Trailhead Get Jerky Devil’s Staircase Ultra 2024 – Race Report
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Date: Saturday 5th October 2024
Official miles: 31.5 miles
Elevation: 4,686 ft / 1,428m
Weather: glorious
Start: Neuadd Arms, Llanwrtyd
Route type: circular
Conditions: dry, apart from the bog
Website link: Devil’s Staircase Ultra by Green Events
Describe the route in three words: so much fun!
Route description from the Green Events website
Most of the race is off road with some short road sections including the “hellish” ascent (25%).
The race will test endurance and stamina but will reward the runner with a fantastic and lasting memorable experience. The course will be marshalled and waymarked with water points and two feed stations providing cold and hot drinks, bananas, cakes and sweets. At the finish there will be Welsh cawl and a vegetarian alternative on offer. The race will start in the centre of Llanwrtyd at 09:00 and finish in the same place. The route will be on a mixture of tarmac road, forest tracks and farmland.
I would like to add that although it is not untrue stating “most of the race is off road” a lot of the trails are in fact fire tracks and forestry tracks so they are as close to road as you can get, this route certainly has the potential to be a very fast course and even in rain I would imagine the ground conditions to be mostly decent.
Devil’s Staircase Ultra- Race Report
This race popped up on a Facebook post, an article in a the Powys Country Times had been shared to say that the race was needing more runners or the race would not be able to go ahead. I checked my diary and saw that it was the same day* as a dinner I had organised in Crickhowell to say thank you to all who had helped me on the Wild Horse 200. I picked up my phone, texted Francis and asked him if he fancied building up an appetite before the meal. Of course he did!
*It was also mine and my husband’s 8th wedding anniversary, he is an absolute star being happy for me to postpone our celebration to 6th October and not even raising an eyebrow when I told him I wanted to spend the day with another man.
The route promised beautiful views and a trip up the Devil’s Staircase, a steep zig zaggy incline with a gradient of 25%, notorious in the cycling world. There was also talk of a 2 mile bog, sounded ideal to me. Fran and I had a funny morning as for some reason his alarm did not go off, I stuck my head round his door about 20 minutes before we were due to leave to enquire as to whether he was up, he replied with a grunt and then ensued a mad dash around the house with me chuckling a lot. The original plan was he would drive us there and I would drive us back. I jumped into the drivers seat of the “Skate” (I believe it has this nickname due to four bald tyres however I trust that the car has since had new tyres and passed it’s MOT….) the giggling continued during the hour or so journey to Llanwrtyd as in between backseat driving and the odd comment to remind me that his car handles differently to my car (I drive a 2016 Type R which handles very nicely around corners) Fran was busily making his sandwiches and eating his breakfast. The footwell stuffed with Tupperware, a jar of mustard, clingfilm dispenser as well as cutlery. We arrived in Llanwrtyd in time for a pre race pee and a short loiter on the start line.
Off we went giggling away like two loons. There’s a lovely climb early on, Fran decided he’d woken up with man flu so proceeded to sweat an inordinate amount on that climb, I have never in all my life seen the guy sweat that much, I was very sympathetic and mostly took the micky out of him, I am a true friend.
We agreed that no matter what, we would do the race together but if I felt strong on the climbs I would keep going and then wait for Fran at the top. I’d not been long with a training plan with my coach Stu Obree but I was hoping to see some gains on this run and use the climbs as some decent training.
Fran chats to anyone and in the short times where I went on ahead and left him to his own devices he’d round the top of the hill with a new friend or two. He chatted to a pair of Welshman (who were the overall winners) and impressed them with his Duolingo Welsh, having done 1 lesson on Duolingo in Welsh I decided to join in, a decent descent was upon us and they scampered off, as did Fran, I’m so slow on the downhills! There was a perfectly usable bridge but the course went through the river, not over it, so we held hands and raced through laughing our heads off.
The course certainly did deliver on scenery, it was absolutely stunning. I felt like I was having déjà vu and realised I was in Dragon’s Back territory but heading in the opposite direction, I told Fran some stories from that day on DBR and then we realised that we were fast approaching the Devil’s Staircase, very exciting stuff!
