SkyRun Eryri® 2024 Race Director's Report
Risk, commitment, passion & community: The way of the SKYRUNNER®. Indeed, this past twelve months I’ve been reflecting heavily on the concept of purpose, the current state of the trail running events landscape, as well as my own personal and business values and how I fit into the events management picture moving forwards. For sure, Skyrunning is a part of that future and so I’m delighted to share some thoughts below about how this year’s epic fifth edition of SkyRun Eryri® went down from an RD’s perspective.
A YEAR OF FIRSTS
Alongside the addition of two new races – the stunning new 14 Peaks Ultra (a 52km north-south traverse of the classic Welsh 3000s route) and new Fairy Trail 10-miler (read more about these new races in the announcement HERE), another notable change in the event was its move to Saturday from Sunday.
Hosting the event on Sunday was originally borne out of the observation that Eryri tends to be a lot busier on Saturday compared to Sunday, with the purist in me concluding that to get a cleaner run over Crib Goch, this day would be better for the event.
However, having suffered two bad weather editions that didn’t permit us to run the SkyRace’s most defining ridges anyway, coupled with survey insight revealing a strong preference for Saturday hosting, I can now safely conclude that this is the better host day for the vast majority of potential entrants — even if it does mean participants may have a few more tourists to negotiate on Crib Goch!
A bold new era for this event with Skyrunning UK awaits, hence the new name and logo!
With four races now making up the day’s roster, a rename seemed logical to avoid potential future confusion and so I’m proud of the event’s new name and brand identity. I pored over the new logo’s development for many hours with much input and feedback from several graphic design co-workers where I work. It was a refreshing taste of the power of collaboration and something I look forward to more in my future event and design work.
For the first time, this year we also offered an option for finishers to receive a medal, or equal-value donation to the local Mountain Rescue Teams. © Evan Davies.
This renaming also feeds into a longer-term passion project to manage several ‘SkyRun’ events by 2026; all part of the Skyrunner National (and potentially World) Series’. Hence, I look forward to the imminent development of a new brand identity for this October’s Mourne Skyline (‘SkyRun the Mournes’), which I’m highly grateful to have handed down to me earlier this year, following a two-year hiatus (news item HERE).
This year’s SkyRun Eryri was part of a radically overhauled Skyrunner® UK & Ireland Series, which I’m super excited to now be managing and am very grateful to Charles Sproson (RD for Lake District Sky Trails events) for gifting me the opportunity to take this on, with the aim of developing the discipline’s presence nationally.
Following a busy morning setting up HQ, on Friday evening it was a delight to host an engaging talk with John Proctor, author of “Mapping the Mind, The Art of Skyrunning UK” which can be bought HERE. It can be hit and miss whether ‘extracurricular’ events like this will get much interest, so I was pleasantly surprised to witness a pretty packed-out marquee of attendees, all as fixated on John’s words of adventure as I was. I look forward to hosting another similar talk on the eve before next year’s race day too!
Alongside the races, it was a delight to host an entertaining and informative talk all things Skyrunning with John Proctor this year. © Tanya Raab.
Operationally, Saturday’s races proceeded largely unhindered and as planned, with the fine weather certainly helping to keep the team at HQ in good spirits. However, once all races were underway, we became aware that two course marking teams would not manage to finish marking their segment before the frontrunners arrived.
Historically, we have employed a just in time strategy for course waymarking, so as to leave our markers in-situ for minimal duration, as we have encountered sabotage during the formative years of UTS. Sadly, on this occasion the timings didn’t work to plan and I apologise vehemently to any participant if this tarnished your experience of the event on the day. I want to reassure all reading this that an in-depth review into how and why this occurred is currently being conducted, with aims of preventing any future reoccurrence.
Why not join the tribe as a volunteer next year and help us create incredible memories for 800 other Skyrunners? Applications will be live soon!
As in any event I've hosted, there are minor issues that must be rectified as and when they crop up, but by Saturday afternoon, I was pleased to feel that the vision that I had for this event had now been realised in earnest, as hundreds of Skyrunners finished their big mountain days to rapturous applause and a warm welcome on the mic by MC Sharon Leech. It reminded me of UTS 2021; the ball was finally starting to roll properly with this event.
Inspired by my experiences in mountain bike racing as a youngster, 2024 also saw the inaugural Skyrunning UK National Championships take place at Snowdon SkyRace®, with the M/F champions receiving a one-off champion’s vest (along with a cool £500 and range of other perks – more info HERE).
After spotting the glucose sensor (a small white disc) on his arm upon arrival at the finish, I learnt that this year’s men’s champion Alex Hill is a fellow type 1 diabetic. I’m very grateful to him for sharing his experiences of how he manages this while racing at the highest level during a chat with Sharon at the finish.
