Double Paddy Buckley Round - Reflections on Gratitude

The Double Paddy Buckley Round

Friday 31st May - Sunday 2nd June 2024

52hrs 51mins 35secs, 131.93 miles, 58,537ft

Round 1 

Parc Padarn Car Park, LL55 4TY, Llanberis

3.30am - Unlike its Lakeland and Scottish equivalents, the Paddy Buckley Round has no official start/finish point; the round simply must be closed. Unsure of exactly where to begin, the car park sign is chosen out of sheer convenience for crewing the upcoming turn-around between rounds in about a day's time. Myself, my father, crew Will Smith, and good pal/coach Damian Hall sip tea and debate the hot drink of choice.  

4am - We set off through the atmospheric inclines of the Dinorwig quarry into thick clag and drizzle, thankfully, 3 soft flasks and hill nosh weigh Damian down. It becomes quickly apparent that the tracker, well, isn’t tracking, so some bum pocket unzip and zipping is required to move it to the optimal place—but still no luck. More disappointingly, Damian won’t touch my behind, but he does shield me from the stress and reminds me we both are recording a GPX trace on our watches anyway. 

We hit the first summit of Elidir Fach in a leisurely 45 mins and onward to Elidir Fawr in an hour, right where I want to be. Smooth, not fast. The rock up here was unusually slippery; the warm, humid, and wet conditions conspired to coat much of the rock in a film of moisture, but perhaps it’s a good thing, preventing us from pushing too hard early on and enforcing caution. It’s too early for risks. We start ticking off peaks towards Y Garn moving with purpose, the wind an annoyance but a tailwind for the time being. The lack of views is a shame but I knew the weather would clear soon. Summiting Y Garn in 1hr 45mins, we descend quickly before working up the Glyders. The wind and drizzle are stronger now and we pause for 2 minutes for layers and nosh. Summiting Glyder Fawr after approx 2hr 15mins. Tracker still not working. The lines between summits on the Glyders are less well defined than up to this point, mainly due to... rock. So we start making minor navigation errors but rectify all quickly. Glyder Fach comes and goes before the scree descent down to the saddle before Tryfan. I love this downhill and briefly push ahead of Damian as he manages an awkward amount of kit, before rejoining me at the bottom. We push on to summit Tryfan in approx 3hrs 10-15 mins and take a moment to fuel before the descent to the A5 at the bottom of the Ogwen Valley. We suspected that good blood sugar levels might help with alertness here. Thankfully we were right. 

The West Gully descent of Tryfan is a scary place to be in such conditions, averaging nearly a 50% grade for 600m of descent in just 0.7 miles; there’s no way of navigating it without the use of hands. Damian remarks on at least 2 occasions this is the worst conditions he's seen on the descent. We both fall multiple times, but nothing bruised besides our egos. Mark Darbyshire and Sam Skinner meet us a third of the way up and join in on the gully ‘slip and slide’. We reach the road in 23 minutes from the summit, painfully slow, in fact, my slowest time ever. Leg 1 takes us 3hrs 45mins, 15mins up on schedule, but I had hoped to be at least 15 mins quicker. Perhaps the required caution was actually a good thing in hindsight.

A brief refuel, including a continental-style breakfast before the long slog up Pen yr Ole Wen, it’s great to catch up with Mark and Sam, two very strong runners, placing 1st and 9th respectively at the UTS 165km 2 weeks earlier. It takes a leisurely 50 mins to reach the summit before pressing on towards the Carnedds. Conditions are still poor, low visibility and high winds. We top out on Carnedd Llewelyn after a total time of just under 5hr 30 mins. Smooth, not fast, is the mantra of the day. Somewhere around Pen yr Helgi Du, the clag clears to reveal the sun-baked green slopes all around us. The forecast was right, for once! The descent off Pen Llithrig y Wrach to the road is particularly boggy and I drop my support due to carrying significantly less weight over the sapping knee-deep bog. I come into Capel Curig in 6hr 50 mins and am greeted by crew Will and Dave Hart (crew assistant extraordinaire) and speedsters Tony Fenn and Tim Broadhurst. A bowl of Will's special pasta is smashed down whilst Damian, Mark, and Sam arrive in earnest. Damian peels off for a well-deserved rest before taking up crewing duties, whilst the rest of us jog down the road to start the epic that is Moel Siabod. 

