Welsh Castles Relay day 2

My alarm went off at 5:45. It was day two of the Welsh Castles Relay, and I would actually get to run. I put on some clothes and got my stove out. I wasn't going to start the day without coffee! And it turned out that the leisure centre next door had a coffee vending machine, but the coffee seemed to be quite rubbish. I was glad I had my own supply. And while the water was boiling I packed my stuff and took my tent down.

Early morning on the sports field 

I had my breakfast in the minibus, and then I was ready to roll. We cheered on our first runner, who had had to come from North Wales that morning. She must have had such an early start! But she looked cheerful.

Start of the first race. Notice Russell, one of the Track Tuesday trainers, with nr 24

Then the whole circus started again, dropping off runners, and occasionally seeing them finish. And sometimes supporting runners that were using their own transport. And I was in unfamiliar terrain now. We went to Llanbadarn Mynydd and Crossgates and Builth Wells. And Drovers Arms and Epynt. And by now, the permanent crew of the minibus was finally starting to run. Nia kicked it off in Crossgates. And we could even see her finish. She was looking quite fanatic!

Nia taking it seriously 

Two stages later it was my turn. I got to do leg 16 from Brecon to Torpantau (in the middle of the Bannau Brycheiniog). It would be 20 km; 10 of them quite flat, and then the second 10 up the hill. They dropped me off at the start, which was in a quite scenic location, and then tried to find a place to park. I registered, and found my track mate Elfyn. He had considered coming on the minibus, in spite of not being a Harrier, but had decided against. I thought it was great we were doing the same leg! 

Me at the scenic start location. Elfyn took the pic

Time flew to the start. The support crew had arrived on time to cheer me on. And then we set off along a canal. The route was beautiful! But at some point we left the canal. The marshal standing by the junction said "enjoy the hill". That surprised me a bit; the actual hill was much later. But it sure was a considerable hill if you compare it to these kilometres along the canal.

By the time we got to that point, the field had spread out a bit. I was aware of a bloke in blue behind me, and I could see a lady in black-and-white in front of me. And we plodded on. I was hoping to catch the lady. I'm sure the bloke is blue was hoping to catch me. But these chase scenes in long distance runs take forever. 

While we were on the road, some vehicles came past. Some of them cheered me on. The Buckley runners’ vehicle did, for instance! That was nice. But at some point, we took a turn and ran over the dam of the Tal-y-Bont reservoir, and at the end of that, we started the almost 10 km climb. 

By now I had gained on the black-and-white lady, who turned out to be in the Pontypridd Roadents ladies team, and right at the start of the ascent I overtook her. Excellent! And that gave me a new target; another runner had come to view. In the meantime, the blue runner, from TROTs (St Clears), was approaching. I figured he was going to get me. And he did. 

He was too fast for me, but I did manage to overtake a runner from the Cheshire Dragons and one from Caerphilly. I was quite chuffed with that. I figured I was doing well! Maybe not by the standard of this race, but certainly by my own standards, and these are the important ones. And my IT bands were holding up. 

Then I could hear the faint sounds of a finish. And then the path got steeper. That was tiring, but knowing I was close gave me energy. And when I approached the actual finish I saw Lesley. I knew she was going to be the one to pick me up. She was cheering me on and taking pictures. I was really glad to see her. I gave it a last push, and then I was in.

At the finish

I had done it in 1:36:16. And that was 20.1 km and 350m ascent. I was perfectly happy with that! But now I was tired. When the timekeeper scanned the barcode on my race number I had to hold onto his jacket. And I could see I had come 54th of 65. Good enough for me!

I had been handed a bottle of water, and I quite needed that by now. I drank it while Lesley and I walked back to the car. I knew Iolo, one of the lads from the minibus, was still running. We would have no time to get to his finish. They had started his leg only 45 minutes after mine. We would head directly for the finish of the runner after that: Ian, also a minibus person. 

