Fan Dance Exercise High Moon-Special Forces Selection Load Bearing Night March up Pen Y Fan, Brecon
The Fan Dance website: "The Fan Dance Exercise High Moon is the UK's very first and only Special Forces Selection orientated Load Bearing night march and trail run.
It is an unique challenge providing an experience far removed from any other; staged across a dramatic, hair-raising and truly spectacular mountain route set in true SAS Selection heartland of the Brecon Beacons, Fan Dance High Moon provides a very different tests of endurance and true grit.
The backbone of the High Moon route will follow the Fan Dance trail and general format, but with numerous route deviations that take on some of SAS Selection's most legendary and iconic features. The one constant is to expect and anticipate a very long and demanding night in the high hills whatever the weather"
http://www.thefandancerace.com/high_moon.html
Karen and I enter the 15 mile race as a training race for Rat Race"City to summit" 2017 our massive July challenge which will also raise money for Children with Cancer.
We prepared our race kit over the Christmas period and god there was an extensive kit require just for the "clean fatigue " entry! My backpack with all the water we had to carry weight in at about 10 kgs !!
Had we trained with all the extra weight before hand ?......errr no !!
So we arrive at 4.30pm at our B & B grab the room key so we could get into our room at an unearthly hour of night as our predicted time of 4-5 hours had been scuppered by people who had done it before and we were told a more realist time of 8 hrs to be out there. Food had to be re-thought and I put in extra jam sandwiches on this advice.
After we stopped to collect our room keys we headed to the start line for a prompt 6 pm start.
We signed in and kit check was done and we were handed night sticks to hang off our bags so they could see us in the dark.
We start slightly later than 6 pm. We had to wait for a roll call and shout our attendance. Then a very casual start was issued " If you are going to be slow you can start".......we all start !
In moments I am over heating and can suffer it no more and persuade Karen to stop. She is reluctant as she doesn't want to loose the lights in front of us as its pitch black and foggy.
Once I have dis-guarded clothing we are now at the back of the race. We both proceed to quick march to find some lights of other participants so we are not alone on the mountain.
It is scary and its dark and we have no idea where we are! We have glow sticks to light our way randomly placed on the mountain. No fixed distance and in no particular place or side. Sometimes they where found lying on the path others were place into the ground upright. In the fog it was difficult to locate from a distance so we had to just "trust" we were heading in the correct direction.
We were it up like Christmas trees with glow sticks hanging off us front and back and head torches on our head and waist. BUT you could always hear us before you saw us! We were the only team laughing and chatting the whole way around.
The only time we were slightly quiet was the mud scramble up a 40/60 minute mountain we had to ascend with no distinct footpath.
At this exact point I decide I am in need of my jam sandwich. I'm feeling dizzy and hungry and getting bored of this relentless hill which is taking ages. I ask if we can stop for a sandwich stop. I'm persuaded to keep on going as it wont be long to the top............well that mountain took forever! We could never actually see the top and at one point I lost all hope of my sandwich. So I stopped and tuned to face outwards from the mountain. This is when I discovered how steep it actually was. I couldn't stop, so it was to the top I was heading for my snack.
On ascent of this hill we arrive at yet another RV point and the ex soldiers are shouting at us for our names and numbers so they can check us through. They are also giving loud instructions for the next part of our race. We are going across a ridge and have to keep tight to the markers as there is a steep "will kill" you drop off to your right. All I remember was keep left. Karen is in front listening to the instruction also and I can see she is getting visibly upset as we near the top and I realise she is fearful of this next part. I calm her and one of the soldiers talks to her too. We eat and re-hydrate as the hill we had just ascended had taken a lot out of us.
We are then instructed to follow a man along the 5 km ridge. I keep to the path which is a foot away from the drop off but it is well marked. At this point its narrow only a foot wide so no not much room for movement off the path. I shine my head torch down the abyss and I can see nothing except blackness. Karen meanwhile has decided to take the path less trodden as she wants to be nowhere near the "drop off" and walks through bogs and god knows what to my left as I talk to her to make sure she is still coming. At some points we both have to walk along a very narrow ledge and I was so proud of how she did it. She trusted me and followed my instructions when she needed to too and then found her own way when there was space to move away from the edge.
The fog came in on us at some points and I felt very claustrophobic as we couldn't see the glow sticks and we couldn't see the edge, and at some points we had no idea where the footpath was!
We just kept on moving forward hoping to find these 4 inch glow stick markers. It was a mental a physical battle for both of us up there that night.
After 5 km of the "drop off" we eventually start to descend the mountains and we could feel we were getting to the finish line and thankfully in less time than people had told us it would take. It took us approx 4.5 hours walk/run the /Fan Dance and we just survived the situations as they came upon us that evening. It was testing in the weather conditions we had that night and it was also fun.
I'm really looking forward to completing the same race but in the daylight next time. A great race and a tough race and great preparation for Rat Race City to Summit 2017.
Our next "traning" race one is a 20 mile trail to build up those trail miles.