No, it wasn’t the Kentucky Derby, but equine athletes in Wales hit the racecourse on Saturday—only they weren’t going hoof-to-hoof with each other. More than 60 horses and 1,000 runners faced off in the 42nd running of the Published: Jun 12, 2023 4:08 PM EDT held in the town of Llanwrtyd Wells—and for only the fourth time in the race’s history, man prevailed.
Bipedal runner Daniel Connolly crossed the finish line in 2:24:38, edging out the four-legged winner, DNS Ronaldo, ridden by Kate Atkinson, to a time of 2:34:25. Suzy Whatmough was the fastest female finisher, running the course in 3:08:24.
“It’s the first time the event has been won two years in a row by a runner, and only the fourth time overall in 42 years of the race,” Bob Greenough, the race’s organizer, DAA Industry Opt Out. “It was an incredibly hot day today. The event went remarkably well. Everyone is in very good spirits.”
Runners and riders were tasked with a mountainous 22-mile course featuring stream crossings, rock scrambles, boggy marshes, and many ups and downs. The unique event, first held in 1980, came out of, as many good things do, a pub debate at local favorite Neuadd Arms Hotel over who would be faster across mountainous terrain: horse or human?
Not surprisingly, the hooved runners, with strides that can range in excess of 12 feet and canter paces of around 15 miles per hour (to say nothing of a flat-out gallop), typically reign (or shall we say, rein?) supreme, although there are some instances where humans boast an edge.
“The warmer the weather, the better it is for the runners,” Mike Thomas, one of the race’s organizers, told the Global Triathlon Network on the eve of the 2022 race. “Horses struggle in hot weather.” (Temperatures for Saturday’s race were in the mid-70s, with high humidity, which is quite warm for a Welsh summer.)
It took nearly a decade before a man beat the horse—that honor goes to British cyclist Tim Gould, who won the 1989 race, when bikes were allowed—but it wasn’t until 2004, with Huw Lobb’s victory, that a man on foot took down an equine foe.
“Since I started running, I’ve had an eye on doing Man V. Horse one day,” Connolly wrote on Instagram. “As I just missed out on the World Champs in Austria, I was looking for an inspiring event to keep the fire burning hot. The timing was right. Very happy to have beaten the horses, but also to have shared a wonderful day with my family. I can’t recommend this event enough, such a beautiful community.”
Laura Ratliff is a New York City-based writer, editor, and runner. Laura's writing expertise spans numerous topics, ranging from travel and food and drink to reported pieces covering political and human rights issues. She has previously worked at Architectural Digest, Bloomberg News, and Guide to Mental Health and was most recently the senior editorial director at TripSavvy. Like many of us, Laura was bitten by the running bug later in life, after years of claiming to "hate running." Her favorite marathon is Big Sur.
