Race Date: Saturday 19th August 2017

Race the Train lays claim to be the original train racing event. It starts and finishes in Tywyn in remote coastal mid Wales. It’s a there and back (along slightly differing routes) over tough mixed terrain race. The race is lovely and scenic.

Thick mud in places along with some vicious ascents and awkward drawn out cambered sections put it at times into fell race territory. There are 4 different lengths of race on the day – but Striders only tackled the main 14 mile event, which has about 900 feet of ascent.

Only 10% of the field beat the train this year, but don’t let that put you off for next year – it’s still well worth doing! There’s nothing quite like hearing and seeing the steam train and cheering passengers in places as you make your way round the course. Seemingly the whole of Tywyn turns out for the race, so there’s a good party atmosphere.

The race winner was Sullivan Smith of Cambridge & Coleridge AC in a time of 1:26:03. The first lady to finish and in fact only lady to beat the train was Treena Johnson (F55) of Dewsbury Road Runners in a time of 1:43:33.

The train took 1:47:40 this year. 830 runners finished the race. There were 7 Striders.