Since then the worst thing I have had has been ligament damage in my ankle. But after a few weeks I have been able to bike and then after a few more weeks start running again.

Last year leading up to the Dragon’s Back Race I had been having a lot of niggles. Occasionally I had quite a lot of pain around my right knee when I was descending.  I had seen various physiotherapists and an osteopath but no one seemed to be able to pinpoint the problem, apart from there did not seem to be any problem with the actual knee. It is very hard to work out what the problem is with an intermittent injury and one that is referred from somewhere else. Basically I carried on running and just descended a bit slower and more carefully when out running. I hoped it would go away!

At the Dragon’s Back the intermittent problem was still there but not getting any worse, as the descents were all taken at a gentle pace. Much worse was the tendonitis at the bottom of the front of the left leg just above the ankle. This started on the fourth day and was very painful all the fifth day. The tendonitis was OK again a couple of weeks later so I started running again. But then the pain around the right knee started to get worse again. I tried to do the OMM (Original Mountain Marathon), after 3 hours through the first day my right knee started clicking badly and became very sore. We finished the day and overnight my knee was really badly swollen. So we had to retire and not do the second day.

After the swelling had gone down a bit I could see the tracking of the knee cap was completely wrong.  The inside quad muscle (Vastus medialis) was completely wasted away. It seems the descending over the last 8 months or so had been sore and in trying to protect myself from the pain I had been descending all wrong, everything had gone out of line. It was time for a lengthy lay off.

Unlike twenty odd years earlier, this time I have been much more relaxed and happy about being injured. Now I have a family, I have not been wallowing in self-pity, I have been enjoying being with the family more. I couple of other things have put my injury in perspective. Firstly, seeing my younger sister with Multiple sclerosis. She was also really fit and active but can now only walk around her house with a stick and needs a wheelchair to get any sort of distance. But whenever I see her she is always so positive and goes rowing as it is a sport she can manage. Secondly one of the races I did after the Dragon’s Back before I got injured was the Ian Hodgson Mountain relay. Darren Holloway, who was a similar standard in Fell Running and a similar age to me tragically died of a heart attack during the race. These two events have put my injury in perspective and made me more determined to enjoy my days out on the hills and fells, while I still can and at whatever level I can.

A couple of months after the OMM I started doing some gentle running. It hurt everywhere to start with but gradually I have got better. I have visited the physiotherapist lots of times as well as getting Acupuncture, Bowen technique and Osteopath treatment. Each person I have seen has helped somewhat and I can now run almost pain free. The original problem of pain around my knee can be recreated by pressing on the main quadriceps muscles and moving the leg at the same time. A lot of stretching on this muscle has helped a great deal.

Over the last month or so, I have been taking part in Fell Races again. I am not quite back to full speed yet but that does not matter, it is just great to be out running and racing again.

(Photo credits – Paul Dobson at http://fellrunner.net/)

Visit Berghaus Online Store

For outdoor clothing from Berghaus including men’s waterproof jackets, men’s rucksacks and more then please visit our online store.

You can find a wide range of gear for climbing, hill walking, mountain biking and other activities.

Choose from a range of cutting edge waterproof jackets, fleeces, trousers & more from Berghaus.

At 7am we left Conwy castle the next morning to start the race. We had dropped off our bags 40 minutes earlier. In those 40 minutes I drank another bottle of water and gave the empty bottle to a friendly marshall.  I also needed the toilet but I had a bit of a sneaky plan – the timing only started at the end of the castle walls. I sprinted off at 7am on the sound of the gun and went straight to the visitor centre toilets. I joined the rest of the competitors at the back and so started a couple of minutes after the fastest runners. After about 30 minutes I had caught up with the leading guys and I felt great. So I continued at a fast (probably too fast) pace – I did not want everyone following me all day. We passed a stream before the first checkpoint I drank my water, filled my bottle up and splashed some more over my head. By the time we reached the 3rd checkpoint I slowed down a little and let the three guys just behind catch up.

