Castles Relay 2008.
It was another successful weekend for Abergele Harriers as they completed their third Welsh Castles Relay which takes 58 teams from Caernarfon Castle on Saturday morning to Cardiff Castle on Sunday afternoon. On a weekend when team performance was more important than individual performance, the club finished in a highly respectful 29th position overall and 22nd in the King of the Mountains competition. This was a club record (34th last year), taking 29mins 11secs off their previous best time for the event. The honour of highest individual finishing position went to Sean McCormack who finished sixth in the 16th Stage , a mountain stage from Brecon to Beacons Reservoir, in an outstanding time of 53mins 36secs, just 1min 45secs behind the winner. Also finishing sixth in his stage was second claim member Tom Watson who finished Stage 8 in an excellent 1hr 7mins 7secs, just over six minutes behind the winner. The bravest run of the weekend came on Stage 15, where Keith Elliott finished the stage despite aggravating a pre-existing injury quite early in the run, and still recorded a time of 1hr 43mins 13secs, for 53rd position. The weekend was started off by Matthew Ashton who ran the first stage out of Caernarfon Castle, taking an amazing six minutes off the time he set for the same leg last year, finishing in 60mins 21secs for 11th overall. The final, so called “glory” stage was run by Steven McCormack this year, who has returned to the excellent form of twelve months ago, running a tremendous leg, finishing in a time of 1hr 7mins 52secs for 15th position. Last year’s final stage runner Darren Blazier swapped stages with McCormack this year, taking on the toughest mountain stage of all, stage 14 up to the Drovers Arms. Blazier produced a fantastic performance, finishing 10th for the stage, in a club record time of 1hr 8mins 38secs. Others to take on Mountain Stages this year were Ed Reid who finished Stage 3 out of Criccieth in an excellent 1hr 21mins 10secs for 24th, Haydn Jones who triumphed over stage 7 from Dolgellau in 1hr 12mins 23secs for 42nd, second claim member Richard Watson who completed stage 10 out of Llanfair Caereinion in 1hr 22mins 42secs and Pete Smith who took on the 7am stage out of Newtown on Sunday morning, finishing in 1hr 40mins 41secs for 54th. Also running superbly on Sunday were Alan Lucas, stage 12, 1hr 24mins 21secs, 49th; Alex Dutton, stage 13, 1hr 27mins 47secs, 49th; Stephen McCarten, stage 17, 1hr 13mins 9secs, 52nd; Dave Edwards, stage 18, 1hr 9mins 9secs, stage 30th; Katie Williams, stage 19, 1hr 31mins 53secs, 51st. Fantastic Saturday stages come from Grahame Shone, stage 2, 1hr 10mins 19secs, 18th; Rob Spotswood, stage 4, 1hr 11mins 30secs, 29th; Pam Grant (second claim), stage 5, 1hr 17mins 44secs, 43rd; Carol Willgoose, stage 6, 1hr 17mins 46secs, 30th; Meinir Huws, stage 9, 1hr 9mins 39secs, 44th.
Club Captain Geran Hughes specifically decided this year not to run a stage in order to concentrate on the organisational aspects of the weekend, once again proving himself invaluable, ably helped all weekend by wife Angie. Club President Mike Nolan also travelled with the team providing fantastic support all along the way.
The club are already planning next years’ assault on “The Castles” and would like to thank Edward Hughes Solicitors of Rhyl who very generously sponsored this year’s Castles Team.
Once again a massive thanks to all from the Les Croupiers Running Club in Cardiff for organising such a mammoth event.
The following were the individual results;
Leg 1; Matthew Ashton, 1hr 21secs, 11th, (9.1miles):
Leg 2; Grahame Shone, 1hr 10mins 19secs, 18th, (10.7miles):
Leg 3; Ed Reid, 1hr 21mins 10secs, 24th, (12.1miles, mountain stage):
Leg 4; Rob Spotswood, 1hr 11mins 30secs, 29th, (9.4miles):
Leg 5; Pam Grant, 1hr 17mins 44secs, 43rd, (9.6miles):
Leg 6; Carol Willgoose, 1hr 17mins 46secs, 30th, (10.7miles):
Leg 7; Haydn Jones, 1hr 12mins 23secs, 42nd, (9.75miles, mountain stage):
Leg 8; Tom Watson, 1hr 7mins 7secs, 6th, (11.2miles):
Leg 9; Meinir Huws, 1hr 9mins 39sec, 44th, (8.6miles):
Leg 10; Richard Watson, 1hr 22mins 42secs, 13th, (13.3miles, mountain stage):
Leg 11; Peter Smith, 1hr 40mins 41secs, 54th, (12.3miles, mountain stage):
Leg 12; Alan Lucas, 1hr 24mins 21secs, 49th, (11.2miles):
Leg 13; Alex Dutton, 1hr 27mins 47secs, 49th, (10.6miles):
Leg 14; Darren Blazier, 1hr 8mins 38secs, 10th, (11.0miles, mountain stage):
Leg 15; Keith Elliott, 1hr 43mins 13secs, 53rd, (12.4miles):
Leg 16; Sean McCormack, 53mins 36secs, 6th, (8.8miles, mountain stage):
Leg 17; Steve McCarten, 1hr 13mins 9secs, 52nd, (9.2miles):
Leg 18; Dave Edwards, 1hr 9mins 9secs, 30th, (9.1miles):
Leg 19; Katie Williams, 1hr 31mins 53secs, 51st, (10.4miles):
Leg 20; Steven McCormack, 1hr 7mins 52secs, 16th, (10.4miles).
