Brutal Extreme Full Distance Triathlon, 7 Sep 2024

The Brutal is an ironman-distance triathlon with 3,700m of climbing in the rugged and beautiful Eryri/ Snowdonia mountains. I signed up for this race with some friends from university about 8 months ago, excited to take on the challenge having never actually completed a triathlon longer than a sprint distance.

In May, I had a bike crash at another race and tore my iliacus muscle in my hip in two places. I had just under four months to go from being bed-bound to trying to complete an Ironman. Luckily, I absolutely love procrastinating all other aspects of life with sport, so thoroughly enjoyed the training process.

On the 6th, I set out to travel there via train, cycling and carshares. Despite some traffic, all was fine and after the race briefing we settled down around 23:00 for not-so-relaxing sleep. Race morning required a 04:15 wakeup and tasteless breakfast before heading through the dark streets towards Llanberis. Nerves were overtaken by time-pressured efficiency, and with just enough time for a group photo and some nervous jokes, we entered the 14°C water.

Failing to hear the start gun and (stupidly) messing around with my watch, I had a messy sub-optimal start. However, with about 200 competitors, the water wasn’t too crowded and I gradually moved forward. My race plan was to take the swim a fair bit harder than the bike or run, given it is much shorter. I let the competitive impulsions motivate me to overtake others one at a time and eventually was at the front of the chase pack. After 2 laps, we had to get out (for a safety check) and run a short distance before re-entering Llyn Padarn. I made the most of this and sprinted away to head off for the final half alone. There were still quite a few swimmers ahead and I was tiring but managed to hold a decent pace and admire the multicoloured sunrise rearing over the mountains. Out of the water, I jogged to transition, accompanied by some supporting friends who informed me I was the first women out the water and after a speedy transition, the first competitor overall starting the bike course.

Alas, this was short lived as other athletes whizzed past me like I was standing still during the first lap of the 45km course. Two smaller climbs preceded the mega Nant Gwynant (white brook) climb that finished at Pen-y-Pass (head of the pass). My nutrition plan consisted of my mum’s flapjacks, bananas & peanuts from aid stations and a maple syrup/salt energy drink. Questionable, I know, but it worked for me. It was strange doing a race where I was trying to ensure I went slow enough, not as fast as I could. Traffic lights and aid station-stops provided quite a few interesting chats with other competitors and volunteers. My favourite was a man called “Mr Tumble” who had a 6-person support van driving ahead every 5km or so to cheerlead like wild when he passed, but ended up also cheering me on as I went back-and-forth with Mr Tumble countless times.

After 2 laps most of the Half-distance triathletes had left the course and the roads became much emptier. The electrifying mountain descents provided stimulation, but my mind began to despair. How would I finish this? I had so long left. My knees and head ached, I couldn’t expand my lungs fully to breathe and felt sick. Was I even enjoying this? I forced myself to look at the mountains. To smile at the other athletes and think of all the people who would love to be in my position right now. I also reminded myself of the £335 race fee. Eventually, the I rolled down the mountain for a 4th time and into Llanberis for T2.

I set off for the 3x8km laps around the same lake we swam in at an easy pace, I looked down at the 5:15/km pace on my watch and in elation bounced onwards. By the aid station at the halfway mark this had dropped, and then I was onto the undulating trails with hills steep enough to reduce me to a defeated walk. By lap 2, my pace had dropped down to 5:45/km and by lap 3 this was again down to 6:15/km. As I took some food and water from the ceaselessly cheerful volunteers and ate/drank while walking up yet another hill, the sun began to set. My friends had now all finished the half-distance race and had gone home to shower and eat but would be coming back to see my finish. All that stood between me and them was Snowdon.

A short medical brief & check and I headed off with my mountain rucksack now on. The route was up and down the tourist path, which begins with some cruel >20% sections. Mind exhausted, I could just about smile and say nothing but ‘thank you’ to the people descending the path who asked what race was going on or moving to the side to let me stagger past. After the slowest 4km of my life, the sun finally bade goodbye and left an auburn horizon to burn out as I reached the first medic check. Headtorch on, I continued into the inky abyss with only the 10m in front of me and distant lights on the mountain for reference. The mist now obscured anything further than 10m from view, so it was just me and the ground below. Eventually I saw another red light - the summit was here! And then I was informed that this was actually was the second medical check! The eternal upwards crawl continued. Finally, I did reach the summit, although it had been moved 50m further down for visibility reasons.

I turned tail, unable to enjoy the non-existent mountain top view and picked up a cautious jog down the mountain. Weaving my way down the scree slopes, I stumbled a few times and struggled to pick out the path. But I had a renewed vigour and was forced to concentrate on my feet to avoid tumbling down the mountain. I walked when terrain got technical, but apart from that, it was the thought of my friends in the cold, waiting for me at the bottom and my family and friends at home, who only had the race timings to know of my progress, that kept me moving forward. Slow, but enjoying the adrenaline rush of the isolation and challenge, I finally made it back to tarmac and streetlights. I turned into the race area where my friends shouted and jogged me into the finishing straight. In a time of 15:59:56 and some incredible highs and lows, it was over. I came 2nd women (out of 4) and 9th overall (out of 54) and enjoyed some time on the floor.

Sadly, this is the last ever year of the Brutal so there is no point in recommending it to friends/enemies. However, the Brutal are a super friendly and helpful community that organise other insane endurance challenges, so check them out if you are interested!

Ophelia Vesely