Rally Archive
Border 100 Road Rally
Sponsored by W Jones & Son, Llanfyllin
Welsh Border Car Club
28th/29th March 2026
Winners: George Williams/Cadog Davies (Ford Escort)
Photograph: © Adrian Convery Photography
Organiser: Welsh Border Car Club
Date: 28th/29th March 2026
Clerk of the Course: Ian 'Dude' Roberts
Route: 85 Miles (Map 125)
Base: Llanfyllin
Starters: 72
The 2026 Border 100 was like a can of condensed soup; a complex route squeezed into just 85 miles. There was no petrol halt and the only break was a brief regroup after two of six sections.
After a generous plotting time, seventy-two cars took the start from Llanfyllin High School. They didn't have far to go before the start of the first section, this began with a rough track around Green Hall, then passed through Ty Canol, before finishing at Tyn-y-pistyll. There were five PCs and the target time was ten minutes.
Three times Welsh Champions, Meirion Evans/Iwan Jones (Ford Escort) were teaming up for a road rally for the first time in a decade and, showing that they'd lost none of their pace, were one of three crews to clean the section; the others being George Williams/Cadog Davies (Ford Escort) and Stefan 'DR' Davies/Alan James (Ford Escort).
The second section was 14 miles long. It started and finished near Pentrefelin, looping as far north as Llangadwaladr. There were ten PCs and four intermediate TCs, plus the finish clock. It was to cause problems for both the organisers and some crews.
The major issue for those running the event was caused by two competing cars blocking the road after going into a ditch. This happened near the second TC and affecting all of the latter half of the field. Most cars had to retrace their steps to reach the third PC, missing three PCs to get to that control and losing time in doing so. The decision was made to cancel the second TC and the three PCs, while time penalties at the third TC were scrubbed.
Amongst the competitors the key hitches affected Evans/Jones, who were still clean of penalties when gearbox gremlins stopped their Escort. Also out on the section was the Escort of Gareth Edwards/Jamie Mills, which suffered a puncture and the pair then had the jack break as they went to change the wheel. They withdrew. Howard Price/Carl Williamson were added to the retirement list when the brakes on their Escort failed. At the same time clutch failure stopped the Escort of Robi Wood/Daniel Jones.
Most of the fastest cars had cleaned the opening controls, but all were late at the finish clock, which was preceded by lanes and tracks that passed through Glaniwrch and Cefn Isaf.
This was followed by a 20 minute break where cars, if required, could get back onto their scheduled time; this was taken at Tanat Valley Motors on the edge of Llanrhaeadr-yr-Mochnant.
At this point three crews had started to pull away from the field. Davies/James were in the lead, five seconds ahead of Gareth Wyn Jones/Ryan Griffiths (Ford Escort), while Williams/Davies were a further six seconds back. There was then a gap of over a minute to Zak Hughes/Robbie Pugh (Peugeot 206 GTi), who were in fourth.
From start numbers in the mid-twenties, Craig Bowler/Chris Whittall (Honda Civic) and Steffan Llywelyn/Deio Rhys Jones (Toyota Corolla) were in fifth and sixth places respectively at the break. Neither of these were to make the Finish, both went out early in the second half after making significant contact with fence posts.
A short four minute section started the second half, which used the lane, plus some tracks, between Pedair Ffordd and Rhos-y-birthdir. Davies/James were fastest here, extending their lead by five more seconds.
There then followed two longer sections using the roads between the Tannat and Vyrnwy valleys. Jones/Griffiths cleaned TC4A, which was near Bethel, while Davies/James dropped 50 seconds; this gave the 2025 winners a 37 second lead over Williams/Davies, with Davies/James now three seconds behind in third.
Jones/Griffiths appeared to full further ahead at SF4, they were 16 seconds faster than Davies/James here, however, at the Finish the organisers raised a query over the signature at the control, it differed from other cards, and the leaders were awarded a fail. Without the fail Jones/Griffiths would have won the event, finishing over three minutes ahead of the field, however, with the fail, they were classified in 36th place.
This development moved Davies/James back into the lead, they were 28 seconds ahead of Williams/Davies. Hughes/Pugh were in third, but almost two minutes off first place.
Davies/James weren't to enjoy their time at the front for very long. Near Llwydiarth Hall, just after the start of Section Five, they wrong slotted into a field, got stuck and took a long time to get out. This left Williams/Davies with a lead of two minutes over Hughes/Pugh, with Aled Stephens/Clive Jones (Vauxhall Astra) in third another minute and a half behind.
The final section was a ten minute run to the south of the finish venue at Meifod Rugby Club. The start control was also a Main Control and a number of crews, who had cut straight to the finish in order to be classified, missed to visit the MC and so were added to the retirement list.
Hughes/Pugh closed the gap to the leaders over the five miles, but only by ten seconds, so Williams/Davies came home with a victory margin of 1m15s, securing for them their first win of 2026. They also, for the third year in succession, won the Les Roberts Memorial Award for the best performance by a non-local crew. Hughes/Pugh, in second, and Stephens/Jones, in third, broke the run of Ford Escort dominated podiums on recent Welsh road rallies.
After a impressive 18th place in his little Nissan Micra on the previous week's Rali Llyn, Otis Gane, with Carwyn Evans on the maps, took a top ten place and a clear win in the Semi-Expert Class on the Border 100.
Alexander Boag/Gwawr Evans (Citroen Saxo) were dominant winners in the Novice category, finishing eleven places and fourteen minutes ahead of their nearest rivals.
RESULTS
- Overall Positions
- Award Winners
- Class Positions
- Time Penalty Details
- Fail Penalties
- Overall Positions at MC2
- Non-Finishers
- List of Starters