Llangollen Round raises record £100,000 for cancer charity

* From left, Llangollen Round organisers Sandra Woodhall and Judy Smith, Nadine Isaacs of Cancer Research UK, and organiser Jason Morley. 

The fourth Llangollen Round Challenge, held last month, has raised a record £100,000 for a cancer charity.

And the often gruelling 35-mile run/walk through the beautiful yet tough terrain of the hills surrounding the town, which can be completed in either one or two days, saw another record set for the route being completed in the fastest time.

Volunteers and friends of the challenge who met for a post-event gathering at The Hand Hotel yesterday (Thursday) were given the full facts of the highly successful event by one of its long-time volunteers, Trevor Jeffries.

He said that since being launched in 2012 by members of the Llangollen Ramblers group and based roughly on the Alpine Walk Tour of Mont Blanc, the amount raised for Cancer Research UK by the challenge had climbed from £33,000 to over £100,000 this year.

* Trevor Jeffries gives fellow volunteers a report on this year's Round Challenge.

The 2022 challenge, on the last weekend in May, had attracted over 600 entries from across the UK and abroad and saw 238 walkers or runners finishing it in a single day with another 189 completing it in two. 

A fresh record was set when the first person back at the event's Llangollen Leisure Centre base was certified to have covered the whole 35 miles in just seven hours.

The fastest woman completed it in just seven hours and 34 minutes. 

As usual, a small army of over 80 volunteers manned checkpoints along the route, where those taking part were served with water supplied free by local businesses and cakes presented by home bakers in the area.

More helpers were back at base checking in participants and handing out their times.   

Trevor Jeffries read out a series of messages organisers had received from participants describing in glowing terms their enjoyment of the event and the way it had been organised.

One said: "Thank you so much, organisers and volunteers, really great day out and all for a great cause - after the views and people and flapjack the highlight was a high five from the town crier!"

And another wrote: "What an amazing weekend. It's definitely not for the faint-hearted but with persistence and determination I managed to complete it, over two days mind you."

"Thank you so much for this year's event. My daughter and I loved the Saturday one-day round even though we both cried a lot at the end," said another.

There was special thanks - and a presentation - to the "dynamic trio" of Sandra Woodhall, Judy Smith and Jason Morley who organised the challenge.

And Nadine Isaacs, relationship manager (North Wales) at Cancer Research UK, said: "It's lovely to be here this evening to celebrate the huge success of the Llangollen Round Challenge.

"Forty years ago the cancer survival rate was one in four. Today it is two in four but Cancer Research UK's mission is to reduce this further to three in four.

"Without the support we receive from fundraisers such as you we could not continue with our research."