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Castles Relay 2007
It was another fantastically successful and enjoyable Castles Relay for Abergele Harriers with club captain Geran Hughes once again calmly and successfully leading the club from Caernarfon to Cardiff for the 25th anniversary event. The Harriers took a total of 26 hours 8 minutes and 49 seconds to complete the 210mile course, an improvement of 1 hour 13 minutes 19 seconds over last year’s time, finishing 34th overall, a huge improvement on last years position. Even more impressively, the club finished 16th in the “King of the Mountains” competition, again a club record result. For the second successive year the honour of achieving the highest finishing position went to Darren Blazier, whose time of 1hr 6mins 34secs gave him an outstanding 7th place in the twentieth and final stage into Cardiff Castle. The “King of the Mountains” competition is made up of six of the toughest stages of the event with the team getting of to an excellent start when Sean McCormack completed stage 3 in 1hr 14mins 23secs for 10th position, his highest “castles” position to date. International fell runner Geran Hughes continued the good work on stage 7 in 1hr 3mins 10secs for 12th. Richard Watson ran the final stage of day one into Newtown, in a tremendous 1hr 27mins 21secs to maintain the Harriers excellent position at the halfway stage. Hillary Jacques, following the difficult 7am start of day two, completed the next mountain stage in 1hr 44mins 34secs for 57th place. Stage 14, universally accepted as the most difficult stage of the whole event, was this year run by the club’s youngest team member Steven McCormack, who ran an extremely powerful race, finishing in 1hr 16mins 41secs for 28th. The final mountain stage, nine miles up the Brecon Beacons, was run superbly by Keith Elliot, in 1hr 10mins 45secs, giving him 49th position. Another one of the many notable performances of the weekend came at the very first stage from Caernarfon, when Matthew Ashton started the whole proceedings with a time of 1hr 6mins 48secs for 15th. This was followed up by veteran “castles” runner Grahame Shone, in an equally impressive 19th position, with a time of 1hr 11mins 54secs. Angie Hughes, who suffered more than most from the midday sun, still managed a fantastic time of 1hr 12mins 59secs (31st) while other excellent day one performances in mid-Wales came from Meinir Huws 1:39:25 (54th) and the ever-improving Paul Thomas 1:04:01 (25th), both of whom combined family trips with the event. Pam Grant 1:24:32 (47th) and Tom Watson 1:14:58 (21st) also did the club proud in the blisteringly hot conditions. Peter Smith, another early starter on day two, completed his “castles” debut with a superb 1hr 22mins 27secs (41st), while Haydn Jones, a fellow debutant, completed the very difficult downhill section from the Drovers Arms to Brecon, in 1hr 31mins 19secs (38th). Chief mini-bus driver for the trip, Steve McCarten, still managed to find the time to complete a stage himself, running wonderfully well, in a time of 1hr 10mins 18secs (45th). Dave Edwards, who travelled down with his family to Merthyr Tydfil to run his stage, continued his recent excellent form, finishing in 1hr 11mins 5secs for 32nd. On day two, Helen McArthur, completed stage 13 in 1hr 19mins 32secs (39th) and Clare Johnson completed stage 19 in 1hr 41mins 36secs (58th) rounding off a memorable weekend for all concerned.
Despite the intense heat, and thanks to superb teamwork, fantastic support and inspired leadership from Club Captain Geran Hughes, the weekend was a tremendous success, with the club already planning for next year’s attack on the event.
