Welsh Castles Report - it’s never too late
Our ace reporter, Ivan, found time during the following week to write these impressions, but left the last four stages to be completed by Lou and Dick. So here it is.
Welsh Castles Relay 2008
Before anything else in this report, a huge thanks must be given to Les Croupiers for putting on a fantastic event: this was the 26th year of the event and my first time of participation. The whole weekend is brilliantly organized and no doubt a huge amount of man hours go into the organization of the event not only on the day but in the many months prior to the actual day.
The next thanks has to be to all of the other clubs The camaraderie of the event is brilliant, with every team cheering on every runner when they happen to see them, giving out much needed water and shouting and cheering from mini-buses and cars as they drive by.
58 Teams took part this year and the results are up on the Les Croupiers Website, In the open category Les Croupiers themselves took the honours ahead of Serpentine who also won the Ladies prize.
So then, the Castles experience…
The weekend for the bulk of the Chepstow team : Andy (Captain & Organiser), Chris, Geoff and Dick (Drivers), Lou, Mark.H, Jane.B, Calum, Jan, Sian, Ivan & Sue O (chief whip), began at the Leisure centre on Friday afternoon, cramming the minibus with tents and provisions, and then trying to find some seats for their owners.Then followed a scenic drive up through Wales via Abergavenny to rendezvous with Lorna, and then on in convoy to Rhayader for a pit stop at the Chippy before a final blast up to Caernarfon.
After a sleepless night for most in the Leisure centre with some lights that weren’t turned off and a constant air-con fan we packed up our stuff and headed in search of breakfast. The exception to the sleepless night being Sue who “had the best night’s sleep for months”. For those who camped out on the field for the evening the reports were mixed, some slept well and some were too cold to sleep properly.
We met Andy B & Alison at the camping field. The initial plan was that they would be bringing Sam & Steve H with them but unfortunately Sam came down with something during the week and after a night in Hospital had to pull out. It was Sam’s birthday and she was due to run the first leg so that she could then ‘celebrate’ for the rest of the day. (Judging by her run at the Caerleon LCL she’s getting back to full fitness.)
Leg 1 (9.1m), Geoff.B stepped into Sam’s shoes and headed off from Caernarfon Castle and on down the cycle tracks/road to Penygroes.
Leg 2 (10.7m), Chris took over and set off down the road hoping his calf was going to hold up. Unfortunately 2 miles in it was giving him problems, but hemanaged to keep going to the finish. Hope it recovers soon Chris.
Leg 3 (12.1), saw Mark heading off to tackle the first ‘Mountain Stage’. Lorna with Calum on board managed to support Mark, and whilst waiting at the finish reported that Mark had appeared to be running well and was looking good at the 3 miles to go point. Unfortunately as we realized afterwards when checking out the course profiles, this was the point at which the ‘mountain’ began, This took its toll on Mark and he was suffering at the finish. Well done Mark.
Vehicle swap time, not sure where everyone went, but I jumped into Lorna’s car with her and Calum and off we went chasing…
Leg 4 9.4m and we caught Andy.B after a few miles who called out “Where’s my Car?” We found out later that he’d passed Alison holding a cup of water for him, with no sign of his car or the temporary driver, Dick, who had obviously abandoned her and run off with his Citroen. He must have been so relieved to arrive at Harlech to find Dick waiting with Alison and the traditional ice cream.
Leg 5 ‘apparently flat’ 10.7m leg to Barmouth, Jan drew the short straw on this one, the leg starting with a mile long climb out of Harlech and continued to ‘undulate’ until a steep descent down a narrow alley to finish near the beach. More ice creams were consumed here along with a quick dip.
A bit more transport swapping during Jan’s leg (it’s all about going with the flow and changing plans on the move at the Castles), had seen Sian join us in Lorna’s car to be delivered to her start.
Leg 6 to Dolgellau (9.75m). Carl’s leg is notoriously hard to get support to. He had travelled up for the day with Luke, so we left Luke to supply support (and the minibus to meet them at the finish – I think) and headed towards Dolgellau to try and meet Martin & Steve.C for some more car swapping. Carl unfortunately sustained an injury during his leg (Achilles or calf I believe), but pressed on and still put in a good performance.
Leg 7, Mountain two, Dolgellau to Dinas Mawddwy with Martin. Lorna and Calum finally managed to find the cup of tea they had been dying for all morning, have a brief rest at the start and watch Martin head off before taking Sian to the start of her leg, whilst supplying some water to Martin on the climb!. I jumped into Martin’s Car with Steve.C to try and head to the end of the stage. Leg 7 is about 9 miles, half up half down, pretty steep both ways, you have to see it to believe it. Apparently last year a fair few runners failed to complete the leg and collapsed in the heat on both the ups and the downs.
Leg 8, Dinas Mawddwy to Foel, 11.2 miles, it was up to Steve.C to fend for himself on this one, the rules of the relay state that teams may not service runners on this leg due to the narrow lanes with many blind corners and an accident in previous years. Steve.C put in a great performance and had the highest position on a leg for the weekend.
Leg 9, Foel to Llanfair Caereinon (8.6m), Sian took on this leg and we had to chase her down with the Mini-bus, catching up with her about 3 miles from the end, to give additional support and offer more water. Andy B had been continuing his sterling work of supplying water throughout the leg. Leg 9, has a nasty little sting in the tail of a very steep climb to the finish line - it looked practically like a 1in1!
