Basin woman runs in Wales for Trail Run World Championship

Deb Clifford of Basin not only went to Wales to run, but she was invited to participate. This is amazing for a person from small town Wyoming. 

The Xterra Trail Run World Championship was held in Europe for the first time. In Wales, United Kingdom. Xterra is “a global trail run series that celebrates community and adventure above all else” according to its web site. 

Clifford was not always a runner. In fact, she hated running. Her dad Mark Cheshier ran when he was in his 40s.  In 2011 she did a half-marathon in Deadwood, S.D., but she walked it. 

Clifford started her running journey on a treadmill Jan. 1, 2024. She had made the decision to get serious and walk on it every day. 

The treadmill had iFIT which allowed her to work out with trainers. She started with an Alaskan series and walked her way across the state. “One day out of the blue I was walking and thought I just really feel like I could run. So, I started running.” At first, she did about one-half mile. The following day, she felt like running again, so she did a mile. Each day she ran a little further. 

By February 2024, she was up to three miles a day. She decided to sign up for the marathon in Deadwood again but to run it this time. She did in June of 2024 and did well. 

Clifford started running 5ks and 10ks in places like Cody. In 2025 she decided to go back to Deadwood to run the full marathon. She placed second in her 55-59 year old age group. Within a week she received an email saying she had qualified for the World Championship in Wales. 

She and her husband Todd were watching a movie when she got the email. She told him to turn off the movie because she had something to read to him. They made the decision that night that she couldn’t pass it up. The opportunity may never come around again. 

They left Wyoming July 4 and came back on July 15. They made a vacation out of it. The run was supposed to be over 27 miles, but Clifford made it to mile 18. She couldn’t find the aid station. There were ambulances, people, buses everywhere. She asked a woman where the aid station was. The woman told her “You’re done.” 

Clifford replied that she was not done, she was running the full marathon. The woman clarified that the race had been canceled because of the weather. 

“The temperature in Wales never gets over the 60s. That day, it was supposed to be in the 70s, which to them is considered hot.” 

Runners had to carry two liters of water with them and a hat. Good thing because one of the aid stations ran out of water. The high that day was 90 degrees. Runners suffered heat exhaustion. Because it was so hilly, it was hard to get ambulances to some places on the route. 

With only seven miles to go, Clifford was disappointed. Her only goal was to finish. She didn’t care about the time, so she stopped along the route to take pictures.  The terrain started on the level but became hills and mountains. It was beautiful. 

The rest of the time was spent seeing Wales. Because of a complicated car rental process, she and Todd rented bikes. “They have the best biking system there. Bike trails that go from town to town. We rode 20 plus miles every day.” 

She added they saw so much more on bikes than they ever would have from a car. When asked what her favorite part was, Clifford said, “All of it,”  including castles and flowers. In some places, the trees on either side of the trails met in the middle creating a tunnel of branches/leaves. 

There were more sheep, cows and horses than people. The weather was unusual while they were there. It normally rains all the time, but they experienced sunny days except sprinkles two days. Clifford said they were able to see and do more because it wasn’t raining. 

Welsh and English are the main two languages. Clifford said the menus were written in both. Same with the signs. Given that Wales is on an island, you would think seafood would be a common choice for meals. It wasn’t. She said she tried to order shrimp scampi one night. It turned out to be just breaded shrimp. 

As far as running, she is scheduled to run a 5K in Cody in August. The run is a benefit for shelter animals. She will continue to run the streets in Basin, too. She loves to run and gets grumpy when she can’t.