As we are now in the middle of nowhere the runners could take a much more direct route than cars. It would take us a while to get there! And then we finally did, it turned out Ian had almost jumped into the vehicle of another team, but now he came with us. He had done really well! I might have been 54th, but he had been 8th. That is impressive.

There was no point in going to the next finish, so we headed straight to the final one, in Cardiff. Our other young lad, Huw, would take that leg. We got there before the first runner was even approaching, so we could catch up a bit. The runner of the previous leg, Mike, joined us there, as did Tony and Nia and Iolo. Ian got me some more water as all I had with me was what I had carried during my race. And a jumper I had given to Lesley to put in the car, waiting for me. That wasn't much!

Then the announcer said the first one was not far. And he came storming in. He was so fast! He barely managed to make the bend into the field. And then some other, slightly less inhumanly speedy, runners followed. Quite soon, our own Huw appeared. When he had finished I went to look for him. He had come 14th! I thought that was massively impressive, but he didn't think so. It was sad he wasn't happy with his achievement.

By the finish: Ian Mike Huw Iolo Tony Lesley me Nia

The organisation hoped that everyone would stay until the very end, but we didn't. We were hungry. I hadn't had a meal since 6:30, and it was now about 16:00. We also had to drive all the way back to North Wales after the food.

Nia, who is our chair, bought us all a drink. And we ordered food. I really really appreciated it. I must admit I didn't care much what it was! It really hit the spot. And then we set off to go home. We first dropped off Mike at his car, and then we could go back to Caernarfon. 

In the pub

It is a long drive! But we managed to spend quite some time just gossiping about the race and how everyone had done. Our star runner has clearly been Mike! I have never met him before, but he is clearly impressive. In this tremendously competitive field, he had managed to come 7th. He is 63. Not many others had managed to stay in the top 10. Only Ian. 

Three of our runners ended up 63th. It was clear we weren't in with a chance of winning. We had prioritised having a good time. And I think these three runners did. I myself had a negative influence on our results. I dropped us by two places. But nobody minded. And the last three runners: Mike, Ian and Huw, had really done miracles to our ranking. We had started well, with Tony and Jen, but then we had a bit of a fallow period that lasted 15 legs. I think on day at some point we were 55th. After my run, we were 50th. And then Iolo started running! And Ian and Mike and Huw. When they were done, we were 37th. That was quite amazing! Oh and Salford had won. 

We also wondered about next year. Should we try to have more than one team? Maybe a ladies team? Or veterans team? In addition to the open team? Or a competitive team and leisurely team? We will have to see. How much interest would there be?

In the meantime, time went by. Garfield chose to drive over the A5. That meant that I would be the first to be dropped off. He would come to Bethesda, and a few kilometres beyond would get to my car, on the way to Caernarfon. But when we were approaching, it was already past 11 pm. I wanted to go to bed. I suggested he just drop me off at home. I could get my car the next day. And that's what he did. I just shoved my bags into a corner, fed the cat, brushed my teeth, had a shower (I really needed that!), and went to bed. I got in before midnight. Success! And the next day I would still be buzzing with Welsh Castles Relay adrenaline… 

Welsh Castles Relay day 1

I approached Caernarfon in a minibus with Garfield, an Eryri Harrier who has a license to drive things like that. We were on our way to the start of the Welsh castles relay. And when we got close, we spotted that there was already a bit of a festival atmosphere in the town, right by the castle. 

We were there to load up on supplies and humans, then cheer our own runner Tony at the start, and then head for the finish of that leg of the race. The first obstacle we met was that the supplies were in a car park with a height restrictor we didn't fit underneath. Oh dear! But that didn't stop us from cheering on Tony. He got a special start; the mayor of Caernarfon started it, and initially it was a procession; they first did the loop around the castle at jogging speed, last year’s winners, the Pontypridd Roadents, at the front. Only after they crossed the bridge over the river did the race actually start, and could everyone run at their own speed.

