The 2024 Dragon's Back Race proved to be an amazing week of running in the Welsh Mountains - and a successful week for Team SCARPA - with 3 of the team in the top 5.
Simon Roberts ran an amazing race all week, and kept pace with such an amazing runner for a lot of the race - finishing the race in second place in a time of 47:18:16.
A week or so on from the finish of the Dragon's Back Race 2024 - we caught up with the SCARPA team to check on the legs and get their thoughts on this year's epic event.
Jon Shield
I feel really good, started back light training for the Desert which is only 8 weeks away now. Gabe Joyes
I had high expectation for The Dragon’s Back and everything about the event surpassed my hopes!
From the people, the landscape, the camp experience, everything was just so fun and interesting!"
I wore the SCARPA Golden Gate ATR 2 for almost the entire race because they are just so comfortable, light, and well cushioned—the cherry on top was that they dry extremely fast as well!
My highlights and best memories of the Dragon’s Back Race are sharing the trails, ridges, and misty summits with new friends from both near and far. I loved soaking up everything about Welsh culture–and the rain!
Lewis Ryan
It was an incredible experience. I’m gutted to have not finished it, but I learnt a lot from the mistakes I made, and I’ll certainly feel more prepared going into it next time round (I’ll be giving it a few years…). Being in that bubble with such a diverse range of people, and some of the best runners on the scene was special, and I can look back on it positively now after a week of wallowing!
I wore Spin STs most mornings then switched to the Planets for the afternoon.
I took the Spin STs, knowing that there are huge sections of the course that are muddy, boggy and slippy. I was a little nervous about how my feet would hold up in them, but I had no issues. They did great on wet rock, but really came into their own on the grassy descents.
Seeing Gabe Joyes experience his first proper bog. It’s an important right of passage for any runner coming to the UK, and he went all in. I was proud. On a more serious note, I spent a lot of time running with Gabe, and his endless positivity kept me going through some tough times. It was a pleasure!
Simon Roberts
I'm very pleased with my performance. Stuck to my plan for a steady start, then raced hard all week, I couldn't ask for much more than that.
I was very pleased to get to the end as my previous attempt lead to a DNF on day 5. I had a super fun week, I loved it!
But I also got reminded of how tough this race is. There were quite a few dark moments throughout the week.