The following were the individual results;
Leg 1; Matthew Ashton, 1hr 6mins 48secs, 15th, (9.1miles):
Leg 2; Grahame Shone, 1hr 11mins 54secs, 19th, (10.7miles):
Leg 3; Sean McCormack, 1hr 14mins 23secs, 10th, (12.1miles, mountain stage):
Leg 4; Angie Hughes, 1hr 12mins 59secs, 31st, (9.4miles):
Leg 5; Pam Grant, 1hr 24mins 32secs, 47th, (9.6miles):
Leg 6; Meinir Huws, 1hr 39mins 25secs, 54th, (10.7miles):
Leg 7; Geran Hughes, 1hr 3mins 10secs, 12th, (9.75miles, mountain stage):
Leg 8; Tom Watson, 1hr 14mins 58secs, 21st, (11.2miles):
Leg 9; Paul Thomas, 1hr 4mins 1sec, 25th, (8.6miles):
Leg 10; Richard Watson, 1hr 27mins 21secs, 22nd, (13.3miles, mountain stage):
Leg 11; Hilary Jaques, 1hr 44mins 36secs, 57th, (12.3miles, mountain stage):
Leg 12; Peter Smith, 1hr 22mins 27secs, 41st, (11.2miles):
Leg 13; Helen McArthur, 1hr 19mins 32secs, 39th, (10.6miles):
Leg 14; Steven McCormack, 1hr 16mins 41secs, 28th, (11.0 miles, mountain stage):
Leg 15; Haydn Jones, 1hr 31mins 19secs, 38th, (12.4miles):
Leg 16; Keith Elliott, 1hr 10mins 45secs, 49th, (9miles, mountain stage):
Leg 17; Steve McCarten, 1hr 10mins 18secs, 45th, (9.2miles):
Leg 18; Dave Edwards, 1hr 11mins 5secs, 32nd, (9.1miles):
Leg 19; Clare Johnson, 1hr 41mins 36secs, 58th, (10.4miles):
Leg 20; Darren Blazier, 1hr 6mins 34secs, 7th, (10.4miles).
Once again a massive thanks to all from the Les Croupiers Running Club in Cardiff for organising such a mammoth event.
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Leg 1 Photos
Welsh Castles Relay
10-11 June 2006
Abergele Harriers completed their first ever Welsh Castled relay race over the weekend, completing the 210 mile course from Caernarfon castle to Cardiff castle, in a superb cumulative time of 27 hours 21 minutes and 58 seconds. The race was run in blistering heat, but despite that, thanks to superb teamwork, fantastic support and inspired leadership from Club Captain Geran Hughes, the weekend was a tremendous success, with the club already planning for next year’s event. The highlights of the weekend are too many to mention, with the emphasis on fun, good competition, excellent running and camaraderie between all 60 clubs participating.
The following were the individual results;
Leg 1; Austin Bell 1hr 16mins 32secs, 33rd (9.1miles):
Leg 2; Grahame Shone 1hr 13mins 38secs, 13th (10.7miles):
Leg 3; Matthew Ashton 1hr 33mins 55secs, 40th (12.1miles, mountain stage):
Leg 4; Pam Grant 1hr 17mins 26secs, 36th (9.4miles):
Leg 5; Simon Grant 1hr 14mins 26secs, 26th (9.6miles):
Leg 6; Angie Hughes 1hr 37mins 16secs, 45th (10.7miles):
Leg 7; Paul Thomas 1hr 23mins 27secs, 48th (9.75miles, mountain stage):
Leg 8; Justin McIlveen 1hr 17mins 0secs, 17th (11.2miles):
Leg 9; Steven McCormack 59mins 47secs, 13th (8.6miles):
Leg 10; Paul Ross 1hr 45mins 45secs, 45th, (13.3miles, mountain stage):
Leg 11; Alan Lucas 1hr 45mins 31secs, 54th (12.3miles, mountain stage):
Leg 12; Roy Evans 1hr 21mins 41secs, 36th (11.2miles):
Leg 13; Rob Spotswood 1hr 22mins 20secs, 44th (10.6miles):
Leg 14; Sean McCormack 1hr 15mins 15secs, 24th (11.0 miles, mountain stage):
Leg 15; Darren Blazier 1hr 14mins 21secs, 5th (12.4miles):
Leg 16; Hilary Jaques 1hr 15mins 42secs, 52nd (9miles, mountain stage):
Leg 17; Dave Edwards1hr 16mins 52secs, 50th (9.2miles):
Leg 18; Melanie Williams 1hr 16mins 10secs, 38th (9.1miles):
Leg 19; Meinir Huws 1hr 44mins, 51st (10.4miles):
Leg 20; Geran Hughes 1hr 11mins 48secs, 29th (10.4miles).
Thanks also to the travelling reserves and supporters, Sara McIlveen, Jaime Ashton, Alison Guillemin and Majella McCormack.