Snowdon International (Ras Yr Wyddfa) Race Report 2026
International Snowdon Race Report 2026
The 49th iteration of the International Snowdon race took place on July 18th 2026 and saw 456 runners tackle the 9.5 mile up and down track, taking in 3200ft of elevation.
The team selected for the event was Tom Crudgington (Newcastle AC), Keith Johnson (Armagh AC), David Hicks (Newcastle AC), Lorcan Vallely (Armagh AC), Esther Dickson (Newry AC), Naomi McCurry (Glens Runners), Karen Wilton (Jog Lisburn) & Holly Fisher (Newcastle AC).
Arriving in Llanberis the day before the race, the team were greeted with sunshine, clear skies and great panoramic views of the mountains. Overnight, however, a layer of cloud moved in and lingered halfway up the mountain. The resulting cloud inversion meant that as the runners climbed, visibility would improve over halfway up but the temperature increased as they climbed.
Tom ascended strongly for the Men’s Team, reaching the summit in 44:44 and in 6th place. Next to summit would be Keith in 52:51 with Lorcan and David summitting in times of 56:18 & 56:29 respectively. The men would finish in this order; Tom descended in 31:35 for a finishing time of 1:16:19 to finish 30th overall. Keith descended in 28:27 to finish with a time of 1:21:18 (51st). Lorcan and David would have a good close battle on the descent with David leading up until the mountain gate where Lorcan pulled clear by 15 seconds on the road to finish with a time of 1:25:10 (66th) and David 1:25:25 (67th).
For the ladies, Naomi would be first to summit in a time of 1:03:29, followed by Karen 1:04:35, Esther in 1:05:54 and Holly 1:06:29. Esther would descend strongly to reach the mountain gate alongside Naomi with both ladies finishing within 20 seconds of each other, Naomi in 1:36:45 (17th) and Esther in 1:37:05 (19th). Karen finished strongly in 1:37:37 (20th) and Holly not far behind 1:42:26 (23rd).
The combined efforts of Tom, Keith, Lorcan, Naomi, Esther and Karen would give both teams times worthy of securing 5th place in both the Men’s and the Women’s International standings. The Italians would go on to take the honours in both standings, locking out the podium in the Men’s race and having 3 of their runners in the top 6 in the Women’s race.
