A brief history of the WCR...
1982 The WCR was conceived at the 1982 club AGM by John Thomas and John Taylor. The first Castles event took place one the 17th July in the form of a solo relay starting at midnight from Cardiff Castle and running through the night to Caernarfon Castle.
1983 6 teams competed, this time running in the reverse 
direction, starting on the Saturday evening in Caernarfon and running through the night. This was a true relay race with a baton being handed over at the end of each stage. For safety reasons each runner was followed by a Land Rover.
1986 Change was forced upon us due to increased numbers of entries with 20 teams now running. This involved the current 'staged' relay format and the same format still remains. Each year we re-inspect the route and invariably make some changes typically for reasons of safety and access. Over the years we’ve modified most if not all of the stages. The womens race was also created in 1986.
Essential Reading ! A copy of the Race Programme from the 1986 race can be viewed here.
1988 Alan Thomas joined the Castles Team helping Race Co-ordinator Reg Rossiter. 2010 will be Alan's last Castles as 'Race Director'. A tough act to follow...
1989 35 teams took part. British Steel also sponsored a new competition called the ‘Kings of the Mountains’.
1990 Powergen agreed to become our major race sponsor. They stayed with us until 1998 and helped with other aspects of the race (for example producing a very professional looking the Race Programme).
1992 The stunning but testing Criccieth to Maentwrog Mountain Stage was added to the route.
1993 Air Products sponsored a Veterans competition.
1994 The race entry was increased again with 40 teams taking part. Corus also sponsored a 'Queens of the Mountains' competition.
1995 The race was reduced from 21 to 20 stages, by-passing Welshpool in the process and creating the WCR's Day One toughest leg (10), a mountain stage running from Llanfair Caerienion to Newtown, climbing 600 feet in the first 1.5 miles.
1998 For Les Croups members, the saddest year of WCR. Jeff Wood, a founder member of the club and a much loved character, collapsed within yards of the finish of Stage 1 and died. We remember him in part care of the WCR 'Jeff Wood' Memorial Award - given every year to the first over 50 vet to finish the nominated 'Jeff Wood stage' (always a non-mountain stage as Jeff didn't like hills !)
2000 Two route changes, Stage 17 Merthyr and Stage 18 Nelson.
2001 The race is CANCELLED because of Foot and Mouth.
2002 55 Teams take part. Air Products sponsor a new section ‘Monarchs of the Mountain’ competition for Vets.
Essential Reading ! The 2002 WCR Race Programme can be seen here...
2006 60 teams accepted. Race traffic issues limit the size of the race entry though and a limit of 58 teams is set.
2009 The IAAF/WMA definition of a 'Master' as being someone aged 35 or over is begrudingly (?!)applied to the Vets race.
2010 Another Rule Change - First Claim runners alone will be allowed to take part in the WCR from 2010 onwards following complaints about some clubs abusing the previous Second Claim rule. Please note Team Captains.
WCR stats trivia
Serpentine RC have dominated the WCR in recent years. They were overall winners in 2009 and 2010 and Ladies Team winners 6 times in the last 7 years (2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010). The team with the most appearances other than Les Croupiers is San Domenico (latterly with Club 69). Only 8 different teams have won the event outright. The club with most wins in the Open Team Category is Les Croupiers with nine.
Bridgend AC have the most wins of Kings of Mountains with four victories. The winning team has also won the Kings of the Mountains on 8 occasions. Serpentine RC have dominated the mountains in recent years having won the Queens of the Mountain in 2008, 2009 and 2010 and the Kings of the Mountain in 2009 and 2010.
The biggest winning margin was 1hr 13mins 27 seconds by Salford Harriers in 2003. The smallest winning margin was by just three seconds by Swansea over Bridgend in 1998.
Since its inception in 1987, the Business House Team category has been 13 times won by Tata Steel, formally Corus Strip Products, formally Corus PLC, formally British Steel.