Start in Caernarfon 

We made sure the supplies came to the van rather than the van to the supplies, and then we were off. And we had a passenger! Tinka and her dog were there to support, and Tinka thought it would be nice to get a lift to the start of the next leg in Penygroes, and then bike back home. She figured that would be right up the dog’s street as well. So we fit woman, dog and bike in the vehicle and were off.

Guests in our minibus

What followed was a wild goose chase. We managed to get to the start of almost all our runners that day. We went from Caernarfon to Penygroes to Criccieth to Mantwrog to Harlech. In some places it was really hard to find a spot to park. All the followers of the race were trying to do the same thing! And not all these locations had a lot of space. And in Criccieth, the start and finish were so close together we could actually see both our starter and finisher. That was rare. And in Harlech, we only JUST got our runner to the start on time. Some of our runners sorted out their own logistics, and we didn't see them at all.

Start of leg 2

Quite often, our vehicle (and all the other vehicles) were taking the same route as the runners. I hadn't realised the race went over such big roads. I was so glad that my leg was a bit more quiet. It was nice, though, to be able to drive past the runners and cheer them on from our vehicle. Of course we cheered on our own runner, but we also cheered on other people we new, or people from other clubs we knew, or just other people running.

It was actually quite exhausting! That was going to get interesting the next day.

From Harlech we went to Dolgellau, Dinas Mawddwy, Foel, and Llanfair. Along the way we also had to sort a water station. I didn't really understand the water station policy. Documentation said this leg had three water stations, but most legs had precisely none. What was the logic behind that? And we would be only 1.7 miles from the start. How many people would want water by them? But we had to assume they would. We make sure we have a lot of bottles ready, with the caps unscrewed.

Of course it started to rain quite seriously while we were out there on the layby. And how many runners want water if it is raining? But a surprising number actually did. At least it was good to provide them with something they wanted. Then we made sure we collected all the bottles they had thrown back at us. And we provided one runner with paracetamol; she said she had rolled her ankle. It didn't take too long for all runners to pass. And then we were off again. Altogether we of the minibus crew saw seven runners start, and two finish. Tony and Lesley saw more finishes. The last stop of the day would be in Newtown, where the finish of the first day would be. 

We parked up by the place we would stay for the night, and walked from there to the finish. We struggled to find it, initially! But when we found it it was very obvious. That was where all the excitement was. Most finishes are not so busy, as all the support troops are still busy bringing runners to their start. But that was over now. This was clearly the most exciting finish! We found a spot along the course. And after a while, the noise started. The first runner! The crowd erupted. Some of them were so fast! And there was even a spectacular sprint finish where two clubs were battling it out until the final meter. And then our own runner came past. We screamed our lungs out, and came to find him behind the finish.

Our runner, Owain, had done really well, but he was a bit zonked. He is actually a fell runner, and had now done a full half marathon distance on the road. He was keen to get to his partner and her car, and then get home.

We were now desperate for food. This last race was scheduled to start at 17:50, but due to unexpected circumstances, even started a bit late. And it was 21km. That takes a while, even with a very competitive field. And was it competitive! The winner did it in 1:07:39. Which is crazy for a half marathon. With hills in. But we wanted food now. And people knew there was a Wetherspoons in town. 

The Wetherspoons was closed. We were not keen on arbitrary greasy takeaway. We were scared of what it would do to us the next day, when we would be running! Pubs didn't seem to serve food. Newtown is just not big enough to provide food for the whole circus of the WCR. I was getting agitated. I was hungry, and I wanted to get some fuel into the system for the next day. I also need at least two liters of water after dinner to be able to sleep well. And I still had to pitch my tent. If I drink too close to bedtime, I have to inevitably get out in the middle of the night, which disrupts my sleep. I was starting to regret my life choices!

When we found a Chinese takeaway but it turned out to have a long waiting time, we gave up and just went to the nearby supermarket to buy something we could eat in the van. Several pasta salads were consumed. I had hoped that this part of the day would be a bit more relaxed and comfortable. I suppose I had forgot to check just how late the last race starts, and just how long it is.

