I ran the Way of Legends in 2018. I came second to someone much quicker than me and had a bit of a tussle for my place with a quick Frenchman. It was a brilliantly organised race and one I considered doing again but then Covid happened, the race didn’t and it looked like the Way of Legends would become a legend in its own right and vanish into history. Except…
The Way of Legends is the creation of Manu Pastor. He is supported by an amazing team, which is part of what makes the race so great. It was also certain members of that team (the medical section I believe) that harangued, pestered and probably bullied Manu until he agreed to run one last edition of the Way of Legends. As past entrants, Sharon and I received advanced notification of the race and immediately said yes. Later in the year we met Kim and Ali at Druids. They asked us about recommendations for overseas multiday events. ‘Well, there is this absolutely brilliant race in Spain…’
Getting from Madrid to Burgos is straightforward, just take the bus. We had learnt from our previous experience to book the bus in advance though. We did have a slight moment of confusion when we had the same seat numbers as Kim and Ali but it turns out there were two buses going to Burgos, both at the same time, and we were in the same seats, but on different buses.
We were picked up from the coach station and taken to the new race HQ in the very pretty village of Ros.
Once we arrived at Race HQ, it was just like one huge reunion party! The fact we hadn’t seen many of the people there for six years was irrelevant, we all remembered each other and spent the next quarter of an hour or so exchanging hugs and introducing ourselves to all the people we hadn’t met before (in Kim and Ali’s case that was everyone but they quickly had a lot of new friends).
The new Race HQ had a pool but no-one (apart from Manu’s son) had been brave enough to get in it.
I think it would be fair to describe our room as ‘cosy’ but it was perfectly fine for our three night stay.
The following day was race check-in. This consisted of kit check and being issued with a race number and various Way of Legends goodies. The kit check was very short compared to what I’ve grown used to from ‘grim Northern’ races in the UK. The only items I had previously questioned with Manu were the head torch and red rear light – not because I didn’t have them, they were both mandatory for the Spine Race – but because it appeared there should be absolutely no chance of us having to run in the dark. The reply I got was that this was true, however if things did go horribly wrong and I did end up totally lost and it got dark, being able to see and be seen might be quite useful. This seemed fair enough so I didn’t question it further. Everything else was as you would expect for a mountain race. I suspect the absence of waterproof trousers from the kit list was an oversight. I’m so used to having them I packed them anyway.
Kim and Ali both have the same birthday – although Kim does like to remind everyone she is three years younger. This was on the registration day. Just because they were new to the Way of Legends family, this doesn’t mean the occasion wasn’t going to be marked by the Way of Legends team and so they both got birthday cakes with candles.
After everyone was registered we had our ‘Welcome to the Race’ and first race briefing. I hindsight should have paid more attention…
The race briefing wasn’t the last item on the agenda, we were all to go to the village church at 6pm – but why?…
At the church Manu talked about the passing of Hans Schmidt, a veteran ultra-runner and friend of Manu’s, who had celebrated his 80th birthday by climbing Aconcagua, the highest mountain in South America. Manu had created a one-off ‘Hans Schmidt Trophy’ to be voted on by competitors and volunteers. The winner would be the person most considered to personify the spirit of Hans, selflessness, determination and just generally being a good person.
This was great but there was another reason we were in the church, and a reason for there being a number of local people there too. We were to have a quite brilliant performance from an incredibly talented individual. I later found out the name of the individual was Silberius de Ura and this was his neønymus project.
I can’t really describe the performance so I will quote from his website:
A man alone, on stage, with his voice, some small unusual instruments and a loop station, constructing melodies that suggest scenes from prehistory and the current era. Different vocal lines created live, which weave and intertwine, sometimes raising chords, sometimes small phrases in counterpoint.
Sound landscapes that begin with the knocking of a bone inside a cave, a rhythm punctuated by the man’s breathing and the drops of water that fall from the stone vault. The shaman’s diphonic song invoking the spirits of the animals, while he hits the stalactites, comes from the depths of the grotto.
After the performance we were invited by the local people of Ros to join them at their community hall/bar for some meat and potato stew, which was delicious.
It was time to start running -however this is the Way of Legends so we needed an opening ceremony and blessing for the race. apparently the Shaman was busy but the Witch did a wonderful job of being mysterious and giving out our lucky laurel leaves.
A quick team photo and it was time to start running!
The first stage was a 42km loop through the countryside surrounding Ros with 1100m of climb. There’s no easy introductory stage on the Way of Legends! The stage had three checkpoints and two control points. Control points are generally at road crossings, points where one could go wrong or at the last bar of the day for those that wanted refreshment before they got to the finish. According to Manu, his Mother was usually responsible for any controls or checkpoints at a bar… Checkpoints supplied water but nothing else – apart from encouragement, which was welcome.
