Planners Optimum Route: 52km with 4,468m of ascent

Conwy Castle > Sychnant Pass > Tal y Fan > Drum > Foel Fras > Carnedd Gwenllian > Foel Grach > Yr Elen > Carnedd Llewelyn > Carnedd Dafydd > Pen yr Ole Wen > Ogwen Valley >Tryfan > Glyder Fach > Glyder Fawr > Y Garn > Elidir Fawr > Crib Goch > Garnedd Uain >Snowdon > Bwlch Cwm Lian Col > Llyndy Isaf Farm

91 competitors have gathered in the North Wales town of Conwy tonight for the second running of the Dragons’s Back Race – 20 years after the first run. The race that was too good to be forgotten, and until now too tough to put on again, has returned after two decades to challenge the very best mountain and ultra runners in the world.

The day before the 2nd Dragon's Back Race (twenty years after the first!) we have two video clips taken from the course earlier today.

Two days before the race begins Race Director Shane Ohly gives us a quick update on the preparations so far and shares a first look at the amazing Dragon's Back Race winners trophy!

Yesterday was our last office day. Today has been spent collecting hire vehicles, equipment and puzzling over how everything is going to fit in! Tomorrow morning we depart for Wales… via the local bakery to collect nearly 600 very large cakes that will be the desserts for the competitors and support team each night.

Whispered about with a mix of awe and trepidation, the original Dragon’s Back Race™ happened just once in September 1992. Many considered it to be the toughest mountain running event ever organised and now, almost twenty years to the day, this legendary race is returning and the running world is ablaze with expectation.

It is exactly five weeks before the 2012 Dragon’s Back Race™! During the last week of July, the event Race Director, Shane Ohly, has been busy in Wales making the final checks on the course before the event. This video was taken on the afternoon of Saturday 28th July at the final checkpoint before the finish at Carreg Cennen Castle a few miles away.

In addition to the individually numbered silicone wristbands, each competitor will also receive an individually number t-shirt (competitor 1, 2, 3 etc to 100). These will be totally unique and ONLY 100 will be printed and they will ONLY be given to competitors at registration.

This morning we signed off the Dragon’s Back Race trophies and production is beginning immediately. Each of the smaller trophies, which every finisher will receive, is hand cast in replica bronze and weighs nearly ½ kg.