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Ultras · United Kingdom · Wales

Dragon's Back Race

Day 1: Conwy Castle to Nant Gwynant · 50K
Registration open
Entries open with limited places. Dragon's Fire, Dragon's Tail and Hatchling run alongside; not filled here.
Race dateSeptember 6-11, 2027
Duration6 days
Start6:00am
Whenin 315 days
First held1992

Who's going to Dragon's Back Race?

I'm running itPlan your weeks and your aid station times I'm crewingWhen to leave, where to park, at every stop I'm pacing or cheeringAsk your runner for their Out Here link

Free. You can start with nothing.

Official website Results Aid stations Notify me if this race changes
Free, and always will be. NavRun makes money from race-day planning for runners who want it, never from this. Ultras change constantly, sometimes the morning of. Always confirm with the race director and the official website before you rely on anything here.
Distance The race
50K
Climb Our math
12,319 ft We worked this out from what the race prints.
Descent Our math
12,136 ft We worked this out from what the race prints.
High point
not checked yet
Time limit The race
16:00:00
Aid stations
5
Started
not checked yet
Finished
not checked yet
Finish rate
not checked yet
The course

Where it goes point to point · 5 aid stations

Course line from the race's own GPX. Source file. Recorded 2026.

Conwy Castle to Nant Gwynant over the Carneddau, Glyderau and the Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) horseshoe, with Grade 1 scrambling on Tryfan and Crib Goch.

These sections are classed as UK Grade 1 scrambling routes. This scrambling can be avoided by choosing the hatchling option on day 1.

The race

What this one is

Six days, 380 km, 16,400 m of ascent from Conwy Castle to Cardiff Castle, run as six daily stages with tented overnight camps and a 22:00 course closure each day.

Inspired by the 1992 race. The six-day Conwy to Cardiff format was announced in August 2020 and first raced in 2021; earlier editions were five days. Ourea Events went into administration in 2026 and Ultra X took the event over.

Getting in

Getting in Entry, lottery and what the race asks of you before race day.

Lottery
not checked yet
Lottery opens
not checked yet
Lottery draw
not checked yet
Field cap
not checked yet
Registration
Other race-space.com
Qualifying
not checked yet
Minimum age
not checked yet
Transfers
Yes ultra-x.co
Deferrals
not checked yet
Crew access, pacers and drop bags

The rules that shape your day Anything marked "not checked yet" is a gap in what we hold, never a no from the race.

Crew allowed
No dragonsbackrace.com
Vehicles per runner
not checked yet
Pacers
No dragonsbackrace.com
Muling
not checked yet
Drop bags
Yes dragonsbackrace.com
Cupless
not checked yet
Course marking
not checked yet
Night running
not checked yet
Dogs
not checked yet
Headphones
not checked yet
Crew rules
Supporters may not run with the participant, carry any equipment for them, or give them any food, drink, kit or other supplies. Supporters may not enter overnight camps. dragonsbackrace.com
Pacer rules
not checked yet
Drop bag rules
Resupply dry bags (Ortlieb 10L, max 2.5kg per the Dragon's Fire page) are transported to each daily support point. dragonsbackrace.com
Cutoff philosophy
Participants who fail to complete one or more days of the full course (i.e. arrive at a checkpoint after the cut-off time, arrive at the finish after the course closure time, or decide to withdraw from that day's course) will be allowed to continue in the event by swapping to The Hatchling. dragonsbackrace.com
Aid stations

Every stop, and what you get there ● yes   ○ no   ? nobody has checked   – does not apply to this race

Mile Station Cutoff Crew access Bag Pacer Med To next
? Start: Conwy Castle
NoneSignal wrong?
 ? ? ? ? ? ?
? Aid Station (Ogwen Valley)
NoneSignal wrong?
 2:00pm ? ? ? ? ?
? Pen-y-Pass
NoneSignal wrong?
 4:40pm ? ? ? ? ?
? Pyg Track path junction before Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon)
NoneSignal wrong?
 6:30pm ? ? ? ? ?
? Finish
NoneSignal wrong?
 10:00pm ? ? ? ? ?
The whole race

6 stages, run in order You enter the race, not a stage. Every one of these is a day of it.