My aspiration was a top five finish. I had been told by Manu the hot favourite was a Greek runner called Argyrios Papathanasopoulos. I had never met or spoken to him but it sounded like I had no chance of winning. My hope for top five was based on the runners I knew or knew about – for all I knew there could be several international standard athletes on the roster I’d never heard of. My immediate concerns were Rob, a past Way of legends winner, Jean, the person I’d raced for second place last time, and Felix. I’d never met or raced against Felix but he was 24. Compared to me this made him a foetus but I suspected he’d be a fit and fast one. From the female side, I was certainly prepared to be racing Harri at least but as the male and female races are categorised separately on Way of Legends, I wasn’t going to be racing any women for podium spots.
As it turned out, Rob had some Achilles/bone spur problems and was planning on a relatively sedate run with his wife. This made a podium finish more possible but see previous comments about me not really having a clue. One of the things I quickly learned to accept about running is that there are a lot of people quicker than me. There is no point getting hung up about absolute finishing position, my ambition is to do the best I can. That performance could get me first or it could get me tenth place but if I’ve done my best, I’m happy. Anyway after all this pointless overthinking I decided to start in the pack and see who went for it and how things unfolded.
I gradually moved up the pack until I was third. Argy had vanished into the distance and I found myself racing Felix, the 24 year old. I was generally quicker downhill but he would overtake me on the uphill. As there was more uphill than downhill in the first 10km, he soon built up a lead over me. Actually the first checkpoint was at a similar height to the start but the last descent was steep, technical and involved much faffing about on a log to avoid getting my feet wet crossing a small ditch. Felix seemed to tackle this much better than me as I could hear the cheers from the checkpoint staff announcing his arrival as I was slithering down the hill.
From Checkpoint One the overall theme was up. There was the odd bit of down but that was only so you could do a bit more up. At about 18km there was a sharp turn – with a marshal to make sure no-one missed it – and I caught a glimpse of Felix before he disappeared from view in some trees.
After the trees the path crossed a road before the final climb up to the day’s highest point. There was a volunteer at the crossing point, not because there was any traffic but simply to make sure we went the right way. I could see Felix on the climb and was exhorted to ‘Keep him in sight!’ by the marshal. As the climb steepened I could see I was gaining on him and eventually caught him up. He very sportingly stepped aside to let me pass. I asked how he was and he said he was struggling a bit with his knees, especially on the downhill. He lives in Berlin and hadn’t been able do much mountain training. I sympathised, I had similar problems on my first Way of Legends with some long downhill sections. Since then I’ve done quite bit of mountain running, including on my many trips to Fuerteventura and of course the ‘grim Northern’ races, but I know what a battering your knees and quads take the first time you run downhill for any length of time. I continued up the trail and reached Checkpoint Two.
The top was somewhat shrouded in mist so I didn’t hang around for too long.
After the peak there was a lot of fast downhill on easy tracks and roads. I pushed as hard as I could on these sections as I knew that Felix would struggle and so I wanted to try and open as much of a lead as I could. As I said, my aim is always to do as well as I can. I was in second place, I would have to work hard if I wanted to stay there.
I passed through the last checkpoint of the day fairly quickly. It was less than 11km to the finish and I had topped my bottles up at Checkpoint Two so I was confident I had enough water to get me to the finish.
On the way to the last control point at Los Tremellos I passed some stone crosses. I assumed they were to mark the fall of brave competitors in previous races, but apparently they mark the Stations of the Cross on the path.
I was on a seemingly endless white path and was a little confused. As I said, I didn’t pay enough attention to the race briefing and remembered a big road crossing being mentioned. I was getting close to the end and I couldn’t see a big road. Thinking about it, the course was a loop and as I hadn’t crossed a big road previously, why would I be crossing one now? The big road crossing was on a later day and had been mentioned only in passing. However I was now slightly losing confidence and when I didn’t see a marker for what seemed like a while, I doubled back to make sure I hadn’t missed a turn. The next marker was about 20m beyond where I lost confidence… Anyway I continued along the endless track until it ended and I was back in Ros. I was a very long way behind Argy (45.5 minutes) but how far would I be ahead of Felix? 31 minutes later Stephan arrived. Felix had slowed quite a bit and was another 18.5 minutes behind Stephan – I had a new person to worry about!
