It’s December, so it means we’re into a month of festive fun here at Croft Ambrey Running Club. We can’t wait to share all of our Christmas shenanigans with you. However, it’s only week one of the month and we’ve got to plenty to cover before then. Shall we get to into it?
Monday may have been wet, wet, wet, but this didn’t stop our Juniors from turning out to their training session at Wigmore School. The weather on Tuesday improved dramatically for our Senior session, also at Wigmore School. Emma led this session, with a focus on Sprints, before Tim took over for Thursday’s Tempo session at High Vinnalls.
Talking of High Vinnalls, on Saturday we staged another Ludlow Parkrun Takeover, but this time with our annual Food Bank Collection! We had plenty of Croft runners volunteering, so a big thank you to Liza, Stuart, Anna, Casper, Tori, Lisa, Dawn, Sam H, Angus, Carol, Roland, Jamie, Tim W-H and Guy. Results this week saw Casper finish 2nd overall with a time of 23:55. Jamie, Mike, Henry and Neil joined him in the Top 10. Thank you to everyone who turned out and donated to the collection! We really appreciate it!
Elsewhere on Parkrun Saturday, Eric, Steve and Simon ran at Queenswood Country Park Parkrun. Eric finished in 1st place with a new Course Record of 19:41. Steve would finish 6th, with Simon in 14th. Sam J volunteered.
Most Croft runners took Saturday easy, preparing themselves for some muddy fun and games at Race 3 of the Hereford and Border Winter XC League on Sunday!
Race 3 brought a whole new course, courtesy of Maldwyn Harriers, for 2025 and boy did our runners enjoy it, with plenty of rain, mud and hills, what more could you ask for! There was another win for Sam J, finishing nearly two minutes ahead of 2nd place man; Eric (running for Builth). Gareth also finished in the Top 5. Our Men’s Team would finish the race 2nd overall. It was also a brilliant race for our ladies; Kelly, Irina and Natalie, who came home 5th, 6th and 7th overall in the female category. They would help our Female Team come away with a 1st place finish. Our 2nd female team finished 4th.
Sam Juson – 35:39 – 1st Overall
Gareth Leek – 37:59 – 5th Overall
Simon Norwood – 43:30
Henry Eastman – 43:45
Jasper Robinson – 44:04
Steve Partridge – 44:09
Jim Bowers – 45:13
Matt Edwards – 46:19
Miles Davis – 46:26
Joe Lynch – 47:38
Kelly Bowen – 49:07
Irina Whitfield – 49:20
Natalie Covill – 49:44
Stuart Austin – 50:15
Sam Harper – 51:28
Oliver Marsh – 51:55
Jo Tilby – 52:04
Kath Hardwick – 52:34
Paul Lewis – 53:13
Jamie Symonds – 54:17
Mike Bending – 54:32
Liza Austin – 55:15
Steph King – 56:48
Rob Wood – 57:54
Oli Cameron-Swan – 01:00:36
Guy Whitmarsh – 01:02:04
Nick Paviour – 01:03:26
Gary Gunner – 01:04:52
Sue Wood – 01:05:01
Anna Bromley – 01:05:11
Vanessa Bowers – 01:05:15
Hayley Colebatch – 01:06:48
Carol Powell – 01:06:57
Angus Kirby – 01:11:08
Ali Davies – 01:21:28
Some of our Fell Running Team – Flora, Sam M and Nigel, chose to take part in the Cardington Cracker Fell Race on Sunday. The race takes place in Cardington, Shropshire and is around 14.5km long. Unfortunatley, results were unavailable at the time of writing.
We’ll round out this weekend with the Jones’ – Emma and Greg, who were taking part in the SCOTT Cheviot Goat Ultra. “This route will take you out into one of the last wild places in England where the population count per square mile is the lowest to be had. High up in the fells you’ll need to battle your inner self as you cross peat covered hills, descend grassy banks and chug along the mighty border ridge with Scotland on one side and England on the other.” Emma told us on our FB page: “My weekend went well – Cheviot Goat – 95 km of hell, heather and bogs and more hills than you can shake a stick at – what’s not to love (apart from the bogs, heather, fog and rain). Time: 20:49:09. Greg ran too – made it to the last check point at 65 km, but had to retire with a knee injury.”
Well done all! Please remember that if you would like your race and achievements included in the weekly report, please get them to me (Bronwyn) by 6pm at the latest. Any that come in after, I cannot promise they will be included. 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).