The EPONA 100 ultra will live long in the memory and hopefully not as long in the legs!
It’s 2 days after I finished the EPONA 100 ultra, well, 1 really as it was past midnight Sunday night when I crossed the finish line! Anyway, that was 8 hours ahead of the cut off time so who cares, right?!
It all began Friday evening for the official race briefing and kit check. Finding the cricket ground in Abergavenny the day before meant less stress on the day. Number grabbed, pre-registration done (also a great shout – again less stress on the actual day) and kit approved.
Pre-event nerves meant a shitty nights sleep – probably wasn’t alone. Woke up before my alarm that meant even less sleep, continually second-guessing myself about what I’d packed and if I packed it despite checking several times!
Breakfast eaten, coffee drank and we’re off…
Arrived at the race HQ in plenty of time, dropped off the drop bags, got my (dodgy!) tracker sorted then it was an anxiety-ridden wait for the looming start of the EPONA 100 ultra
The EPONA 100 ultra – here we go!
I didn’t want to get caught short with nutrition or hydration so my running vest was rammed with mandatory kit and anything edible I anticipated I may or may not want. Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it, right?
Training had gone well. I was always watching everyone else’s training on Instagram – guys and gals I had already met on previous Pegasus events. It always made me cast a doubt in my head if I was doing enough. Guys like Mike, Sean, Rhys and Luke and Izzy was always up to something! My game plan was train my body to sustain movement. I was clocking up 100 miles a week running, biking and walking. The idea was to condition myself to achieve the 100 miles comfortably in a week in the hop that I could accomplish it in a weekend. I threw in a HiiT workout 3 times a week coupled with my Rokman subscription meant I was covering all bases.
Whether it was all worth it and was enough will soon become apparent. The EPONA 100 ultra was going to be an unforgiving beast – I already knew that!
Anyway the race had started and 3 – 4 mph was the goal. I didn’t fancy anything more as this may bite me in the arse later in the race. I hoped to be at the halfway-ish point (56 miles was the sleep station) by the time it was getting dark Saturday night. Grab a few hours sleep missing the dead of night and crack back on at dawn. I had 4 hours so would try and make the most of the stop.
…Best laid plans and all that!
I kinda knew what to expect on what I’ll call ‘Day 1’ and it was not going to be easy! Added bonus of a few familiar trig points and bagging some new ones! First up was Sugar Loaf. Still an early morning fog so views I’d give a 1/10!
Making good progress, making the most of the checkpoints and using my massage gun at every bag drop to keep me fresh. I kept on trucking and as a result I joined individuals and groups for a time and they or I would take off and do our own thing and it was back to a solo effort. Caught up with a few runners being challenged by the climb up the Skirrid – rewarded by another trig at the top obviously!
However, I found that Sarah (race number 34) was maintaining a similar pace and we became buddies from between checkpoint 2, Blorenge trig point and the Mynydd Llangynidr trig point.
We chatted a lot of shit to help eat up the miles – it was nice to have a bit of company as it was getting lonely and the problem with being lonely makes you start asking yourself ‘Why the fuck am I doing this?!’
Same thing happened with us, we’d join others, overtake others and then be overtaken – for example to two Welsh fellas (apologies, I didn’t get our names but one of the guys had already completed the Wild Horse 200 a few weeks prior which I thought was pretty fucking impressive!). Along this stretch was the Pant-Y-Creigiau trig point!
Anyway, my best laid plans were already going to shit – I knew I was nowhere near the sleep station by the time it was getting dark! Me and Sarah reached checkpoint 4 in the dark – knowing we had a stretch with the head torch ahead. Shoutout to the lady at the checkpoint who donated a Fanta Zero – I was sick of water by then so it was a great pick me up.
Anyway, back to it.
A shitty little trail through some woods then onto a big old hill for more uphill fun in the dark. We could see head torched ahead and behind so we weren’t the only ones having the time of our lives walking up a big hill in the dark with 48 or so miles in the legs already with a shit tonne of elevation too. We made it to the top and then it was downhill in the direction the arrow was pointing on our watches to somewhere over in that direction-ish! Everything would get a bit easier once we hit the canal towpath. Bar falling in, there wasn’t anything else that could make it worse than the previous sections in the dark!
