The Joy of Man Versus Horse 2024
Every year, hundreds of runners and scores of riders descend on a tiny Welsh town for a 24-mile race over steep hills. Why?
“Horses coming!”
I edged to the right and looked back. Three powerful horses were galloping up the hill towards me as though going into battle.
The riders were having a ball. They thundered past and steered down a track to the left. “What a beautiful sight,” said a young woman nearby.
I looked at my watch. 11h28.
The human race had begun at 11h00 and the horses set off 15 minutes later, so they’d been moving twice as fast as me. This particular Man had no chance of beating any Horse. But would the top human runners be able to stay ahead?
Trek to rural Wales
It was 8 June 2024, and I was competing in the 43rd Man vs Horse race at Llanwrtyd Wells, a small town in south-central Wales. A total of 536 solo runners, 139 three-runner relay teams, and 52 horses and riders began the event. The route was 24.2 miles (38.95 km) long, just short of a standard marathon.
Llanwrtyd Wells had 794 residents in 2021 and might be the second smallest town in the UK. (Fordwich, in Kent, had only 372 people.) To get…
