ITERA-lite Wales
ITERA lite takes teams across the Mountains of Eryri
Rob Howard / 05.08.2024
The second ITERA-lite took place recently in Eryri (North Wales) and the terrain and weather conditions were very different to the first race in Scotland last year. The grassy hills and valleys of the Southern Uplands were replaced with the mountainous terrain of Snowdonia, and the weather in Wales was mostly sunny and dry (unlike last year!)
The difference was illustrated by the fact the course this year was 100km shorter and the winning time was only 4 hours longer ... and that was set by the World Champions! (Last year’s winning team took almost exactly the same time.)
There was a different feel to the race this year too. It was a much bigger race, with 55 Quad and Pairs teams taking part, and the hall at Coleg Meirion Dwyfor in Dolgellau was full for race registration. (There was some chatter about whether it was the biggest race in the UK since the 2007 Adventure Racing World Championship.)
It was a much more international race too, remarkably so for a UK long-weekend race. The event was part of ARWS Europe, and was also the first joint UK and Ireland Adventure Racing Championship (UKIE Champs). There was a strong Irish entry, helped by the fact the location was a ferry hop across the Irish Sea. What wasn’t so expected was for teams to travel from USA, Canada, New Zealand, Reunion Island and Hong Kong to boost the race field to athletes from 13 nations – an entry an ARWS Qualifier would be pleased to have.
The fact the full ITERA race is a longstanding ARWS Qualifier, with a worldwide reputation, definitely helped. Michelle Faucher led a US team from Adventure Addicts Racing and said, “I have many racing friends who have been over here to race ITERA and they said it was always a fantastic course and organisation, so I couldn’t wait to come and see for myself.”
James Galipeau is one of the world’s most experienced racers and travelled from Canada to race with his wife Cara. He said, “We know ITERA will be a great race and this is Cara’s first expedition race.”
Both of the N. American teams referred to the event as an expedition race, despite it being the “little brother” of the full ITERA. With a 40 to 60 hour finish range and the slowest teams going into a 3rd night of racing ITERA-Lite is more than a weekend event, and by the finish everyone felt they’d been in a big, and very demanding, race.
Seaside start at Llandudno
ITERA has a history of scenic starts and this year the racers lined up in the sunshine in Happy Valley on The Great Orme, overlooking Llandudno Pier. It was a very steep start on the path up onto the flank of the limestone headland, the first of many, many climbs on a course which crossed 4 mountain ranges and took in two extensive mountain biking trail networks.
After a short run along the coast, passing families enjoying a day on the beach, the teams made the transition to the first kayak stage which took them upstream on the tidal reach of the Conwy River. Paddling with the wind and tide behind them the kayaks were moving quickly as the river gradually narrowed and it wasn’t easy to pull ashore for the one checkpoint on the stage. This was set at the end of a long, narrow cave on the riverbank, but getting ashore amongst the rush of kayaks in the fast flow was the biggest challenge.
This first paddle took teams below the towers and walls of the impressive Conwy Castle and this was the only castle on the route. North Wales has many castles and they’ve featured in previous Welsh ITERA’s, but most are on the coast and this race was all about the mountains and had an industrial heritage theme. The route book named each stage and these included the copper mines on Great Orme, slate mines, and a paddle stage named ‘nuclear and renewable’, based at the decommissioned Trawsfynydd power station and lake.
The Swedish Armed Forces Adventure Team took the lead from the start, and kept it to the end, as expected given they are two-time World Champions. They were challenged in the early stages, with ‘Rachel’s Irish Adventures’ within a few minutes of them after a ride over the Carneddau hills (which the teams said was one of the best they’d done in any race). They kept close contact through the first night on the following trekking stage, until falling back due to a navigational mistake.
Grit needed on the Glyders
This 35km trek over the Carneddau and Glyder ranges was the toughest of the race, with 2900m of ascent and crossing rough and rocky terrain through a wet night. It really spread out the teams and determined which would be taking short course options for the remaining stages, due to fatigue or a lack of time. Most were out all night and into the second day, and had the reward of sweeping views from the summits on the Glyders on Saturday.