Me and Sarah shared a comfortable silence as the towpath dragged on… And on… And on… You get it! Tired and fatigued, we passed Ian, another participant, sat cross legged on the towpath eating a bag of crisps. Brave – if I had sat down cross-legged at that point, they weren’t going to get uncrossed and I was NOT getting back up! Kudos to you Ian! Funny thing was, it seemed like a surreal moment and if Sarah wasn’t with me, I could have thought it was an hallucination!
As the towpath seemed to never end, we trucked on as fast as we could knowing we could soon have a breather. Sarah’s watch needed charging so I took the lead with my trusty Coros Apex 2 which I had had the nav screen on since 6am and had about 10% of battery left – I knew I could make it to the sleep station to charge and fortunately at that point there wasn’t much thought needed with navigating. Along the towpath, off it then a jaunt into Crickenhowell.
We had made it.
Only 5 hours over my expected ETA so planning had gone to shit! Pace was good though, can’t knock that and me a Sarah pushed each other so there wasn’t much to complain about… Much!
It was great to see Clare, Bernie and the man, the legend Kev at the checkpoint. My goal was to change my clothes, freshen up, get everything on charge and then pass out. About from fatigue and tiredness – everything else was in good nick. Feet were hanging in there. Had a blister on the inside of both heals – no idea how. On my practise runs which were also Pegasus events, I learned what needed to be wrapped and where. These two rogue blisters didn’t concern me as, yes, they were there – but they weren’t painful and weren’t going to get worse – fortunately. I think they were from the uneven surface, so I’ll know for next time. At the end of the event there was no way going to be a next time, but as I sit here now, I quite fancy another bash knowing I’ll be fitter, stronger and better.
Anyway, Clare sorted me a campbed so I was changed and red catch some much needed Zs.
Thank you Clare – it was much appreciated! Day 2 was going to be an absolute twat now that the already arduous day 1 was done so needed to hit the refresh button.
Sarah’s plan was to grab 90 minutes rest and get going at dawn. I would have loved more time, but I was happy to stick with Sarah since her support crew were pacing her and I needed that motivation to see me through. We were off at about 5:00am with Lloyd who would be pacing us and Ian, who wasn’t an hallucination was joining us too.
We were off. It was a dull but muggy morning. We headed up and straight into a field of cows. I fucking hate cows, they’re scary as fuck. They’re big and dumb – they creep me out. Fortunately Lloyd was a cow whisperer moved them all along. If I was on my own, I wasn’t getting through the gate to get out of the field because there was a big black cow standing in front of it! Safe to say that was the only encounter with cows on this event which I am truly grateful for.
Up more hills!
Lloyd did not take any shit. He kept us going and I did not mind that one bit! We were eating up the miles chatting more shit as the fog / clouds burned away as the morning warmed and brightened up. Again, the pain was eased because there were two more trig points along the route – not too far from one another. These were the Pen Cerig Calch trig point and Pen Alt Mawr trig point. Still foggy so zero views!
It was a long old morning but we hit checkpoint 6. Same as before, freshen up and be on the move promptly. Only difference was Lloyd was tagged out and Terry, Sarah’s husband, was tagged in for the next couple of miles. I’m pretty sure Sarah felt the same way as me. I had niggles, was sore, was tired, was achy – basically everything you’d expect to be after 70+ miles! Terry had to endure very little smalltalk as we were both pretty cooked. By this point, we were just focusing on getting the fucker done!
Toasty
As we headed along the black mountains – it really warmed up. Sorry, correction, it was fucking hot! We passed another trig point – Rhos Dirion! You can see from the sky in the photo below – by this point it was white hot!
It was glorious up there, but 75+ miles in of the EPONA 100 ultra, it was slightly less enjoyable but as we know, we haven’t had many nice days this year so we just bit our tongues and cracked on. We got to checkpoint 7 (eventually!) and we knew that we almost had this in the bag so had to embrace anything positive thoughts as mentally it was make or break time. Physically we were already broken but we didn’t get this far to only get this far! Kev was there again to give us a boost – that guy is a fucking legend. We bid farewell to Terry and Chilly was pacing us to the end now. Another bonus was the Pen-Y-Beacon trig point.
