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Come for a weekend in Wales! Join the Serpie Welsh Castles Relay Team (10-11 June 2023)

Sign up for the Serpentine RC team has now opened – please follow this link. Just like last year we are planning to enter the Open category with a team of 20 runners.

The weekend is very social with the chance to have a great race along some scenic countryside. Along the way there are loads of sheep, castles, a fair few car parks and plenty of great Serpie company.

Serpentine Welsh Castles Team 2022 finishing in Cardiff

Mike supported by the team in Stage 4 from Maentwrog, in Snowdonia

The Welsh Castles Relay started in the 1980s and has been organised every year since then, apart from 2001 (Foot and Mouth disease) and 2020-2021 (Covid-19). It has attracted a lot of running clubs across the UK to take part so we have an opportunity to compete with teams from other parts of the country. For more information please see the Serpie website and the race organisers Les Croupiers website.

Ronald among the starters of Stage 17 in Brecon Beacons

The Relay is a two-day event starting in Caernarvon, North of Wales, on Saturday morning and ending in Cardiff on Sunday afternoon. Most of our team will leave London on Friday afternoon on rental cars or mini vans (driven by team members), with the option to travel up Saturday morning as well. We would love you to stay with the team for the entire weekend, however it is also possible to leave the team early if you need to travel elsewhere once you have completed your stage.

Dmitri competing in Stage 7 near Dolgellau, Snowdonia

The race start at Caernarfon Castle, North Wales

The race involves 20 stages (10 stages each day) mainly on rural roads over a range of terrain from flat roads to mountain passes – please see this link for the stage descriptions. Everybody runs once and stages vary between about 12km and 21km. Please let us know if there is a stage you would like to do in particular.

Each stage starts as its own race (so no baton changes are required!), with individual Stage Winner’s t-shirts and trophies up for grabs. The times from each stage are then added up to determine the overall winning team. As well as running you will get involved in marshalling, handing out water and driving our team vehicles (likely to be 5-seater cars).

Note that due to the requirement for the race organisers to close roads, they impose cut-off times for each stage (approximately 9 min/mile or 5:30min/km) so runners should be capable to completing the distance in under the cut off time.

Natalia jumping across the Stage 11 finish line in Llanbadarn Fynydd, Central Wales

Sign up here to join the team. In the sign-up form you will be asked to estimate your recent / expected half marathon times (this will help us allocate stages according to running ability), also we would like you to indicate if you’re willing to be a driver (we will need 8 drivers to get the teams to the stage starts and finishes).

Participants will need to be first-claim Serpentine and registered with England Athletics for the 2023-2024 season (second claim members not allowed unfortunately).

Please spread the word to whoever might be interested!  Any questions, please email us.

We are glad to be able to keep the cost down to a similar level as 2022.  Costs per runner for this year’s race are expected to be:

1) Each participant will pay £80 deposit at the time of registration.

2) Final payment of approximately £80 (to be determined once we can confirm the total cost covering vehicle rental, petrol, and B&B / hostel accommodation costs for Friday and Saturday night, including Sunday morning breakfast). Final payment will be less if you sign up as a driver (see below). You will receive a notification to make the final payment before the event.

3) In addition to the travel and accommodation costs, other own costs for each runner include:

• Evening Saturday meal arranged for the whole team (estimated around £20-25).
• Own food and drink purchased along the way.

All runners will receive a Welsh Castles Relay T-shirt provided by the event organisers. The club covers the Serpentine team race entries (£690 for the whole team) and the driver subsidy (see below).

Driver subsidy

We travel from point to point in vehicles (likely to be 5-seater cars) and would like eight drivers to make the weekend a success. If you are able to drive for us (you'll be running as well of course!), please volunteer your amazing self. The Serpentine team will refund half of your deposit (i.e. £40) as a thank you, this will be factored into your final payment amount.

Please contact the organising team if you have any questions: welshcastles@serpentine.org.uk 

Hope to see you in the team roster!

Serpie WCR organisers (Hans, Ronald, Jessica)

(Photo credit: Serpentine WCR Team 2022)

Submitted: 1 March 2023

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