Halfway up Moel Siabod, there’s some confusion around who has which flasks, and who’s are who’s. Not ideal. Especially as the heat, sun, and humidity start to ramp up. Instead of taste testing everyones flasks, Tony sacrifices his 3 flasks of his Tailwind, which would be sufficient to get me to the quarries where Damian and Dave would hike in to meet us with a much-needed top up. Despite the mishap, we summit Moel Siabod in less than an hour from the outdoor centre and enjoy the long grassy descent towards Clogwyn Bwlch-y-maen, the first of 9 often deemed frustrating summits before arriving in the quarries as you head southwards to link up Moel Siabod with the Moelwyns. I had recced the entire route in both directions in the weeks/months leading up to the attempt but had some notable navigation howlers around here in my training runs, and I never entirely linked up a smooth/efficient line through the section. We deliberately took extra care and attention to achieve efficiency and choose the path of least resistance through the sapping terrain. The lads were fantastic, drip-feeding calories and liquid in, sacrificing their fluids to keep me well looked after. The lines weren't perfect, but in general, it felt smooth and we moved with purpose. Some of the trods away from the fence line to the summits are only traversed by Paddy Buckley attempts (unsurprisingly), and being late spring it meant the lines were completely overgrown in thick heather/undergrowth. So we often forced our way through. We summited Allt-fawr in about 10 hours before enjoying the descent to the quarries, taking us a further 30-ish mins. At the quarries, Damian and Dave had kindly hiked in with much-needed liquids and calories, legends. They also had sorted out ‘tracker gate’; we had been using the tracker designated for the second round (anticlockwise), but after a swap of the online tracking pages all was well in dot-watching land. I was relieved those at home could now track my progress.

The next 10-mile section of the round around the Moelwyns and Cnicht are my favourite of the whole round. We tick off the Foel Ddu and Moel-yr-hydd before traversing alongside Llyn Stwlan and The Ffestiniog Power Station, assuring to run well here before the quick and out-back to Moelwyn Bach. We traverse over to my favourite mountain, Moelwyn Mawr, ticking off Craigysgafn on the way. The descent off Moelwyn Mawr is gloriously runnable and easy on the feet. We make the most out of the short-lived runnable terrain before descending into the boggy link-up towards Cnicht. I had recced this link-up numerous times and this paid off as we managed to stay mostly on the optimal line towards the base of Cnicht. 

The climb up Cnicht is... a wall? It’s fecking steep and brilliant. I love the Paddy. I could tell that Mark, Sam, Tony, and Tim were enjoying this too, in a Type 2 fun sort of way. Summiting Cnicht, we take a quick pause for a refuel; it feels like a proper day out now. Looking back at the deep U-shaped valley between Cnicht and Moelwyn Mawr, it’s just so special. It’s a view I indulged in whilst grieving for my late grandfather in the weeks prior to the attempt. My stomach is a little bit unsettled on the 4-mile descent towards the National Trust car park in Aberglaslyn. Legs are starting to complain now, but we stay ahead of schedule, arriving at the support point in about 13hrs 30 mins—30 mins up. 6hrs 30mins for the leg, solid.

Being ahead of schedule combined with some pesky M6 traffic caused a classic hill support conundrum: Sabrina and Ben Verjee were 10 mins away. But no problem, as Tony kindly offered to continue on the next leg with Mark and Sam also agreeing to join on the slog up to Moel Hebog before peeling off to their car in Beddgelert. After some fantastic gnocchi (thanks Will!), we pushed on to Bryn Banog and then Moel Hebog. Myself and Damian Hall agree that the next 10-mile section is easy to underestimate after the notorious ‘long leg’; going clockwise it starts with 2-ish miles of the steepest and slowest miles anywhere in the UK before progressively getting somewhat easier, but the leg has a mixture of everything. It’s just easy to get demoralised on the net climb up towards Moel Hebog from the National Trust Car Park. The climb to Bryn Banog is a boggy, overgrown, swampy nightmare in the middle, before getting progressively steeper towards the summit, ending in several hundred feet of pulling yourself up tufts of grass. It’s very overgrown on the day, more so than when I recced the section numerous times, but I find the path of least resistance, and we make good time. We traverse the half a mile or so over to the bottom of Moel Hebog. Similarly to the Cnicht climb, the ascent is short but very steep and not well identified. There is a trod now, but it’s easily lost in clag. The cool evening conditions and clear visibility make my summit push good going. I reach the summit after nearly 15 hours of running and am greeted by a spectacular evening basking in orange sunlight, one which would stay with me for the rest of leg 4 (and perhaps my life). Mark and Sam say their goodbyes after an inspiring 36ish mile stint - I owe you lads a beer, and a run. Top company. Tony takes on board the extra nosh and liquids.

