The morning of Sunday 14th March dawned bright and sunny and with cloudless skies. In recent years the race has encountered all manners of rain, wind and even hail, so sunshine was very welcome.
Fifteen of the seventeen entrants reported for competition, and the race got underway promptly at 10.00 AM. Most athletes start a 40 mile race at a relatively sedate pace. Mark Roberts of Swansea Harriers, however, covered the first 400 metre circuit in 82 seconds, which was 13 seconds quicker than anyone else. Early strategies over so long an event reveal much about the athlete’s race expectations; and as a former winner of both Cardiff and Snowdonia Marathons, Mark was determined to “go for it”. After 10 of the 161 circuits he had lapped the entire field, and he then ran with the second placed athlete and defending champion, George Dayantis from Christchurch Runners for a few minutes, almost as a respite before setting out again.
This established a pattern that was to repeat itself, with Mark seemingly running in bursts. By five miles, reached in 28:52, he had established almost a three minute advantage over George (31:42). In 3rd place at this juncture was Robert Hall-McNair from Hinckley (33:01), who was making his Barry debut and was looking effortless. Sean McCormack from Abergele in North Wales came next, clocking 34:50 and aiming to run at seven minute miling for as long as possible.
The ladies race was much less clear cut. Jen Salter, from host club Les Croupiers was making a brisk start, but was being tracked by Emily Gelder of Dulwich Runners, and their 5 mile split was 36:26. Both ladies are relative newcomers to the world of ultra distance, but both had ambitious plans for more endurance races in the near future. Both also were contesting the Welsh championship incorporated within the event. Sharon Gayter from North York Moors AC followed in 41:25, closely pursued by former triple Welsh ultra champion, Loretta Daley in 42:08.
The second five miles was pretty much a mirror image of the first. Mark Roberts continued to extend his lead over George Dayantis, albeit still running in surges, and his time of 58:34 revealed an advantage of over four and a half minutes, with George on 63:07. Robert Hall-McNair remained in third (66:23) and Sean McCormack in fourth (70:13).
Jen Salter and Emily Gelder were still running together at 10 Miles with Jen always a stride ahead, and both looking ominously comfortable in 73:38 – a very fast pace considering the distance. Loretta Daley had moved into third (84:05) from Sharon Gayter in fourth (85:07). The sun was shining, the weather was benign and everyone was running well. Seemingly, everything was going to plan.
It may be a well worn phrase, but the only predictable thing about ultra distance is its unpredictability. Of the fifteen starters, Sharon Gayter came to the race with the most experience. She had been the UK No: 1 lady at 24 hours for 13 seasons, and was No: 4 in the world in 2009 at that event having won the Commonwealth Games Gold at Keswick last September. Just four weeks previously Sharon had won the Trans Slovenia Four Day Race, a distance of 220 kms in the snow. Surely 40 miles wasn’t going to provide a challenge? Normally not, but only when the race got underway did Sharon realise that she still hadn’t fully recovered from Slovenia. Tough situations call for tough decisions, and with the World Championship 24 Hour event in May an obvious priority, Sharon opted for a “strategic withdrawal”.
The second unpredictable event occurred after 18 miles. By now Mark Roberts was over a mile ahead, but unbeknown to most observers had recently been suffering from asthma brought on by tree pollen. Breathing and running at six minute miling was becoming an issue. Lap 72 saw Mark having to stop to receive attention from paramedic Rhodri Thomas, which cost him five minutes. Although Mark was to resume running, his advantage over George Dayantis had been cut from four laps to just one, and his rhythm compromised.
The halfway mark was reached by Mark in 2:05:30, with George now looking a real danger on 2:07:11. Robert Hall-McNair was still third and looking good in 2:14:15, with Sean McCormack maintaining his early pace well and still fourth in 2:21:38.
By 20 miles the position in the ladies race had changed considerably. Emily Gelder had taken the lead on Lap 46 and had sped up as a result. She was looking very smooth and comfortable, and perhaps more importantly, confident. Her time of 2:24:39 had created a six minute advantage over Jen Salter (2:30:37). By contrast, Jen had found the second ten miles tougher, and a stitch had interrupted her earlier rhythm. Loretta Daley was maintaining well in third place and a halfway split of 2:53:24 indicated that a sub six hour clocking was possible.
