Not horsing around: Runner becomes only 4th to beat horse in annual Wales race

A horse beats a man in a race, of course, of course. Right? Nay, not this year.

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For the second consecutive year, a man outran a horse in the annual Man v Horse race in Wales, the BBC reported. It was only the fourth time since the race first began in 1980 that a human had a better time than a rider on horseback.

Daniel Connolly won the 22.5-mile race, finishing in 2 hours, 24 minutes, 38 seconds, according to the BBC. The first horse to finish the race, DNS Ronaldo, was ridden by Kate Atkinson and completed the course in 2:34:25.

The top woman runner was Suzy Whatmough, who finished the course in 3:08:24.

The annual race takes place in the Welsh countryside in the United Kingdom. The athletes and horses take slightly different routes on the hilly terrain, so Connelly was not immediately sure whether he had won.

“It was an incredibly hot day today,” race organizer Bob Greenough told the BBC. “The event went remarkably well. Everyone is in very good spirits.”

The event began after Gordon Green, the founder of the Neuad Arms Hotel, overheard two patrons discussing the merits of a man versus horse race conducted over mountainous terrain, according to Rad Session.

Green decided to promote the town of Llanwrtyd Wells by staging the race.