With me were Rob Baker, Mark Palmer and Jim Mann – three of the guys I knew would be potential winners of the race. Jim had the wrong shoes and struggled on the contouring leg to Yr Elen so on the final peak (Pen Yr Ole) before the Ogwen Lake there were just 3 of us. We decided to take the easterly route as it was more gentle and had a stream part way down. We reached the bag drop together. It was really hot down there. The marshalls sprayed us with water and gave us water to drink. I had two litres to drink, filled my water bottle, grabbed my food bag and was off first. Luckily I found the tourist path up Tryfan and as I climbed I started to feel stronger as the food and drink got into my system. I reached the summit but with no sign of Rob and Mark, they had chosen another slower way.

Coming off Tryfan i was cramping up but I was taking electrolyte tablets so I thought it would not get any worse. I could not see the path to the top of Glyder Fach so I just went up the Bristly Ridge (a v.diff rock climb), which was quite enjoyable with the dry rock. The ridge along to Eldir Fawr I had done before on my Paddy Buckley round but there was more climb than I had remembered. Eventually I reached Eldir Fawr, I could see someone around 20 minutes behind me. I ran along the ridge a bit and found some nice scree and then a path to the road at the bottom. It was a couple of miles along the Lllanberis pass road and the major climb up to Crib Goch. There was a nice river on the climb to keep me cool and to get some more drink. But I was struggling and climbing slowly. I was not sure of the way up but eventually I could see the col between Crib goch and Garnedd Ugain and I headed for that. I was getting very wobbly at this stage and only climbing at around 10m/minute but I pushed on hard.

Eventually I reached the col and continued along the ridge to the summit. I had never been on Crib Goch before and although I knew it was rocky, I was surprised how difficult it was. I tried following the ridge but had to retrace my steps a couple of times when I reached some big drops. I quickly realised the best route was off to the south side of the ridge. Eventually I reached the checkpoint and I could see Rob Baker just below me coming up the north ridge. This spurred me into action and I returned to the col along a much better line and up to the summit of Snowdon. I passed Mark Palmer on the way who had taken a bad route choice to Crib Goch. I was shattered but luckily I can descend quite fast however tired I am.

The descent was a long way but eventually I reached the road and the last mile to the finish of day 1. I was completely exhausted but I knew refuelling as soon as possible was vitally important. I was weighed (as part of a nutrition study) and I had lost 4.5 kg, I clearly needed to get a lot of fluid inside me. I had some tea and soup and lay down on my air mat. I do not really remember much of the next three hours – I tried to drink more and the doctor came round to check i was OK but I did not move much.  Rob Baker came in 23 minutes after me and then Sam Smith about 50 minutes after me, followed by Mark Palmer over an hour after me. Clearly this tough long day was causing everyone to suffer. The rest of the evening I ate as much as I could and then tried to go to sleep in a tent which I shared with Rob. Unfortunately sleep did not really come, as soon as I lay down there was really bad pain in my knees, lower legs and ankles – the pain moving all the time but always sore. The caffeine I had been taking all afternoon also seemed to keep me awake. But at least I was lying down resting.

Read Part 2.

Berghaus Store

For outdoor clothing from Berghaus including men’s waterproof jackets, women’s rucksacks and more then please visit our online store.
You can find a wide range of gear for climbing, hill walking, mountain biking and other activities.

I gradually caught and passed Helene’s group and could see my lead on Rob was extending. On the last two summits I pushed hard and then it was just a long descent and then flat road section to the finish. I just about kept a good pace going but Rob had taken a few bad route choices and finished 27 minutes after me to give me an overall lead of 50 minutes. Helene had moved up into 3rd place 3 hours behind me. Clearly the race was between me and Rob but we were both very tired and wondering how we could cope with 3 more long days.

After another night’s bad sleep me and Rob again agreed to set off together.  This time we set off a lot slower and walked the steep climbs on the road. Eventually we reached the fell and had an enjoyable climb and then run along the ridge of Cadair Idris. A long flater section followed before a climb up to Tarrenhendre. Here leaning forward to fill my water bottle a grass reed went straight into my eye. This cut my contact lens into two and made my eye a bit sore. Oh well, i would have to manage with one good eye and one sore eye.

