• David Parrish Wins Dragon’s Back Race 2025 — Secures 1st place overall with a time of 48:40:14
• Holly Wootten Makes History — 2nd overall and 1st woman, shattering the women’s course record by 3 hours with a time of 50:46:16.
• Brutal Weather, Relentless Terrain — Torrential rain, 40mph wind gusts pushing runners to the limit during the 380km 16,400m+ elevation race
• Ed Brewer just 23 years old, takes 3rd overall in 52:25:14
• Ourea Triple and Wrath Dragon - in a single year Michael Burke completes the extraordinary, Dragon’s Back Race, Cape Wrath Ultra & The Northern Traverse

The Dragon’s Back Race 2025 delivered its most dramatic edition yet, one defined by fierce weather, breathtaking landscapes, and performances that broke records while rewriting the narrative of women’s ultra-running.
David Parrish dominated the race to take 1st place overall in a winning time of 48 hours 40 minutes. Close behind, Ed Brewer secured 3rd place overall and 2nd man with an impressive 52 hours 25 minutes finish time, a remarkable achievement at just 23 years old. 3rd place man (4th overall) and local Welsh national Ieuan Belshaw completed the route in 57 hours 53 minutes.
David was quoted at the finish line, when asked how it feels to become the Dragon’s Back race champion for 2025 "it's an honour and a privilege, quite a relief as well that it's over, I'm sure in a few days I will say I enjoyed it, but right now I can safely say that today was very much an ordeal on the body, I'm delighted that I got through that without any serious injury”
Despite this year’s brutal conditions, history was made in the women’s race as Holly Wootten (ALTRA & VOOM athlete) shattered the women’s course record by a staggering three hours, finishing 2nd overall and 1st woman with an extraordinary time of 50 hours 46 minutes. The previous record, set by Lisa Watson in 2022 (53 hours 46 minutes). This moves her into rarefied company. She follows in the footsteps of Jasmin Paris, who finished 2nd overall in 2015 and Helene Whitaker who won the inaugural Dragon’s Back Race in 1992 as a pair. Does this signal that the day when a woman wins the Dragon
outright might finally be within reach.

“I’ve gone into deeper darker holes than I have before, and I think bouncing back from when I thought things were slipping away, I am stronger than I thought” Holly said on the finish line. Wootten crossed the finish line over 10 hours ahead of 2nd-place woman Jodie Gauld (Ellis Brigham & VOOM athlete), who had an outstanding race, storming across the finish line in 61 hours 2 minutes. The women’s podium was rounded out by Leanne van
Dijk, who delivered a powerful performance to claim 3rd place in the women’s race.
When presenter Lowri Morgan asked Holly what her plan was coming into the race this year, Wootten commented “I wanted to challenge and take the fight to the guys, I looked at how Jasmin Paris had done, women can compete in this race, it's long enough, there is a navigation element, I hatched a plan to do the race in 2023 as a recce. Coming into this week, it was all about the overall competition for me. After day one, we were all within a few minutes, so I thought, let’s see where we go from here...” 

How the race unfolded: Leaders Emerge from Day One 

2025 saw in the 10th edition of the Dragon’s Back Race, a milestone moment, ignited under the ancient walls of Conwy Castle on the 1st September, where competitors gathered amidst thundering excitement before embarking on a 380km journey through the mountainous spine of Wales. The race began at dawn, but with skies already heavy and forewarnings of lightning, organisers made a critical safety call: the notorious Crib Goch ridge was bypassed in favour of the slightly safer Pyg Track ascent up Yr Wydffa (Snowdon).
At Llyn Ogwen, the first support point, David Parrish, a Cape Wrath Ultra winner and Northern Traverse runner-up, held a tight lead just ahead of young contender Ed Brewer, with rising star Holly Wootten not far behind in the women’s field. Dragon’s Back Race victor was quoted end of day one “I knew the ground and planned to push harder there,” he explained. “But with unknown ground ahead, I knew I’d need my map in hand for Day Two.”
3rd place finisher (2nd man) Ed Brewer described the early stages as “biblical,” he was quoted “Five of us were running together at that point and we just stopped talking and got our hoods up and heads down.”
The relentless rain continued through the first 170km, finally easing after day four, allowing athletes to tackle the latter stages under clearer skies.

2025 Race Statistics

• 90 Full Course Finishers – 32.37%
• 97 Hatchlings (short-course finishers) – 34.89%
• 91 Retired (did not finish) – 32.73%

Special Achievements

Among the many inspiring performances, Michael Burke delivered an extraordinary achievement by completing The Ourea Triple, conquering the Dragon’s Back Race, Cape Wrath Ultra, and The Northern Traverse, and in the same calendar year. Any triple chaser will have to complete 1,080km and 37,000+ metres of elevation in the UK’s toughest, wildest and most remote terrain.

 All Images credit No Limits Photography