The pine forest behind the finish line at Brecon reservoir was a welcome sight to the hot and thirsty athletes competing in stage 16 of The 2004 Welsh Castles Relay.  The event, which took place over the weekend of the 12-13 June, saw 50 relay teams competing over a distance of more than 200 miles.  The race was split into 20 stages and started in the North Wales town of Caernarfon on Saturday morning.
Greg Ward kicked off the race for us  from Caernarfon Castle to Penygroes (9 miles)
	Tony Jefferies then took us serenely over the rugged hills that ended at Criccieth Castle (10.7 miles)
"So where's the Castles?"  Well, the scenery was great, and there were quite a few castles along the way, but unfortunately your photographer wasn't always very good at spotting them!
	Colin Marrs ran on to Maentwrog (12.1 miles)
	Simon Wareham carried us the 9,4 miles into Harlech Castle (looks like the photographer actually spotted this one, unless it crept in by accident)
Gill Bearman secured the first win for Westbury after completing stage 5 to Barmouth (9.4 miles) in a time of 1.09.36, which placed her 1st in the female race.
	Maureen Coffey braved the largely unsupported 10.7 mile leg to Dolgethau. (We like to think of our athletes as a role models, but there always has to be an exception...)
		Dean Thornton had the glamorous 9.8 mile leg to Dinas Mawddwy (luckily he didn't have to ask the way), with big climbs and even bigger descents
Steve Watterson won his stage (8.6 miles to Llanfair Caereinion) in a blinding time of 43.32, knocking an unbelievable 4 minutes 48 seconds off the course record.  He was rewarded for this with an equally blinding 'Stage Winner' sweatshirt		On his 10.9 mile leg to Foel, Mike Harris had time to stop for a water fight with an unruly spectator.
Apologies to Rod, principal organizer of our team, for not capturing him on film on the 13.3 mile leg to Newtown.  Still, you'll see plenty of other photos of this mega-star on our pages.