Hello all, and welcome to your Weekly CARC Update – bringing you all the weekly Croft shenanigans straight to your inboxes and social media feeds!
The weekly report elves have been super busy over the last couple of weeks so this is a combined report for the fortnight from 22 June to 5th July…there’s been lots happening so buckle up!
22nd June to 28th June
Possibly already a distant memory but this was a hot week with the early evening temperatures in the high 30C. So training sessions were re-planned to provide shadier gentler running. The Juniors did a gentle session sticking to the shady side of the track at Wigmore, with the Seniors taking to shady woodland social runs on Tuesday and Thursday. Nina would lead at a brand new location for the majority of us – Bucknell Woods, whereas Mark took on Thursday’s session at Mortimer Forest.
So onto racing…
Tim Jones was out in Switzerland competing in the 90km du Mont Blanc of the Mont Blanc Marathon events. Unfortunately for Tim things didn’t quite go to plan and around the 23km point he took what he described as a ’20 foot dive down a rocky slab’ and sustained a nasty head gash. Amazingly he continued another 3 km before the marshalls stopped him for medical treatment (5 stitches, antibiotics and a cold beer (the latter was Tim’s self medication). This is a really tough ultra and throw in the heatwave conditions across Europe about a third of the approx 1,000 starters withdrew from the race.
Naomi Perkins ran Tenby Half Marathon completing it in 1:55:31. It looks like she was flying the Croft flag solo.
Closer to home Mike Bending and Tony Howsam completed the Bromyard Round the Downs 10k race with Mike taking 1st place in the MV60-64 category. In the Junior 2k race Martha G. placed 2nd in the Female 10 and under category.
On Saturday Simon Norwood and Mark Lamonby completed their epic John O Groats to Lands End bike ride in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust. An amazing achievement with the added challenge of heatwave conditions to contend with.
On Tuesday 23rd June Flora Gunner and Matt Edwards randThe Dark Side of the Mynd fell race. This new race was organised in memory of Adrian Donnelly member of Mercia running club who died ,and they’re raising money for the hospice. It’s 4.39 miles and 909 feet total ascent. There were 91 runners who took part in the race and in Flora’s words it was ‘a great race well organised and great location. It was held on the top of the Long Mynd Valley, the view from the top is beautiful. There was a barbecue, pizzas ,cakes and cold drinks ( alcoholic and none alcohol)after the race which was great. It was very hot that night for the race, although it was a bit cooler after on the top of the hills.’
Mathew E. = 00:39:13 came 3rd in his age category
Flora’s time was = 00:50:56 and was the only entrant in her age category
This week we had parkrunners across the country – there were 14 crofties at Ludlow with Kelly B. coming home 1st Female. Jo T was the sole rep at Queenswood. Gemma D was at Y Promenad, Abermaw, Jamie S at Coventry and Sam J taking the honours at Aberbeeg. Full Croft results can be found at: https://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=2116&eventdate=2026-06-27 and on our Facebook page.
29th June to 5th July 2026
With the hot temps now back to somewhat normal, its was full steam ahead for our Junior session at Wigmore before Huw’s “Magical Mystery Tour” up in Wapley Woods for our Seniors on Tuesday. Luckily no one got lost in the triffid like bracken. (See snap below!) On Thursday it was back to Wigmore with a Sprint session hosted by Mark P.
The big event of the week was the 3rd race of the Herefordshire and Borders XC League at Bearwood. The course had been slightly changed from previous years with the start & finish both in the farmyard. It was advertised as 4.8miles but came out at the 5mile mark. It was lovely evening – just warm enough – although there was a stiff breeze in parts of the course. 44 Crofties donned their sky blue vest and we had seven, yes seven, scoring teams. And we again had the first team with Sam J., Sam M., Andrew D., Mia D., Nina W., and Kelly B. taking the honours. We had top three representation across the age groups from the youngest to the oldest with the Croft ladies domination the FV50 age category. A particular mention must go to Mark L. who pulled himself away from the football just in time to join the back of the race, passing over 200 other runners he managed to finish 8th!
At the time of writing the consolidated series to date team results haven’t been published but it looks like Croft have consolidated their lead as we go into the final series race on Wednesday 22 July.
The consolidate individual results can be found on the ReadySetGo website: https://www.readysetgotiming.co.uk/2026-results
Guy has written a great report on his race which can be seen on the website now.
The detailed Race 3 results were:
Sam Juson, 27:23 1st overall and 1st SM
Sam Mayglothling, 29:02 3rd overall and 1st MV40
Andrew Davies, 30:04 3rd SM
Mark Lamonby, 30:50 2nd MV35
Steve Partridge, 33:18 3rd MV45
Max George, 33:33
Mia Davies, 34:57 3rd Female
Nigel Taylor, 35:02 1st MV60
Nina Walmsley, 36:43 1st FV50
Dave George, 36:47 2nd MV55
Kelly Bowen, 37:05 2nd FV40
Ian Chubb, 37:32
Irina Whitfield, 37:41 3rd FV35
Jo Tilby 37:43
Sam Harper, 38:42 2nd FV50
Miles Davis, 38:46
Mike Bending, 39:27
Natalie Covill, 39:38 3rd FV50
Craig Price, 39:41
Jamie Symonds, 39:42 1st MU18
Richard Coltart, 40:41
Paul Lewis, 41:45
Steph King, 42:57 3rd FV60
Tom Powell, 43:12
Liza Austin, 43:21
Oli Cameron-Swan, 43:58
Roland Preeece, 45:06
Tori Dickinson, 45:25
Sonia George, 45:33
Ian Price, 45:43
Hayley Colebatch, 47:36
Lisa Gray, 47:39
Suzanne Powell, 48:00
Guy Whitmarsh, 48:01 1st MV80
Vanessa Bowers, 49:01
Nick Paviour, 49:59
Gary Gunner, 50:30 2nd V80
Peter High, 51:25 2nd MV75
Huw Williams, 52:09
Reachel Kenny, 52:35
Anna Bromley, 53:03
Sarah Norman, 59:44
Alice Norman, 1:00:01 (injured mid race) 1st FU18
Christina La Monica 1:00:36
Sunday saw 17 crofties finish Cleobury Mortimer 10k, the next Championship race. Eric A was there but running for Builth. This was a hilly course but conditions almost perfect with warm but not hot conditions, there were closed roads and fantastic support and marshalling around the whole course – highly recommend this race to anyone thinking about doing it next year. Eric, Hannah F. Sam H and Miles D. all won prizes which was extra impressive as the age categories were very broad (up to 39; 40 to 54; 55 to 69 and 70 and over). The full results (chip timing) were:
Eric Apperley 35:20 1st overall
Steve Partridge 43:09
Hannah Fletcher 43:13 1st Female overall
Miles Davis 45:66 1st MV55
Sam Harper 48:43 1st FV40
Mike Bending 49:45
Russ Limbert 51:09
Paul Lewis 52:54
Liza Austin 54:26
Steph King 55:39
Tori Dickinson 57:49
Roland Preece 58:58
Rob Martin 1:05:15
Frank Luscott 1:06:53
Huw Williams 1:07:20
Anna Bromley 1:07:28
Nicola Luscott 1:11:04
Christina LM 1:18:42
Further afield Cat (Tim W-H’s daughter) was racing in the Masters Skyrunning Masters in the French Alps. As part of the route had a via ferrata section (a climbing route section) everyone had to run the whole race wearing a climbing helmet and harness. Cat came 5th in her age category – a great result with runners from around the world.
Parkrunners this week were Sam J and Rob W at Hereford, Angus K at Haughmond Hill, Simon N at Queenswood, Jamie S at Graves and 8 runners at Ludlow. Full Croft results can be found at: https://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=2116 and on our Facebook page.
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.