Welsh Castles Relay 2009

Caernarffon to Cardiff

Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th June

Above: Rich Malin and his yellow top as a stage winner.

A big, big thank you to everyone who ran, supported, marshalled and supplied drinks at the Welsh Castles.We finished 14th, which is excellent; an improvement of 3 places from last year.  There were some fantastic individual performances, most notably Rich Malin who won Stage 1 and Rich Dando who finished 4th on Stage 20.  It was perhaps fitting that the team was brought home into the grounds of Cardiff Castle by Rich Dando on his last run for the club before moving to Wales (though he may well still run for us as his second claim club in the future). It’s worth pointing out that Rich is now the 4th quickest ever runner on that route (it’s new – having been extended by 0.3 mile from last year’s route).

Above: Rich Dando stops the clock for B&R at Cardiff Castle.

It’s hard thinking about individual performances when everyone did well.  I don’t think there was a single stage where we wobbled or under-performed. It was a fantastic team effort. Click here for the provisional results so that you can marvel at how brilliant we all were so that you can marvel at how brilliant we all were.

Above: Thanks to all the supporters and marshals including Phil, Steve and Pete (who also ran).

For me, the wonderful team togetherness, and the support made the weekend one I’ll never forget. If Steve, Phil, Len, Pete and co. hadn’t supplied water and support on my stage I’d never have made it round. Thanks again all for a great weekend.  Next year a spot in the top 10 is surely ours. Mike Hanson. B&R Team Manager – Welsh Castle.

Above: Thanks to B&R Castles captain Mike Hanson for all his efforts.

I’m sure Rich Dando spoke on behalf of all the team and club when he mailed that Mike was being too modest in his report as he managed a 4th place on top of organising the team.  Although Rich was a  bit gutted that his potential new club Bridgend beat us by two places after the effort he made making sure that he finished in front of their runner on his leg!!

Thanks to Pete Hawcroft for the pictures. Click on the links below to see lots more of his excellent photographs.

Pete Hawcroft photo gallery (81 photos)

Pete Hawcroft photo gallery (16 photos)

Pete Hawcroft photo gallery (24 photos)