“In 2019, my friend Sam set out to run the length of the Taff Trail – just less than 90km. The path follows the River Taff through South Wales’s former industrial heartlands. Stretching from the green hills of the Brecon Beacons to the rejuvenated Cardiff Bay, the Taff has shaped both Welsh landscape and history. Wrong turns and poor logistics meant that Sam ended up back where he began in Brecon, his goal not met. He returned in 2022 – alongside a crew of family, friends and his girlfriend, Rachel – to take on the challenge once more. Strangely, perhaps, the need to come back and complete the task was more understandable than the desire to run the distance. As is the case with most stubborn runners, the unfinished trail had become both motivator and tormentor. But the challenge went beyond simply completing the run. Just two weeks before our team set out, a new FKT was recorded along the Taff Trail: nine hours and nine minutes. The ante had been well and truly upped. Unexpectedly, our planned pacing and logistics had to change. The crew was made up of anyone Sam could rely on to sit in a car for the best part of 10 hours. We prepared the night before by watching running documentaries in which battle-hardened crews found their way across deserts and national parks. (Later, Rachel and I couldn’t help but giggle and make comparisons when we waited by a stretch of path running through a McDonald’s car park on an industrial estate.) ‘Hen wlad fy Nhadau’ (Land of my Fathers) continues in #LtW34 Words and photography by @NickHerbert95