Brecon Fans Races

Report

The forecast of "Heavy showers clearing to spells of strong sunshine" should have said "Heavy showers leading to even heavier downpours, with occasional spells of sunshine".

55 runners lined up at the start of the 2023 Fan y Big Horseshoe Race, out of 76 pre-entries - possibly the heavy rain in the morning put some people off?

It was lovely to see so many familiar and new faces, and visitors from far flung parts of the country (noting that Cambridge Harriers are not from Cambridge, Ed.)

Jack Agnew and Charles Sykes led to the summit, then Robin Woods reeled them in on the descent, resulting in a very close finish. Jack held onto his lead, to win in a time of 1:17:09, and Robin just beat Charles by a few seconds, with only ten seconds between the three of them.

Katie Ironside (MDC) was a convincing winner in the women's race, and, with Briony Latter in 3rd place overall, MDC easily won the women's team prize, with Donna Grant as 3rd counter.

Local club Brecon AC took the men's team prize, thanks to good runs by Michael Holloway (4th overall), Andrew May (6th and 1st MV40) and Pete Sowerby (17th and 1st MV60)

A knee was bandaged on the summits, an ankle was sprained, and some navigational howlers were narrowly avoided - so all runners arrived safely at the finish by around 14:30. Everyone got thoroughly soggy, so strong tea, bottles of ale, and Curly Wurlies were appreciated in the Village Hall.

The race was organized by Naomi Law and Crispin Flower. Huge thanks to all runners, marshals and sweepers, who also got very soggy.

Full Results

Photos

Summary results and prize winners