Offa’s Twisted Wye Kanter – 2018 Report

Report & Results of the 2018 event

2018 was the second year that our Offa’s Twisted Wye Kanter was held. Our planning had been exemplary and we had four routes ready for our entrants who had entered in such good numbers so once again we had a sell-out event! The routes that we had planned were 22 / 20 / 16 / 12 miles and understandably, our 22 and 16 mile events were the most popular. We don’t reveal the routes until about six weeks before the event and we knew that all the i’s and t’s had been crossed so confidently released them! And, then I went for a walk into a location to the northwest of Tintern to clear a path and discovered several ‘footpaths closed’ signs. Natural Resources Wales had closed the paths in order to fell trees and we knew that we couldn’t run the event as our LDWA public liability insurance would have been void.

But, I am a person who likes to plan!! I had four different routes already designed and ready to go. Admittedly I wanted them for 2019 as the first 12 miles of the longest route was to be the same as Y 100 Sir Fynwy in 2020 and I thought it would have been nice to give people a taster a year before that ‘Big One’. Anyway, what it did mean is that I could instantly change the routes and that’s what we did. Without that back-up, our plans for this year would have been seriously tested. Plus, if you were on the 22, I just gave you an additional hour of pleasure! Thank goodness for SI Entries. I was able to bulk email all entrants and advise of the changes. I also made use of the LDWA social media platforms to get to as wide an audience as possible. Jason Winney updated our website with our new GPX files, route descriptions, waypoints and clues within a day of us identifying the problem. Even so, we learned of four people who walked the originally designed routes, closed footpaths and all!!

The success of Offa’s Twisted Wye Kanter 2 can only occur due to the LDWA volunteers who give up their time to put the event on. Please bear with me when I really push this topic hard. Volunteering is what the LDWA is all about. There are no paid employees. The whole association is run by volunteers and OTWK is a great example of a tight knit team working hard. If you’re not a LDWA member, perhaps you should think about joining. At £13 per head it’s a bargain and you might even decide to walk with your local group and form close friendships just as there are in the South Wales LDWA group. Then you might become part of a magnificent organisation as well as being part of an organising team.

There will be an Offa’s Twisted Wye Kanter 3 and entries will be open within a month. Based on the last two years, it will be a sell-out.

David Morgan

Our volunteers were:

  • Judith Fox
  • Andrew Clabon
  • Rob Richardson
  • Jill Richardson
  • Kermit the Frog
  • Dave Morgan
  • Claire Murray
  • Gill Morgan
  • Jason Winney
  • Judith Fox
  • Hannah Brown
  • Andrew Clabon
  • Shirley Hume
  • Angela Williams

Results

The results can be viewed here and the On-line Results can be viewed here

You can view the routes of the 2018 event using these links:

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