Welsh Castles Relay 2023

The Welsh Castles Relay (WCR) is essentially the Tour de France for amateur runners. It is community running’s best kept secret with only 65 teams of 20 running each year. It’s an honour for a club to be allowed into the event and a highlight of the road race calendar. The race covers the length of Wales from Caernarfon in the North to Cardiff in the South a total of 205miles split into 20-stages. Each runner must complete a Stage which is a race in itself with all 20 stages added up to give the team a time – quickest time wins!
nIt’s a real team event with all the transport, accommodation and catering so first a quick thank-you to the organising team led by George Belfield and especially to the chefs who cooked for us on Friday night and the minibus drivers who delivered everyone perfectly all weekend, you were all excellent!
nAs far as racing is concerned, Pete Sansome and Nick Davies started off the madness for WADAC in Caernarfon on Saturday morning following the ceremonial lap of the castle, led this year by Pontypridd Roadents. An early cheer spot at Inigo Jones Slate mines brought the first use of the team Vuvuzela as the runners charged down the disused railway path to Penygroes. Pete led our teams home with a 12th place.
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nNext up was Venessa Monteleone, on Castles debut with Tamsin Anderson on stage 2. Tamsin had a brilliant run bringing home WADACs first stage win since 2019 and an iconic yellow stage winners t-shirt!
nA great thing about the WCR is that the hosts, the fantastic Les Croupiers club from Cardiff are supported by all the other clubs as they fulfil their mandatory marshalling duties and discretionary water stations en route. Our marshalling spots this year were on Stage 3 in Criccieth and on the Stage 5 run in to Barmouth. Both ideal spots for an ice cream whilst also wearing the high vis with purpose.
nStage 3 also brings the first ‘mountain stage’ of the race with some serious elevation towards miles 10, 11 and 12. Matt Gleed on his 40th birthday weekend stepped up to the start line with James Moore and both reported loss of feeling in the feet after the 18% decent in to Maentwrog. It’s brutal! Both opted for gin as means of recovery.
nRunning however is the easy part, the logistics of moving, feeding and homing the teams is the real challenge with a caravan of cars, buses and bodies following the race through the small Welsh villages. Like the TdF, the race rips through these unsuspecting locations bringing a burst of colour and excitement for just a few minutes and then on it goes!
nOn stage 4, Susy and Siobhan did the business with Siobhan completing what I think was her first race for the club and Susy battling it out for the stage win. Perry made an excellent go of it eventually losing out to a South West runner in the last kilometre but a good run nonetheless.
nOur fantastic Treasurer Pete Curtis reckons he had the hottest stage ever in the history of the race on Stage 5. Running aside, thank you Pete for all the hard work you put in behind the scenes to make the club tick. He was joined by Guy Hoskins who managed a respectable 27th place on return from injury.
nStage 6, 7, 8 and 9 came and went with good performances from Bracken Dawson on mountain debut and excellent day trip contributions from Matt Grote, Steve Cluett and Si Gillet. Our other runners on these stages were Steve Goodwin, Paul Horler, Sam Parkinson and Charlie Hoskins (who had handed over her children back to Guy once he had recovered from his run!). It must be said that stage 8 really is worthy of being made a mountain stage even though it is not one!! At one point on day one, after stage 8, our two Winchester teams were separated by only 4 minutes!
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nAs the first day draws to a close, the burden of logistics and changeovers gets easier so cheering and shouting also gets easier. Stage 10 therefore becomes a bit of a party for those who have run already. Magnus Gregory and Colin McManus had the honour of leading us in to Newtown and a well earned rest. The latter working his way through the mountain stages in order. Magnus charged home in 16th place and his photo made all of the social media channels for the race organisers with a picture that sums up the race as a whole. See for yourself! Colin then brought enormous cheers from the Winchester and Lliswerry runners as he conquered the tough half marathon course after a day driving the minibuses.
nLess than 12 hours to regroup, George Belfield and Sarah Gurney got things started on Sunday at 7am. Another Mountain Stage, both runners braved the hills up out of Newtown and got the first top 10 finish on the road for the Winchester Open Team.
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nStage 12 and 13 (Caroline Carr, Mark Craven, Simon Williamson and Lynn McKeague) just about avoided the heat and got us to Crossgates, some stopping for the fabled bellybuster breakfast to refuel. Caroline Carr got over her tumble at Hursley RR10 to have a great run on stage 12. I’m sure that someone always injures themselves on the Wednesday before WCR. I’m not saying don’t run but can we just be a little more considerate of the Team Managers nerves!
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nAnd then the Queen Stage – Drovers. Kate Green and Dean Rawlins paced it perfectly to finish just 2 places apart after what is the most feared and well supported climb in the race. Just have a look at their Strava for the race profile! It's definitely a hill.
nPete Siddall was allowed to stop driving the 17 seater minibus for 12.3 miles down from Drovers to Brecon and was joined by Alex Lane. Alex had another good race for the stage win and was pipped in the closing stages but made up for it but jumping directly in the river after the finish of her stage.
nTo the last mountain stage of the race up past Talybont Reservoir in the Brecon Beacons. It’s the only race with an off-road section and is largely unsupported with no access to cars. Dan Cunnington and Andy Costello had a close run race and came in 12th and 18th. Dan is one of a number in the team to have run South Downs Way Relays just the weekend before so an excellent recovery!
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nOn Stage 17 Fiona Bolton was joined by Adrian Fautly who had debated where to run or not due to an injured calf. Having started conservatively, he found himself in 3rd after an incline and then proceeded to catch and pass the other 2 runners for the stage win, our second stage win of the race. Excellent running from a man in form!
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nWith more great running from Sarah Witt, Jon Reed, Lou Snook, Justin Corrie, Steve Oliver and Lloyd Dickson on the final few stages, our race in 2023 brought a 20th place finish for our open team in a time of 23 hrs 41 mins and 44th place for our veterans team in 26 hrs and 19 mins.
nThe other thing to mention is the annual matchplay with sister club Lliswerry Runners from Newport. It’s a little bit of friendly rivalry layered on top of the Castles and adds a little spice to each stage. As ever this was hotly contested but Winchester came out on top returning the Dragon Trophy back to Hampshire after narrowly missing out last year. Thanks Lliswerry for a great race as always.
nI’m sure I share the thoughts of the team when I say a huge thank you to our excellent coaches for getting us in to shape and helping us to succeed. This race is refreshing reminder of why we run. To get the most out of ourselves and most importantly, to have fun and get the most out of each other! If you didn’t run, where the hell were you? See you all next year!