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The
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The Welsh
Castles is a relay spread over two days from the Welsh Castle of Caernarfon
to Cardiff Castle incorporating many
other castles along the route. It’s a fabulous event, organised by Les Croupiers Running Club. It’s not
for the feint hearted and the twenty legs range from 8.6 miles to 12.4. It is a
fabulous way to do a crash course of
Seven of us started the trip from Wesham Fire Station: Alex, Charlie, Russ
Mabbett, George, Peter Cooke,
Martin, et moi. Alan Taylor, (we don’t call him by his nickname anymore - well not
to his face!), was driving down with some of the earlier runners in his car to
pick up along the route. After about 5 miles, Martin reminded Alex
that Barry Peatfield was to be
picked up at Broughton. “Oh
yeah!” said Alex. We were
just in the nick of time and Barry
was none the wiser!
George was on form and by the time we
got to
We eventually got to the first castle at Caernarfon to see the runners set off
amid hooting sounds, cowbells and girls in hula skirts - much to George’s pleasure. Alan Glasgow did this leg and had a stormer. Whilst cheering him
on, Martin made a comment about a
‘slaphead’ while standing next to George.
You can imagine the rest!! He was a
The next leg was run by Trevor Raynor who looked like the ‘bionic man’, wearing shades and looking
the part. He ran in to the finish
strongly and stealthily with a very creditable fourth place on his leg. The
next two legs, as the bus followed the course, were run by
two lads from Yorkshire, (but we’ll
forgive them for that); Andy Yelland,
who brought Sally and little John along and his friend Julian Mawson, who’s second claim Wesham and runs for Ottley
A.C. . They both had good runs despite the searing heat. Phil Lever was next. He'd 'chauffeured'
Joanna down in martins
car...(a slight change of plan).Thanks to him for doing so and being the
club man he is, he ran a fine leg to finish commendably and was then free to watch the football! Then Joanna
Goorney took over; she had, thankfully, stepped into the breach at the
eleventh hour for Les Cornwall, who
had to work again. She had a very thirsty run, taking lots of water on board
and did fabulously.
Dolgellau was the next stop and a few of
us were desperate to watch the ‘footie’, (not wanting to ‘cock’ the running up
of course), but it worked out OK as Russ drove the car onto the next leg
for Paul Dunkerley .We were left to
our own devices in the Stag Inn and,
whilst the match was on, Charlie and
George sipped tea in a café (can’t
think why George didn’t want to
watch it?) The pub was small, as was the ‘tele’ and the sound was turned down
somewhat. Anyone would’ve thought we were in
The bus missed out a couple of legs
including Paul Dunkerly’s and John Bertenshaw, who brought the new,
slimline Elaine for her usual great
support. Both again had good runs in spite of the heat. Llanfair was where we ended up to see Paul Carter 
coming in, (not with his usual sprint), as it was a 1 in 3
hill coming up to the finish. Good on him too, as he’s now got a fabulous
girlfriend to cheer him on.
Alex ran the last leg of the day as
reliably and as strong as ever and we all sped off then to our hotel in Montgomery where we were suitably
refreshed outside the local pub, until one of the locals was booted out of the
door with a bloody nose to the dulcet tones of women singing and the landlord
saying, “Don’t touch her again and don’t come back!” Ahem!…It was time
to eat anyway.
The next morning we had to be up early to
support Alan on his leg. He had been
hopping up and down outside since 6.30am as keen as mustard. The second day
sees the course getting 
more harsh and gruelling for the runners and Alan had a fine run to Llanbadarn with our cheers spurring him
on. Dave Young took over the next
leg supported by his lovely, lady wife Chris,
who makes this race a favourite of theirs. A tentative Barry Peatfield was next, setting off steadily due to an injury. By
half way however he was picking the runners in front off one by one, narrowly
missing out on beating the
Russ (‘I love Prezza’) Mabbett, Barry Norman and George
Kennedy all had great runs, (although Barry
didn’t think so!) When picking up George
we couldn’t find him for half an hour as he was on the road and we were at the
finish. Tony Codling pointed the way
to him and we dashed off then to see Peter
Cooke, (who ran better than last year), come in with George on the way shouting, “Come on England”, in a Scottish accent to Welsh youths on street corners!
The penultimate leg was run by Martin
who was not really suitably fuelled up due to his sandwiches being waterlogged
the night before and left on the ledge of the bus, (don’t ask!). He finished
strongly as usual however. Everyone then had fish and chips and we headed off
to
In a nutshell, the scenery was stunning
with the mountains, the rolling hills, the plunging valleys and the crumbling
ancient ruins, (reminded me of the Wrinklys).
The organisation, camaraderie and support were superb. Thanks so much to Alan and Alex for their excellent organisation and all their grief. A
weekend like this just goes to show what a great bunch of guys and gals we have
at Wesham.
Here’s to The Welsh Castles next year - definitely not one to be missed!
Diwidd (The End)
Results:
1st Les
Croupiers R. C. 22:05:02
11TH
18th NF
AC. (vets) 25:11:16
44th
Lytham St Annes RR’S 27:50:19
55TH NF
AC (second team) 30:50:34
Written By:
Michaela Dempsey
Submitted 13th
June 2006
Edited By: Brenda J
Earnshaw WRR Website/Magazine Editor