Bryony Shircore wins inaugural Dragon’s Fire, Megan runs 636 miles, search teams seek new phone data in the missing Kalie McCrystal operation, and Tom Evans beats mountain biker Tom Pidcock up Yr Wyddfa.
Header image: Anna Buckingham
Bryony Shircore, running for RunUltra, has won the inaugural Dragon’s Fire
The new two-day event forms part of the Dragon’s Back Race, taking runners through some of the toughest and most spectacular terrain in North Wales. Bryony was first female and second overall in the first ever edition.
Bryony will be writing about the eventfor RunUltra, giving us the inside story on the inaugural Dragon’s Fire, the course, the experience of racing it and what it’s like to be part of the first Dragon’s Back events under new ownership by Ultra X.
Bryony and Ultra X co-founder and director Sam Heward will be joining us on the RunUltra Podcast to talk about Dragon’s Fire, the Dragon’s Back Race, the transition to Ultra X and what the future holds for these iconic Welsh events.
First held in 1992 and widely regarded as the world’s toughest mountain race, the Dragon’s Back Race® returns for its 11th edition – and its first under Ultra X, the global ultramarathon events company that acquired the race earlier this year and has committed to protecting its heritage while securing its future.
This year’s field features 210 participants from 20 nationalities, from elite mountain runners chasing the podium to everyday adventurers taking on the challenge of a lifetime.
Key facts:
• Race start: 06:00 BST, Monday 7 September 2026 – Conwy Castle, North Wales
• Race finish: Saturday 12 September 2026 – Cardiff Castle, South Wales
• Distance: 380km over six days, with 16,400m of ascent along the mountainous spine of Wales
• Field: 210 participants representing 20 nationalities
• 11th edition of the race, first held in 1992
• First edition organised by Ultra X, following its acquisition of the race in 2026 after previous organiser Ourea Events went into administration.
• New for 2026: a single mandatory route for all runners, plus new shorter formats – the two-day Dragon’s Fire in the north and Dragon’s Tail in the south – alongside the established Hatchling course.
Sam Heward, Co-Founder of Ultra X, said:
Standing inside Conwy Castle this morning and watching 200+ runners set off down the spine of Wales was a special moment for everyone at Ultra X. The Dragon’s Back Race is one of the most iconic events in world sport, and our job is simple: protect everything that makes it legendary while making sure it is here for generations of runners to come. The next six days will deliver everything this race is famous for: drama, resilience and some extraordinary human stories. All the things that we love about this sport.
Photo credit: Joel Jameson and Ultra X
Megan Eckert Runs 636.251 Miles to Break Women’s Six-Day World and Overall American Records
The Santa Fe teacher became the first woman to pass 1,000km in a six-day race. Her final distance may increase once officials measure a partial lap completed before time expired.
Megan Eckert ran 1,023.948km (636.251 miles) in 144 hours at the EMU-GOMU 6-Day World Championships in Balatonfüred, Hungary, breaking two major records.
Eckert added 53.263km (33.096 miles) to her own women’s world record. Her result was also 48.295km (30.008 miles) beyond Joe Fejes’ overall American record, making Eckert the leading US six-day runner regardless of sex.
The distance is pending ratification by the International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU). Eckert finished her final complete lap with about two and a half minutes remaining, then continued around the course. That partial lap isn’t included in the published total and could lift her final distance.
1,140 Laps in Six Days
The championship ran from 3 to 9 September on a certified 898.2-metre loop at Füred Camping. The fully paved course was flat, closed to traffic and included turns in both directions without a scheduled change of running direction.
Eckert completed 1,140 full laps. Her average speed across the entire six days, including sleep and other stops, was 7.110km per hour (4.418mph).
The race was the 15th edition of the EMU six-day event and doubled as the 2026 GOMU 6-Day World Championship. As our championship preview reported, 108 runners started with the same task: accumulate as much distance as possible before the 144-hour clock expired.
Eckert Moves Ahead of Both Record Paces
Eckert went beyond her own women’s record pace during the opening six hours. After about 30 hours, she was also ahead of the schedule needed to beat Fejes’ 2015 mark of 975.653km (606.243 miles).
At 72 hours, she had covered 550.596km (342.124 miles), narrowly exceeding Camille Herron’s GOMU-recognised women’s 72-hour record. The IAU doesn’t recognise an official world record at that duration.
Eckert reached 797km (495 miles) after 108 hours and passed 884km (550 miles) with 21 hours left. She overtook her 2025 six-day distance at 135 hours and 38 minutes, then passed Fejes’ American record 32 minutes later.
At 139:55:46, she became the first woman to cover 1,000km in a six-day race. She continued for just over four more hours despite daytime heat during the final quarter of the event.
Sleep, Pacing and Crew Support
Eckert used two-hour sleep blocks and 15-minute naps while limiting other time away from the course. She was supported by her husband, Joe Eckert, and pacing analyst Mike Dobies.
Dobies had also worked with Fejes when he set the previous American record at Balatonfüred in 2015, although that performance took place on a different course.
