Welcome to Croft Ambrey Running Club!
The club was formed by five friends, Peter Faulkner and Brian Davies, their brothers Mike Falkner and Tom Davies together with Bryan Markham.
Croft Ambrey Running Club is one of the longest-established running clubs in Herefordshire.
The impetus for the club was the 15 mile Offa’s Dyke Race. Brian Davies won a veteran’s prize in the 1981 race but, as it was technically only for runners affiliated to a club, he was only awarded it due to the goodwill of the organisers. And so Croft Ambrey Running Club came into being in 1982 with the simple aim of running with friends, entering a few races and, hopefully, winning a prize or two – legitimately!
Every type of running for every type of runner.
Based where we are in North Herefordshire, we are fortunate to be amongst stunning countryside and blessed with our fair share of challenging hills. It has meant that club members participate in every type of running you can think of. Trails, fells, road, short distances and ultra, multi-day and endurance events.
We pride ourselves in being genuinely inclusive. We know that’s easy to say but come along to any of our Tuesday or Thursday evening training sessions and you’ll see just how true it is.
Blue sky thinking
We’re maybe a little unusual in having two training nights rather than keeping one as a longer, social run. We do this because it keeps everyone together and makes sure that every runner at a session has a chance to chat with anyone, irrespective of their speed. If you’re a bit slower you may run fewer efforts but the slowest and fastest runner in the group will still be waiting together to tackle that hill again! Tuesday and Thursday training sessions start at 6:45pm. Winter running is with head torches.
Where we meet
Our spiritual home is Croft Castle. The Ambrey gave the club its name and we’ve had the privilege of training in The Castle Grounds for over 40 years. However we like to give runners as much variety as possible and hold training sessions at different locations across North Herefordshire each week including Mortimer Forest, Shobdon, Wigmore and Brampton Bryan.
The location of training sessions are published each Sunday evening on the club website, Facebook page and in the weekly Email Newsletter to club members.
For young runners
Croft Juniors meet at 5:30pm most term-time Monday evenings at Wigmore High School. For youngsters aged from 8 to 16, the focus is on running for fun with a mix of age appropriate short and long- distance intervals, dynamic sessions and games. Many of our Juniors take part in Herefordshire Cross Country races.
A whole year of running
Our running year includes a Winter and Summer Cross Country Series. These usually comprise 4 or 5 races each, hosted by local running clubs. We also have our own handicap series for club members. The handicap, where the fastest runners set off last, consist of three 5-mile road races on quiet lanes and three off road challenges over a similar distance.
We also have the ‘Club Championship’. This consists of 12 carefully chosen races across the year with a mix of road, fell, cross country and even a parkrun. Members need to take part in 6 of the 12 races to be eligible for the Championship. One of the great joys of these races is simply knowing that, when you turn up, you’ll be greeted by a sea of sky blue eager to cheer you on.
So if you want to run just for the fun of it and maybe enter a race or two, you’ll find that Croft is much the same as it was over 40 years ago. Come along – you’ll find people just like you.
