Another CARC week comes to a close, but what have our fantastic runners been up to? It’s been a busy one, that’s for sure. So, sit back and let’s find out!
Starting the week, our Juniors took to the Wigmore School playing field for their regular Monday session with Kelly and Eric. Croft Junior, Saffi, gave this week a miss, instead travelling down to Llanbedr near Crickhowell for her first night time fell run on Tabletop Mountain where she finished 1st female and 3rd overall. It would be here where she would also pick her up series award after winning the Under 13 Girls age category in this year’s South Wales Fell Series. Well done, Saf!
This week our Seniors would take part in December’s Away Day Run on Tuesday at Mortimer Forest with Tim, before taking on some Sprints on Thursday with Eric at Brampton Bryan.
Saturday arrived along with our long awaited Ludlow Parkrun Takeover and Food Bank Collection. We had a fantastic response for volunteer help by our club members; all who took on the roles of either marshal, pacer, time keeper, scanner, plus many more. We also received many food donations, all of which will go to local food banks. We’d like to give everyone involved, from runner to volunteer to donater to spectator, a massive thank you and well done!
But back to the best bit – Parkrun results! Eric would come home first at Ludlow with a time of 20:05. Naomi was our first female. Lucy L recorded a new PB in 30:03. Scott (and girlfriend Gina) ran over in Hereford, both finishing with a time of 26:13. Elsewhere, Lou P and Nikki ran at the Edgbaston Reservoir Parkrun. Their times were 28:18 and 32:28. Sam J was in Denmark this weekend, running (and winning) the Amager Strandpark in Copenhagen. He told us “Managed to take the win at the Amager Strandpark parkrun over in Copenhagen yesterday! Very cold conditions, but still braved it in the Croft vest!” His time was 16:10.
Jacqueline, who is currently in Abu Dhabi, took part in the ADNOC 10K on Saturday. She finished in a time of 01:00:35. She said: “Been pavement pounding in the heat in Abu Dhabi recently. Did the ADNOC 10K today which was fun despite getting tripped by the runner behind me and face planting. Can’t really blame him for those annoying 35 seconds but I will.”
Also on Saturday, Saffi ran in the Gloucester 5k Santa Run alongside 650+ people where she came home 1st female and 4th overall. She would be at it again come Sunday morning taking part in the Sportshall League against athletes from Worcester Athletics Club, Kidderminster and Stourport, Bromsgrove and Redditch. She would come away with 5 out of 5 wins in races, particularly excelling in the 6 lap and 4 lap races!
On Sunday, plenty of Croft runners took part in the Mortimer Forest Trail Races, running either the 4 mile or 10 mile, both of which can be described as muddy and undulating! Results are unavailable at the time of writing, so please enjoy a couple of pictures in stead!
Where some of our runners spent their Sunday on the trails, a couple of others took the road in the Telford 10k. Eric finished in 32:07 and Gareth in 33:53.
Finally, a quick shout out to our small group of runners who took to The Whimble near to New Radnor for a windy social run. Looks as if all managed to stay on their feet and not get blown away!
Being back to normality is a lovely sight to see! Please remember that our upcoming training sessions will be available to view on our Facebook page every 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).