Fourteen of the fifteen starters had made it to halfway, but there were to be more withdrawals soon after. Sadly but not unexpectedly, Mark Roberts’ breathing difficulties were to re-emerge, and a withdrawal after 22 miles became the only realistic and safe option. Mark has since declared that he intends to return next year, and we wish him well. Andrew Richards and Paul Tranter also both retired around this juncture, leaving eleven athletes to continue running. Both have completed the Barry 40 in the past and we hope both will return to do so again.
After the disappointment of the withdrawals, attention switched to the new leader and defending champion, George Dayantis. George had impressed everyone last year with his bold front-running tactics and gun to tape victory, and yet twelve months on he was 3 minutes quicker at halfway. Could he hold on? During the third quarter all looked well. He continued to extend his lead and his time at the marathon mark of 2:48:20 represented a new personal best. His time of 3:14:54 at 30 miles meant that his lead had increased to over 12 minutes and in doing so he revised his Greek national record for this distance, which he set last year. A further Greek record came at 50 km, with the clock showing 3:22:50, again eclipsing his 2009 time, which was set when surpassing the previous national best, set by ultra legend Yiannis Kouros.
However, the distance and pace were beginning to take their toll. George began to slip outside the time he’d run last year. Also, the northerly wind, which had been a gentle breeze at the start, was freshening. It wasn’t strong, but when you’re pushing yourself to the limit for so long, it’s an irritation you can do without. Whilst his advantage was still lengthening, you could sense that the business end of the race was becoming a struggle. Having said that, George was still a magnificent winner in 4:31:19, and it will take a very talented and determined athlete to deny him a hat-trick in 2011.
The battle for second and third was interesting. Robert Hall-McNair and Sean McCormack had run virtually solitary races from the off, and had both judged their effort well. They ran together, although actually four laps apart for a time, and it became apparent that Sean was beginning to look the better of the two, even though the gap was never going to close sufficiently for their positions to change. Robert came home a very impressive runner-up in 4:47:46, with Sean an excellent third in 4:52:08, with a Welsh ultra distance championship an added bonus.
There was a flurry of excitement concerning the fourth athlete to finish. For a long time it looked as if it was going to be Emily Gelder, who had run her heart out to win the ladies race. You don’t often see a sprint finish in an ultra race, but sprinting was an accurate description of Jeremy Mower as he caught and passed Emily with just 300 metres to go. Jeremy’s time of 5:03:52 earned him an excellent Welsh silver medal, and was a personal best time by 8 minutes.
For Emily, losing the sprint finish was a minor detail. Hers was a brilliant run, and a new championship record in 5:04:14 and gold medal will delight her. Having only run her first ultra just over a year ago, she is clearly improving rapidly. Jen Salter, in finishing in sixth place and second lady, should take great pride in an excellent Barry debut in 5:19:21. It certainly bodes well for her assault on Marathon des Sables next month. Loretta Daley had a fantastic run to finish third lady, and scarcely slowed at all in the second half. Her clocking of 5:55:15 represented a huge improvement of 10 minutes over her previous best run at Barry.
Whilst technically a race, ultra distance athletes tend to be chasing very personal goals. This was certainly the case with local athlete Gary Hyatt who was contesting the event for the twelfth time. A recent increase in training mileage paid handsome dividends as Gary recorded 5:47:45, his fastest time for 6 years, and a bronze medal in the Welsh Championship. Now 62, a very welcome personal landmark came in establishing new Welsh age 60 records at 30 miles, 50 kms and 40 miles, the final time being 15 minutes quicker than Syd Wheeler’s mark in 2002. Not only that, team Hyatt (wife Pip and daughters Kate and Sally) were on hand throughout the day to provide much needed refreshments for the army of officials, as well as recording Gary’s lap by lap progress.