Before the race, Eckert told The Guardian:
“I like to choose goals where I have a 50% chance of success and a 50% chance of failure.”
Eckert teaches special education and maths at a middle school in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and entered her first six-day event in 2024. She covered 846km (526 miles) at Six Days in the Dome and won outright.
In 2025, she raised the women’s six-day best to 970.685km (603.155 miles) at the Six Days of France, finishing about three miles short of Fejes’ American record. Her new mark is awaiting the IAU’s record review and measurement of the unfinished final lap.
Erin Ton breaks two women’s supported Kilimanjaro FKTs in one 8:33 effort
Erin Ton set women’s supported fastest known times for both the ascent and round trip of Mount Kilimanjaro on September 6. Starting from Tanzania’s Mweka Gate, Ton climbed to the 5,895-metre summit in 5:47:50 before completing the approximately 42-kilometre, 4,271-metre-gain route in 8:33:42. The effort cut more than 90 minutes from Fernanda Maciel’s round-trip record and over an hour from Kristina Schou Madsen’s ascent mark. Full story from iRunFar.
Comrades 2027 drops Athletics South Africa licence requirement as centenary race deepens governance split
Runners entering the 100th Comrades Marathon will not need to provide an Athletics South Africa licence number, as the race association takes over services previously supplied through KwaZulu-Natal Athletics. The 28,000-runner centenary Down Run remains subject to a 4:59:59 marathon qualifying standard, while officials and anti-doping controls are being arranged independently. The dispute leaves unresolved questions about elite recognition, club affiliation and national-team selection.
Into Ultra opens six subsidised 50K pathways for runners priced out of ultramarathon entry
Into Ultra will launch six Stronger Together groups in December and January, helping 10–15 runners per group prepare for 50K events across England and Wales in summer 2027. The charity says it can cover the roughly £200 course cost, race entry and, where needed, kit for applicants facing financial difficulty. The programme combines a training plan, coached meet-ups, navigation and nutrition advice, and peer support for first-time ultrarunners.
Kalie McCrystal Still Missing on Matterhorn
Canadian mountain runner Kalie McCrystal remains missing more than a week after setting out alone on the Italian side of the Matterhorn. There has been no confirmed discovery or explanation of what happened to her.
McCrystal left Breuil-Cervinia on 1 September to rehearse the Lion Ridge for an effort to climb and descend the 4,478m Matterhorn in less than five hours. Reportedly, a Polish climbing party saw her descending above 4,200m, between Pic Tyndall and the Carrel Hut.
After receiving no word from her for 48 hours, a French friend raised the alarm. Search crews flew six helicopter missions across the upper slopes and searched for a Recco reflector signal, but found no trace. The aerial searches were then suspended.
Italian alpine rescuers and the Guardia di Finanza in Cervinia have since been trying to establish the final network connection from a second SIM card McCrystal was carrying. That information could provide a time and location from which to narrow any further search.
McCrystal, 38, is a lawyer from Squamish, British Columbia, and a faculty member at Capilano University. She had spent much of the summer racing and moving through technical mountain terrain.
On 14 August, she completed a reconnaissance run on the Matterhorn’s Swiss Hörnli Ridge in 6:47:33. She then finished fourth at the 52km Trofeo Kima skyrace in Italy, covering its 4,200m of climbing in 7:59:35.
In July, McCrystal completed the Mount Tantalus Traverse above Squamish solo and unsupported in 9:40:32. Her FKT report said she carried all her food, filtered water on the route and downclimbed sections commonly covered by rappelling.
Duncan O’Regan, a friend and fellow mountain runner, told CBC News that McCrystal had the experience required for the terrain.
“She’s done much more difficult things, and this is not something that is beyond her capabilities. She’s comfortable in this terrain.”
Her planned sub-five-hour Lion Ridge round trip would have lowered Karina Andersen’s listed women’s fastest known time of 5:14:53 by about 15 minutes. Kilian Jornet has held the listed men’s mark of 2:52:02 since 2013.
The attempt took place during a difficult summer on the mountain. Because of rockfall danger, guided ascents from both Zermatt and Breuil-Cervinia were suspended, including after a large fall from the south face at around 3,900m on 5 August. No warden was present at the Carrel Hut, at 3,830m on the Italian route.
Evans Beats Pidcock Up Yr Wyddfa
Tom Evans has beaten double Olympic mountain-bike champion Tom Pidcock in a head-to-head ascent of Yr Wyddfa, with Evans running and Pidcock riding a mountain bike.
The Red Bull challenge covered roughly 7km and around 1,000m of ascent to the 1,085m summit. A short road section and faster lower trails initially favoured Pidcock, who established an early lead.
Evans stayed close before the terrain became steeper, wetter and rockier. Pidcock lost traction and had to dismount to push or carry his bike through parts of the upper mountain. Evans moved ahead with around 2km remaining and reached the summit first through rain, wind and dense fog.
Pidcock, the 2026 XCO world champion and a two-time Olympic champion, was quicker where the bike could roll freely. Evans, winner of the 2025 UTMB and 2023 Western States 100, gained time once the climb became a technical mountain run.