Stage Day Distance
1 Day 1: Conwy Castle to Nant Gwynant
Mon 6 Sep 2027
 50K
2 Day 2: Nant Gwynant to Dolgellau
Tue 7 Sep 2027
 60K
3 Day 3: Dolgellau to Ceredigion
Wed 8 Sep 2027
 66K
4 Day 4: Through the Elan Valley
Thu 9 Sep 2027
 67K
5 Day 5: Into the Bannau Brycheiniog
Fri 10 Sep 2027
 75K
6 Day 6: To Cardiff
Sat 11 Sep 2027
 65K
What it looks like out there

Somebody has been out there with a camera the tables say the climb is long. these say what long feels like.

Nobody has been out there with a camera or a microphone yet. A gap means nobody has found it, not that it is not out there. Seen a course preview or a film of this one? Send us the link.

Add to this page

What you know every one of these is read by a person before it changes anything

Ran this race? Tell the next runner what you know.

Nobody sees it until we have read it. No account, no sign-in.

Leave blank if it applies to the whole race.

Leave blank if it is not about one particular stop.

Optional. Something like “Cal Street, mile 62 to 78”.

Write it the way you would say it to someone at the start line.

Optional, and it decides nothing. It only tells the next runner where this is coming from.

Optional.

Optional, and never shown on the page. Only so we can ask you a question about this note.

Leave this field blank.

See something wrong or out of date? Suggest an edit.

This changes nothing on the page on its own. Somebody checks it against the race first.

Optional. Filled in for you when you start from a specific line on the page.

Copy it as it appears, so we can find it.

The corrected value.

Required. Where it came from: the race email, the runner manual, what you saw on the day.

Optional.

Optional. A screenshot or a photo of the sign works.

Optional, and it decides nothing.

Optional.

Optional, only so we can come back to you about this correction.

Leave blank if it is about the whole race.

Leave blank if it is not about one particular stop.

Leave this field blank.

Seen a course preview or a film of this one? Send it over.

Somebody watches it before it goes anywhere near this page. What we are after is footage of this course, on the ground. If it would be just as true of any other race, it is not this.

Required. A line is plenty. Where the climbs are, what the footing does, what the last twenty miles look like.

Optional, and it decides nothing.

Optional.

Optional, and never shown on the page. Only so we can ask you a question about this one.

A YouTube link, a race report, a photo gallery, whatever it is.

Optional, and we credit them on the page.

Leave this field blank.

Have the GPX? Send us the link.

We want the address of the file the race publishes, not the file. We download it from there so the page can say where the line came from.

The page or file on the race's own site.

Optional, and only so we can ask you a question about it.

Are you the race director? Get in touch and we'll make it right.

We read every one of these and we write back. Every fact here carries the source it came from, and the way a wrong one gets fixed is a person checking it against what you tell us.

Required, because this is a conversation and we write back.

Tell us what is wrong, out of date, or missing on this page. We read every one of these and we will get back to you.

Optional.

So we know who we are writing back to.

Optional. Director, assistant, comms, whoever you are.

Leave this field blank.

Where this came from. Every fact on this page records its source and when we last checked it: 71 sources for this race. Hover a source link to read the sentence it came from.
33% of what we track for a course is filled in. The rest says "not checked yet" rather than guessing.
See something wrong or out of date? Suggest an edit
Ran this race? Tell the next runner what you know
Were you out there? Say which stops a text got out from
Got footage of this course? Send us the link
Are you the race director? Get in touch and we'll make it right.
Anything else: [email protected]

Ultras change. We will tell you when this one does.

Cutoffs move, races get postponed, lotteries open and close. We read the race's own sources and record where every fact came from. Put your email in and we will send you what changed, and where we read it.

No account, and nothing to cancel.

What happens to your email. Nothing else. I do not sell it, and I will not send you anything except this race changing. One click gets you out.

I keep this catalog because the information is scattered and hard to trust. Telling you when it moves is the same job.

Ultras change. We will tell you when this one does.

Cutoffs move, races get postponed, lotteries open and close. We read the race's own sources and record where every fact came from. Put your email in and we will send you what changed, and where we read it.

No account, and nothing to cancel.

What happens to your email. Nothing else. I do not sell it, and I will not send you anything except this race changing. One click gets you out.

I keep this catalog because the information is scattered and hard to trust. Telling you when it moves is the same job.