Thankfully for Tony’s now overflowing pack, Ben meets us halfway off the descent of Moel Hebog, having hiked up from Beddgelert, making impressive time en route. Another quick exchange of kit and fuel occurs before we continue on our merry way. Having not met Ben before, it is soon apparent that Ben is clearly an experienced endurance athlete and supporter, having competed in high-level adventure racing plus a wealth of experience in fell and ultra running. He knows exactly what to say at the right time. The techy, flowing descent off Moel Lefn felt great, and Ben remarked on how I was moving well. Whether he was telling the truth or not, only he knows, but it kept me feeling positive. Next, we bushwhacked our way up to Y Gyrn, sticking to the left of the wall and making strong progress. The climb and subsequent plateau is some of the very roughest ground underfoot, not from rock but heather, undergrowth, and gorse - not that it slowed us down. A short descent followed before working our way up to the Nantlle Ridge via the cheeky out-and-back to Mynydd-y-Ddwy-elor.

At the first Nantlle Ridge summit, Trum y Ddysgl, a glorious view outwards to the sea awaited us with the ridge basked in evening sunlight. I was glad to share it with Ben and Tony. We made tidy work of the ridge and the short scramble before Ben nailed the line off Y Garn down towards the forest tracks, finishing the leg for a total of just over 17 hours 30 minutes. At the support point, we took refuge in the van from the midges of hell. A good feed followed whilst Barry and Will performed some sort of quasi-rave, including disco lights. I said farewell to Ben and Tony, for the time being anyway.

Sabrina Verjee took up the unenviable role of being my only hill support for Leg 5. Myself and Sabs met and bonded at Lavaredo Ultra Trail last year due to prolonged shared suffering thanks to altitude sickness and GI distress. In other words, she's seen me at my lowest low and knows what I’m like. We also have a similar sense of humour and no-nonsense attitude. I trust her, and she didn’t let me down. Without any complaint, she shot off up towards Craig Wen, getting the line spot on despite not having run this section before. Despite being weighed down with 3 hours of liquid and calories, keeping up with her was an effort, and she kept me honest. Catching up was fab, and the time flew by as night fell around us. We summited Yr Aran and took the long line down following the path. It’s longer but less steep than the usual direct line, thus saving my quads a bit. The subsequent long climb onto the Snowdon massif felt okay, and Cribau Tregalan ticked by before we soon had the Snowdon summit all to ourselves, likewise with Garnedd Ugain. The descent flew by, and we soon found ourselves heaving along the Eilio Ridge. Will and Dave had hiked into the col between the Ranger Path and footpath down to Llanberis (between Moel Cynghorion and Foel Goch) to deliver some extra nosh and liquids to take some of the strain off Sabs. The quick top-up worked a treat. Mist had settled in at this point, but navigation on this leg is straightforward, one of the benefits of starting/finishing in Llanberis, plus going clockwise/anticlockwise. Doing the Snowdon leg back-to-back on night one meant for easy nighttime navigation, some grassy easy underfoot terrain on the Eilio Ridge, and of course, no Snowdon crowd dodging. We summited Moel Eilio in 21 hours 35 minutes before a frustrating descent into town due to particularly thick clag. We moved well enough, and before weaving through the houses, I touched the car park sign in 22 hours 5 minutes. Up approx 80-90mins on Nicky’s first round from 2019.

Round 2

I took a solid 15-20 minutes to eat and drink well whilst also changing shoes. Will kindly donated some calf sleeves to spare my shredded lower legs. I said a temporary goodbye to Sabs before picking up Damian and Jo Jardim, a childhood friend and fast runner, who would both now be with me until Aberglaslyn.

