WCR — Reports

Norwich Union Welsh Castles Relay CAERNARFON – CARDIFF – JUNE 4/5 1988

The growth of the Welsh Castles Relay continues apace!

Noon on Saturday, June 4 saw a record 33 teams face the starting pistol for the 6th annual relay over the now established route of 204 miles — a far cry from the first staging just five short years ago, when a mere six teams competed. The only disappointing feature was the non-appearance of Tipton Harriers, depriving the race of a re-match from the National 12-stage road relays six weeks earlier, where Tipton, Swansea and Newport – placing ever 4th, ahead of Tipton (6th) and Newport (11th). This aside, a Newport-Swansea clash still looked a mouth-watering prospect, with Horwich challenging to again provide the main challenge from the English.

The 'ladies' race also looked to be its most competitive to date, with two teams each from England and Wales, whilst in the Business Houses event, Norwich Union, the race sponsors, were looking to reverse last year's result with Rockwool. For those not conversant with the races, the event is divided into 21 stage races, with each stage starting with the arrival of the first incoming runner — enabling every athlete to compete effectively in a 'race' situation with each team's individual times being aggregated. As in previous years, the first eleven stages were held on the Saturday, stopping overnight at Newtown, with the final ten stages re-starting on Sunday morning at 7am. Unlike 1987, however, race conditions were ideal, and the cloudless skies enabled runners, spectators and officials alike to enjoy the magnificence of the Welsh countryside.

Having finished runners-up last year, but without winning a single stage, Horwich got off to the best possible start this time by taking a half minute advantage on the opening leg in the person of Aiden Roberts from Les Croupiers' Mike Davies. However, the next three stages looked for all the world like a re-run of 1986 and 1987, with Newport completely dominating, and opening up an early but very handy seven-minute lead in the form of Tony Graham, the in-form James Hill and Jonathan Lewis. In the ladies' race, City of Bath were already well clear, with a 25-minute buffer over second-placed Serpentine Ladies, whilst Norwich Union had a similar advantage over Rockwool in the Business Houses race.

Swansea's Shaun Tobin stopped the rot on Stage 5 with a minute cushion over Horwich's Steve Baker, but more importantly, back over eight minutes on rivals Newport, which put the West Glamorgan club into the lead for the first time. This was extended by former Welsh 1500 metre champion John Theophilus on Stage 6 to two-and-a-half minutes, but on Stage 7, without doubt the toughest of the entire event, the pendulum swung back in Newport's favour.

Producing one of the classiest runs in the relay, Neil Hardee decimated both Andrew Darby's two-year-old stage record and the opposition to put Newport back into the lead, a lead which Dave Powell extended to almost five minutes on Stage 8. Back came Swansea once more to take the next two legs with fine runs from Harry and Warren Tomkins before the final stage on Saturday evening saw the closest finish yet seen in the history of the Castle – and on the longest stage: Swansea's Steve Smith and Les Croupiers' Mick McGeoch played into a fascinating head to head clash over 12.6 miles by neither athlete able to break away. In a frantic last 100 yards, McGeoch prevailed by inches in a dip finish, though unfortunately for him, dipped a little too far and heavily, grazing both his right elbow and hip, culminating in a trip to the local hospital for stitches. Smith's fine run, however, had more importantly put Swansea clear back into the lead overnight, though their advantage over Newport was a slender 59 seconds. Horwich and Les Croupiers had by now consolidated their 3rd and 4th positions overall, and Kendall and City of Bath made up the first half-dozen. City of Bath were by now almost an hour clear in the 'Ladies' race from Serpentine, Les Croupiers and Gwent Sisters, whereas in the Business House contest, Norwich held a useful but precarious advantage over Rockwool.

After what seemed like alarmingly little sleep, we awoke to a beautiful warm and cloudless Sunday morning, in breathtaking scenery for the second half of the relay. Horwich started day two as they ended day one, albeit in somewhat emphatic fashion, with an excellent win on Stage 12 by Paul Dugdale — and after recording 14.02 in the UK 5000 metre championships at Derby the previous day, 'Oggie' Lewis extended Swansea's lead on Stage 13. Andy Reed's fast-finishing Martin Haley, while somewhat surprisingly took a minute off Welsh one-mile record holder Neil Horsfield (Newport) to put his team five minutes clear.

Newport then responded with a typically aggressive piece of running by Peter Jenkins to reduce the deficit to less than a minute, ten kilometres like Dugdale having run the 5000 metres at Derby, placing 10th in 13.56. I think the actions of these two class athletes amplify the commitment that the teams make to the Castles Relay, and it is greatly appreciated.

Andy Smith, on Stage 16, and more especially, Nigel Adams on the run over the Brecon Beacons (where he broke his own stage record by almost four minutes) then appeared to make the castles title safe for Swansea, only for Newport's fast-running Alec Darby to produce a last show of defiance on the long run down into Merthyr.

Matt Kinnane put Swansea back in the driving seat at Stage 19, while man-of-the-moment Shaun Whelan had an excellent battle with Barry & Vale's Pilsey Howarth on the road into Caerphilly before coming home half-a-minute clear.

The final stage into Cardiff Castle was somewhat bizarre in that two of the leading athletes went the wrong way, Swansea's supervet Alun Brown lost around 60 metres at Gabalfa flyover whilst Newport's Adrian Brown lost the finish to Barry & Vale's Keith Noble, whereas Newport's Adrian Brown lost almost 15 minutes which nearly cost his side second place overall. In the end Swansea ran out very worthy winners in 17-51.16, just 8 minutes shy of Newport's 1986 record, though their final winning margin of 39 minutes was more than had looked likely for most of the race. Newport, missing several of their top men, were far from disgraced in second and it was good to see Horwich back again in the frame for the third successive year. The positions in both the Ladies' and Business House races changed little from overnight — and City of Bath and Norwich Union ran out decisive winners.

However, the lasting memory from the event was yet again not so much the result but more the camaraderie and spirit generated throughout the teams. We look forward to the 1989 edition with great interest! Mick McGeoch

Norwich Union Welsh Castles Relay

4th & 5th June 1988

STAGE RECORDS

Stage,Name,Team,Time,Year

1.,John Robertshaw,Newport Harriers AC,34.56,1986

2.,Tony Graham,Newport Harriers AC,52.18,1988

3.,James Hill,Newport Harriers AC,39.05,1988

4.,Neil Horsfield,Newport Harriers AC,32.55,1986

5.,Shaun Tobin,Swansea Harriers AC,55.13,1988

6.,John Theophilus,Swansea Harriers AC,51.01,1987

7.,Neil Hardee,Newport Harriers AC,48.22,1988

8.,Dave Powell,Newport Harriers AC,43.58,1986

9.,Kevin Blake,Cardiff AAC,49.54,1988

10.,Mick McGeoch,Les Croupiers RC,62.36,1986

11.,John Cunningham,Horwich RMI Harriers,63.29,1988

12.,Paul Dugdale,Horwich RMI Harriers,56.16,1988

13.,Paul Dugdale,Horwich RMI Harriers,50.32,1987

14.,Ali Cole,Newport Harriers AC,57.45,1987

15.,Peter Jenkins,Newport Harriers AC,50.32,1987

16.,Nigel Adams,Newport Harriers AC,44.35,1988

17.,Peter Jenkins,Newport Harriers AC,43.59,1986

18.,Steve Crimes,Horwich RMI Harriers,33.54,1988

19.,Geoff Hill,Swansea Harriers AC,33.40,1987

20.,Dennis Fowles,Cardiff AAC,35.08,1984