We tried to follow a none-existent path to Tarren Gesail.  Eventually we descended into Machynlleth. The final steep descent and the heat at this low level left me suddenly feeling exhausted. We stopped in the garage for some coke and a sandwich and continued to the bag drop point. After more food and drink we were off but it was clear that i was going slower than Rob, so he gradually got away from me. However, a dodgy bit of map enabled me to catch up. After this we stayed nearly together although Rob was running steadily, I would run fast for 100m and then walk. The big climb of Plynlimon was not as bad as I had expected and the first part of the descent from there to the finish was a perfect gentle angle.  I finished with Rob, so the positions between us had not changed but we had taken another hour out of Helene and the group around her. That night we camped in a barn, it was a bit rocky but at least we did not have to worry about dew in the morning.

I woke up the next morning feeling really rough. Muscles everywhere were hurting and my chest was tight. I was planning to start with Rob but I was ready first and shivering. So we agreed it was best that I should leave straight away. For this day I swapped my Inov-8 X-Talons for my Berghaus Limpet Claws. There was a lot of road/track running so I thought trail shoes would be better. Strangely as soon as I set off i felt great, I think it was because it was that bit cooler than the previous days. I kept looking back but there was no sign of Rob (maybe he had left a big gap before starting, I could not risk going slowly and letting him catch up, I had to go hard especially with the road sections which i knew rob would be stronger than me on).

I took a bad route choice and got stuck in some horrible terrain between Esgair Penygarreg and the Elan Village but Rob had not been through when I arrived. I decided to go on the road to the end of the reservoir. I hate running on roads but I thought it would be faster. The road was as horrible as I thought it was going to be. I was getting a lot of pain down my legs from my lower back and i had a new problem. I was getting really bad anterior shin splits (i.e the front of my leg just above my ankle was really sore). I enjoyed the rest of the day whilst I was climbing but the descents and the flat road sections were really painful. At least the last 8km on the road was up and down but I was very relieved to see the finish. There was a lovely cool river to swim in and put my sore leg in. Over an hour later, Rob ran in looking very tired, he had had a bad day and my lead was 2 hours. In most races that sort of lead would be impossible to loose but not in the Dragon’s Back. I knew how sore my leg was and if I had to walk significant parts of the route I could easily loose that two hours.

On the last day I again set off with Rob. We knew there was no point in racing. The injury was the only thing that would prevent me from winning and similarly there was a 3 hour gap behind Rob. We passed a lot of other runners (or walkers by this point in the race) and although I felt sore I knew it was nothing compared to many of these other guys – so it was time to shut up and get on with it. After 3 hours we reached the resupply point with Helene’s group (who had set off 20 minutes before us). After this it was a big climb up to 800m at Fan Brycheiniog. It was a pleasure walking up this mountain compared to the pain of my shin running on the tracks and roads. The ridge from there to the final checkpoint at Tair Carn Isaf was great running on another beautiful sunny day. The only problem was the lack of water. Soon we had descended from the final checkpoint to the river and were making our way up the final climb to Carreg Cennen Castle. I sprinted the last climb and crossed the line to win the Dragon’s Back Race 2012.

Overall, it was an amazing experience. A journey along the length of Wales over almost all the major peaks. As expected there were some amazing highs during the 5 days – in particular the views. On the Wednesday evening we even had time to stop for a minute on the top of Plynlimon (the highest mountain in that part of Wales) and appreciate the views. The low points for me were the feeling of dehydration creeping up on me on a couple of days and also that getting out of bed in the morning feeling, thinking about pushing my aching body through another day of running.

I would like to thank Berghaus for sponsoring me for the event and providing me with my running kit, rucksack and trail shoes and Inov-8 for providing me with my fell shoes. I would also like to thank Shane Ohly for having the courage and vision to put on this event after a gap of 20 years. All the other competitors were great – encouraging and supporting each other. In many ways I had it easy, I pushed it hard every day but I had the evening to recover. Those taking 15 hours a day finished in the dark ,then had to eat, sort out all their kit, get some sleep and get up early the next morning to do it all again. So congratulations should go out to everyone that finished this exceptionally tough race. The medical staff were great at checking I was OK and sorting out my blisters. Gareth’s Bowen sessions really seemed to help me recover. The other marshalls/volunteers were great – always happy, helpful and encouraging and the caterers provided great food all day,every day.

