10th November 2018
Pegasus ultra running is a new venture set up by a good friend Rhys Jenkins. Rhys event history in event organising started many years ago when he worked for NRG Events but since then just focused on running very long distances usually outside of the racing scene and often in the States. boston2austen. Badwater x3 (he is now going back for the actual AdventureCorps Badwater135 race in July this year.
I planned 2018 badly and was in Majorca for 2 weeks for Rhys' first event and so I missed the VOGUM (Vale of Glamorgan Ultra Marathon) which I will be running this year. So I was adamant I was going to be at his next event the EDDUM.
I was training for other events so fitness wasn’t my problem so much so I think I had slightly inflated views of my own ability going into the race. More about that later.
The Eddum is set around the Sennybridge military base and is remoteness personified! It’s north of the Brecon Beacons and being used to the rolling hills, some bigger than others, of the Beacons, the EDDUM was a chance for me to see a different aspect of the welsh countryside. It was very different. Equally spectacular just in a different way.
Race day was an early start. I wanted to be at race HQ for 530am. It’s approximately a 90 minute drive from my house so you do the math what time I got up, early is an understatement.
It’s so remote your phone signal doesn’t work so locking down an accurate sat nav signal was difficult and I missed the turning at least 4 times. However in the process of doing so I witnessed something I rarely do. The awesomeness of the stars at night. I had driven up and down this one road three times already and out of the corner of my eye I caught a full view of the spectacular night sky. I do love everything to do with the solar system and I just had to stop. I was turning the van around in the middle of the road (again) and I just decided to get out of the van and stand in the middle of the road staring at the sky. Only for a minute but this alone was worth the trip.
I still arrived at race hq early and finally met Cerys Rhys’s fiancé and got registration out of the way. I also managed to get some hot water from the stove off the marshalls and got my porridge pots on the go. I spent the next hour faffing with kit and food waiting for the briefing and the off.
We all gathered in the HQ for Rhys’s briefing where he told us about the route in more detail and things to watch out for. Mainly don’t get shot! And if we were in trouble the military knew there were people about and so ask them for help too. Great organising but I was confident I wouldn’t need to call on them for this.
I’ve done this twice now in a race and it always goes wrong. I took the lead from the start. Not for long, maybe 400m, but this put me in the first group. I told you I had an over inflated sense of my ability! There was a group of 5 or 6 of us slowly pulling away from the rest and we were making steady progress. I felt like I was pushing too much already after just a few miles but I never listen to my head in these situations and so kept with the leaders. One guy, then eventual winner was starting to pull away and I tried for a few minutes to keep with him but I had to admit to myself that wasn’t a good plan and drop back. There is always a huge weight lifted when that happens. From then on it doesn’t matter where you finish just that you do so the pressure was off and I could try to enjoy the day.
The scenery was very different to what I’m used to in Wales. Pine forests and boggy, fairly off track trail. It was tough going. Amazing but hard work!
I was toying position with a number of people including Glen Harper who I ran with back in July to support Rhys with the final of his 24 marathons in 24 days (whilst working full time) to support CFWarriors. I caught them a bit when they stopped at Glen's support crew car then they got me back and so on. They eventually pulled away and were never seen again.
I knew the early push was having its affect on me as I really welcomed the appproximate half way CP with drop bag when I devoured a pot noodle and porridge pot as well as faffing with kit again. So many people came and went I felt like I lost loads of places and my head wasn’t really in the game.
The scenery was amazing but at the same time all looked very similar, remote, rugged, piles of military casings lying around. Quite nerving really you wondered if anyone was hunkered down somewhere close by and if you may have strayed off track to somewhere I shouldn’t have been! I had the route on my Fenix 3 so I knew I was ok but the thought does enter your head when you see piles of used ammunition every few miles! This is what was so qwerky about this race. You know hardly anyone eve goes there. Its open public footpath so you can, but we never saw a single person (a few cars which we all thought were people going to or from the military base) all day. When have you ever spent 10hr on a public trail and never seen anyone?
I recall starting to struggle quite a bit with 10 or so miles to go. Rhys has cut the route short a few miles due to very bad weather reports but until now we had had a beautiful day. I was slowing though. I was hungry but I really couldn’t be bothered to eat, never a good sign. I forced myself and started to feel really cold whilst walking to do so. I couldn’t shake the cold now and this was really worrying me. I knew we were close to the end but I was surprised how broken I was from this race. The terrain really is unforgiving.
There had been CPs fairly regularly, the whole remoteness made this a challenge for the event team but with a mixture of car boots, some strange kind of wooden shelters, and a huge canvas gazebo thingy, the did a brilliant job making sure people got some moral support and some top ups of the usual mid race ultra nibbles.
It was also starting to get dark, which probably was a major factor in feeling so cold. With the cutting of the route it was impossible to reconigse how far there was left to go. the route was new to me as well so it wasnt as if anything was familiar we just had to keep going, paying attention to the navigation, wihch by now, instead of being via the trail markers was now via purple glowsticks hanging from the trail markers. I kind you not Rhys must have bought hundreds of glowsticks and this was clearly a sign of the preparation and course marking done in the short hours before. Signs you can put up days in advance in somewhere so remote but someone had to snap the glowsticks that day!
It had been a lovely day, in lovely surroundings, most of which I had spent on my own, but now, I just wanted this over with. I didnt know how far I was from the end so I was trying to eat some more food and was overtaken by a handful of people, including Rod Viggers from Swindon, whose Richard Jefferies 24/100 event I was running a few weeks later. What I didnt realise was that literally around the next corner was the loop back to the start/finish. I only finished eating in the final few steps before the entrance back to the HQ.
Rhys was there to congratulate me, but at the same time he had heard that some people had missed a turning a short while before, so he was jumping in the car to go and ensure the glowsticks were visible and help people find the right path.
Being the first year of the event, there wasnt many people about at the end. Also the fact the place is so remote played its part in that. There was food available and coffee and alike, but in all honesty I wanted to get my shoes off, get warm and go find a McDonalds for my routine recovery meal and milkshake.
I got my finishers bag, t-shirt and cool slate medal and headed for home, via McDonalds.
Rhys firmly believes that if youve trained for and paid to enter one of his events it is his job to make sure you finish if you can. He doesnt believe in cut offs. I know he and his team were out there unti lthe middle of the night making sure that everyone was safe and accounted for, let alone sorting out HQ and making their own way home. I finished the race about 5pm and I was very glad not have been out during the darkness, as the navigation would have been more challenging, but to be honest, I wasnt in a positive mood anyway so I would say that. Ive had days when I never wanted a race to end as well.
There is no doubt that this race is tough. For a 45 mile race (it was cut short a bit due to weather forecasts) it was really tough. Rhys has brought the timing for 2019 forward to August, which will give more daylight at both ends of the day and possibly some even more stunning views of the Beacons and mid Wales.
There are races galore to choose from these days in the Brecon Beacons and whilst they are great, they are all very samey samey. OK slightly different routes, maybe in reverse, or some different tracks to the usual places, but this is new, different, challenging, rewarding, and unique.
If you like trail ultra running in South Wales, you have to go run this race in 2019! You wont regret it!
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