I chatted to Argy at the finish whilst we refuelled. He was very modest about his achievements but Leadville, Western States, Badwater, Spartathlon – he was clearly in a different league to me. Don’t get me wrong, I would put completing the Winter spine on a par with any of those races as an achievement but that’s only one race, Argy’s running CV is more like a list of the biggest and most iconic races in the World. I would love to be able to say he is a conceited, arrogant, pain in the backside but he is also one of the nicest and most supportive guys I’ve ever met.
Manu came and spoke to me after dinner and asked if I would be OK with starting Stage Two an hour later with Argy. It seemed a bit of a stretch to me to suggest we were in the same league but equally starting later should give me a chance to see a few more people as I (hopefully) caught the steadier runners.
Stage Two was slightly shorter at 38km but it had 1600m of climb. It was more or less a steady climb for about 22km, a steeper climb for 9km to the top of Trigaza Sur, then downhill to the finish. There were again three checkpoints but only one control, on the peak.
The start was at San Juan Ortega, about an hour from Ros. Everyone else got on a coach but the ‘elites’ were driven to the start by car an hour later.
I can only describe the start as a Formula One car lining up beside a tractor (I wasn’t the F1 car).
The first 5km was along the Camino de Santiago. I saw a few pilgrims but it wasn’t a great day for a pilgrimage, grey and drizzly. I struggled with the gradual uphill and was happy when I eventually started to catch a few people and could at least exchange a few words. I was happy to see Bluebells though.
There was a kit check at the final checkpoint to ensure we had our foil blanket and fleece as we were heading into some fairly inhospitable conditions. I was actually quite happy to start ‘proper’ climbing, unfortunately the low cloud obscured most of the views, although the occasional break gave glimpses of what might have been.
The peak is 2085m high and still had a little snow on it. I won’t post the selfie I took here – I just look miserable with a grey background.
I don’t remember much about running down so I guess it was OK. We were spending one night at a mountain lodge in Pineda de la Sierra. It was cosy but the top three men were given the comparative luxury of a separate room with single beds rather than bunks and its own bathroom! It also had a two bed room off the main room which was given to Felix and his Dad, Dirk. Dirk had badly torn a muscle and was out of the race so Argy felt they might need a bit of comfort so we gave them the room. Gary had got wet and hypothermic and so was also out of the race, the second stage had taken its toll.
Stage Three was a kind of a loop. It returned to the village of Pineda de la Sierra but then went out of the village in an uphill kind of direction to what had been a ski lodge called Refugio Valle del Sol. The stage was ‘only’ 30km long but had 1700m of climb. Today’s high point was San Millan at 2130m. There were the usual three checkpoints as well as two controls.
Argy was to start an hour later than the main start again. I had been given a choice of start time and went for 8:30. I hoped this would mean I would get to see around 30 of the other runners during the course of the day. It also meant I could see how far I could get before Argy caught me. Despite starting later, both myself and Argy went out for the group photo at the very picturesque Church of Saint Juliana.
It was slightly strange starting alone. I don’t remember exactly when I started to overtake people but by the first checkpoint I was working my way up. I passed Felix on the way into the first checkpoint and caught Sharon on the start of the climb up from the checkpoint to the mountain peak. On my way up I looked round and saw that Felix had passed Sharon and was hot on my tail. I pushed harder and managed to remain ahead but it was a reminder that I couldn’t take my second place for granted.
The mountain top was again shrouded in mist but the run down was great fun, especially as the mist cleared a little.
I really enjoyed the run down.
Even the water crossing!
All was good until I was back in Pineda de la Sierra and the final climb. As it was it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as it was for someone else but I did start to struggle. The climb was quite hard but the struggle was more of a mental one. The path steadily climbed through a forest. According to my watch I thought I should have only around 500m to go, however all I could see were apparently unending trees. Had I miscalculated? Was the road book wrong and the stage longer? To be fair the distances given each day were fairly spot on but these are the doubts that can creep in. Fortunately the trees started to thin out and I could just see the top of a roof – I was now desperately hoping that was the finish and not just a random building. Fortunately it was, Stage Three was complete!
I mentioned that someone else had a significantly tougher final section than me. That someone was Stefan. He didn’t realise you had to go through a wire gate, ran along another path instead, unfortunately eventually found tape left from another event two weeks previously and followed that, adding 11km to his day. This dropped him to fourth male and, in a repeat of 2018, moved Jean up to third.