Trackers swapped, we set off on the gentle climb up towards Moel Eilio. On the grassy slopes, I experienced my first and unexpected wobble, an intense wave of tiredness; it only lasted 20 minutes but was odd considering it was only the first night. For 5 minutes, I fought hard to keep my eyes open. I suspect it was due to eating too much pasta at the support point combined with sitting down for too long and my gut needing significant amounts of energy/blood supply to digest. I made slow work of the Eilio ridge, but at the bottom of the Ranger Path, I resurrected myself. As dawn broke around us, we witnessed a spectacular cloud inversion. I had lost about 30 minutes on the schedule, but the weather kept me happy, and we tried to be efficient up to Garnedd Ugain. The summit towards Snowdon was not busy, but some people were around. If only they knew... Well, actually, they wouldn’t care; can’t blame them.

After descending the Snowdon massif, the steep climb up to Yr Aran followed as we took the direct and steepest line. The day was starting to get warm now, and there was some huffing and puffing. The boggy descent off Craig Wen followed, and we made good progress, but when arriving at the support point, it was clear we were still 30 minutes behind schedule. I changed shoes here again into the fell running pair I had used on the entire first round, mainly for the grip and connection to the ground. Joe deemed it appropriate to get the music going as we made efficient work of the forest tracks and tackled the grassy climb up Y Garn. I had dreaded this climb in my mind, but the recent fueling, change of shoes, and questionable music meant I moved with purpose as it was soon behind us.

On the ridge, things started to heat up, and I started to feel hot. On the climb up to Moel Lefn, Damian donated his buff to dip into water sources, but besides this, it was just a case of staying hydrated and not overexerting. It felt like heat stroke territory if I pushed any harder, so self-preservation mode kicked in as we continued to tick off summits, knowing full well I had the 23-mile leg coming up. It was critical I started that in decent condition. We seemed to find the right balance of forward progress and self-care on the wall that is Moel Hebog anti-clockwise. Meeting a runner on the summit recceing the Paddy seemed to perk me up. Around here, my feet started to swell, and descents were proving particularly painful with toes bashing up against the front of the shoe - the steep descent of Moel Hebog and Bryn Banog didn’t help! After some bushwhacking, a questionable line, and a reenactment of our favourite scene from Jurassic Park, we were off the mountain and hit the road where Sabrina Verjee was waiting for us. I remember this support point being busy, including family, but mostly because 5 legends decided to join me on the next leg - Sabrina, Ben, Tony, Barry, and Damian. But first, my feet needed tending to - 3 blisters popped and taped, shoes changed. Thanks, Sabs!

From the support point at the National Trust Car Park to the summit of Cnicht is 4 miles. In an effort to stay cool, I went full Jack Keunzle mode and stripped topless. The lack of wind and exposed sun on the climb was oppressive, but Ben, in particular, was fantastic company and constantly helped frame my mindset. Sabrina ate my Bassets. Tony took some fantastic shots. The subsequent descent of Cnicht was 'interesting' with 90-plus miles in the legs, but was surprisingly less precipitous than expected; maybe I was just too tired to care. Probably that. Sabs gave me a yum-yum (pastry) at the bottom, a food of the gods truly. I will hurl myself off Cnicht anytime for a pastry. The traverse over to the quarries was sapping as ever, but it went by quickly with the company. Five hill support runners felt like overkill at first, but actually, it was just perfect for this long leg on the second day. It felt like the pressure was away from me, and everyone was having a great time, like a social group run where I just happened to be the common (and smelly) denominator. People took turns to keep me company, and I was happy to sit at the back, listening to the topics of the day. Up and over the Moelwyns (my favourite mountains!)—I love the dramatic overhang on Moelwyn Bach approaching from Craigysgafn. At the bottom of the out-and-back to Moelwyn Bach's summit, Dan Beaumont appeared on round three of his mission to complete all four UK rounds for Mind Over Mountains, an epic challenge for an epic cause. He would go on to complete the Paddy in 23.58. Well done, chap. Well done.

