A Hursty Adventure! (How Hard Can It Be?): May 2019

Saturday 25 May 2019

Marathon Ras Y Brenin Enlli (The king of Bardsey Island Marathon) ~ Leg 1 of Dave's RNLI Welsh Triple

This is possibly one of the best and most quirky events I've ever done! Marathon Ras Y Brenin Enlli (The king of Bardsey Island Marathon) is limited to ten participants a year due to restrictions on the number of people the boat can carry from the mainland to Bardsey Island.

Organised by Huw Williams who operates the Beautifully Brutal Pen Llyn Ultra's, you have to apply for a place with a reason to run.

This was to be leg one of an RNLI Welsh Triple Challenge I took on in 2019 to raise funds once again for the RNLI.

The run is a largely self supported circuit of six laps hugging the coastline around Bardsey Island with a corresponding number of ascents of Bardsey mountain, giving a total ascent greater than that of Snowdon! With a time limit of six and a half hours to make sure of cathing the boat back it really is unique!

The run started at 10am and the ten runners quickly spread out around the course. The run is all trail and sheep paths and traverses fields full of cows which has helped cure my fear of them!

With the majority of the Island shielded from the mainland by Bardsey mountain, it's gloriously isolated without mobile phone signal.

Good camaraderie with the other runners really helped what was a truly Beautifully Brutal run!

By the end of lap five, I'd already covered 21 miles and was running tight on time to finish the last loop but Huw already had a plan B in this event of running to the lighthouse and back to complete the distance.

It was a great feeling crossing that finishing line and receiving not only my finishers medal but also a cold bottle of Cwrw Llyn Porth Neigwl Pal Ale! Honestly a beer has never tasted so good!

Bardsey Island really is a truly unspolit and beautiful place. I'd definitely like to go back and have a more leisurely hike around the island and picnic with the family.

I'd also recommend the event if you're lucky enough to be given a place! Truly a one off! I also made some very good running friends!

Why Am I Doing This!?

I got drawn in to running in 2007 to raise funds for charity and after years of just weight training in a gym discovered it's a great way to keep in shape!

I expanded the fundraising and range of sporting interests to open water swimming in 2010 and loved that too which lead to taking up cycling and Triathlon's in 2011!

This has evolved into a range of Endurance and adventure challenges through which I've continued to push my boundaries and learned a lot about myself and others in the process!

I'm now quite into Ultra Running which I love for the peace and tranquillity along with anything other challenges a bit out of the ordinary!
I've kept a training blog for the past few years and decided to consolidate the records of the challenges I've completed so far here in this Blog.
I find that if I have an event to train for it's just the motivation I need to get off my butt and get out!
I generally try and fund raise for a number of charities but primarily these days for the RNLI.

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution ~ http://www.rnli.org/

In September 2007 I had an accident whilst sailing my Laser Pico dinghy out at sea off Abersoch, North Wales. The Abersoch crew came to my aid and I'll be eternally grateful. I did an interview about the mishap for the RNLI which you can catch here
~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk6edftmHtg

I spend a lot of time out at sea with family and friends and it made me realise just how dependent we are on this life saving volunteer emergency service funded entirely by charity.
After undergoing three operations to stitch me up and put my nose back in the middle of my face I vowed to keep on raising money for the RNLI by taking on sponsored challenges for as long as folk would continue to support me… So far, including the Sportives, fun runs and group challenges I've organised this has raised just over £61,000 for the RNLI but it’s not over yet!

In 2008 & 2009 I ran the Great North Run Half Marathon to raise funds for the Abersoch RNLI station.

In 2010 I taught myself to swim front crawl and swam a mile in open water at The Great Salford Swim and in

2011 rolled it all up by taking on the Tatton Triathlon Olympic Distance.
In 2012 with my good friend Dom I extended the cycling by riding Coast to Coast from Morcambe to Bridlington along the 'Way of the Roses' route ~ http://www.wayoftheroses.co.uk/.
A 184mile ride over 3 days and also organised a team triathlon challenge at work.
In 2013 I organised another Triathlon Team Relay at the company I work for, Findel to raise funds.
In 2014 in an effort to try and make the challenges bigger and more ambitious, took on the #3PeaksByBike with another two friends from work Dave and Paul... Climbing Snowdon, Scafel Pike and Ben Nevis and cycling the 450miles between them over 4.5 days!
It's a slippery slidey slope!

In 2015 I took on two Endurance challenges to raise funds for the RNLI...
~ #BikesBoatsBoots ~ With the team that undertook the 2014 #3PeaksByBike, taking on a self organised 170mile coast to coast trek across Scotland from 4th to 8th June, cycling, canoeing and hiking from Oban to Loch Ness Lifeboat Station.
~ Long Course Weekend ~ A 2.4mile Sea Swim, 112mile bike ride and a 26.2mile marathon run from 3rd to 5th July in Pembroke, Wales.
In 2016 I organised my first Cycle Sportive with friends from Sandbach Sunday Cyclists, Sandbach Rugby Club and the Crewe, Nantwich & South Cheshire RNLI! It was a great event and day out and really well supported! So much so that it's now become an annual event and now has four such outings under it's belt!

The #ThreeShires heads out from Sandbach on 5 routes:-
- 100km: Cheshire, Shropshire and Staffordshire loop

- 85km Cheshire & Staffordshire loop
- 37km: Intermediate Cheshire loop
- 6km Family fun ride!
- The Triple Crown Challenge (The 100km, 37km and 5km routes back to back)
- Find out more and enter here ~ http://www.rnli.org.uk/ThreeShires
- View highlights from the 2016 inaugural event here ~
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDNMtRvdQEw

2016 also saw me take on my first Ironman Triathlon in Weymouth! A fantastic day out covering the 2.4m swim, 112m bike and 26m marathon run in 14hours 53 mins and more much needed money raised for the RNLI :-)
2017 saw me taking on the 50 mile Chester Ultra Marathon with my adventure challenge buddy Dave McDonald.

2018 saw me taking a break other than the ThreeShires sportive organisation.

2019 I upped the anti again taking on a 'Welsh Triple Challenge'. This included:

~ The very unique Bardsey Island Marathon (only 10 invited runners a year for six laps of Bardsey Island),

~ The Pen Llyn Summer 50 mile Ultra Marathon

~ and the Abersoch ROC Triathlon... My first Triathlon since the Ironman in 2016. The Abersoch ROC included a 1.5km Sea swin, 31 mile bike to Snowdon, a run up and down Snowdon and then a bike ride bike for a final 1km run on the beach! Again another fantastically unique event.

2019 also saw me help organise the first RNLI Porthdillaen Family Fun Run with my wife Karen and friends Mali and Owain from the Porthdinllaen lifeboat... Hopefully this too will become an annual event :-)

As for 2020? Well we shall see what we shall see :-)...

Welcome to the 'Challenge Hursty' Blog!

Saturday 25 May 2019

Marathon Ras Y Brenin Enlli (The king of Bardsey Island Marathon) ~ Leg 1 of Dave's RNLI Welsh Triple