and put a couple in my mouth, something didn’t feel right.
“My poles!” My turn to have forgotten them, "I’m so sorry Hannah!" I raced back to grab them just as another runner was coming in, "What have you forgotten?" he laughed?
Poles back in my hand, I caught up to Hannah and as we ran through a field I got my first glimpse of the dreaded canal. We snaked down towards it, onto a little lane and then finally on to the Monmouthshire and Brecon canal. Here we go. My mental strength deserted me as I stepped onto the towpath. Weirdly my legs were completely fine, they didn’t ache, they didn’t even feel heavy but my head was screaming at me to walk. “C’mom!” Hannah trilled to me as she would to her dog Waffle, “You’ve got this! Only 4 miles!” My word, 4 miles just seemed like a really, really long way right now, give me another mountain over this any day. Hannah encouraged me the whole time. We had a little walk after a mile and a half and something to eat then back into a run. The canal comes off the tow path for a little bit at Ashford tunnel and we passed four men who were walking. I told myself, this is why we are running, we can move up a few places. We walked again up a hill and then back into a run. Hannah asked me what I would do at a Blaze session? I’d just switch off and do as I was told. We FaceTimed her husband and children and then I could see we only had about a mile of canal left to go. We finally reached the gate and came off, what a relief. We passed the Coach and Horses and knew there was not too much further to go, Hannah was edging ahead of me, I just couldn’t seem to get my little legs to go any faster. The village hall came into view and with renewed vigour I easily caught up to Hannah, it really is phenomenal the effect my mind can have on my pace! Hannah smiled, "What hand do you want me to hold?" "This one!" I giggled back to her as I waved my left hand around like a mad woman. We held hands and got faster and faster until we were almost sprinting across the line! We had done it! And we had finished in daylight as joint 4th ladies. I had actually finished 4.5 hours quicker than I expected to, what joy!
We were handed the most wonderful medals, we both lay on the floor to stretch and have a hug, both of us beaming. What a phenomenal team we had made. I am sure that both of us had completed the course quicker because of the other, when one of us felt like slowing down, we’d seen the other striding ahead. When one of us left a checkpoint, the other promptly followed. We took it in turns to lead, we chatted and encouraged each other. What a pleasure it was to run with Hannah and experience this remarkable race together.
What’s in the snack pack?
2x bars
Nuts, dried fruit and chocolate trail mix
Shell-less Skittles
Sugar coated stemmed ginger
Mints
2x 500ml bladders water - both with SiS
1x litre back bladder
Spare SiS tabs x2
Gloves
Hat
Inov 8 Trailshell waterproof jacket
OMM Halo waterproof trousers
Salomon Bonatti waterproof over mittens
Long sleeved spare layer
Vasaline
Sun cream
Spare hair band
Safety pins
Paracetamol
Compeed, plasters, surgical tape, spare socks
Harrier Helvellyn Carbon Z-Poles and quiver
Silva head torch
Whistle
Survival blanket
OMM ultra flexi cup
Fully charged mobile phone
Power bank and cable for phone (mandatory)
Harvey’s map
Silva Expedition 4 compass
ID
Drop bag - Parkwood
Spare outfit, spare shoes, socks, paracetamol, sudocrem, rice pudding with spoon, 4x bars, rehydration sachet, gauze, ginger, Shell-less Skittles, trail mix, SiS tablets. From the drop bag I took 1 bar, the shell-less Skittles and 2 SiS tablets.
What I wore: Saucony Ultra ST, Garmin Fenix 6 Sapphire, buff, Sweaty Betty power leggings, Stance socks, Ronhill merino long sleeved top, Dirty Girl gaiters, sun cap, Salomon Adv Skin 12 running vest.
Lead up: With numerous trips to Wales (once a month since January) I had done back to back elevation days, I hadn’t covered the miles but I certainly had spent time on feet and done the elevation and practiced on the terrain. I’d been doing lots of Blaze sessions as usual (outdoor fitness group) and have also been doing Pilates for Runners, usually at least once a week.
Morning preparations: I had a porridge pot with added blueberries for breakfast with a decaf tea. I used my wooden pole to role out my fascia tissue in my feet, legs and glutes. I ate a banana at Race HQ. I Vaselined my toes and taped my middle right toe as that one has habit of the nail falling off, taping it gave it extra protection.
Summary
I could not have asked for a better outcome. I ran stronger and faster than I expected to and far exceeded my expectations on my abilities, Having Hannah with me was certainly a good thing, I have a feeling I’d still be chilling out at checkpoint 4, it was so lovely sitting there in the sunshine with my picnic! Having someone to be accountable to was a bit help.
Lessons learned
If I’d have had a cup of tea (caffeine hit) before the canal, that would have been a great boost. I discovered that cola doesn’t really give me a caffeine hit at all. I will consider buying a caffeine gel and perhaps use that in times of emergency!
Results
Gun time: 13 hr 25 m 04 s
Chip time: 13 hr 24 m 59 s
Overall: 22 / 76 (44 finishers)
Lady: joint 4th with Hannah (although officially 5th with 1 second between us!)
Blacks to the Beacons 50 2022 - click here for results
Professional photos courtesy of Andy Gale, full gallery can be viewed here.