Next came a 92km ride, including the Penmachno MTB trails and a stop for an orienteering special stage where the Quad teams had to split into pairs. The ride route passed through the town of Betws-y-Coed, a tourist hub for Snowdonia which was packed with visitors during the day. Riding over the bridge into town required care to avoid a collision (tourists never seem to look where they are going) and at the far end of the bridge was a shop selling ice cream and fish and chips! This was a magnet to the teams and the shop was surrounded by bikes in the afternoon as several teams enjoyed a rest and feed.
The remaining stages included a trek in the Moelwyn hills, passing through abandoned slate mines and a 12km orienteering paddle on Trawsfynydd Lake. Some teams had a challenging time here in dense fog, including defending race champions Team Endurancelife, who lost time to SAFAT. (The Swedes completed the paddle in daylight to extend their lead.)
The final two stages were a mountain bike ride, taking in the single track trails of the Coed-y-Brenin forests and a final trek across the rugged Rhinog hills, after which teams finished the race by crossing the historic, wooden Penmaenpool toll bridge over the Mawddach Estuary before a short trek into the race HQ at Dolgellau Rugby Club. Many teams didn’t attempt the final trek (as intended by the planners) and took the short route back to the finish on their bikes, while others shortened the trek. SAFAT had the best of the conditions on the Rhinog summits, taking in the panoramic views of the coast and mountains in the morning sunshine.
SAFAT are the Winners
They crossed the finish line to take the win in a time of 45 hours 8 minutes 25 seconds and Oskar Svard said; “The scenery and mountains were great and we saw a lot of North Wales. It was a challenging course, especially the navigation and the fact we are visitors meant we had to learn all of the rights of way shown on the maps and concentrate on not making a mistake. I think we understood them all by the end of the race!” He added, “I think teams completing the long course will need to use a World Championship level of navigation.”
For Svard it was a return from long term injury with a blood clot in his leg and Malin Hjalmarsson said, “I’m sure we had the biggest first aid kit of all the teams!” Svard said he could still feel the effect of the injury at times but felt good and for SAFAT it was “mission accomplished” as they were back in competition, winning again, and can now look forward to their World title defence in Ecuador in November.
Their closest challengers and pairs winner were the male pair ‘HC Racing’ who were over 4 hours behind and just 28 minutes ahead of 3rd placed, Endurancelife, who took the first UK and Ireland Championship title for Quad teams. The UK and Ireland titles are for mixed gender teams so the pairs winners were ‘Team Jondrea’ (Jonathan Ellis and Andrea Davison) and both champion teams received impressive new trophies. Next year the UKIE Champs will be hosted by The Beast adventure race in Ireland in May.
At the final count nine teams successfully completed the full course, 7 quads and only two pairs. Rachel’s Irish Adventures were the top Irish team in 4th, the only all-female Quad team (Team Sheffield) finished the course in 8th place, and the final full course finishers were Moxie Racers. The Irish team, including veteran racers Brian Keogh and Chris Caulfield, ran a perfectly timed race, staying just ahead of the cut-offs and finishing in the early hours of Monday just ahead of the course closure.
At the race brunch and prize giving ceremony back at Coleg Meirion Dwyfor there were lots of race stories to be shared, and all of the winners were called up on stage by Race Director Paul McGreal to be presented with race medals by course planners Adam Rose and Gary Davies. Rose explained they had planned the route around the short course (and added more in for the elite teams) to ensure short course teams didn’t feel they’d missed out. They didn’t; everyone finished knowing they’d completed a challenging course!
Closing off the race McGreal announced the dates for the full ITERA Expedition Race in August next year, which will once again be an ARWS Qualifier and take place from a base in the Cairngorm mountains in August. It will be combined with the 3rd ITERA-lite, with an expected winning time of 55 hours.
For the full results, race photos, and details of next year visit https://itera.co.uk/
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