We hit the bottom of the Devil’s Staircase at 10:53am and powered our way up passing a couple of people, I took a selfie at 11:01am at the top so it really didn’t take very long to do, there was a feed station there so we grabbed some biscuits and cracked on.
The bog came less than an hour after the Devil’s Staircase and that was brilliant! We squelched and squashed our way through trying not to lose our shoes, we had to try so hard not to fall over, a few times I placed my knee on the side of the bog but we decided that did not count as a fall, I did however do an impressive face plant on a forest trail not long after!
There was a fabulous sweep high along the River Towy to then descend down and make our way back in the direction we’d come from albeit much lower. We had a great view of runners ahead and could eventually see some runners behind, there was a big gap at this point and the very non competitive nature of this day out and the fact that we were doing it together and just for fun meant that the conversation that followed was perhaps not appropriate. Fran was excited that we were around the top ten mark and that I was leading lady, he really wanted me to win and I said that wasn’t what I was here for, we were doing it as a team… but it would be nice. Fran was beginning to struggle with cramp in various places along with aches and pains, I slung him some paracetamol and we had some fuel in the form of Hula Hoops.
Approaching the water body of Llyn Brianne was fabulous, the views completely took our breath away. As we approached the water stop the photographer excitedly told me I was leading lady, this was lovely to hear. As we refuelled, a runner who was taking a longer break there than us asked me if we were still talking. Yep! Non stop! We cracked on and over took someone walking up a climb, this was a very lovely feeling to be ticking people off towards the end of the race.
Towards the end of the race we had another river crossing and then a wet slightly uphill path before a long track down the the finish. The river crossing was hilarious as the marshals did clearly tell us which side to go, I went the wrong side hence I look a bit special in the photo as there was a rock in my way!
We had a couple of miles to go and Fran’s pain increased, what always surprises me about that majestic beast is the more he is suffering the faster he will go. The finish was in sight and I grabbed his hand and we ran together across the line. I was delighted with our finish time of just over 6 hours and position of joint 8th, I think Fran was delighted to be finished, especially as I promised to buy him a Guinness in the pub.
The Neuadd Arms was the most wonderful finish line, we were given Welsh cawl, I had a coke and Fran a Guinness. We dipped our bread smothered in Welsh butter into the divine cawl (veggie version for me) and happily received slaps on the back from others. Someone who we had passed joined us on our table along with his daughter who had flown by in the opposite direction towards the end on the forestry track, she had been on the way to meet her dad and run him in. We merrily shared our ultra stories. We could have stayed there for hours chatting away but we needed to get home in time to meet the the rest of the Wild Horse supercrew for dinner at The Dragon Inn in Crickhowell. The day had been perfect!
It was an incredible day, the scenery was stunning, the organisers lovely and friendly plus the food and pint after were just what I needed… apart from that I think everyone should run it. Plus it helps to have a great running buddy to wade through the streams with! – Francis
What’s in the snack pack?
What I wore: Saucony Peregrine 10 ST, Garmin Fenix 7 Pro Sapphire Solar, buff, Sweaty Betty power leggings, Stance socks, Montane dart zip long sleeve, tee shirt, Buff cap, Dirty Girl gaiters, Salomon Adv Skin 12 running vest.
Summary
This was an absolutely ace day out and a real pleasure to do an ultra with a more laid back approach, it was so nice doing it in company from start to finish. Francis and I always have such a good laugh together and I think this day out was no exception. The course is fabulous, ideal for anyone relatively new to ultra wanting to take the next steps and do a trail ultra that has a bit more challenge to what they perhaps are used to, nice introduction to some elevation and more technical terrain. For seasoned trail runners, it’s a fast and fun course. We did not have the gpx file on our watches and it was not needed. The course is very well marked and there is an impressive amount of marshals on the route.
Lessons learned
I was really delighted with how I felt throughout, I’ve only been on a training plan since the beginning of September and I felt as though I had some impressive gains already, mostly noticeable on the long uphill drags where I ran the majority (normally I would run walk). The big takeaway from this race was the enjoyable and laid back nature of it, a great reminder to myself to that I do not always need to be so competitive, it’s more about enjoying the route and the views and in great company too!
Results
Chip time: 6 hr 8 m 29 s
Overall: joint 8th with Francis
Lady: 1st
Strava link: click here
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