THE highlight for Sarn Helen Running Club every year is the Welsh Castles Relay hosted by Les Croupiers Running Club in Cardiff.

The standard of running has improved significantly over the years with teams from England and Wales putting forward 20 runners competing hard to win the 20 individual stages on offer, 10 on Saturday and 10 on Sunday.

The times for each individual runner is added up with the team accumulating the lowest overall time claiming victory. Within the two day event the 1st Male and 1st Female within each stage is awarded with a yellow shirt.

Sixty teams took part this year and Sarn Helen finished in 23rd place overall and 20th in the Open Category with all 20 runners producing superb times.

Distance and time for each runner in order of stages were: Eleri Rivers 9.1 miles in 71:14, Lou Summers 10.7 miles 76:47, Mike Davies 12.3 miles (Mountain Stage) 82:21, Arwyn Davies 9.5 miles 63:15, Dee Jolly 9.6 miles 62:59, Carwyn Davies 10.7 miles 68:45, Dylan Davies 10.1 miles (Mountain Stage) 67:14, Daniel Jones 10.8 miles 75:44, Owen Davies 8.5 miles 56:47, Simon Hall 13.1 miles (Mountain Stage) 83:11, Ollie George 12.3 miles (Mountain Stage) 63:56, Glyn Price 11.2 miles 71:02, Alexander Price 10.6 miles 67:12, Dylan Lewis  10.8 miles (Mountain Stage) 69:37, Polly Summers 12.8 miles 79:23, George Eadon 12.6 miles (Mountain Stage)  88:06, Ceri Summers 9.2 miles 60:19, Nigel Davies 9.1 miles 57:36, Llyr Rees 7.7 miles 51.44 and Matthew Walker 10.1 miles in 67:05.

Polly Summers was also first female in Stage 15 and duly awarded a yellow shirt.

Swansea was the destination for Stephen Kenworthy where he competed in the Half Marathon in an amazing PB time of 1:41:16.

Delyth Crimes and Pamela Carter took on a huge challenge in the 24-mile Man vs Horse race at Llanwrtyd Wells. Both had great runs with Delyth finishing in 4:48:33 and Pam in 5:18:55.

Emma Palfrey travelled to Fishguard to compete in the Sprint Triathlon and had a fantastic race to finish as 1st female and 6th overall.

Geraint Thomas took part in the Cheddar Gorge Half Marathon,a challenging course which saw Geraint achieve a great run in 2:23.

Becky Atkinson travelled to Berkshire to compete in the Endure 24 Reading, a 24hr Trail Running Event. Becky was a member of a small team and managed to complete eight laps with a total of 40 miles to help secure 2nd place in the Mixed Small Relay Team.