Our accommodation was the sports field of the local school, and there was also a leisure centre next to it. It would be open until 10 pm; we could go there to go to the toilet or have a shower. And it had a big parking lot, where our minibus was. I wolfed down my food, drank a lot of water, and went to pitch my tent. I figured that a shower wasn't necessary. Sleep was more important! Of the minibus crew, the two young men (Huw and Iolo) also pitched a tent. I was glad I had some extra pegs with me, as they didn't have enough! The others (Garfield, Nia and Ian) decided to sleep in the minibus. I didn't think that would be very comfortable, but to each their own.

My tent on a sports field

Once I had food and water in my stomach, and a bed of sleep in, I relaxed. This wasn't so bad after all. I did have to set an early alarm; the first start in the morning was at 7 am, and we need to be ready for the race briefing at 6:30. 

I did have to get out in the middle of the night for a wee. And that sports field was quite light. But I slept well enough. On my nice pillow. I needed that!

Welsh Castles Relay 2026: the run-up

Last year I heard of the Welsh Castles Relay for the first time. It sounded cool! But it also fell in the weekend when Jaco turned 60. I thought that would have priority. Then he turned out to not celebrate it, and I ended up doing some emergency marshalling. But this year I wanted to properly participate.

It's not really a relay race; it is basically a race from Caernarfon to Cardiff, cut up into 20 stages (legs) which sometimes touch, but sometimes actually don't. And each stage has its own starting time. At what time you start as a team member does not depend on when the previous member of your team has finished the previous leg. The logistics would be too complicated to make it a classic relay race. In the late stages, you would probably need marshals and timekeepers in position for 10 hours or more.

I don't know, but I suspect, that sometimes the finish of one leg and the start of the next is not in the same location, sometimes for reasons of space, and sometimes for reasons of trying to avoid a particular area. If the only thing you have is a path or a road, you need a bit of space between finish and start to be able to accommodate all the people that need to be at either. If you would have a big field you could do it. And I think sometimes the race avoided town centres; the organisation had not closed any roads, and you don't want the situation where runners have to cross roads with traffic on when they are trying to finish. Better to stop at the outskirts of town then.

When the call came I answered it. And when I realised you could voice a preference for a particular leg, I did some research. This was my chance of going uphill but not downhill! And there were some legs like that in the beginning of the race, but these were already taken. We are a northern club, after all, and the race starts in the north. But there was another one of those further south; I put my name forward for that one. And got it. 

I also got involved in the organisation. We needed to match runners with the 20 legs. We decided to just maximise fun. Try to give people a leg they liked, rather than try to get the best possible results. We might have a bit of a reputation locally, but are totally not one of the more competitive clubs. Especially not on the road! We have more of a fell focus. 

We also needed to figure out if people would travel independently, or want to share transport. And on the basis of that, we needed to decide how many vehicles of what size we wanted to hire for the occasion. And we went with a 17-seater. Not that we ever would have 17 people, but it is nice to have a bit of space! But it also meant that we only had two drivers: Tony, who would run the first leg, and Garfield, who would not run at all. That was really kind of him! Tony would bring his own car; you can't drop off your runners at the start of every leg, and also pick the runners up from their finish, with one vehicle. It is just too tight. And his partner would come along too.

Ian, our team captain, made sure he had all the  race numbers. Nia made sure we would have snacks in the minibus. And we needed to organise a water station, so we needed to bring water as well. 

I thought we would stay on a campsite on Saturday, but that would turn out to be incorrect. But I was correct we would camp. 

The initial logistics would be as follows: Garfield would pick up the hire vehicle, pick me up at a layby that might or might not be on his route to Caernarfon, and then get to the start. We could then move all the supplies Nia had organised into the vehicle. Then we could cheer on Tony at his start, and then be on our way! 