Berghaus Store

For outdoor clothing from Berghaus including men’s waterproof jackets, women’s rucksacks and more then please visit our online store.
You can find a wide range of gear for climbing, hill walking, mountain biking and other activities.

Four days after it has finished and I am still tired and hungry all the time. My lower left leg is still badly swollen (it got inflamed on the fourth day) and it will take a couple of weeks for the inflammation to go and to get back to running. But it has all been worth it.

I am going to write the full story over the next week or so. But I think it is important to first thank Shane Ohly for putting on this iconic race after a 20 year gap and also the volunteers/marshals who spent the week looking after the competitors.

Berghaus Store

For outdoor clothing from Berghaus including men’s waterproof jackets, women’s rucksacks and more then please visit our online store.
You can find a wide range of gear for climbing, hill walking, mountain biking and other activities.

I have bought lots of food for running in the hills and I have lots of gels, cream, tablets – anything that might help. I have got lots of packing to do and also lots of work to finish before I go down to Wales – I hope I can get it all finished in time.

This race is a big commitment for me and my family. 6 days away from home leaving Emma (my wife) and her parents to look after the kids. I am going to miss my daughters first day of school but at least I will be at her fourth birthday party tomorrow.

My main hope for the race is to have five enjoyable, long days in the hills. I want to do well and will race hard but that is a secondary objective.

I would like to thank Berghaus for supporting me to do the race and providing me with lots of great kit – I am looking forward to wearing this on the hills and relaxing in the evening.

On my previous blog I was struggling to run but beginning to go a bit better. Since then I have carried on training and racing hard and although I am still improving I am still not quite right. I am still a sharp pain in my lower right leg if I land funnily (it is really sore for around 10 seconds and then goes) and I have a sore left ankle. The pain in my leg originates in my lower back. I have had lots of treatment (Physio, Oesteopath, Bowen) all of which is helping (and costing quite a lot of money) but I still sometimes get the sharp pain. I am also doing lots of core strength work to improve the problem. The good thing is that the problem only really stops me racing downhill and I will not be racing downhill (only running down steadily) on the Dragons Back so even if it does not really improve it will not make much difference during the race (as long as it does not get worse).

I have done some classics Fell race over the last couple of months (including Wasdale, Borrowdale, Arrochar Alps). On some of the races I have felt great and others rubbish – for example at Arrochar I felt really bad from the start and was being overtaken by people normally well behind me, although in the second half of the race my stamina showed through and I managed to overtake quite a few people. You would have thought by the time I reached 44 I would be able to be consistent in races and know what works and what does not, but it has not happened. After these long fell races I have gone out the next day and done another couple of hours. This can be really hard sometimes setting off exhausted but it is something I will have to get used to on the Dragons Back.

Photos courtesy of Stuart Stoddart at the Howtown Fell Race.

Berghaus Store

For outdoor clothing from Berghaus including men’s waterproof jackets, women’s rucksacks and more then please visit our online store.
You can find a wide range of gear for climbing, hill walking, mountain biking and other activities.

After letting my swollen knee from the Old County Tops recover for a few days I was out running again. But then running at full speed I banged my knee badly against a rock and twisted my ankle. But worse than that I seemed to twist my body so everything in my pelvic region was hurting. I had a painful hours walk off the fell down to my car. The swelling around the knee went down quickly so I thought I was OK to do the Duddon Fell Race (29km 1830m climb) the week later. But I struggled from the off and I had to go really slowly on the descents with a sore ankle and a lot of pain in my pelvic region. Then after the second last checkpoint I realised I had made a stupid mistake which I had never made before. The map I was using did not have the last checkpoint situated on Caw!! The clag was right down but I thought I would be OK, I had done the race several times before.

