How an unfinished running project became a huge success 🏃♀️⛰️
Did Not Finish But It Was A Win For Women (DNFBIWAWFW)
On International Women’s Trail Day I joined a band of 20 women working together to achieve a world first. They were attempting to complete the first ever all-female Paddy Buckley Round. This is a 100km loop in Eryri (Snowdonia) covering 47 summits and 8,700m of elevation. The aim was to complete the loop in one continuous run, in just over 25 hours.
I recced half of the route back in April. At the time it was glorious sunshine and we ran two sections of the route over two days with a sleep in between. Even with the benefit of sunshine and sleep the route was absolutely brutal. Some of the climbs were so steep I was using my hands to pull myself up, and a couple of the rocky descents were a little hairy!
So I was in absolute awe of Laura Darby-Jones and Nina Davies for their determination to complete the round in one go. Not only that, but they assembled a team of the most kick-ass women to pace and crew their attempt. It was actually their second go at the round, the first being called off half way round due to bad weather.
During their second attempt (which took place over May 31 and June 1) they had a team of 20 women working on a rota taking it in turns to run particular legs and come out to checkpoints with food and water. It was a major operation but everyone mucked in.
My role was to report on the event (look out for a future article in Women’s Running magazine) and I was at the start and finish, and two of the checkpoints.
Unfortunately due to appalling weather Laura and Nina decided to call it a day towards the end of the penultimate leg. They had just 11 miles left but by this point they had been running for 24 hours and Laura was getting dangerously cold. There were 55mph winds at the summits and temperatures dropped to -2. It was so windy the runners couldn’t even hold their poles as they were being blown out of their hands.
Despite not finishing, the attempt was an amazing achievement, not least for the sense of female empowerment and community it created. Nina described it as a Did Not Finish But A Win Anyway and Laura, who originated the idea, said the journey turned out to be far more enriching than she ever anticipated.
As an observer I also came away with the sense that the project had been a huge success. It relayed the message (that is covered in our book Ultra Women) that women are immensely strong physically but even stronger in a team. They are capable of unwavering support and have a desire to take on epic adventures just as much as men.
This week I wanted to celebrate the key successes of the round which I was privileged to be a small part of:
Stranger things
A group of 20 women, most of whom did not know each other beforehand, came together to unite around one shared goal. To get Laura and Nina around the Paddy Buckley Round.
From the moment we all poured into Laura’s house we were sharing stories of races we had done, the joys of running with dogs and how we all individually knew Laura and/or Nina. There were no awkward moments, just a bunch of women (from teenagers to those in their 50s) with a love of the outdoors.
Laura summed it up perfectly: “The atmosphere was charged with the spirit of women supporting women, creating a super power of female energy, encouragement and empowerment.”
There was an even larger group of women behind the scenes who had been on recces (or supported the previous round) who couldn’t come this time. That’s around 40 amazing women I had never met or heard of who were thrilled to be part of this kind of epic challenge.
Laura and Nina had made every effort to have Zoom calls to brief people, upskill them on navigation, and give out tips on the recces. Even though they were the only two women running the whole round, they made it clear that this was about the whole community.
Astounding ability
I have never met so many amazing fell runners in my life. And I do a fair amount of races and follow a lot of runners on Instagram. Here was a group of talented female runners who were not chasing down podiums (even though many of them were clearly fast enough) or posing on Instagram. They were simply enjoying running in the hills.
Many of them seemed to have completed the infamously hard Dragon’s Back Race (only about a third of all runners finish the race), and they were confident navigating through the day and night in poor visibility.
I had never heard of any of them and yet they were all incredible runners, who were astonishingly strong at climbing hills.
Elemental battles
My friend/colleague/running budding Emma Wilkinson said she had never been so happy to see me when she finished the first 11 miles of the round. It was quite possibly the hardest thing she had ever run.
The wind was ferocious, the ground was incredibly boggy and the clouds kept rolling in. This was immensely energy sapping and made the attempt even harder. Yet Laura and Nina were all smiles and managed almost 50 miles in these conditions.
The video above captures the strength (and noise!) of the wind.
Safety first
The mantra from the start was safety first, the round second and the time third. Yes the conditions were bad, but in the beginning they were not unsafe. During some sections the wind did drop and visibility did improve. The runners kept going as long as they were safe. But they were also prepared to call time when things got dangerous. This was not some all-or-nothing attempt, there would be no putting anyone at risk.
When one pacer felt unwell half way through the first leg she made the sensible decision to stop rather than continue. And when Laura realised she was beyond the point of being able to keep warm, the team decided to finish. They could have pushed onto the final leg and the last few peaks but it would have been a dangerous risk, and not one worth taking.
Fun times
There was a huge emphasis on having a good time, rather than slogging out fast miles and feeling miserable. It was a celebration of female solidarity and positive vibes with a lot of giggles along the way. Laura and Nina always had huge smiles on their faces as they came into the checkpoints, and back at base camp (Laura’s house) there was a lot of hilarious stories being swapped.
Journey’s end
It may be a huge cliché but the weekend embodied the idea that the journey is more important than the destination. And this was a journey for the whole entourage from Laura and Nina’s daughters learning about logistics, to friends running a leg as an excuse to catch-up with old friends. Emma said that between the recce and the round she was able to work on her downhill running skills after receiving tips from others on the recce.
And this is not the end of the story. Laura and Nina will be back, along with their network of female crew. But for now they can be proud of the amazing journey they have taken us all on.
I’ll leave the final words with Nina: “This weekend was always bigger than the run. The kindness, support, inspiration and positive vibe that every single person brought to this weekend was the outright winner.”
Pick of the Week
I’ve been testing the Bimble and Bolt 6” shorts on my medium length runs (up to 10 miles). They are a lovely soft fabric and provide what is classed as medium support. Basically they are not as tight at compression shorts (which is a good thing in my book) but neither are they baggy or loose.
They do however come up pretty small and even though I’m a size 10 I had to send back the size small (which was advertised as being a size 10). The medium size fit better but they are still quite snug around the waist. The shorts themselves are very comfortable and I’ve had no issues with chafing. I also love the side pocket which can fit a phone and the rear pocket for keys / small snacks. They come in seven different colours although a lot of the options are different variations of purple.
As a comfortable pair of shorts for everyday running I would definitely recommend these - you may just need to size up.
Thanks for reading this week’s newsletter. Send feedback to lilycanter@yahoo.co.uk or suggest topics you’d like me to cover.
