Slate Trail Ultra: New Organiser Sought

Earlier this year, in August, we decided to postpone what would’ve been the first edition of the Slate Trail Ultra™ from October this year, to next April. The influencing factors on this decision at the time were significantly lower than predicted entries, as well as a lack of available time and resources required to host the event, due to UTS and the Snowdon Skyline™ also being postponed to a similar period. I’d bitten off more than I could chew thinking I could also host three events within a five-week period…

Since then, the event has had very little further uptake (less than 20 entries in either race as of yesterday) and despite it being five months to next year’s proposed event date, I’m no longer confident I’m the right Race Director to annually deliver this event. Due to a combination of factors, this has forced me to make the difficult decision not to host the event next year and instead seek to hand over the event to a new organiser. 

Please read the below carefully to understand what has drawn me to this conclusion.

Do you know a potential new organiser for the Slate Trail Ultra™? © Evan Davies

In late 2020, when I took over the Slate Trail Ultra, the concept I had for APEX Running was to host several different types of trail running events in Snowdonia: a rounded portfolio of unique, characterful challenges within the same stunning National Park. The Slate Trail Ultra™ & Daffodil Trail™ races were to offer more runnable, low-level trail ultras each spring, that would complement the other events nicely.

However, as my main event, Ultra-Trail® Snowdonia (UTS) has grown in popularity to become a 1000+ entry event, so too has its complexity and the investment of time necessary to continually deliver and develop it, which I severely underestimated when I launched the Slate Trail Ultra™ events. I’m aware I’ve not given these events the attention they deserve since launch around a year ago, which is likely a reason for their low entry figures and interest to date. 

A stunning route to host an ultra on! © Evan Davies

There are further exciting developments in the pipeline for UTS as it transitions to becoming a genuinely international, world-class event, which will almost certainly limit the time I’ll have available to spend working on other events. This has had the knock-on effect of forcing me to choose which ones I can and cannot realistically keep hosting in addition to UTS, while still maintaining some semblance of work-life balance.

I firmly believe that the Slate Trail Ultra™ has great potential in new hands, especially considering the slate landscapes of North Wales’s new UNESCO World Heritage status (more info HERE). However, in the increasingly competitive UK events market, it really needs a company or individual who can dedicate the time, focus and effort to market it effectively, in order to achieve profitable, sustainable entry levels. Unfortunately, I feel at this point I do not possess the resources to achieve this, now that I have growing event work commitments elsewhere.

An event with great potential to the right RD! © Evan Davies

All those who were entered into next year’s event have now been informed, with full refunds offered. If you, or someone you know, may be interested in taking over as the organiser of the Slate Trail Ultra™, please don’t hesitate to get in touch via email – mike@apexrunning.co

I can only apologise for any disappointment caused if you were considering entering this event for next year, and really do hope that you will still consider travelling to the area to experience the Snowdonia Slate Trail at some point in the future. It really is a spectacular route that visits some quieter hidden gems of Snowdonia. It's an unusual and rather sad position to be in to close the curtains on an event before its inaugural edition, but perhaps better in the long run (excuse the pun) if I’m no longer committed to hosting it over the coming 3-years+. 

Hopefully I’ll see you on the start line of another of my events instead, at some point in the near future!

Michael Jones – Race Director, APEX Running Events