A near 200 keen competitors took to Bannau Brycheiniog this weekend to ‘Beat The Beacons,’ and in tow have raised around £10,000 for Brecon Mountain Rescue Team.

The Beat The Beacons challenge, hosted by Brecon Mountain Rescue Team, took place on Saturday, September 27.

Brecon Mountain Rescue Team - Beat The Beacons
(Brecon Mountain Rescue Team)

The annual event first took place in 2019, and replaced the Talybont Trial which had been running each year since 1978. Competitors have the choice of three courses: The 10 mile Taster route, the 15 mile Adventure route, and the 22 mile Endurance route.

The event starts and ends at Henderson Hall in Talybont-on-Usk, and the routes lead the competitors through Bannau Brycheiniog.

This year’s event proved to be another successful day. Brecon Mountain Rescue Team, team member, Wendy Walton reflected on the event: “We were very pleased, it was a significant increase on numbers from last year, (Around 200 sign ups) which was great and we are also hoping to have raised around £10,000 from the event which is a big part of what we need to raise every year. We need to raise a minimum of £65,000 every year so with that and the Black Dragon event earlier in the year, that is a significant contribution to what we need to raise.

“The weather was kind to us, a little bit of rain up on the mountains in the morning but generally we had decent weather, which went well for the competitors.

“There was a really great atmosphere, people making new friends and all around it was an excellent event for us. Now we are preparing and looking forward to The Black Dragon in April, which is now open for entries.”

Brecon Mountain Rescue Team
Brecon Mountain Rescue Team dog, Rusty, was on paw patrol for the event. (Brecon Mountain Rescue Team)

Wendy went on to explain how the funds raised will help the team of volunteers. She said: “It goes towards our overall running costs, so the money we need to keep our 24/7 service going, our team equipment, team uniforms, the maintenance of our four vehicles that we use, the running of our headquarters and it all adds up.

“We’re really grateful for the support because we have to raise the money ourselves as well as carry out the rescues. At the moment we are on course for it to be a record year in terms of the number of callouts. We are on nearly 100 so far and there’s still three months of the year to go, so it has been a busy one for us, but we enjoy it and it was great to have such a successful event. “

Brecon Mountain Rescue Team’s celebrity ambassador, Kate Humble, also took part in this year’s Beat The Beacons event.

“Our ambassador Kate Humble took part again,” said Wendy. “she did really well and is incredibly fit and is quite an inspiration for everybody else I think. Kate is the perfect ambassador for something like us, being so interested in the outdoors and being extremely active herself, and she is just so enthusiastic. I think the participants always enjoy having a cup of tea and piece of cake with her afterwards, she hangs around for ages chatting to everyone.”

Entries are now open for the rescue team’s Black Dragon event next April.