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Weekend of top Welsh off-road racing in prospect
14/07/2022 00:00, In Blog / Fell & Mountain /
Two off the top off-road races in Wales take place this Saturday with Welsh teams competing at the Castell Howell International Snowdon Race in Llanberis and the Welsh Trail Running Championships taking place at the Rabbit Run at the Merthyr Mawr Estate.
Castell Howell International Snowdon Race
Welsh teams will compete against teams from England, Ireland, Northern Ireland and Italy at the 45th edition of the iconic Mountain race that returns for the first time since 2019.
The route takes runners from the town up to the summit of Wales’ highest mountain before returning to complete the 10 mile route back in Llanberis.
Seasoned Welsh international Matthew Roberts leads the way for Wales, joined by Gavin Roberts and Ben Mitchell, with young Eryri Harrier Tom Wood completing the quartet.
Their main competition may come from Zak Hanna of Ireland and Italian duo Luca Merli and Lorenzo Rota Martir who travel to Wales to see if they can add their names to the list of Italian mountain running legends to win this race.
England will also be strong with European U20 Bronze medalist Finlay Grant and both Joe Baxter and Dan Haworth returning to race in Snowdon.
Wales will be strong on the women’s side once again with the in-form Elliw Haf running in Welsh colours again after her 10th place finish in 2018 and 16th in 2019. Haf is joined by Eryri team-mate Lizzie Richardson, Cybi’s Joanne Henderson and Rhian Probert from Mynydd Du.
Three time former winner Sarah McCormack from the Republic of Ireland won the last edition of the race and returns to Snowdon fresh from competing at last weekend’s European Championships where she finished in 13th place.
Italy’s Alice Gaggi is currently third in the world rankings and also took part in the Euros last weekend, finishing in 6th. She is joined by Lorenza Beccaria in the famous Azzuri colours.
Scotland’s Scout Adkin finished sixth here in 2019 but is greatly improved in 2022 and will be in action alongside fellow Scot and GB & Northern Ireland team mate, Holly Page.
England’s Hannah Russell and Sharon Taylor will also be formidable contenders.
More information on the race and results can be found here
Rabbit Run inc Welsh Trail Running Championships (short)
The Rabbit Run is a 7.5 mile trail race around mixed terrain on the picturesque Merthyr Mawr Estate near Bridgend and will again host the Welsh Trail Running Championships.
Jacob Tasker of Ogmore Phoenix will be amongst the race favourites and has improved greatly in recent months, finishing third two weeks ago at the Healthspan Porthcawl 10k and lowering his 5km best to 15:27.
He will be joined by Joseph Reardon who is a young athlete competing for Parc Bryn Bach with proven form as an International Mountain Runner.
Sandra Chipper will be the likely favourite on the women’s side as a previous winner here, claiming the Welsh title at the picturesque Merthyr Mawr Estate in 2019.
More information on the race can be found here