Hello readers, and welcome to your first Weekly CARC Update of the “Ber” months. That’s right, September is upon us and I fear to be the bearer of bad news that darker nights are quickly creeping up on us. Head/chest torches may be a training necessity in the next few weeks! Sorry! But hey, it’s technically still Summer so let’s enjoy what we have left of it!
This week at Croft saw the final handicap race of the year take place up on Bircher Common on Tuesday evening. Well done and thank you to all Crofties who came out and took part/volunteered over the course of the 6 races ran! Tuesday’s race saw Ali B take the win, with Stuart and Gareth finishing in 2nd and 3rd, respectively. There was also a big haul of PBs, with many of our runners pushing to their limits! However, retaining her crown, Ali D would once again take home the trophy for a consecutive year, after accumulating the most points throughout the series. Gareth and Frank would finish just behind in 2nd and 3rd! Well done team, and thank you Mike for hosting another very successful series! We go again in 2025! A full report is now available to read here.
Thursday’s training took place on the driveway at Shobdon Church this week, with Eric putting our runners through their paces with 400m intervals along the tarmac. There was a brilliant turn out, despite everyone working extra hard only a couple of days before at Bircher!
On Wednesday evening it was the 1 Mile Race at Hereford Athletic Track and, although we made up the majority of the field in the 10k and 5k in weeks prior, it would only be Saffi who would make it on this particular evening. Saffi ran an awesome race, taking home first in her age category for the second consecutive year! Well done!
Come Saturday and it was wet and miserable. For some, this might just be the perfect Parkrun weather. I tend to disagree. There weren’t any PBs at this week’s Ludlow Parkrun, however both Toby and Roland finished in the Top 10. Clare was Race Director, with Tom D, Emily, Reachel, Jamie and Huw volunteering. Over in Hereford, Scott would take home first place with a time of 17:19. Elsewhere, Steph K ran at Kingdom Parkrun in Kent for the first time. Her time was 28:07.
Away from Parkrun, a couple of Croft runners were also off racing.
Howard was up in the Shropshire Hills on Saturday morning taking part in the Battle of the Borders. He ran just over 12 miles along the trails and hills, finishing in and around 2:54:00.
Eric, who was running with Builth and District Running Club on Saturday, took part in the Welsh Championship Relays in Camarthenshire. He finished his 3.5 mile leg in just over 18 minutes – a time he was aiming to achieve.
On Sunday, Steph M took on the Severn Bridges Road Race, a 10k race around the streets of Shrewsbury. She finished in a time of 51:50 and 5th in her age category. If her Strava comments are anything to go by, it looks as if she got pretty drenched in the miserable September Sunday weather!
And, Steph wasn’t the only Croftie to be stuck in the wet weather on Sunday. Several Crofties were out social running over the course of the weekend in the Shropshire Hills.
Elsewhere, over in the Aosta Valley region of Italy, Tim is once again taking on another endurance event. This time it is the TOR330 – Tor des Geants. A 330km race with over 24,000m of ascent to be covered within 150 hours. He set off on Sunday morning and will be expected in the next few days! Good luck Tim!
Brilliant running this week, Crofties! Please remember that our upcoming training sessions will be available to view on our Facebook page every Sunday evening. 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).