The fourth stage was a loop from the lodge. It was similar to the previous stage in that it was 31km with 1700m of climb but today the climb came in the form of two ‘short sharp shocks’. The first was straight up, what had been the ski slope back to the lodge, to a ridge. This was a climb of 400m in a distance of 1.2km, quite a steep climb. The second was back up onto the ridge from the other side. We were warned this would seem never-ending. It was actually about a 600m climb over a distance of about 4.5km. In between we followed the ridge for a while before dropping down on the opposite side to the lodge – hence the climb back up. As before there we three checkpoints along with three controls.
As on the previous stage, I started at 8:30am. This seemed about right as on Stage Three I had caught most of the other runners but not all. It also meant I got to watch everyone as they set of up the ski slope.
I went out slightly early for my start so I could get a picture of the runners still on the slope – which was most of them. I went to take my phone out of my pack, ran back into the lodge to get it, quickly took a photo and set of in hot pursuit of the main pack.
The climb up was tough. Not only was it steep, the forest track gave way to loose rocks. It wasn’t dangerous but it did require care. I think it took me about 25 minutes to get to the top. I think I passed Megan and Sam just before the top and Kate as I reached the summit. I loved catching up with these wonderful people because they were always so positive and supportive as I passed them. Sam and Megan were from Australia. Megan had done these kind of event before but I think it was Sam’s first time. Whatever, they always had friendly encouraging words for me. Kate was at the Way of legends the last time I’d done it. She DNFed that time but was determined to succeed this time. She was also very supportive and had a hug and a kiss for me as I passed her each day. Ultra races are a different challenge for different people, some of us are looking to run as fast as we can, others take more time and probably see a lot more of the scenery.
Speaking of the scenery, I was hoping for less cloud than on the previous days and it looked like my wish was being granted, at the top of the ridge I could just see back down to the lodge.
The mist soon cleared some more and I was starting to get views along and off the ridge. Running along the ridge was great, easy track and overall downhill. I should have enjoyed it, I am a Ridge Runner after all!
The path descended through some forests and was very easy to run.
The path continued to descend and passed through what seemed to be farmland. At some point Argy cheerily passed me and ran off up a hill I had every intention walking up.
The path seemed to be undulating with the odd climb and I was starting to wonder if Manu had been exaggerating when he claimed we’d have a ‘never ending’ climb to the ridge. Sadly he wasn’t. The climb was everything we had been lead to believe. Fortunately over the course of events such as the Spine Race, Lakeland 100 and the Cheviot Goat, I’ve had a lot of experience of endless climbs, however this one was definitely right up there with anything I’d done before.
I was slightly reminded of Cross Fell on the Pennine Way. Not only was it a very long climb up but once I’d got back onto the ridge I had a further undulating climb up until I reached the checkpoint. Fortunately from there I could leave the ridge at the final checkpoint of the day and drop back down towards the lodge. The path required some care as it was steep and rocky in places. After the steep and rocky bits it was just a case of carefully following the markers onto the road to the lodge. I started to rain a little but as I was within a mile of the finish and sheltered by trees I didn’t feel the need to put my waterproof on.
For me, the day had gone quite well, the weather had been better and I’d increased my lead over Jean by 15 minutes. However for others it hadn’t been quite as plain sailing.
When passed Kim and Ali I had seen they were walking but hadn’t notice Kim was limping quite badly. She had fallen and pulled her hamstring. Actually she had torn two of the three muscles that make up the hamstring off the bone and the third was hanging on by a thread. This was obviously not good news and meant that not only was her defence of third place female over, her entire race could be over.
While I was dozing after finishing, the rain got heavier and developed into a thunderstorm. Three people, Megan, Sam and Kate were still on the mountain. Obviously this was far too dangerous a place to leave them so Manu deployed some of the resources he had put in place, in the form of two four wheel drive buggies, to get them off the mountain and down to safety.
Stage Five was much more like the ‘old’ Way of Legends. It was 43km with 600m of climb but also 1100m of descent so finally we were going downhill! It also finished at the monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña, a place I was familiar with from my previous Way of Legends experience. For the last time I would be starting 30 minutes after the main pack, with Argy starting 30 minutes later. As usual there were three checkpoints. This stage also had two control points.
The best news of the day was that Kim was going to continue. Ali would run on his own and she was going to walk a full marathon with a torn hamstring just to keep her Way of Legends alive – a true Legend if ever there was one.
The first tracks down from the lodge were through some woods and actually reminded me very much of the woods of Little Baddow, surely a good omen for the day?
This morning when I passed Megan and Sam they held their walking poles aloft to form an arch for me to run through and were singing ‘By the Rivers of Babylon’ for reasons which made sense at the time but which I won’t try and explain. I also passed Kim quite early on. She wasn’t exactly moving easily but she was smiling and being very positive.
