Events/Dragon's Back Race

Dragon's Back Race

Running

Date

Mon, 6 Sept 2027

Venue

Conwy Castle → Cardiff Castle, Wales

Countdown

September

Distance

380km

Total climb

17,400m

Six days down the full mountainous spine of Wales, Conwy Castle to Cardiff Castle. Largely unmarked. You find your own way between checkpoints with map and compass, across open, cloud-covered mountain.

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The course

The route

Six point-to-point mountain stages from Conwy Castle in the north to Cardiff Castle in the south, linking mandatory checkpoints across Snowdonia, the Rhinogydd, Cadair Idris, the Elenydd and the Brecon Beacons. Around 40% is pathless bog and tussock, with rocky ridgeline and technical descent throughout.

Weather

Early-September, Conwy Castle → Cardiff Castle

17°CTypical high

14°CTypical low

11°CColdest in 20 years

53%Days with rain

Highs around 17°C and lows around 14°C, but it has dropped to 11°C. Rain on 53% of days.

NASA POWER data, 2006-2025, the week either side of race day

Training

Training for the Dragon's Back Race

We don't do generic plans. We combine deep knowledge of this race's demands with your recent training, then build a plan with you that progresses as you do.

Beina integrates directly with your existing tools to understand your current fitness, and synchronise your planned sessions.

Intervals.icu

What six days of Wales throws at you

Typical sessions

Self-navigation across pathless bog and cloud-bound mountain, where a fast wrong line costs hours

~17,400m of climbing over six days: relentless steep ascent and rough technical descent

Six consecutive stages scored on cumulative time, so multi-day durability decides it

Wet feet for a week, exposed cold tops, and an enforced cutoff to beat every day

What your weeks look like

Typical sessions

Map-and-compass nav runs on real hills, progressing to pathless and poor-visibility legs

Back-to-back weekends that grow into 3 to 5 day mountain blocks with camp-style recovery

Big-vert days of 4 to 7h targeting 1,500 to 3,000m, plus weekly downhill repeats for the quads

Pole power-hike repeats on steep ground, and some night running with a headtorch

Not a generic schedule

Typical sessions

Built from your current fitness and the time you actually have

Adapts every week as Beina learns how you respond

Syncs your sessions straight to Garmin and Wahoo

One clear next session, never a wall of spreadsheet

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7-day free trial, no card required.

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