RACE REPORT
2022 Beast of the Beacons 20 mile & 40 mile Ultra
Saturday 16th April - the sun very kindly decided to show its face, lighting up the encompassing mountains. A wave of excitement was both “running” through the small village of Llangynidr, and through the eager runners who arrived on Friday night for registration; excitement with a hint of nervous energy.
Tor y Foel, as inviting as it may look, secretly hides a number of false summits, making it a deceptively challenging route. The rewarding glide back down the mountain makes it all very worthwhile - that rush of relaxation and relief... until the realisation kicks in and our adrenaline-fuelled Ultra runners clock that after the first 20 miles, they have to climb back up the Beast.
With a total ascent of 9188ft for the 40mile Ultra and 4594ft for the 20mile, the runners, full of determination and some trepidation, were definitely here to challenge themselves, and that they certainly did.
We’re always left in awe of the tremendous effort by our runners, as we watch and support from start to finish. An amazing 24 runners beat the 40mile Ultra beast, with 108 conquering the 20mile, including 6 dogs.
How many B’s sum up this route?
Beautiful, brutal, beastly but brilliant!
As always, the challenging courses are bittersweet - some swear never to run a mountain again, some even shed a tear, but as usual, once they have the “I’ve finished!” feeling, they ask the date for next year! Indeed we’ve seen many runners from last year’s events return already this year. Great to see you all again!
Here are the Top 3 winners and times - head over to our Results and Galleries section for all the photos and results. Impressive!
40 miles
Male
1. Matt Tomlinson 7:44:14
2. Elton Angle-Smith 8:17:43
3. Richard Charles 8:32:53
Female
1. Magdalena Cass 9:32:31
2. Tarn Stroud 10:54:42
3. Louise Park 11:04:14
20 miles
Male
1. Sam Ellis 3:30:58
2. Jak Dutton 3:36:04
3. Sebastian Cooper 3:43:40
Female
1. Rosie Lindsay 3:50:15
2. Bubbles Young 4:02:51
3. Vicky Savage 4:03:10
A shout-out to the bearded, skirt-wearing man (Stu Obree @stu_likes_to_run), who rocked up at briefing walking like John Wayne (for us oldies who remember him), after finishing his awesome 200-mile Wild Horse win (in 58 hrs 51 mins, a full 8 hrs before the second-place finisher) the day before!
The legend was at HQ bright and early to help with the antics of the day - some much-needed assistance from our physio Danni definitely gave him a kick-start. How proud and grateful we are of him! We can only return the favour by supporting Stu in his future ventures, however when it comes to Everest, sorry Stu but you are on your own with that one mate!
And for the second race in succession, Mark Lewis (@marklewispics) ran again, but this time, along with his trusted sidekick Nixon, his beautiful wife Jen was running with them, for her first ever mountain event. And she absolutely smashed it! As Mark details in his video below (well worth a watch), our trail events are for allcomers - experienced runners or complete novices. We agree with him that it’s amazing what the mind can urge the body to do, and Jen proved that a lack of experience does not stop one from conquering a challenge. Well done Jen!
It seems it’s not only those from the UK that are interested in tackling our trails - we had our first international runner fly over from Switzerland for the Beast of the Beacons 40 mile ULTRA – Chilli and rice and a quick run to the shop to get a well-deserved beer (this was all that he wanted in the way of fluid) - once he was fed and watered, we transported him safely back to his B&B a very happy man.
Our next event, the Blacks to the Beacons 50 mile Ultra, Marathon, Half Marathon and 10k, is soon upon us (Saturday 30th April), and we’re excited to welcome 3 overseas runners from Greece, Spain, and Switzerland (again).
We hope to see an increasing number of runners from across the globe join us, because come on, why would we not want to show what our beautiful country has to offer! As always, everyone from anywhere, always welcome.
Many runners at our recent Beast of the Beacons and Beast of the Blacks events have asked when they will be held in 2023. We are pleased to confirm the following dates, so head over to SiEntries and enter for next year!
Beast of the Blacks – Sat 11th March 2023
Beast of the Beacons – Sat 8th April 2023
We would like to thank all of our amazing support volunteers, as without them, we would not be able to deliver you these incredible experiences. Our dedicated team, the local authorities and the residents of Llangynidr village - thank you very much.
We hope to see you all again next year.
Elle, Stu and the team at LT
