The Celts is the fourth race in the the Survival Run series put on by Fuego y Agua events. It will take place August 23rd in South Wales, UK. Registration is still open on www.fuegoyagua.com

I had the pleasure to sit down with race director Josue Stephens for some insight on the race.

Why Wales?

Because I have heritage in Wales and I read a lot about the Celts when I was younger and was fascinated with their way of life. Whales has the perfect combination of terrain, weather, and culture to put on a unique and novel race.

Who are the Celts? Why did they inspire you to create the race and what “celtic things” will the racers be doing?

The Celts were some of the original settlers of the British Isles. They were rugged, tough, and strong warriors. It seemed only natural to create a race modeled after they day to day survival.

There will be a combination of old Celtic warrior and daily survival challenges as well as some local welsh folklore involving traditional language, land and sea.

Are there any difficulties in organizing a race overseas? How have you overcome these?

Yes. The UK is a completely different market. A lot of the survival runners come from North America and it is a long distance for them to travel, however the UK is very active in the obstacle racing and ultra running arena. I also have a regional race director.

One of your race slogans is “you will not finish”; What do you anticipate the finishing rate to be with celts? How does that make you feel?

The new slogan for the celts is “You Must Walk Before Crawling” which is a welsh proverb. I think we will have a higher finishing rate (as in people actually making the distance of the course) because the terrain is more forgiving than Nicaragua, however the completion rate (people earning all their medals) will still be low.

Explain the medal system to me? How do people earn medals?

In the Celts participants will actually be making their own medals. You will have a copper disk and a punch and as you complete an obstacle, you receive a symbol for completing that obstacle. At that point you will punch that symbol into your copper shield which is broken up into quadrants that say “I DID NOT FAIL”. The sections are given out in a strategic order. First you earn “Fail” then “I” then “did” and the last medal you earn says “not”. If you finish all the challenges in the race your shield will be decorated with symbols significant of the tasks completed and the phrase “I did not fail”

You have put on Survival Run Nicaragua and Survival Run Hunter Gatherer, how will Celts be similar or different to these races?

It will be similar in that it follows the survival run format (I did not fail) and it adheres to the idea of using the terrain and culture of the environment to base the challenges. It is different in the way that it uses the Celts and Wales, which are very different from both Nicaragua and Texas. This is also the 4th survival run, so racers should expect more creative and innovative challenges.

Challenges are kept highly secret prior to the race, any hints on what runners will expect?

Runners accepted into Survival run Celts will be accepted into a secret survival run group in which training and race information is shared.

To date runners have been told to master the ancient sling, become sheep whisperers, and become familiar with the longest welsh word.

Your packet pickups are notorious from being far from average and often difficult. In Nicaragua this year packet pickup actually marked the surprise race start. Any comments?

We cannot reveal what will happen at packet pickup. Runners must arrive at 4pm the day before the race start. It is guaranteed to be the most unique packet pick up to date.

Most of the athletes attending are among the top competitors in Tough Guy, Worlds Toughest Mudder, Spartan Race and Death Race. Over 10 countries will be represented including France, England, U.S., Canada, Holland, Czech Republic, and Germany.

Some of this years Celts contenders:

Shane McKay: has attended every survival run to date. Winner of Survival Run Hunter Gatherer 2013, all around badass

Thomas Blanc: Dominating the European Spartan Race circuit. France.

Many of the top female death racers: Camile McCue (Adams), Amie Meyer, Nele Schulze

link to Celts promo video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBITPxxFpRE