Join us in waving goodbye to April in the best way possible – a weekly report of Croft’s running achievements!
We’ve had another busy week from training sessions to parkrun to everyone’s favourite – the annual Bluebell Social Run! So, fancy reading a bit more? Let’s get this report well under way!
There were two training sessions on the calendar for this week. Our Juniors headed to their usual stomping ground of Wigmore on Monday. Here they worked on different aspects of pace and recovery whether running at speed or longer intervals. They also started to practice the skill of ‘bounding’ to build power. On Thursday, it was our Seniors turn at Brampton Bryan on Thursday, where they took part in a Short Interval Pyramid session. This was newly qualified LIRF (Leader in Running Fitness); Nina’s, first session at the helm! Welcome aboard the coaching team, Nina!
Jumping back to Tuesday and instead of our normal training session, Sam H took our members around Shobdon Wood for our annual Bluebell Social Run! Around 30 Crofties – old and new, came out to enjoy an evening around the bluebell trails. In recent years, we have ran this social run around the trails of Croft Wood, so it was a nice change moving over to Shobdon where their bluebell trails were once infamous in the old “Shobdon Wood Race.”
Moving to Parkrun Saturday and our running club was off to Groe Parkrun in Builth for an Away Day Parkrun and the next round of our club championship. Over 30 Sky Blues came to take part, as did nearly 200 more runners, making it a busy day for Lee and his Groe Parkrun team! It was no suprise that Sam J took the win in 15:08, recording a NEW Course Record in the process! Eric and Gareth (along with Maeve in the pushchair) also finished in the Top 10. There were also plenty of PBs to go round with 8 of our runners achieving one. 11 Crofties, including two Juniors, ran this Parkrun for the first time. Good job by all!
Back at home in Ludlow, 6 Crofties took part. First Sky Blue home was Oliver M in 14th with a time of 24:49. Ian finished just behind in 24:53. Craig was our sole runner over at Queenswood Parkrun. He finished in 24th place with a time of 26:48.
Moving away from Parkrun, Joe L headed up to the Pennine Way to take part in the Pennine Barrier 50 Miler. According to the live tracking that plenty of us were following, Joe finished in 12:23:25. This was also his fastest 50k, as per his Strava. “What a race,” is how he described it.
Flora was back fell running on Saturday (and Sunday, but more on that in a bit!). She took part in the Cwmdu Fell Race near to Crickhowell in mid-Wales. This race is around 9.9 miles long with 3000ft of ascent. She finished in a time of 02:14:23 and came 1st in her age category. She said: “It’s tough but it’s a great race. Not sure which is worse going up the very steep hills or running downhill without nothing to grip and if I’m not careful I could slip. And the humidity makes it difficult, I know I shouldn’t complain.”
On Sunday it was the Talgarth Fell Race for Flora. This one was slightly shorter than the day before at 8.2 miles and just under 2000ft of total ascent. And, for the second day in a row, Flora would once again finish 1st in her age. Her time was 01:53:59. She said: “I shouldn’t do this but it’s a good training for me. It’s only a short distance but I felt very tired after, a part of getting old . I forgot when I did it last year that there’s a killer hill which is a part of the route. Never mind I managed to finish still in one piece.”
Sunday also saw another Croftie out felling. This time, fresh from her first coaching session, Nina was out taking part in the Inter-Counties Fell Race Relays in Sednergh. Here she represented not only CARC but also was apart of the Shropshire team! At the time of writing, we have no results to give you.
That’s all we have for this week. If you have been doing something that you would like included in the weekly roundup please let Bronwyn, Huw, Sam H or Tori know before 6pm on a Sunday.
We are always on the lookout for race reports to go on the website too. They do not need to be huge, or even go into too much detail, but let us know where you went and how it went for you together with a couple of photos and make our website current and up to date.
Enjoy your week of running everyone!