If you are looking for a run, not a race that isn’t a parkrun then Castle 2 Castle is for you. 

An 11’ish mile run starting from the beautiful Caerphilly Castle running down the Taff Trail to Cardiff Castle all in aid of Velindre Cancer Centre. The run is mainly away from traffic on the compact and tarmacked Taff Trail with a couple of inconvenient slopes before the majority of the run being downhill to Cardiff. The run itself isn’t timed. You get a numbered bib to show that you are part of the run but timing is down to you. The emphasis is all about the charity; raising awareness about all the work done by the Velindre Cancer Centre.

We’ve never had a more relaxed start to a run. Only a handful of cars in the free carpark, no queue for the toilets (although we did arrive 90 minutes early) and beautiful sunshine. Registration was in the Great Hall within Caerphilly Castle and as we were early birds we had plenty of time to explore the castle and a take a warm up jog around the grounds. A quick trip to the bag drop for delivery to Cardiff so no need to carry anything, then we headed to the warm up area. Just before 10am there is a mass warm up (video on Facebook, try and spot us). Being a seasoned “racer” I was doing some serious thinking regarding what starting pen to go into. The pre-event email stated 3 starting pens: sub 1:30, 2:00 and 2:30 hours. I was all ready to head to the sub-2-hour and send Sam off to the sub-1:30 pen. In reality there were no pens. At 10am there was an announcement that if you were going to run then you could start, if you were going to jog or walk then wait a couple of mins before setting off. Blissful! 

Sam ran with me for approx. 500m before disappearing up the inconvenient slope and out of sight. The first 1.5 miles of the run is through the streets of Caerphilly to reach the Taff Trail then it's all downhill, literally. If you haven’t run on the Taff Trail, it's a bit like running up through Snuff Mills but without all the people. It was so quiet apart from the few hundred runners, but being such a small number for a run there were times when it was just me and trees, so peaceful. There are marshal’s at all key turning points as the trail winds through some villages. At these points there was plenty of support and also 2 water stops along the way. I get nervous if I don’t know the route but there really wasn’t any need to be, you won't get lost.

Turning off the trail to Cardiff Castle its a bit like a game of dodgeball with the pedestrians but it's worth it for the welcome party at the finish line! Every penny of the entry fee goes directly to Velindre Cancer Centre so there isn’t a technical T-shirt or a goodybag, but there is a lovely medal and free tea, coffee and biscuits at the baggage collect point.

A walk through the city center to the train station gave the perfect opportunity to grab an ice cream, my favorite post run snack. Just a 20 minute train ride takes you back to Caerphilly or if, like some runners, 11 miles just isn't far enough, park your car in Cardiff and run to the start. Being at the start of September it's perfectly placed in training plans for autumn half marathons or for anyone looking for a step up from a 10k without any pressure of a big race. 

Castle 2 Castle isn’t advertised on any race website but a link appears on their Facebook page around March time. Keep an eye out on there from January onwards and you shouldn’t miss it. We will definitely be signing up again next year. If you would like to sign up, be quick as it sells out within a few hours of going live!