Leg 10, Luke took on the last leg of the day the longest of the relay and also one of the of the ‘mountain’ stages, involving a quick steep climb over the first 1.5m from 400ft to 1000ft then practically followed by a half marathon to the finish! Luke put in a great performance (according to the overnight results, this was his second of the day having apparently run leg 8 just earlier - I’m sure it was Steve.C I saw starting that one!), and was supported by Carl, Calum & Lorna and no doubt all of the other castles teams, while the minibus headed for the supermarket to get the evening’s barbeque ready.
Newtown overnight….
Basically involved tents / showers / barbeques / bit of alcohol for some / more for others and whatever sleep we could get. The girls will claim the showers were cold, but they seemed fine to me!!
Newtown Morning….
With the leg 11 start being at 7.00am it has to be an early start for everyone, support crews endeavour to leave before the race starts so that they don’t get stuck in traffic (most of it being race traffic, when you think that all teams have at least 1 minibus and a couple of cars each that means a minimum of about 180 vehicles trying to leave at the same time down a relatively small road), most importantly they have to make sure that they are going to be able to get the leg 12 runners to their start in time. This meant Lorna heading off early with Dick & Jane .
Leg 11, Newtown to Llanbadarn Fynydd (12.3m), I had the pleasure of running this leg, the 4th of the mountain stages. The profile of the leg is up hill for the first 8 miles, a long steady climb from about 400ft up to 1200ft (I think) then downhill for the last 4 miles. I can’t quite decide which part I preferred: the down meant trying to run hard and keep up the pace and maintain position, whereas the up had just meant trying to pace it right… dilemma! All in all the leg went pretty well, and I just let the guy in front get a bit too far ahead of me before the finish straight with not quite enough room to catch him. Well done Clevedon AC. There also happened to be a second renegade Harrier on this leg, Paul Lidgett running for his work team. It’s ok though, he let me beat him.
Leg 12, to Cross Gates (10.6m), Lorna’s leg, an overall downhill leg, she ran very well and we spotted her a few times from the minibus before heading to watch her finish. My memory of the actual leg is a bit non-existent as I was changing & recovering en-route. What I do remember is that this leg finishes at a petrol station, and it had fuel - apparently unaffected by the strikes/blockades!
Leg 13, to Crossgates to Builth Wells (10.6m), now this was an exciting one, it almost escalated to fisticuffs between all harriers in the vicinity on this one after a celebrity was spotted. Eventually Jane exerted her authority and lined up on the start line along side Sonia ‘O’ Sullivan. Jane ran a great race, tussling with one of our LCL friends from Lliswerry.
Leg 14, Builth to Drovers (11m), Start level 400ft, finish 1400ft, with a peak just before of 1500ft. I think Mick McGeoch (Les Croups) described this best in the race programme “Life was never meant to be easy and the Castles never is. There are two types of stage - hard, and very hard. And then there’s Drovers. Running the Drovers, in my opinion, is something everyone should do once. After that you learn never to complain again.” Nick Davis has now completed this for the second time and he did a great Job. He seems to be getting all the ‘good’ legs recently!!! Well done Nick, don’t know if you had a chance to look at the view - it was pretty impressive.
Leg 15, down into Brecon (12.8m), Gareth Jones took this one on, the start being from the Red Kite centre, just down the road from the drovers finish. Gareth ran well finishing in Brecon looking good. This was a busy leg for the Harriers as it was our turn to do some marshalling, luckily the mini-bus wasn’t too empty as a couple of ‘locals’ Matt & Marianne were drafted in for a couple of hours of duty.
Leg 16, Brecon to Beacon’s Reservoir (8.8m), Calum happily took on this the last of the ‘mountain’ stages, I believe the thinking was that he was more likely to get injured on the down hills than the ups. Calum ran well and apparently slightly misjudged where the finish was and started his sprint slightly early, turned the corner near the top before realising there was about another 800m to go!!
From here onwards its over to Lou/Dick to finish off this report, it seems like a good place for me to finish as here starts her leg and I need to go to bed. Another big weekend for me, off to the lake district to support a friend doing the Bob Graham Round - anyone who’s interested take a look at http://www.bobgrahamround.co.uk/ and have a chat to Andy Creber.
Leg 17. Down to Merthyr (9.2m), and Lou despite a poorly foot put in a good run despite the pain. Regrettably it aggravated the tendon injury to the point that she’s still limping and had to drop out of the Cotswolds Relay.
Leg 18. Merthyr to Navigation Park (9.1m). Capt Ost took this one also carrying an injury (hip) and was pleased to run strongly with no ill effects. Super supporter, Andy Creber, used his navigational skills to reach Andy O with water on a course that largely avoids public roads.
Leg 19.On to Caerphilly (10.4m). Gerry also tested Mr Creber’s ingenuity on another mainly off road route. Good to see Gerry going well, and putting in a strong finish down the avenue in Crescent Park.
Leg 20. Glory leg into Cardiff Castle. Yet another difficult-to-get-support-to stage, but Steve Harris was unfazed. He was initially competitive, but lived up to his Discussions Board nickname of ‘Excuses, Excuses’ with his post-race explanation of being led astray by the runners in front!
So thanks to everyone for a great weekend, most of all our own team for the fantastic support. Extra thanks goes to those who joined us for the weekend, supported us and weren’t even running: Dick, Geoff (although drafted in to run leg 1), Sue, Alison Bray, Andy Creber (who left home at 4am Sunday morning to come and join us, there in time to help support me on leg 11), Eric (joined us Saturday night, ferried runners, supplied water, and provided directions for the legs when Andy.O was off to run his leg and I was left in charge of guiding the bus!)
Finally thanks once again to Les Croupiers for organising a great event and all the other teams for the fantastic support throughout.
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