The Former Welsh Mining Village That's Been Harness Racing's Mecca For Almost Half A Century

Draw a three-mile radius around the Amman Valley village of Tairgwaith and you will see the area has produced some of Wales’ greatest and most influential rugby stars.

The nearby villages of Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, Glanaman, and Upper Cwmtwrch boast the likes of Gareth Edwards, Shane Williams and Clive Rowlands amongst their favourite sons.

More recently, Brynaman’s Jac Morgan – one of only two Welshman named on this summer’s British and Irish Lions tour of Australia – has been added to that illustrious list.

However, despite being at the centre of a rugby union talent hot-spot, Tairgwaith has its own claim to fame which has put it on the Welsh sporting map.

For almost 50 years, the former mining village has been a Mecca for fans and competitors of harness racing or trotting as it is also known.

The Amman Valley Trotting Club track is one of the most popular in the country and attracts some of the UK’s top events.

The club was established in 1979 by volunteers as a community enterprise. The track was built on the site of one of the many huge conical coal spoil tips which dominated this productive part of the South Wales coalfield.

In fact, before being levelled, one of the tips helped hone the remarkable athleticism displayed on the rugby field by the afore mentioned Edwards.

As a youngster, the former Cardiff, Wales and British Lions legend used to train by running up and down the dauntingly steep slopes of the tip, the foot of which was just yards from his home.

Now visitors to the Tairgwaith track look for tips of a completely different kind before laying their bets with the on-site bookmakers.

The action is fast and furious and attracts a hugely diverse range of spectators – not just those hoping to earn a few quid from a flutter. 

Spectators young and old line the impressive track – one of only three all-weather facilities in the UK. Impressive floodlight towers surround the large oval course. 

On a beautifully sunny afternoon earlier this summer, the track is looking resplendent in the shadow of the Brecon Beacons as it hosts a Wales and Borders Harness Racing meeting.

Beautifully conditioned horses and skilled drivers, sporting just about every colour in the rainbow in their bright silks, career around the track in a full card of exciting races.

A decent crowd is enjoying the outstanding facilities, including a licensed café providing much-needed hydration on an unseasonably warm afternoon.

However, like Welsh rugby, harness racing is going through difficult times according to club secretary Trudy Launchbury.

As the action gets underway, the woman who helped launch the club reveals the financial and governance worries casting a shadow over this idyllic rural West Wales scene.

Trotting, as it is commonly referred to in Wales, has been popular in the nation since the 1880s. 

But Launchbury fears it is under threat from a number of factors. They include rising costs and the loss of income and national publicity generated by television coverage on S4C Rasus programme.

The programme boosted the popularity of the sport for a number of years, but disappeared from TV screens in the mid-2010s.

“The sport is dying on its feet,” says Launchbury. “Some people started paying an awful lot of money for the horses. 

“So a lot of the people, like the farmers, the builders, have gone out of the sport. It's just unfortunate that we're bearing the brunt of it. 

“That's why we've diversified into so many other things. We'd never survive on what harness racing brings in. It's a pity because it’s such a great sport.”

As well as trotting, for those who enjoy horse power of a different kind, the Amman Valley track hosts dirt bike race meetings. It has even hosted a monster truck event.

The venue’s ancillary facilities – the impressive, spotless café building, large parking area and surrounding countryside paths - also make it an ideal venue for big athletics events, with orienteering and cross country races having been hosted.

The venue has attracted spectators and competitors from across the UK and beyond to the small village community for the harness racing and bike racing.

Launchbury says: “For the British Classic harness racing in September, people come from all over the country. 

“And for the motorbikes they come from all over the world. Americans, Spanish, Polish, French . . . I like the French, they’re very vocal! A lot of clapping, a lot of shouting. It doesn’t matter who wins, they still clap and shout.

“The motorbike people adore the place. They can’t speak highly enough about it. here. They’re used to speedway tracks in towns. Then they come here and say ‘look how green it all is’. They come on a Thursday and don’t go until the Monday. It’s manic here!”

Even with the diversification, the volunteers like Launchbury who run the club are facing a constant battle to keep the valuable community facility going.

The café, which overlooks the track, hosts an array of community events like birthday parties and school proms, as well as events during school holidays.

“As well as the sport, it’s all about the community,” she says. “We're just lucky we've got so many people in this community that do volunteer. 

“The people in the cafe, the people on the gates, everyone, they all volunteers. We wouldn't survive without them. You wouldn't be able to pay people, that would never work.”

The committee has all but exhausted the sponsorship opportunities in the local communities. 

Just about everything from the starting vehicle to the bowser that dampens down the dust on the track is plastered in the names of generous local business who have dipped into their pockets in exchange for publicity.

But there are only so many times the committee can go to the well as far as local backers are concerned, says Launchbury.

“It’s difficult with sponsorship locally, you keep going back to the same people all the time but there aren’t any big sponsors around here.

“It needs a major sponsor. That was the good thing about the television. We’re not in a position to use the floodlights now because it’s so expensive. They were put in for the television but we can’t afford to run them now. 

“What we need is the core funding, I don’t think anyone realises how much this place costs just to cover your core funding, your insurances, your electric, your leases.

“We have to find about £18,000 every year before we even start. That’s a lot of money to find every year before you can make any money out of anything. It’s so difficult.

“A couple of major sponsors would be brilliant, but we can’t expect that locally because there just isn’t the money. This is a deprived area.

“It’s also difficult to compete with the mainstream sports like rugby and football. Everybody sponsors rugby, everybody sponsors football.

“I think people have the wrong perception of harness racing. They put it alongside thoroughbred racing where they have rich people, they have plenty of money, they have horses, but it’s not like that.

“The people you’ll see competing here today have just got ordinary jobs and one or two horses for their sport.”

But for now the sport goes on, with a number of fixtures coming up over the summer, which Launchbury hopes will attract the crowds and hopefully a major sponsor to secure the future of this hidden jewel of the Welsh sporting landscape.

Upcoming Amman Valley Trotting Club Fixtures:

Saturday and Sunday August 30 and 31 – Dirt Track Riders Association Flat Track Nationals

September 7 - British Harness Racing Club British Pacing Classic