Horse wins race against man again in annual 22-mile contest

LLANWRTYD WELLS, Wales -- Once again, four legs triumphed over two Saturday when a horse won the annual Man vs. Horse race.

Thirty horse-and-rider teams took on 300 individuals and 60 relay teams in the 22-mile race.

The winning horse, Druimghigha Shemal, finished in 2 hours, 2 minutes, beating the fastest individual runner Mark Croasdale, who crossed the line in 2:17:00.

Humans are given a 15-minute head start in the race, which is more than 20 years old. In 2001, a three-man team beat the fastest horse, but no one has claimed the large cash prize offered to the first single human to win the race.

The prize money rises by $1,450 each year and now stands at $40,000.

Croasdale, 38, a royal marine who recently returned from Iraq, celebrated his win against his human opponents with a glass of beer.

"It went well and I took it steady," said Croasdale, who holds the record for getting closest to winning the race. He came in just a minute behind the leading horse in 1999.

Bookmaker William Hill, which sponsors the event, had offered odds of 25-1 this year on a human winning the prize.