The iconic Man versus Horse Race, held every summer in the Mid Wales town of Llanwrtyd Wells, has a new headline sponsor this year.
Leading Welsh work-based learning provider, Cambrian Training Company and sister business Trailhead Fine Foods, manufacturers of Welsh Salt Beef and Get Jerky beef and venison snacks, have agreed to sponsor the 45th running of the event on Saturday, June 13.
The challenging 22-mile race route, which rises to 4,000 feet, takes in Tarmacadam roads, forestry tracks, farm tracks, bridleways, open moorland and rivers.
This year, the race has a brand new course and the organisers are introducing GPS tracking as part of the timing system.
Entries are now full with 75 horses, 186 relays teams (each comprising of three runners) and 706 individual runners. Runners must be aged 18-years or over, whilst horse riders have a minimum age of 16-years, the horses are checked by vets before, during and after the race.
Individual runners and first leg relay runners start at 11am, followed by the horses and their riders at 11.15am from outside the Neuadd Arms Hotel.
Cambrian Training Company is not only sponsoring the event but hopes to have staff taking part. Faith O’Brien, managing director, is a keen horsewoman and Donna Heath, operations manager for essential skills and sector lead for leadership and management and Alex Hogg, head of information technology and MI analyst, are both experienced ultra runners.
“Cambrian Training Company is proud to be the headline sponsor for Man v Horse 2026 and we are hoping some of our team will join the challenge themselves as runners or riders” said Faith.
“Supporting this iconic Mid Wales event reflects our commitment to wellbeing, the outdoors, and continued investment in the region we call home. A celebration of community, challenge, and the Welsh landscape.”
Green Events, the race organisers, said: “We are very pleased to welcome Cambrian Training Company as a new sponsor of Man v Horse for 2026.
“One of the main purposes of the event has always been to bring visitors into Llanwrtyd to boost local businesses, particularly those in the hospitality sector. The company’s focus on training and apprenticeships for those wishing to make a career in hospitality fits very neatly with us.
“The fact that the company was founded by a ‘son of Llanwrtyd’ – Arwyn Watkins, OBE, now executive oversight advisor to CTC Group – and that the new course utilises much of his family’s farmland, makes the arrangement even better. We look forward to a long and successful relationship with CTC.”
The race began in 1980 following a chat over a beer in the Neuadd Arms Hotel. Landlord Gordon Green overheard two men discussing the relative merits of men and horses running over mountainous terrain.
Never one to miss an opportunity to promote Llanwrtyd Wells and improve business at his hotel, enterprising Gordon decided to put it to the test. So began Green Events and its first, longest standing, and now internationally acclaimed event, Man v Horse.
The course was changed in 1982 to provide a more even match between the man and the horse, resulting in close finishes – sometimes with the horse winning by only a few seconds.
It took 25 years before a runner finally beat all the horses – in 2004 Huw Lobb won in two hours and five minutes, beating the fastest horse by two minutes. His feat was repeated by Florien Holtinger in 2007, Ricky Lightfoot in 2022, Daniel Connolly in 2023, and Dewi Griffiths last year.
The main prize is an escalating jackpot for the runner who beats the first horse and rider, it starts at £500 and increases by £500 every year the event takes place until it is won by a runner. The first jackpot won in 2004 had reached £25,000 – this year it’s back to £500.