Unfortunately I had remembered it was due south to Caw but it was in fact south-east. After 10 minutes I realised I did not have a clue where I was. I ran up every hill I could see but none of them were Caw. After 30 minutes i gave up and headed west on a bearing to get back to the Duddon Valley. This was the first time I had not finished a fell race for many years and from now on I will make sure the map I have covers the entire race route. At least I made the mistake when I was having a bad run.

I carried on training after Duddon but still felt twisted and sore. The next weekend it was the Great Lakes Run (21km 2130m climb)- an English championship Fell race so all the top runners in England were present. Everything was perfect for me to do well. A long rough course, in heavy rain and wind with the clag down. I was not as sore as at Duddon but I just could not get going and I was struggling on the descents. My balance was rubbish and I finished the race with more bangs and bruises.

I finally managed to have a good run at the new short Humbleton Fell Race (8km 240m climb) near Haydon Bridge where I used to live. I won this great little race and I had an enjoyable evening chatting to all my old club mates in Northumberland Fell Runners. I am still a bit sore and cannot stretch out happily whilst running but hopefully I am on the mend and soon I can fully enjoy the running again.
There are always times when thing do not go to plan but I am experienced enough to accept some bad race results. The important thing is to remain positive and happy.

Photos courtesy of Pat Dunn.

Berghaus Store

For outdoor clothing from Berghaus including men’s waterproof jackets, women’s rucksacks and more then please visit our online store.
You can find a wide range of gear for climbing, hill walking, mountain biking and other activities.

It is run in pairs with over 100 teams competing this year. I was racing with Tom Gibbs who I have run with and against in Fell Races and Adventure Races for the past 15 years.  I thought it would be ideal training for the Dragons Back, although in the Dragons Back Race it will be 5 days in a row not a single day.

The race started steadily and, as expected, it was clear it would be a battle between three teams for the win, with Andrew (Scoffer) Schofield and Rob Jebb, and Chris near and Tim Higgingbottom all looking strong.

The snow on Helvellyn was a bit of a surprise and with a cold wind I was happy to get off there and down to Thirlmere. There is then a long and generally gradual climb to Scafell Pike – Scoffer and Rob got a slight lead followed by me and Tom with Chris and Tim close behind. But by the time we reached Cockley Beck (after the descent from Scafell Pike) for the final big climb up Coniston Old Man we were all together.

I pushed hard up the climb and we managed to drop Tim and Chris. On the long ridge out to Coniston Old Man, Tom was suddenly really strong and we got a lead on Scoffer and Rob. By the time we had reached the 3 Shire Stone on the long descent we were out of sight. Tom was cramping up badly on the route round Blea Tarn and back into Langdale but we carried out strongly and finished first in 7 hours 3 minutes, followed by Chris and Tim 7 minutes later and Scoffer and Rob ten minutes after that. It was a great day out, a really well organised race and it is good to be racing all the way.

I was going strongly all day and this has given me confidence for the Dragons Back. However, I am worried that my knee has swollen up a bit. I think it will be fine after a few days rest. But on the Dragons Back resting after one day is definitely not possible. Anyone doing the race will have to do the Old Counties Tops sort of distance and climb for five days in a row, this is going to be impossible with a knee that swells up after only one day.

The Dragons Back will be a very tough race.

Berghaus Online Store

For outdoor clothing from Berghaus including men’s waterproof jackets, women’s rucksacks and more then please visit our online store.
You can find a wide range of gear for climbing, hill walking, mountain biking and other activities.

Hi Steve. We’ll come on to your impressive list of racing achievements soon but could you explain how you got in to competitive running and orienteering?
I started orienteering when I was 7. My brother and older sister were going round courses by themselves so I was also determined to go round by myself. I would get lost loads and there were lots of tears but as long as I completed the course I would be happy. My navigation gradually improved and I competed at a top level throughout the junior age groups coming 33rd in the world junior championship. But I always excelled over the longer, rougher courses so I really enjoyed fell racing and mountain marathons. When Adventure Racing started my endurance and navigation ability meant I also excelled at this sport.