I packed my big tent as I knew the weather forecast wasn't very good. Managing my little tent and baggage in bad weather is not very pleasant. And I made sure to pack my stove, and some instant coffee. I also had lunch with me for the first day, and breakfast for the second. I figured we would go for dinner near the campsite on the first day, and we were going to go to the pub in Cardiff on the second day. And lunchtime on the second day would be when I would be running. I would have to manage with some snacks!

I also brought a pillow. I don't normally do that when camping, for space reasons, but this time we were travelling by vehicle. It would fit! I wanted to sleep as well as I could.

I also made sure to bring paracetamol and IT band straps. I had forgotten, to my detriment, to do that at the Snowdonia Half Marathon, and I didn't want to make that mistake again. My leg was 20 km; that is enough to get IT band problems. 

Saturday morning I had my normal breakfast, put the last things in my bag like my toothbrush, and headed for the designated layby. I decided to make things easier on Garfield by taking out my bags, and walking to the nearby gas station. That would be a place where he could easily stop, and if need be, turn around. It went well! And soon we approached Caernarfon. The adventure could begin for real now…

Book about Llandudno

Neil gave me a book about the history of Llandudno. It was written by an acquaintance of him. That seemed a perfect present! I love history, and I am keen to learn more about Llandudno, and I like supporting local initiatives. 

I’ve read it now. And now I have to be careful. It was a gift! But I have criticisms. And I still appreciate the gift! But I was a bit disappointed that the book mainly seems to be a list of people pulled out of various census records. Of quite a lot of people you get the date and location of birth, and subsequent addresses, and what profession they claim to have in the various census records. And what spouses and children they get. And then a date of death. Perhaps a quote from the local newspaper when their death is announced. And then you move onto the next one. I also figured the book could have done with a proofreader.

There are quite some pictures. Some portraits, but also townscapes. It would be cool to go to the locations they depict, and see what things look like now. Maybe a nice mission for a day when we don't feel like a big activity!

Ras Llanrug 5k 2026

Last year I did the Llanrug 5k for the first time. I must admit it didn't go well! Already during the warming up I was wondering if I had eaten too close to the race. If you can feel your stomach content, that's a bad thing. I also started too fast. I did the 1st km faster than any other part of the race, including later downhill bits. I really tired myself out, and suffered most of the way. I wasn't very fast, obviously. It took me 22:24. A few weeks later, in Bethel, I would shave almost a minute off that time. 

When the race was coming up again this year, I figured that I should be able to do a lot better than that pathetic 2025 attempt. I am overall faster now, and I am now quite good at not starting too fast. And I was also not going to fall into the food trap! Especially after the Deganwy race. 

I had a hot lunch at work, and decided to not eat anything after that except for an apple and some jelly babies. And I was glad to see it wasn't going to be super hot, like it had been a few days earlier in Deganwy. There was quite some rain forecast, though.

When I got there and got my race number I spotted Jen on the list. That automatically meant I was not going to get a category win in this race! There is absolutely no way I can keep up with her. And I spotted lots of other lovely people. Some of these were busy discussing the upcoming Welsh Castles Relay. 

I wanted to do a little warmup, but it was chucking it down, and I don't like appearing at the start completely soaked. So I cut it short. I did a bit more when it dried up quite close to start time.

Then we started. There was a bit of a jostle at the start. I made sure do not get too carried away. I did see some people that I normally leave far behind in front of me. There would be time to catch up with them.

Near the start

My plan had been to take it easy until halfway along. The halfway point is also approximately the highest point, so I figured I should leg it down, and then try to keep it up when in the last kilometre you have to go over a bump again. 

When I hit the downhill I obviously accelerated, but not quite to the standard I had hoped for. I did pick off a number of people that I know I am traditionally faster than, including Richie, as he hasn't quite recovered from his injuries. But the overtaking did not happen with much ease. I also ran past a lady I didn't know, but who was breathing quite loudly.

