DAMIAN HALL SETS NEW SOUTH WALES TRAVERSE RECORD

INOV8 ambassador Damian Hall has set a new record time for the 72-mile South Wales Traverse (14hrs 13mins), beating Dan Doherty’s previous best by just 5 mins. Damian, who visited 31 summits over the route and had to ascend over 18,000ft, was forced to make a final daredevil descent in the dark off the last summit (Pen y Garn Fawr) in order to clinch the record.

“Full credit to Dan, who did his run solo and self-supported. I had support and had to give it everything just to beat his time by 5 minutes. It was a cracking day out in the hills, with the cold morning wind replaced later by sunshine. And it was brilliant to share it with a few friends. I must admit I didn’t think the record was possible until very near the end. Together with Dan Summers, my pacer on the final section, we hammered it down the last hill. I’m definitely feeling it today! It was very different to setting the Pennine Way (268-mile) record three months ago as the pace I had to run yesterday was relentless. I found it really tough and had to dig deep. It was thanks to the small team around me that I was able to get the record.” – Damian Hall.

Damian, who ran in the TRAILFLY G 270 trail running shoes with Graphene-Grip and said: “I wore the same model for the Pennine Way too. They were cracking – lots of grip and comfort. They handled the muddy bogs and gave good my tired legs some spring on the long road section.”

Damian at the finish in Llanthony

Racing over the highest mountain in Wales

Midway through his record-breaking run.

I love the Brecon Beacons, me. I’m a big fan of the Welsh names for their mountains, I’m a fan of the chortlesome names (more anon) too and I’m a fan of the fact the National Park is confusingly split into four sections; one of which is named Black Mountains, one of which is named Black Mountain, another is named Brecon Beacons, and collectively it’s all called the Brecon Beacons. Got that?

I grew up mostly in the Cotswolds, gazing across a vast flat vale to these moody lumps in Wales. In truth though, I didn’t go there much (it’s a 90-minute drive) until I got obsessed with UTMB (Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc) and realised I needed to train in lumps if I was going to run well in lumps, and started visiting regularly from 2016.

Several of the glacier-carved sandstone summits (the biggest being Pen y Fan at 2,907ft) are nearly as high as their Lake District counterparts in England, but as the whole mass is on a raised plateau the climbs are rarely as big, though they can still be uncomfortably steep. The views are huge and the natural, green, north-facing walls are unique and awe-inspiring. As are the semi-wild ponies, who’ve been there since Roman times.

The highest mountain in South Wales

The South Wales Traverse (SWT) is an approximate 72-mile, 31-summit challenge from one side of the Brecon Beacons National Park to the other, with about 18,000ft of ascent and a 24-hour deadline. There are only 41 confirmed completions and according to Wikipedia (and when’s that ever been wrong?), it’s the southern Britain equivalent of the Bob Graham Round. The summit of Fan y Big is excluded, oddly, though thankfully Lord Hereford’s Knob (Twmpa) makes it in.

I first ran the SWT back in 2015, mostly solo. It beat me up. I wasn’t as fit as I am now. I got topographically embarrassed A LOT – in fact, I missed one, possibly two, summits in the dark. And after a headtorch failure and a face-plant into a bog on Waun Fach at midnight, then losing a fight with the undergrowth in notorious Myndd Du Forest, I was close to quitting. But I got it done (bar those, ahem, two summits), with less than 20 minutes to spare.

Looking out across the Brecon Beacons

This week I’ll have a second go at it. The record (or Fastest Known Time) for the SWT is 14 hours and 18 minutes, set by my good friend Dan Doherty in April 2017, solo and self-supported. Before that, it was a Mark Hartell record (14:42 from 1993).

Dan is an annoyingly excellent and versatile runner. He’s been Welsh Fell Running Champion, represented Ireland in both the Trail and Mountain Running World Championships, placed 5th at Tor des Geants, and has most of the area’s Strava Segments. The geologist has charitably been letting me train with him in the Beacons for a few years, which mostly involves waiting for me at the top of things. He’s better than me on the ups. He’s better than me on the downs. The flats? He’s better than me. But he might have to admit I’m a better eater.

Training in the Brecon Beacons

It seems unlikely I could better Dan’s time on the SWT, so I’m just concentrating on giving my best possible performance and if that happens I’ll be happy. In fact with all the weirdness this year, I’ll be happy just to have a long day out in the hills with a few pals, while that’s allowed. I’m confident the attempt does not contravene current Covid-19 regulations.

My good friend, inspiration and chips aficionado Tim Laney is kindly providing road support, as he did on the Pennine Way record, and I hope to have one or two more friends pace me for some bits, too. I’ve really enjoyed doing some record runs solo and unsupported, but I feel I’ll at least need some road support (ie not have to carry much liquid) to have a chance of getting close to Dan’s amazing effort.

At the end of July’s record-breaking run on the 268-mile Pennine Way

Talking of the Pennines, I’ve felt pretty good since that 268-mile bimble back in July. But challenges tend to suit me better when they’re 100 miles and upwards, so though 72 miles may sound like long to some people, to me it’s short and uncomfortably fast. It’s a very different type of challenge to the Pennine Way and one I’m not so obviously suited to. But really, it’s just a big day out in the hills. Or a bimble in the Beacons.

I’ve got into the habit of doing these things fuelling without animal products, without creating any plastic waste and picking up litter. Which I guess I’d better stick with. There is an annoyingly long road section, some hard trail and rock, but mostly it’s long grass, bogs and classic fell running. So, I expect I’ll wear the MUDCLAW G 260 V2 (though I may be tempted to change into TRAILFLY G 270 – the shoe I wore for the Pennine Way – for the road) and, among other items, the excellent recycled and very breathable BASE ELITE LAYER and use the RACE ULTRA PRO 5 VEST.

* The attempt is compliant with current Covid-19 regulations. To help keep it safe for those involved, Damian politely asks that, on this occasion, people don’t support in-person during the run or at the finish.

* You can follow the attempt on this Open Tracking live map.

* Damian is writing a new book titled FKTed which will chart his journey towards breaking the Pennine Way record. Published by Vertebrate, it is due out in May next year.