Offa’s Dyke
Offa’s Dyke is my stomping ground. I knew once we got up the fucking hill I was on familiar ground. It was going to be long. It was going to be tough. The temperature had cranked up, but the views were pretty fucking good. Not much to report on this. I passed two trig points I had already bagged in North Daren and Rhiw Arw we sort of just got on with it.
No amount of conversation or shit talk was going to make this bit any easier, so it was a slightly more muted stretch. Just had to get to Llanthony Priory now for the last checkpoint and one final push. Easier said than done as we left Offa’s Dyke down to the priory.
My God was it fucking hot. It felt like the sun was metres away as we traversed down that hill. It was getting tough. Up to that point I was doing alright – but I could just feel I had reached my limit. My claves were twitching – I knew it wasn’t long until they popped or cramped. I had to adjust the way I moved to try and preserve them. I had 10 miles to go yet, and our pace had dropped notably as me and Sarah were struggling a bit.
This was eased a little at the checkpoint.
I was pretty fucked and anxious that I might not get to the end. It made me snappy and I apologise to anyone who might have thought I was being a dick – I was having a mental battle about what to do. 10 miles was about 4 more hours of time on feet and I was already on my limit.
At this point, fellow runner Andrew had reached the checkpoint and his son and wife were joining him for the final stretch. Andrew’s feet were in bits but he was going and his wife was not letting anyone give up! The frozen towel worked wonders – thank you for that Andrew’s wife! Salty watermelon, hydration sachets, electrolyte tablets and salty nuts were necked in an effort to sustain. Everything was beyond repair now. The only thing that was getting me to the end is grit and determination. Did not want to DNF at 90 miles. Fuck that. It was a tough old day – the DNFs were mounting, there would be no shame in it and everyone who did DNF gave it a good fucking crack. This was an unforgiving beast and a lot of the field were feeling it. Couple that up with the beautiful weather, especially Sunday afternoon. However…
I didn’t get this far to only get this far in the EPONA 100 ultra…
We were off. I was waddling like I shit myself. It hurt. There was a challenging uphill section to content with immediately. Fuck me that was hard but I loosened up a bit and my intake of everything at the checkpoint was, perhaps, kicking in. Or it was the Nurofen doing its work! Andrew and his crew were just ahead of us. We picked up the pace again along the top and walked with Andrew and his crew a bit.
I don’t know how or why but the pace increased further, we went ahead of Andrew and we were on our way to the Sugar Loaf. Again. It didn’t pick up because we could keen to tackle that fucker again, I think it was more a case of let’s at least get there in the light.
We didn’t.
Going up Sugar Loaf with a head torch was shit. Legs hurt, Cramp came and went. It wasn’t fun. By that point Andrew and a couple of other passed us. No way we could go any faster. Coming down was even more shit. My fucking legs were in bits! That was the most I’ve had to concentrate in a long time. I had to figure out where to place my foot, assess my legs to see if it was gonna take it. Bring the other one down making sure nothing cramped and repeat. It was slow going. The guys that passed were not tiny glowing dots bobbing around in the distance. I wanted to be done with the EPONA 100 ultra now.
Did eventually get to the bottom and we were on the home straight… Albeit another 3 miles of steady downhill. Thing was the downhill was harder on my calves so it was going to be a slog! My pace dropped, Sarah and Chilly were up ahead and I just got my head down and did what I could. Those 3 miles felt like the 97 I’d already done!
Although it was dark, there were familiar surroundings. The styles and gates I’d gone over and through 30+ hours ago were horrific. Body parts didn’t want to work the way they should. I don’t wanna dwell on that final section so I’ll wrap this up by saying the finish line was a sight to behold. Bit lonely as you’d expect being midnight on a Sunday night. Great to see the Pegasus gang and fellow regular participant Kyle for a debrief before I went home having defeated the EPONA 100 ultra.
Fuck. Yes.
Think I’ll have me some more of this next year. I say that now, Sunday night the EPONA 100 ultra coulda fucked off for all I cared! What a difference a day makes though. Feel alright now, on the mend, no lasting damage so fuck it, I’ll start training next week for it!
Thanks for reading. Thanks also to everyone I encountered over the weekend. You’re all legends. Couldn’t have done it without you – be seeing you again soon – possibly at the PIGUM. Too ambitious? We’ll see! Check me out on Insta if that’s wasn’t where you came from!
Finally, here’s what 100 miles looks like in 40-ish seconds…