Seeing Dan gave me a second (actually 76th-ish?) wind, and soon we found ourselves in the quarries where David Hart and Jo had hiked in—legends! Support in the quarries is really beneficial for this double; it essentially breaks the round into six legs of 10-13 miles. Dave had somehow sourced chips (NO KETCH UP) and they were still warm on our arrival! It was around this point I realised that my 48hr goal had become unrealistic, my legs felt okay, but my feet and the heat had become limiting factors. I was able to happily shift to my B goal of breaking the record of 57hrs, but also required my pacers keep my honest which they would.

Another low moment came as we moved out of the quarries towards Allt-fawr. The next 13-mile section to Capel Curig is just tough mentally; there’s no way around it. The terrain is rough and sapping underfoot, with no pleasing summits besides Moel Siabod right at the end. Ben and Sabs picked up on my mood immediately and started busting out the tunes and dance moves. I tried to run away. Once Allt-Fawr was in the bag, we headed north to link up with the Carnedds. Barry and Damian navigated, taking the mental load away from me, and did a fabulous job. My mood was up and down for the next hour or so. Damian had kept voice notes from dearest friends Dan Lawson and Darren Evans to play strategically at the right moment, and he timed it perfectly, making my eyes a little salty. Pesky hay fever. I pushed on.

Several hours passed, and we were on the grassy, gentle climb up to Moel Siabod. Damian remarked words to the effect of, “The run off Moel Siabod is really runnable and nice underfoot,” which it is—for ⅓ of it. Then it’s just ankle-snapping-sized boulders conveniently placed to annoy angry feet. At the summit, we met another runner attempting a Paddy. I wished him all the best, and it perked me up again. The subsequent descent was what it was. At the outdoor centre, Simon Motley and Danny Gomme were waiting on the balcony to give me a big cheer. I was confused at first but soon realised who it was—another case of the right people at the right time. As Dan Lawson says, “The universe delivers”. I had recced Leg 5 with them several weeks earlier and had a fabulous time, and they were in the area for final prep before attempting the round in late June. I’ll try my best to be there, lads.

Coming into Capel Curig was epic, although a little overwhelming. I sat in the van to change shoes while Laura attended to my very angry feet. 

Another change of support meant saying goodbye to Barry, Damian, Sabs, Ben, and Tony. You guys were brilliant. I then switched to the eagerly anticipated all-star team: Michael Corrales, Nina Davies, and Laura Darby Jones. As Laura (ace physio and runner) attended to my feet, Will, as usual spoiled me with a selection of the finest nosh—faultless as ever. Soon, Michael and Laura started leading the way towards Pen Llithrig y Wrach while I had a well-overdue catch-up with fellow The Green Runners co-founder Nina Davies. We moved with strong purpose to the first summit, expertly guided by Michael’s incredible knowledge of lines. He had even recced the line to the first summit in the days leading up to the attempt. You couldn’t find someone more thorough, humble and knowledgable.

I had a wobble over the Carnedds. Being the second-to-last leg, it was easy to mentally underestimate it—I didn’t feel that tired; I just became a little irrational, childish, confused, and sulky from Carnedd Llewelyn onwards. I wasn’t moving well but was trying so so hard, but my tender feet were limiting factors on the rocky terrain. Laura and Nina kept me honest and well-fueled, never taking no for an answer. Laura stayed close to me on the descents so I had some feet to follow. The wobble peaked coming off Pen yr Ole Wen, where I was convinced Michael was taking us down a different line from what was planned. In hindsight, it was the exact same way I had recced and came up two days before! After two days of running, I was beginning to get confused.

Due to being behind schedule and work commitments, Michael was unable to continue but wisely advised that I take the steps up Tryfan via the col and conduct an out-and-back rather than proceed up the West Gully. It would be longer and perhaps 5-10 minutes slower, but it would likely save me time over the course of the whole leg by preserving my body and welfare a bit. He was right, as usual—thank you chap! Step in… Will! To fill in the Michael-sized hole, despite crewing non-stop for nearly two days and nights straight, he decided that he wanted a night-time run! After giving me the best bowl of cereal and coffee in my entire life, he folded away the table and chair, then quickly got changed! In my confused state, I didn't put two and two together. 

