 Mark this course was having a laugh. With some of the most technical terrain you will find on a 50k race, 3,300 meters of elevation gain and to a sense of Snowden, this is the UTS 50k by UTMB. Welcome to film my run my name's Stephen here we are in Wales in Snowdonia to be precise we're here to run the 50k of the UTMB World Series event this is the only event in the UK which is a World Series event for UTMB where you can earn running stones there's the 165 which was cancelled earlier on for bad weather there's a hundred K which went off at four o'clock this morning in torrential rain it has cleared up for the 50k we're going to have a lovely time so we'll see you out on the course What's your name? Dan. Dan where'd you live Dan? Dan, he's a 6, great bro. And why have you come up to this today? Well we were on the 165 yesterday, got stopped in the night so yeah come for another another go today. Well good for you for getting up again and how far did you get yesterday? 40k? Yeah it was pretty horrendous wasn't it. Well well done. Yes hi buddy what's your name? Louis. Louis from where? Hong Kong. Nice to meet you. Right every single UTMB race in the world suffers from this because there are so many runners you get to about 2k in nobody has spread out you get to a tiny little fence or a gatepost or something and everybody's queued back for miles but that's just UTMB for you. I'm sure this is a harder effort than it should be. So we've climbed about 400 meters now in the UTS 50k we've traveled nearly six kilometres in about an hour so we're doing all right. Vic's doing well but we've got some absolutely gorgeous news behind us here and the runners all snaking their way up the hill there. Amazing. This is what we're here for this is what you come to these places for. Made it to the top of the first climb. Just want to get this done. Right first checkpoint at 15 and a half k 10 miles nearly. It had been the perfect start windy but dry a nice easy first climb on very comfortable terrain it wasn't going to last. Right we're about 21 kilometers into the UTS 50k and we're at the top of now I've already forgotten it. We're at the top of Minith Mawa which is about 700 meters above sea level. We've done that in three hours 41. Hello Melissa how's it going? Yeah they're doing lattes up here. Ice cream if you want it. Have you pushed my wife off a cliff? She really well is isn't she? Unbelievable. She'll talk to anyone all right top of the second climb. So we're just descending down to the second aid station now so we'll be coming up on 25k halfway but we've got to go down this lovely ridge first. This chap James managed to climb over this style slip off and land on his arm. Are you all right? I'm all right. I'm all right. I've been done with. What was that hill all about? Right we are 24 kilometers into the UTS 50k and it's not being without its mud as you can see here. We're having a lot. You're loving it and you know it. I see you've given up on trying to keep your feet dry now. Right second checkpoint this is halfway now so four and a half hours so we're still on between 10 and 12 but we've got the hardest bit to come now. Minith Mower had been far more demanding both up and down with very steep gradients, lots of mud and deep bogs. Things were beginning to get interesting. We've got to go up Snowden twice now. Yeah we go Snowden to the summit and then we come down and then we go Snowden just up to the standing stone which isn't quite to the summit and then it's down the Lamberis path to the finish. But we're enjoying it aren't we Vic? You know we are. It's flipping hard work but I'm really enjoying it. We've got 1.3 kilometers left to get to the summit of Snowden. You might just be able to see the summit of Snowden distance there. It is just shrouded by clouds but it's just a bit visible. Victoria is absolutely shattered but we only have 1,000 meters left of climbing in the entire race and about 20k to go. So we're on the top of Snowden Victoria's just certainly a few things out and then we're going to make our way down. And this is where the UTS 50k became something really special. Climbing down the notoriously difficult walking path demands your full concentration. And then scrambling along the superb ridge and up the rocks and boulders to climb to the summit of Ithliweth is as exciting as it is exhilarating. This section at 20 miles in is what sky running and mountain racing is all about. If you're looking to get into mountain racing this would be a perfect introduction. We were absolutely buzzing after this. So we're on top of Bethlehem so remember we were on top of Snowden over there about an hour or so ago and I saw that beautiful ridge so we climbed all the way along that beautiful ridge and we've made it to the top of this summit so we've got one more summit to do downhill to get to the A station 4k and then back up to Snowden and then down the Flambeiras path to the finish. Spectacular isn't it? Absolutely amazing views. Love it. So we've had this hilarious section to scramble down on our bums which has been great. Barrel of laughs section. How we laughed on the way down. So we've just finished the descent from Snowden. Beautiful sunshine on the lake there and we've got about a kilometer to go until we get to the A station. 37 kilometers in 7 hours 55 minutes so just shy of 8 hours. Yeah we're really tired now we're looking for this final A station which I thought was about 38 kilometers well we're now at 38 and a half. There's no sign of it anywhere. Okay so that is Penny Pass A station it's the final A station at about 39 kilometers. So all we need to do now is head up the pig track. Victoria is incredibly tired but she's ahead of me at the moment she's just forcing her way up the final climb here. We've got about 2 kilometers of distance left and about 350 meters of climbing left to do before you reach the top. So Dan we've noticed on the way up this final climb he like speeds past us and then we'll see him sitting down and then we'll speed past him and he says I'm just having a rest and then five minutes so we speed past us again. How many times have you done it so far? Four or five. Listen we are nearly there well done Dan keep it going. We are in the final section of the pig track now. Eventually after nine hours and 55 minutes we made it to the top of the pig track and started our descent into Tlambeiris. So 44 kilometers done just seven to go down the hill. The end now lovely little forest at the end and the bridge and the stream. Just like that our UTS 50k was over. It had taken us 11 hours and 16 minutes to travel the 52 kilometers and climb over 3,000 meters of elevation gain and now Victoria has her two UTMB running stones and is a bona fide ultra mountain runner. Look who we bumped into on the path. Mark Darbyshire so record holder for the archer patrician, record holder for Lakeland 100 and was in the lead of the 100 mile race here yesterday when it was abandoned. Are you feeling right though? Feel good yeah. Are you disappointed about the 100? Yeah a little bit not disappointed more sort of a little bit frustrated. You put a lot of mental effort and training into it and then it was going well yeah those things. What's next? UTMB's next.