As Dan White stands on the start line tomorrow morning awaiting the gun to go off, we’ll mostly be asleep.
Please join me in wishing my great mate good luck. 50 miles through the Welsh wilderness is no mean feat. This is the first of several ‘ ultra marathons ‘ he’s doing, entirely for my benefit, as part of his mission to get me back on track.
When I say ‘ entirely for my benefit ‘ , he does actually enjoy these challenges, and is no stranger to pain. We’ve done a number of challenges together in the past, as team mates, and he’s a very accomplished athlete, especially when there’s running involved. Anybody that’s run a 2 hour 45 min marathon is pretty bloody good.
This run more or less follows the river Wye. The website says:
STARTING NOT FAR FROM THE SOURCE OF THE WYE, ROUND 3 COULD BE MORE ACCURATELY DESCRIBED AS A TRAIL RUN THAN A MOUNTAIN MARATHON. HOWEVER AS EXPECTED FROM A UTMB 2 POINT QUALIFIER THE ROUTE SHOULD NOT BE UNDERESTIMATED.
THE MAJORITY OF THE ROUTE FOLLOWS THE WYE VALLEY ITSELF THOUGH THEIR IS A CHEEKY LITTLE EXCURSION INTO THE ELAN VALLEY VIA MOUNTAINS AND AROUND THE SPECTACULAR DAMS.
‘Cheeky’ , to the regular guy in the street, conjures up something funny/quirky/enjoyable/likely to make you smile.
In events like this ‘ cheeky ‘ means very unpleasant steep hills, totally interrupting any rhythm or flow that you’d just achieved.
Although I’d rather be running the race than lying here having lost my legs, it’s not exactly my idea of a weekend treat.
Dan, you’re a legend. Take care out there and get round the course. Maybe even take a few pictures with your emergency phone for us to see when you’ve finished?
Don’t break or twist anything, buddy. Don’t hurt yourself for MY sake, ok!
Our Mum and Dad will be Dan’s support crew during the race, providing critical sustenance at key points to keep Dan going. I hope it works out, it’s a hell of a long way without food or water!
Whoot whoot! Pace yourself- the gaol: UTMB next August! I have qualified and could be convinced to do a UTMB Russ effort! Enjoy- looking forward to hearing the story!