About The Race
Prizes
€1000 will be awarded to any man or woman who breaks the course record. This year’s prizewinners will receive specially commissioned stained glass pieces made locally by Nichola McCarthy
Here’s something you might not know about the Men’s trophy...
The Michael Forte Challenge Trophy
Every year since 1982, the winner of the Snowdonia Marathon has been presented with the Michael Forte Challenge Trophy. The story of how it was given to the National Trust, to be used on this special occasion, is a very interesting one.
In 1982 Michael Forte donated a cup to the National Trust to be given to the winner of the Snowdonia Marathon. He approached Fattorini and Sons of Bradford who had recently celebrated their 150th anniversary and had received a lot of nationwide publicity, in particular for supplying the present FA Cup.
Michael Forte bought a trophy which had come to Fattorini a few years earlier in rather unusual circumstances. In 1922 a prosperous Huddersfield mill owner, who was a keen supporter of the Scouting movement, wanted to present an award for a nationwide Scout band competition.
He commissioned a trophy from Fattorini and Sons of Bradford which bore his name for posterity. The Scout leader would not agree to his request and the trophy was therefore never used.
Instead it was safely kept in the mill until some 50 years later when the mill owner's son, when disposing of his father's effects, sold the cup back to Fattorini. The large sterling silver trophy weighs 203oz and stands 33 inches tall. It is 53 ounces heavier and taller than the FA Cup and a perfect example of the work of the skilled Sheffield craftsman who made it.