Ultra_Tales_Issue_13

EVENT REPORTBRECON 10 PEAKSON THE CLIMB DOWN TO CORN DU.PHOTOGRAPH | (c) STEWART BONDIBRECON 10 PEAKSBY TOM WRIGHTPreliminaries: The race began at 5am. I was late!The dawn glow was yet to break the jet-black of amountain night. A light dew had gathered on thelong grass making the MudClaws damp before Ieven toed the start line. Despite the relativecomforts of a rock and roll bed in our recentlyacquired T4 my sleep had been unsettled. I layawake questioning my reasons for undertakingthis gargantuan task. Originally the 10 Peaks hadbeen cause to a higher goal but I had abandonedthat idea in the summer. I had proven more thanenough to myself at the RAT 100K three weeksearlier and felt little pressure to do anything otherthan enjoy a day in the mountains. As I learnt inthe spring, Welsh weather can interferedramatically with best laid plans and previousexperiences weighed heavy on my mind.Perhaps my concerns derived more from theunderlying premise of this race: self-navigation. Ihad laboriously formulated a route using GoogleEarth and a Harvey Mountain Map. Despite thejocular reputation amongst our family about myshort term memory, it would appear I have a talentTom WrightBloghttp://life.tomwright.me.ukTwitter@tomwrightBrecon 10 Peaks ResultFinish Time14hrs 47minsFinish Position:13/83 Finishers (24 DNF)for memorising maps. As I lay wide awake on mybed I could visualise the entire 55 miles of myproposed route: the piles of stones; the saddles andspurs; the tarns; the river valleys and of course thepeaks. Could I, however, assimilate my memory mapwith the terrain on the ground? The ultimate174 ULTRA TALES | OCTOBER 2014Sponsored by thehttp://