2026 race de-brief

Phew! That was a blast! RTL 2026 was indeed a great success, even the weather played nicely. For good events not to loose their edge, its important to see if anything could be improved; that's exactly what the Committee did this week.

We could be found in a huddle in the Castle Hotel in Rhayader and here's some of the things we will be considering for RTL 2027:

• Change of route - to improve road safety for runners, marshals + the public at the junction to the Elan Valley Visitor Centre we will miss out the Elan Village loop. The race will be a tiny bit shorter but no less challenging or enjoyable.

• Cut off times - we are considering introducing cut off times at the last water station and finish line. This will add an extra element of challenge for our runners and make marshalling a little less onerous.

• Chip tracking - we are considering introducing a couple of extra chip timing mats around the course so that we and supporters can see live results on our website as runners come through each check point. From both a safety and followers point of view, we feel this would be a positive change.

• Marshals split shifts - like you, we love our marshals and want to keep them smiling and well cared for so we're going to review all our marshal positions and consider what's reasonable in terms of time out in remote positions around the course in all weathers.

• Headphones - Welsh Athletics are considering banning all headphones from road races so we'll be watching that decision with interest. Might save us some worry about the several runners who used in ear headphones.

So, watch this space as we make decisions about next year's race.

See you on 6th March 2027!