On the way up to Tryfan, the sulky confusion stayed. I was convinced we were off course, but Will, Nina, and Laura were unwavering and stayed on the course instructed by Michael. They nailed it, and after a quad-busting, heaving ascent to the summit, we were greeted by the most spectacular sunrise for our efforts. It was so so fecking hard. We made efficient work of the descent to the col and pushed hard up the scree slope towards the Glyders while being basked in a glorious orange glow.

I had deliberately organised for Laura and Nina to be on the final two legs as they are two of the most incredible human beings you will ever find. They inspire me, and after Jasmin Paris’s exploits at Barkley, it was important to me that my attempt capitalised on strong women so that I would ‘woman up’ when it was vital to do so. They had recced their legs just one week before and had pushed me on my ‘why’ in the build-up, helping me deliberately focus some attention on my motivations. They knew that my grandfather had passed away a few weeks prior to the attempt and that I felt he had not yet seen me fully finish a major life goal. On their recce, Nina and Laura had taken a small stone from the Glyders and had later written his name on it, “Gurmukh 2024.” Upon arriving at Glyder Fach, Nina surprised me with the stone and prompted me to place it somewhere special. I found a small nook amongst the Glyder Fach summit pile and placed it just right.

My dad and I cannot thank Nina and Laura enough for this gesture. It will stay with me for the rest of my life and give me much-needed closure, even causing salty eyes at the time of writing. I hope I can repay the gesture to both of you in the future. I will try my best to do so. Spending the sunrise with Will, Nina, and Laura felt so right and special. I’m so glad that Will was able to join for the final leg after sacrificing so much time and energy to make this attempt a success.

We pushed on and made progress. I heaved myself up to Y Garn with Will feeding me chews en route! The finish was in sight. We had such a fantastic time on the last few summits towards the Elidirs. Knowing that my A goal was out of reach, I had shifted to my B goal of simply breaking the record, meaning I could take the time to get some fabulous shots with Will, Nina, Laura, and Gwen (the Gruffalo). I’m very glad I took my time to enjoy the final moments in fine company. Nina played me more voice notes, this time from West Country running legend and dear friend Mark Crowe and his daughter—more salty eyes. Pollen is bad up there.

The descent off the Elidirs through the Dinorwig Quarry was excruciating, but I couldn't have cared less. I forced myself to move well and reminisced about memories with those around me. Waiting at the finish were most of those who helped make this attempt a success. I touched the car park sign for the second time after 52 hours, 51 minutes, and 35 seconds and had a… beer.

The sheer audacity and bravery of Nicky Spinks to be the first person to attempt and finish a double PBR boggles my mind, even now. You couldn't ask for a better role model, and I feel privileged to have shared the same journey through the hills.

Thank you to my crew (Will Smith, Dave Hart, and Nicky Lygo), good friend/coach/mentor Damian Hall, hill support (Mark, Sam, Tony, Tim, Ben, Sabrina, Jo, Barry, Nina, Laura and Micheal), and my family enough for their unwavering support. These records might appear as individual pursuits on paper, but really, it's a team sport - none of this would have been possible without the team around me. You were brilliant. I hope I wasn't too smelly. I'm sure more memories will come back to me and I'll never forget them. What was that about a grey T-shirt?!

I had been preparing for the attempt for roughly 6 months. I wanted to test my limits, and for me, this was right out there on the outer edge of possibility. I probably set off too fast with a 22-hour-ish round, but if you want something badly enough, you have to do what it takes to get it. In order to set a time I could be proud of and not feel the need to return in the future, I knew that I had to leave it all out there. The only way to do that was to start purposefully and hang on for dear life, surpassing limitations in the process. Heat and foot issues due to humidity, sweat, & bog became limiting factors in the second round, but finishing was never in doubt. I knew that l deserved the right to decide the outcome of my attempt out there on the hill, so I did just that. Although my A goal didn't happen, I'm happy with the time achieved.

A special thank you to Alaistair Geddes, who kindly let me use his holiday let in Talsarnau as a base for my training/recces. WIthout his generosity the quality of training would have not been achievable, and thus the success of the attempt significantly reduced. 

Ultimately, it was gratitude for everyone who supported me that really got me around without any complaints or objections. Thankfully, gratitude was more than enough.

"If you're gonna sit down and take 3 hours out of your day to watch me on TV I have an obligation to give you my best, to give you my best all the time." - Micheal Jordan.