A significant part of the stage was along a path built along the route of an old railway line. It was quite easy running and we finally had some nice weather.
After the disused railway, the underfoot conditions became slightly more challenging. The mud was mostly avoidable but there were a lot of large puddles and slippery sections to be negotiated.
Some of the latter parts of the stage had some very slippery and very sticky mud which was impossible to avoid – once again I was reminded of Little Baddow, this time the fields in winter rather than the woods. This gave way to a solid track which I was able to run along until I reached the monastery and the finish of the stage.
Unfortunately the amazing Way of Legends kitchen team aren’t allowed to use the kitchens at the monastery so Manu arranged for the delivery of a couple of small paellas for us…
Ali had made the most of running on his own and finished second overall to Argy. Kim’s strength and determination saw her through to the finish a few hours later for a touching reunion on the finish line.
One of the optional activities at the monastery is to go to evensong. I’m not even remotely religious but there is still something very uplifting about watching and listening to the monks so I went.
The final leg was exactly the same as the 2018 Way of Legends, in fact I believe every edition of the Way of Legends has finished with a 13km trot from the monastery to Burgos cathedral. There was to be 200m of climb and 300m of descent, trivial compared to what had come before.
Unless something went badly wrong, the men’s podium was settled. I would need to beat Argy by four hours to get first, Jean would have to beat me by two to get second and Stefan would have to beat Jean by two hours to deprive him of third place.
The women’s race wasn’t quite so settled. First and second looked fairly decided but Lynn was only 5 minutes behind Christine, who was third. Lynn let it be known she was up to the challenge and would be racing for third place on the last leg.
On the last day everyone starts together and the volunteers can also run (or cycle). The photo sequence is courtesy of Run and Races – well the photos are, the silly captions are entirely my own work.
Argy blazed of into the distance in pursuit of the course record. I started further back but soon found myself running alone in second place. As I didn’t need to race I took a few photos on the way.
I also managed to pose and even smile for the camera on the way.
As Burgos cathedral came into view, Jena and one of the volunteers, Matt, caught up with me. We ran together towards Burgos with the plan we would all cross the line together. However…
As we crossed the final bridge, Jean suddenly accelerated, I wasn’t having that so I accelerated (and nearly took out a mobility scooter apparently). The net result was I went flying straight through the finish barrier and completely ruined the finish photos.
Sharon finished about ten minutes after me at a much more sensible pace. We posed for a finish line photo in our Ridge Runner shirts.
As is traditional everyone stayed at the finish until everyone had finished. One advantage of having a Frenchman on the podium is that champagne will appear from somewhere.
Lynn missed out on third place by an agonising two seconds. Despite only having one working leg, Kim completed the last stage to become a very definite Legend. Our last classified finisher was Kate, this was the first time she had managed to complete a multi-day ultra so it was a huge achievement, especially as she was out in some much worse weather than I had to deal with.
The penultimate ‘stage’ of the Way of Legends is the prize giving. This involved food, wine, and medals. The position of the Way of Legends as one of the best and most unique races I have ever done is cemented by the medal. It isn’t a medal, it is a micro-sculpture, totally unique and the only medal I wear as an item of jewellery.
It is made by a very talented local artist called Oscar Martin de Burgos. It’s called the Fenix and is solid silver. For the Golden Edition of the Way of Legends it was plated with gold. This made me very happy as I have a silver and a gold version. I was very honoured to receive mine from it’s creator.
As I had finished second I also got a trophy and some rather nice hand crocheted flowers from Manu’s daughter.
I said the meal was the penultimate stage – the final stage was the party. What happens in Burgos stays in Burgos but there was some alcohol, a conga line, and some dancing on a shelf just to give you an idea…
The evening finished with a rousing chorus of ‘We are the Champions’ and we all staggered off back to the hotel – which fortunately wasn’t very far away.
This is the bit where I get to all the thank yous – except that this time it’s easy, every single person involved either as a competitor or volunteer made my experience better, so thank you all. If I have to pick out anyone the Laura and Helen for bullying Manu into running the race; Maria, because she is lovely and never objected to my sweaty hugs at the end of each day; and of course Manu for doing as he was told and putting on just the best race. I would also like to thank Hannisze Xuanyi Yong for her wonderful photos (all the Run and Races credited photos in this blog are from her).
The last word as ever is saved for Sharon. I haven’t mentioned her much but she had a great race and finished fifth female. She also of course got me to the start and did all the logistics so I could just turn up and run. Our next adventure is back on the Pennine Way for the 2024 Summer spine Challenger South, 108 miles for which the only way will again be Pennine!
The Only Way Is Pennine... 