Written by James Belton
For about 5 years now I’ve found myself drawn towards races of various types and varying difficulties. These started as a result of a drunken agreement with one of my former managers that we should enter “one of those obstacle course races”. Having had a few of them under my belt, and having enjoyed the confused look on people’s faces when you tell them what you’re doing, I seemed to get the biggest satisfaction from only entering events that got the response “why the hell would you do that?”. This is how I came to enter my first ultra. That ultra was Ring O’ Fire.
I have to admit that Ring O’ Fire was actually the suggestion of one of my oldest friends. We both grew up in North Wales and had always spent a lot of time on Anglesey. I think that we may have naively thought that we’d have some kind of home advantage having spent 18 years living there. Up until this point I had never run further than a marathon (Snowdonia) and this was to be my undoing.
Day 1.
9 months after my initial registration, having run a few other shorter races as prep and having recovered from a pulled calf that required 6 weeks off, I arrived at a windy field in Holyhead to register, along with the other 104 runners that started. After a quick pep talk from the organisers we were off……then we were at a standstill again due to a bottleneck where 105 of us all tried to get through the same small gate at the end of the start field. After a steady run along the coastal path we were into Holyhead and on the roads. It was at this point that I met another runner called Lee. We ran together for quite a while and had a bit of a chat. I think this is where my inexperience was starting to show. I eventually realised that I was running the first day of my first ultra at only a bit slower than my 10k pace, but I felt good so carried on. Eventually we were off the roads and back onto the trails. Large parts of the day have now blurred together. I have memories of running through holiday parks, spotting seals in the sea, some incredible climbs and fun descents as well as checkpoints stocked with cocktail sausages and peanut butter sandwiches. One thing that struck me was how long it seemed to take to feel like you’d made any progress. We’d been running for hours and could still see where we’d started if we looked over our shoulder. The same happened as we were approaching the Wylfa power station. The coastal path cuts in and out around every bay and as a result the huge building that looks like it’s just ahead of you actually takes nearly 2 more hours to reach. The area around the power station was possibly the most physically draining part of the day as the beaches are all pebble. A lot of people seemed to struggle a bit along this stretch and nobody seemed able to find a line that was any easier. An hour or so later I was running alone along the cliffs and hit a real high point. The views were amazing, my legs felt good and I was really enjoying the whole experience.
Gradually the sun was starting to go down and the weather was getting wet (as it tends to do occasionally in North Wales). I love running in the rain so this wasn’t a problem for me. The next challenge would be to find the final checkpoint. Although navigating along the coastal path is really simple the final checkpoint before the overnight accommodation was actually just a book in a plastic tub. To prove you’d gone via the checkpoint you were instructed to tear out the page with your race number on. Luckily I found the book easily and continued along, wet piece of paper in hand, to the sports hall in Amlwch where I was greeted by my parents with home cooked pizza. Day 1 had taken me 7hrs and 43 mins.
Having refuelled it was time to try and get some rest. The sports hall was absolutely packed full of tired runners trying to find somewhere to camp out for the night. I opted for the wall near the door, as there was a set of 5 a side goal posts there, and this also gave me somewhere to hang my wet kit. After having a chat with my neighbours for the night (one of whom had gaffa taped his trainers up to keep the rain out) I attempted to get some sleep. In total I think I may have slept for 20 minutes or so. The combination of snoring, late arrivals and lights made it quite tricky.
Day 2.
All too soon it was time to get up and get ready for the long day. I got up before my alarm as I was awake anyway. I attempted to stand up……ouch. My legs were killing me. Luckily I had camped out about 12ft from the massage table and the sports massage ladies had just arrived. I quickly hobbled over to get booked in. A few minutes later I was sat on the table getting my sore legs loosened up. It made a world of difference and I suddenly felt good to go.
As we all gathered outside we received another pep talk and weather update for the day, along with details of how many people had made it to day 2 of the event. Then we set off into the morning gloom and were led back to the coastal path. This is where I met a lady called Arry who was on her 3rd attempt at the race. Arry had previously completed a run around the entire perimeter of Wales….that’s 1027 miles!!!! Hats off to her. Before too long I had found my stride and was running fairly comfortably. I fell in with a group of other runners and would spend the rest of my time at Ring O’ Fire with them. I think this was both a good and a bad thing. It was great to have the company and support of other runners but also made me realise the importance of making sure you are running at the pace that best suits you. At times it felt like I was pushing my legs too hard….at times it felt like there was too much walking.
By the time we got to the first checkpoint my legs were starting to feel tight again. Having stopped to take on some water I turned to set off and felt a pang in my IT band. I carried on and thought nothing of it. I soon realised this was going to be an ongoing thing as every time we stopped to open a gate, take on water, wait for somebody to catch up or have a bit of a walk, it tightened up again. The first few steps after starting to run again would be agony and then it would disappear.
Progress on day 2 was slow. Our small group hiked a lot of it rather than running it. The cut off times are actually quite generous and we were still well within them. Somewhere between Red Wharf Bay and Penmon point we lost the first member of our group (Tim) who had been struggling for a while. It was at this point that I was at my lowest. My legs were killing me and we weren’t even half way. On the descent into the checkpoint at Penmon Point I had decided to retire once we got there. Something in my head stopped me and after having a bit of food and water we carried on up the hill. I was in quite a dark place mentally at that point so called my girlfriend for a bit of a pep talk and then caught up with the 2 remaining members of our group. Unfortunately the pain in my left leg just kept getting worse and I was now struggling to bend my knee at all. This was the point that I realised it was probably more sensible to retire than risk causing any long term damage. I pulled out about 1km from the checkpoint at Beaumaris (half way) having been running/hobbling for just under 10 hours. In total I had run 105km over the two days.
Having had a chance to sleep and attempt to recover slightly I was starting to get post-race blues already. My knee wouldn’t bend and my left ankle had ballooned but decided to make the journey back over to Anglesey to see everyone finish. Back in Holyhead the sun was shining. As each runner came down off the cliffs and along to the finish line they were greeted by Johnny Cash’s “Ring of fire”. Of the 105 people that had started only 55 people crossed the finish line. A tough race but an amazing weekend surrounded by great people. I’m already in training to have another crack at it in 2016.