Waving goodbye to January the best way can – running and your weekly dose of the Weekly CARC Update!
As per usual, it would be our Juniors kick starting the week with their Monday training at Wigmore School. And, despite the very miserable and soggy weather on that evening, we had plenty of youngsters turn out, making it one of the largest Junior groups that we’ve had to date. Well done to all, you are doing fantastic!
Our Seniors also worked just as hard this week with their sessions taking place on the usual Tuesday and Thursday evening slots. Huw, after some time away, was back coaching on Tuesday with a Sprint session on the driveway to Shobdon Church. On Thursday it was was Clare’s Long Interval session, also in Shobdon, but this time along the Orchard tracks where our Prepare for Parkrunners have been enjoying their sessions. More on that in a bit! But, back to training and unlike our Juniors (sorry guys!) our Seniors got to enjoy a much clearer evening on both nights, training under the starry skies!
Parkrun Saturday was probably a little bit more quieter than usual. At Ludlow, it was Croft Junior, Oliver M, bringing it home for the Sky Blues in 10th position in what was also his 50th Parkrun. His time was 25:05. Steph K was our first female. Liza, Stuart, Jamie, Neil and Huw were volunteering. We had no runners over in Hereford, however Sam J volunteered. Elsewhere, Eric and Bronwyn ran at Wyre Forest Parkrun, with Eric taking the win. Bronwyn finished 5th female overall.
Also on Saturday, some of our fell runners took part in the Hatterall Flow Test Fell Race down in Pandy, Abergavenny. This race had an all new route for 2025 and was roughly 4.25 miles with 1358 ft of ascent. Well done to the 3 Crofties – Tim, Flora and Gary, who took part. Flora came home with a 1st in her age category, and Gary a 2nd in his.
Tim Jones – 42:59
Flora Gunner – 48:19 – 1st FV60
Gary Gunner – 53:01 – 2nd MV70
Next up on Saturday was our Prepare for Parkrun group who are all still working extremely hard. This week was an introduction to hill interval training – breaking down a long, tough uphill stretch into manageable chunks gave everyone a huge boost – they can do it! They are a fantastic group of runners and will be very well prepared for Ludlow Parkrun in a few weeks time!
Come Sunday and finally the weather was holding up, just in time for the next Hereford and Border’s XC League race, in what should have been the last race in the series, before all the cancellations prior. This round took place at Fforest Fields, hosted by our friends at Builth and District Running Club. And, once again, Croft runners excelled on the trails, bringing home another haul of fantastic results.
Kicking off the day were our Junior runners, with only a couple opting to take part in this round of the XC League. Taite would run in the Under 11 race, finishing in 8th overall, while Saffi would run in the Under 13 race, finishing 4th overall and 1st female. Well done both!
Our Under 17’s, Oliver M and Jamie, would take part in the Senior race, completing only one lap of the course. Oliver finished 3rd overall, with Jamie in 5th. As for our Seniors, they would have to continue on after the first lap to make it 2 out of 2 to count in the final result. Sam J would finish in 1st position, nearly 5 MINUTES ahead of the rest of the field. His time was 38:57. Eric, although racing for Builth, came home in 2nd. Andy and Gareth would also finish in the Top 10. Our first female was Irina. As for the teams, our first male team, made up of Sam, Andy, Gareth and Jasper, would finish in 1st, with the second male team of Simon, Henry, Nigel and Jim in 6th. Our first female team – Irina, Liza, Flora and Bronwyn, came home in 5th. For full results, see below:
Seniors:
Sam Juson – 38:57 – 1st Overall
Eric Apperley – 43:50 – 2nd Overall (Racing for Builth)
Andrew Davies – 47:08
Gareth Leek – 47:32
Jasper Robinson – 47:51
Simon Norwood – 50:14
Henry Eastman – 52:39
Nigel Taylor – 53:07
Jim Bowers – 55:14
Steve Partridge – 56:10
Stuart Austin – 58:43
Irina Whitfield – 59:59
Jonathan Felgate – 1:03:42
Liza Austin – 1:04:24
Neil Taylor – 1:05:09
Ian Price – 1:09:28
Flora Gunner – 1:09:35
Bronwyn Preece – 1:10:07
Roland Preece – 1:10:21
Guy Whitmarsh – 1:13:55
Stephanie King – 1:14:46
Oliver Cameron-Swan – 1:15:03
Gary Gunner – 1:15:08
Ashley Robinson – 1:17:24
Sue Wood – 1:18:53
Mike Hayward – 1:22:01
U17:
Oliver Marsh – 28:27 – 3rd Overall & 2nd MU17
Jamie Symonds – 33:55 – 5th Overall & 3rd MU17
U13:
Saffi Reid – 10:13 – 4th Overall and 1st FU13
U11:
Taite Morgan – 08:24 – 8th Overall
The next HBXC race will take place at Rotherwas on Sunday 23rd February, followed by our race at Croft on Sunday 9th March!
After her performance in AM at the XC, Croft Junior Saffi, headed over to Solihull for the Regional Sportshall Finals. She took part in 2 events this time around, finishing 2nd with a PB in the 6 lap race, while the team would finish 4th in the 2 lap relay.
Well done all for another fantastic week. The upcoming training schedule will be live on our Facebook on Monday morning. In the meantime, don’t forget, we’re always on the look out for your race reports for the website, so get posting them on Facebook or send them to either Sam H, Huw or myself (Bronwyn).