Moody cloudy race picture. The woman in bright yellow was the loudly breathing one.

In the last kilometre I saw my track mate Sion in front of me. Normally, I beat him, with not a lot of effort. Now I realised he was so far away he would be beating me. So much for shaving a lot off my time of last year! I had a little look on my watch; I wasn't sure if I would beat it at all. But I sure did feel better. 

I finished and saw all sorts of people like Sion and Katie already there. This time they had me! Good effort. I didn't know what my time was but it wasn't good. I was a bit disappointed but such as life! Some days you're just not very fast. Even superstars like Emma have slow days! 

I soon saw the heavy breathing lady again. She was running in the 60+ category. She was saying she was running PBs! That is impressive. I find that hard in my 50s. And I had faith she would have a category win with that time.

After a while we went in. I had some sandwiches! It was past 8 pm and I hadn't eaten anything substantial since 1 pm. And the results came in; I had indeed been slower (by 4 seconds) than last year. But I found out that Tinka had come second, and a lady I know from track had won. I knew from the track that she was fast, but that she could beat Tinka makes her super duper fast! I waited for the presentation. A lot to cheer for! Including the lady who had indeed won in the 60+ category. 

There was also the presentation for the regional championships. This time I had been so unbelievably slow I had come fourth in my category. My worst result in the whole year so far! And these presentations take quite a while, and with this race not starting until 19:30 I knew it would get late. I sneaked away. It had been quite the week. I could do with a normal bedtime.

My next race will be the Welsh Castles Relay. That is quite an unusual race. More about that later. My next "normal" race will be the Bethel 5k. As I said before, last year I managed to do that about a minute faster than 5k In Llanrug. Would I manage that again?

Grades of 3rd and 4th year students in

The marking deadline for final year students was on the Monday. I admit I finished mine that day. But that does mean that all is left to the last minute. After the marking you need to agree with the other marker, and then put the feedback on the assignment for the students, and also in a form for the external examiners. Unlike the students, these get to see the whole process of double marking, not just the outcome. 

As I am the module organiser for the dissertation module, I have to not only make sure I finish my own marking, but also check if everybody else has, and if not, find out who the culprits are, and get them to do it after all. 

I got the last grades to agree on on Monday. By about an hour. I was in bed by then. The process obviously needed finalising the day after the deadline. And there were some people who had forgotten aspects of their marking. 

By Thursday everything was sorted. I could release everything to the students! And by Friday, the files for the externals were complete. There were a few outstanding cases of academic integrity matters, but that’s it! Success. 

Now we have to finalise the marking for the non-finalists. But that is less work, and I don’t have to keep the overview. I have faith it will be alright! 

Practicing nose breathing on the bike

At the presentation night, our guest speaker Jacko sang the praise of nose breathing. In his book he does too. There is something about breathing in through small holes that helps. You have to go slower, and that gets the air deeper into the lungs. The deep part of the lungs is the efficient part. 

In the book (which I bought at presentation night) he also describes how hard it is to breathe exclusively through your nose when you’re running. But he said it sure pays off. I’m happy to believe him.

I hadn’t started practicing myself yet. I am such a creature of habit! I had tried a bit during the warmup on the track. The actual drills are too intensive for that. The Thursday doesn't lend itself to nose breathing much. 

What I should have done is practice on my bike. I’m on it every weekday. It is where most of my exercise comes from. And as long as you're on the flat, it is not a problem to breathe through your nose. And then you can see how long you last on the ascents. 

I've started that now, after the actual session! Because I have been doing that bike commute for so long, I never thought of breathing through my nose during it, as I am in my normal commuter mood. Once I get into the habit of seeing how much of the distance I can cover while breathing through my nose, that will become the habit, and I will just do it without thinking too much about it. This might help quite a lot! We will see. I hope to break a few personal bests in the coming months; let's see if I manage that with my newly developing breathing techniques!

What I am supposed to look like on my bike: with closed mouth!