Inter-Celtic Trail Champs 2026 - The hottest year in living memory!

I vowed to do my best on this one - a 26km (ish) trail race representing Wales and up against strong teams from Brittany, Galicia, Ireland and Cornwall all toeing the line at the beautiful Trail de Guerlédan in Brittany. With a start time of 13.30 and an uncharacteristic May heatwave sweeping through Western Europe there was no two ways about, it wasn’t just about who could run the fastest, but who could survive the heat!

In a way, my weakness here became my strength. Through 38 years of being a ginger I have learnt one thing the hard way - I love the sun but it doesn’t love me. And I respect that. So I deployed every strategy possible to keep cool and dodge the sun as much as I reasonably could. That involved hydrating like a champ, drenching myself in suncream, jumping in the lake just before the race started and stuffing ice cubes down my sports bra. What more could you do?

I tried to take it easy in the first 10k but every time I looked down at my watch my heart rate was sky high. Surely I couldn’t stay in the 180s for more than an hour?! But legs felt OK and I was loving sneaking past people on the rocky technical descents in the woods so I pushed on. At halfway I was out of water and delighted to finally reach our support team Arwel and Katy at the aid station. I couldn’t speak, just let them chuck water over me and fill my bottle while I chugged water and set back off, into the sauna! Support on course was incredible and I got carried away coming out of the aid station through a tunnel of supporters lining a short climb. Zegama vibes. I felt like a superhero…until the crowd thinned out and I was left bursting with lactic facing yet more of an incline with a distinct lack of crowds to cheer me on. 

I had been sat in 5th position for most of the race, aside from a small incident where, while I stopped to check on a guy who stacked it right behind me, a train of 10 people charged through, including a woman from team Ireland. I worked my way back to this train, only to get caught at the back of a traffic jam on some techy single track terrain. Eventually me and team Ireland managed to sneak past and I then caught up to teammate Lucy who had taken a fall. She was OK so I tapped past her and back into 5th.

After halfway everything changed, the heat was catching up with me and so were some women. I was ripping through my water and had to stop and ask some random supporters if they could spare me some of theirs. At one point I ran into the lake, half to cool off and half to rinse the wee off my legs. Yes, it’s a first, all that hydrating came at a cost and I actually found myself weeing as I ran. I am still not 100% sure whether this was an act of dedication to unrelenting forward motion Tour de France stylee or heat-induced incontinence, but either way worst things happened that day on the trails and I feel it is my duty to bring full disclosure to the public forum.

Anyway, despite all the cooling strategies deployed, the uphills became tougher, which was a shame because the second half was notoriously hillier than the first. I gave myself a little talking to, legs are OK, lungs are OK, this is supposed to be fun, just settle in, you’ll feel better. And I did. I found a rhythm again, albeit slower, but I was moving and the final aid station was inching closer. This time I stopped for longer, picked up coke, chugged more water and got hosed down by a handily placed guy with a hosepipe. This is where I met Nicola, another team Ireland rep who had also shown a lot of love for hosepipe guy. We exchanged a few words, she let me go ahead for a bit but it soon became apparent she was feeling a lot fresher than me and before long she breezed past and I watched her pull away on the final climb. This climb was a battle with myself. A walking one. I tried to pull it together, spurred on by a French supporter and her welcome news - ‘200 more metrrre, then down!’ 

Anyone can do 200m! And I did, even finding the energy to pick it up for the last 500m flat to the finish where somebody handed me a Welsh flag to carry over the line. Everyone feels like a hero in Trail de Guerlédan. Even the girls who wee themselves running! 

I had hung on for 7th woman and after staggering from the line I was met by my teammates to discover Jacob had finished 1st, Josh 3rd and Eden had come in 2nd for the women!! Sadly Gwynant had really struggled in the heat and collapsed at the finish, with no memory of the final 10k though he somehow completed them in a decent time!! He was being looked after in the medical tent and you’ll be pleased to know perked right up after an hour on a drip and some shade! Some of the other runners didn’t fare so well and there were numerous ambulances arriving to cart people off to hospital, I hope they have recovered now, so tough out there and you just don’t know how your body will react to the heat. Lucy was struggling in the heat too but she brought it home for Wales and even mustered a sprint finish to fend off a last minute surge attempt! 

What a day! Some huge lessons and life skills learnt. Look, I am calling it a life skill OK. I am proud of myself for digging deep and putting in a good shift in the heat on the trails. Turns out, I can keep my heart in the 180s for over 2hr30! Not sure what the haematologist would say about that but a day later writing this I feel absolutely fine so I am glad to have survived it! I am even more impressed by my teammates, for both great results and for getting it over the line for the team even whilst feeling rough as! It all paid off to get us a team silver prize and some snazzy new T-shirts! A great event in great company, it was short and sweet but I had an absolute blast!