‘If it’s not on Strava’ – Elsey Davis reveals early watch drama in Arc of Attrition masterclass

Elsey Davis, the brilliant and popular women’s winner of the Arc of Attrition 50 last weekend, has revealed she lost her watch early on in the race so had to run on feel – and wasn’t able to upload her data to Strava as a result!

“If it’s not on Strava, it never happened,” is a phrase common to many runners but in Davis’ case it most definitely happened, with hundreds of people cheering her around the course on Saturday, while thousands more were busy dot watching as she ran away with the women’s race.

She was in charge from soon after the 50-mile start from the unique Minack Theatre in Porthcurno and went further and further clear as the race followed the South West Coast Path to the finish in Porthtowan.

She shattered the course record with her time of 7:55:48, the first woman to ever go under eight hours, and there was a lovely moment when she crossed the finish line as there was a surprise greeting from her wife Sarah and new-born son Victor.

‘Blown away by the support’

Writing about the race afterwards on her Instagram account, she ran through ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’.

Of the good, she said: “I was blown away by the support out on the course by both runners in other distances, aid station crew and spectators. It really put the wind in my sails especially in the second half.

“The first half of the race is so much more rugged and remote and the path winds relentlessly up and down but the views were unreal. Even living here I am still in awe.

“I felt super relaxed so the flow state came easy. 2 weeks of newborn baby cuddles meant my nervous system was in a beautifully relaxed state.”

‘No Strava data’

And then reflecting on the bad, she revealed: “10 miles in to the race my sleeve got stuck on a gate latch and I only realised a mile later that my watch had got caught too and had fallen off.. so I ran 40 miles without a watch.

“When racing I use it mainly for nutrition alerts and navigation. Thankfully the course is very familiar to me and I guessed when I needed to take a gel which worked out well – I ate 17 40g carb gels in the 8 hours!

“But sadly no strava data😭. Thank you to the kind soul who found it and handed it in.”

And as for the ugly: “A rare ultra race where it never got that ugly. A small puke after I finished (unsurprising given the amount of gels). And standardly my toe nails, but they were ugly from the start.

“Special thanks to coach @tomevansultra for getting me in great shape (also well done on his racing masterclass).”

That was in reference to 2023 Western States winner Tom Evans who matched Davis with a men’s course record in the Arc50 as he started his season in perfect style.