King Offa’s Dyke Race
What is Offa’s Dyke? It is a series of earthworks marking the traditional boundary between England and Wales, running from near the mouth of the Wye to near the mouth of the Dee, originally constructed by Offa in the second half of the 8th century to mark the boundary established by his wars with the Welsh.
This border path also provides the route for event company Raidlight to stage a trail running race where competitors can either run part way – The Mercian Challenge of 100miles from Friday to Sunday afternoon. The holy grail though is the full Offa’s Dyke Race starting Friday evening with competitors having to complete before 2pm on Tuesday. A tough race to say the least, it is only held every two years.
Two of our supreme Ultra runners, Danny Cunnett and Jay McCardle were up for the full Offa’s Dyke Race – a course covering 185 miles featuring 9,085m of elevation with checkpoints along the way
What an incredible thing to do; total respect to Danny & Jay and a big thanks to Danny for reporting in on their adventure:-
“Well, we dropped the car off in Prestatyn and jumped on a train for a 4hour trip to the start in Chepstow. The race got underway at 8pm on the Friday. You start from a hill overlooking the river Severn; the start point marked by a large rock. From here its 185 miles to another rock in Prestatyn. Richard Weremiuk, race organiser, presents you with a coin that you must carry to the end to exchange for your trophy. The idea being that if you DNF the coin will weigh heavy in your pocket till you return to try again”.
“We set off at 15 second intervals and roughly 50 people were attempting the full distance alongside 11 people going 100 miles and finishing at Montgomery. I was feeling nervous as I waited to set off as I was not long clear of Covid, so the intention was to go easy and see how long I held up. It was not long after starting that dusk came and we settled in to a steady rhythm focussed on the small pool of light from our head torches. Myself and Jay were among the few who stopped at the third aid station in Pandy for a short kip shortly after daybreak, this put us at the back of the pack but there is a long way to go. Refreshed we headed out towards Hay on Wye and the prospect of Ice lollies on a hot sunny day. The weather was quite warm and even running through the night we were sweating heavily wearing just a tee shirt. After lollies in Hay on Wye things kind of became a blur as we just tried to maintain a steady pace”.
“Kington to Knighton was a struggle as the terrain became a series of steep valleys and at one point following a wrong turn we became stuck in dense bracken full of brambles and stinging nettles. Eventually escaping over a fallen tree and a barbed wire fence, we re-joined the path with tingling shins and now accompanied by another couple of runners we made our way through the night to Montgomery where the 100 mile checkpoint was. There was the option to stop here and get a time for the 100 mile race but we were in a haze by this point and never considered stopping. Knowing our car was at the end of the trail may have contributed to keep us going”.
“We pushed on to Fron where we got our heads down for 90mins. Over the whole race we probably had about 5hours sleep in total. Some of this in aid stations, but we also stopped for forty winks in the shade of trees during the hottest part of the days. The final push to the end took us through fantastic scenery and we now know where scousers spend their bank holidays, as after hardly seeing anyone but the odd dog walker on the trail, we headed up Moel Famau in the Cllywydian hills past the Jubilee hill Fort past crowds of people on day trips”
“Once past the fort we were on our own again. The final run in to Prestatyn was tough as you descended off the hill to the coastal plain only to climb up again and traverse a tricky cliff trail on battered feet. It was a huge relief to finally descend once more and make our way with our two other companions down Prestatyn high road to the rock on the seafront marking the end of the trail where Richard was waiting with our trophies”.
“It was an epic adventure, this and much of the detail is lost in the delirium. Big thanks to Jay McCardle for keeping me company all the way. The people who manned the aid stations were all fantastic in feeding us and keeping us going. By the end our feet were mashed but I didn’t feel as bad as I expected I would and inevitably after a few days recovery I’m starting to think that I could go back and go faster next time. All in all after our detours and off-piste adventure we had run 193 miles!”
“Only 13 people out of the original 50 odd starters made it to the end it really is a race of attrition and the secret is to look after your feet and stay lucky on tricky terrain where it is easy to turn an ankle or take a tumble”.
Danny