The performances of Geoff Oliver continue to amaze and inspire. Now 76, Geoff’s obvious intentions were to set new world best marks for the Age group 75-79, and for a long time this was a realistic plan. Geoff first two 10 mile segments were covered in 82:24 and 84:14, meaning that he could slow by a minute a mile and still set a world best for 30 miles. Sadly, it wasn’t to be. A pit stop after 22 miles cost 5 minutes, and Geoff never seemed quite able to recover his earlier rhythm. Having said that, his remarkable determination shone through and he still completed the distance in 6:32:27. This meant that he had to settle for merely revising his own British best marks for his age group for 30 miles, 50 kms and 40 miles.
All in all, it was another fascinating chapter in what has become an iconic event. Many thanks are due to all who came, but a special mention must go to ground staff Bill Cooke and Mike Dodds whose help and support was greatly appreciated.
Mick
Les Croupiers Perspective
I’m running out of superlatives. I always get anxious about this race, for very understandable reasons. Because it’s such a specialist event, you have to get things right first time – you can’t ask people to come back next week and try again. I always try to envisage what could go wrong and have a contingency plan to cope with it. Having said that, the clock stopping after four minutes scared the hell out of me – thankfully this was quickly resolved.
I thought the performances of all our four athletes was magnificent. It’s been a very tough winter, and the snow and ice coincided with the time when the highest mileage for this event was needed. Jen’s was a terrific effort, especially after recent ankle problems in Bilbao. She also seems to have recovered very quickly which bodes well for her return to the Marathon des Sables.
Gary looked fitter than for many years. He’s been able to train more this year, and a recent four hour training run proved that he was ready. However, being ready and actually delivering are two different things. Gary set his first Welsh record at this event in 1998 (M50 category), which has since been beaten, so it was great to witness him eclipse Syd Wheeler’s Welsh Over 60 best of 6:01:26 by 14 minutes.
Loretta Daley and Alan Mann have been amongst the staunchest supporters of the race for many years. Loretta looked even more determined than usual, and her pace judgment throughout was exemplary, which was surely the key to her 10 minute PB. Alan ran 15 minutes quicker than last year and was a deserved winner of the Over 50 title. However, perhaps the most remarkable fact of all was that the New Year saw a major upheaval in their lives when their house caught fire, and they’ve subsequently had to move. Triumph over adversity is often the name of the game in our sport, and Loretta and Alan certainly proved that!
I always stress that whilst I may be the front man for this event, I couldn’t possibly stage it without the support and expertise of the greatest club on the planet. It’s having that support which gives you confidence. Not only that, the feedback from the athletes, telling me how they enjoyed the race, and more importantly how friendly everyone was – these are things which inspire me.
Numbers have been down a little for the last two editions. However – I’m now one of three ultra organizers in the club; Derek has organized three 100 km championship races, and now Jen Salter is co-organiser of ULTRArace Ltd, which has really taken off. Jen has kindly promised to share her ultra contacts, which should prove invaluable. One further point, entering the Barry 40 doesn’t necessarily mean you have to run 40 miles. We record intermediate distances throughout, including the marathon mark. So if you’re looking to optimize your marathon ambitions, you could do a lot worse than consider Jenner Park next March.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010 at 8:13PM 
Looking at the website for this race you expect the course to be fairly flat or downhill as part of the description reads ‘The course is designed for runners of all abilities, and is intended to create the maximum opportunity for fast times.’ So you might expect something like the Cardiff 10k, fairly flat with some sharp corners maybe but nothing to slow you down too much. I wasn’t planning on entering but Andrew Russell pulled out and I take the opportunity presented on the forum. As raceday approaches I ask a few people who’ve run the race before what the course is like and there’s talk of a steep hill near the end but mostly fast and flat. I should be used to being wound up by now (after coming to many club nights and training sessions!) but combined with the website description I take them at their word. I check out the course map and enter it onto gmap-pedometer.com, the elevation is revealed, 1-3k fairly flat, 3-5k – uphill (a climb of about 80m from the end of the 3rd to halfway through the 5th), 6-8k another similarly long climb! All of this on roads that wind their way up and along the side of a valley, ‘maximum opportunity for fast times’ – I don’t think so!