Can you give us an idea of some of the races you’ve competed in?
I have competed at a top level in a range of sports, including: orienteering, mountain marathons, fell running, adventure racing and ultra running. Some of my successes have been:

• 7 times winner of KIMM/OMM elite
• Winner of elite at the following mountain marathons: Saunders, Mourne, Lowe Alpine, Rab and Arctic
• Winner Lakeland 100 (UTLD) – 105 mile trail race
• 2 times winner British Adventure Racing Champs
• 7th World Adventure Racing Champs
• Winner Hebridean Challenge
• British 35+ Orienteering Champion
• British Night Orienteering Champion
• Bob Graham Round (17:09) 6th fastest
• Charlie Ramsay round (21:02) 6th fastest -fastest solo round
• Paddy Buckley round (20:27) 5th fastest
• Adidas Terrex Adventure Race winner

That’s a pretty impressive list of achievements, what is your proudest running achievement?
My seven wins in the KIMM/OMM is my greatest achievement. This is the mountain marathon that everyone wants to win so to have done it seven times is amazing.

You work (nearly) full-time. Could you explain your job and how you balance training with work?
I work as a research scientist at Newcastle University. My job is a hydrologist which basically involves understanding and explaining how water travels through the ground and into rivers. My boss at the university is flexible as to where I work as he knows I will get the work done. This means I can work at home (in the Lake District) most of the time and this allows me to go running during the day and fit my work around it. Running as training is also a very efficient use of time, I can go for a 1 hour hard fell run and come back exhausted and quickly be ready to start work again.

As well as work you also have a family. How do you juggle competing interests and does it ever cause problems?
I have a wife (Emma) and three children: James (8), Matthew (6) and Hannah (3). Emma also used to compete at a top level in orienteering, mountain marathons and fell running but had to stop due to injuries. So she is very supportive and understanding of my running. She also knows that if I do not go out running I get grumpy and frustrated, whereas if I do go out running I come back happy.
The Dragon’s Back clashes with Hannah’s first week of school. It was a really difficult decision to miss this and do the race but Emma was supportive of me doing the race.
Since we have had children I have modified my sporting interest. Before then I was seriously involved in Adventure Racing doing races in other countries and with lots of mountain biking, kayak training etc. Since we have had children I have concentrated on running as it is a much more efficient use of time and I rarely do any races outside the Lake District. There are plenty of fell races and orienteering races in the Lake District to keep me happy.

The Dragon’s Back has an almost legendary status after a gap of 20 years. What is it that motivates you personally to compete in such a gruelling race?
I enjoy racing against other people and I also enjoy long days running out on the fells – the rougher and longer the better. So the Dragons Back is the perfect race for me. There will also be a navigation element in the Dragons Back, finding the best lines between the checkpoints will be really important and I really enjoy and excel at this aspect.

Races over such long distances that require constant concentration must be difficult to prepare for mentally. How do you go about getting your mind in shape for the challenge?
Before the race it is a matter of doing the hours of training. But I also have a long background of endurance races and training so I know I have the ability to complete this sort of race. Mentally it is harder during the race; there will be high points and low points. Getting through the low points is tough, but again, having done it before gives me the strength to carry on at those points knowing that I will eventually start to feel better again.

Thanks Steve and the very best of luck for the race. You can keep up to date with Steve’s latest blogs on our athlete blog area.

You can also read a Q&A with Helene Whitaker who is also a Berghaus sponsored athlete in the Dragon’s Back, and also won the original race 20 years ago here.

For me that sort of distance in a single day or 2 days is no problem but 5 days is a big deal, I am now getting a bit nervous about it. Looking after my body on the first few days will be crucial, any rubbing, niggles etc. will just get worse and worse, making finishing impossible or very painful. Pacing in the race will be really important, I am really competitive, but I need to make sure I run my own race and not try to race other competitors. I want to be running as fast on the last day as the first.

I will write more in future blogs about my preparation for the race, my training and other races I have been doing (plenty of fell races and orienteering). I would like to thanks Berghaus for sponsoring me for the event, they have a really exciting new range of kit and I am looking forward to trying it out in testing race conditions.