WITH 5,600FT OF ELEVATION OVER 27 MILES, WOULD THE SCOTT SNOWDONIA TRAIL MARATHON BE AS TOUGH AS IT SOUNDS?

WORDS: YANAR ALKAYAT

SNOWDONIA MARATHON

Breathtaking, and lung busting, views from the top of Mount Snowdon

“I hink about ‘the why’. What’s your why?” says ultrarunner Billy Yang in his moving docu-film about why runners are drawn to challenging events. Over the last few years I’ve ran five marathons (three road and two trail) but Scott Snowdonia Trail Marathon would be my first mountain event. I’d been totally smitten by the few trail events I’ve run and always fancied a bigger challenge so I booked this online in early December (the event is so popular, last year it was sold out by January).

At times, the thought of climbing 1600m/5600ft while covering the course’s 27 miles felt overwhelming, especially living and training in flat east London. So when I struggled to adapt from road running to hills or when I lost my enthusiasm for another training session, or when a terrible trail marathon left me feeling defeated, I kept coming back to the question of ‘why’. Eventually I reached the start-line feeling mentally and physically ready.