A personal highlight: presenting this year’s Snowdon SkyRace men’s winner Alex Hill (a fellow Type 1 diabetic) with his prizes and National Champion’s jersey. © Hollie Harmsworth.
If you want to take a deep-dive into how each of the three SkyRaces unfolded at the sharp end of the fields (which are all part of this year’s National Series), detailed race reports can now be found on the Skyrunning UK website via the following links: 14 Peaks Ultra HERE, Snowdon SkyRace® HERE & Copper SkyTrail HERE.
This event has undergone many changes since 2019, but now approaches a phase of more gentle refinement. © Hollie Harmsworth.
On Saturday evening, it was a pleasure to host DJ Beatbreaker; son of long-term event volunteer Rob Williams from nearby Bethesda. Aged just nine years old, the future looks bright for this talented young man, who brought a great vibe to the event as runners (and volunteers alike!) shared war tales from the day, enjoying fresh pizza washed down with a local real ale. A fitting end to a superb day of Welsh Skyrunning for all involved!
WITH THANKS
I’m absolutely indebted to the many volunteers and staff who, through their sterling efforts and unwavering commitment, made this year’s event possible. They are as follows:
Senior Event Team
Kev Keenan – Route & Safety Manager
Rachel Platt – Deputy Route & Safety Manager
Emma Brabazon – Volunteer Manager
David Thomson – Merch & Store Manager
Yricka Gardener – Catering Manager
Volunteer Event Team
Alexander Eustaquio
Bob Overbury
Carl Arrowsmtih
Dan Horsley
Eliza Forrai
Felicity Aries
Garfield Jones
Glyn Smurthwaite
Harvey Franklin
Jodie Pritchard
Jody Cain
Joel Williams
John Parkin
Lucie Williams
Lynsey Franklin
Nicky Beeby
Nicola Bryant
Sally Cameron
Shane Griffith
Stephen Dalton
Course Waymarking Team
Alex Chan
Alex Mason
Dorrian Jones
George Butt
Hugo Bell
Jamie Bryant
Kim Barnett
Louise Brockwell
Neil Woodfine
Owain Tomos
Rachel Sergeant
Shane Bosworth
Thomas Clayton
Vic Green
Mountain Safety Team
Alistair Hurst
Andy Morley
Cat Lawrence
Chas Ward
Dan Romberg
Emily Whitefoot
Frank Carr
Gareth Edwards
Giles Cooper
Isaac Whitmore
Jacob Knock
Jamie Humphrey
Lara Woolford
Marty Wall
Sam George
Tia Curry
Tony Eastwood
Media Team
Elliott Waring (video), Stephen Ashworth (video), Tanya Raab (photo), Evan Davies (photo), Hollie Harmsworth (photo), Sharon Leech (MC), Keri Wallace (Skyrunning UK race reports editor) & Kathryn Roberts (social media manager).
For the first time, race images can now be purchased via My Bib Number HERE.
Many thanks to Elliott & Steve for bringing my vision for this year’s event to life in video form with this high-paced edit!
THAT'S A WRAP!
Looking ahead to the future of this event, I plan for it to remain largely unchanged next year, following this past year’s significant overhaul of almost every element it comprises. The date has been announced as the same Saturday (21st June) next year, with entries being capped at 300/200/200/100 in each race respectively (a modest increase on our 650 entries total this year) and about the limit of the event's host venue capacity. Based on past experience, around this figure represents a sweet-spot for generating an event experience that boasts a good atmosphere, but is manageable without taking on the added cost and complexity associated with >1,000 runner events.
After applying a far more focused marketing effort to this year's event and applying the learnings from that to next year’s event, I honestly predict it to fill completely well in advance of next June, with 28 keen runners already entered!
The indomitable Crib Goch waits for another year... © Tanya Raab.
Early bird entries for next year’s sixth edition of SkyRun Eryri® are now live HERE. If you haven’t yet done so, please follow us on Facebook HERE, on Instagram HERE, ‘attend’ the event on Facebook HERE and why not join our Facebook Group HERE or the Skyrunning UK Strava Club HERE.
I’ll be at the next event in the Skyrunner® UK & Ireland Series in the Lake District in just under three weeks’ time for Helvellyn Sky Ultra, Pinnacle Ridge Extreme and St. Sunday Mountain Race. Entries are still open until next Sunday (Thu for the Pinnacle Ridge Extreme) so if you’ll be there, be sure to swing by the stand and say Hi! To learn more about these three National Series races and get entered if you haven’t yet done so, head over to the Lake District Sky Trails website HERE.
