Happy Valentine’s! There may have been plenty of love in the air this week, but that hasn’t stopped our runners from donning their running shoes and taking to our training sessions and races alike. But what exactly is it that they’ve been up to? Read on to find out!
Our Juniors kick started the week with a session over at Wigmore School before our Seniors got their turn, first at Shobdon Arches on Tuesday with Huw, where they focused on Long Intervals, before moving over to Croft on Thursday for Kelly’s Sprint session.
Straight onto Parkrun Saturday. This week saw Ludlow Parkrun celebrate their 10th birthday, with plenty of cake, tea, coffee, sunshine and, of course, running. We had 24 runners take part this week. Eric took yet another win, despite a late fall up the “Dip of Doom,” with a time of 18:58. Steve and Casper joined him in the Top 10. Well done to Casper for recording another PB for a consecutive week. This week’s time was 23:01. First Croft Lady this week went to Kelly. She also finished 3rd female overall, with Sam H just beind in 4th. Volunteer credits this week went to Stuart, Liza, Angus, Paul L, Jamie and Tim W-H. Elsewhere, Queenswood was cancelled due to unsafe terrain and no Crofties headed to Hereford. We did, however, have one Sky Blue run at a Parkrun over in the States. Sam J, currently sunning it up in Los Angeles, ran at the Brea Reservoir Parkrun in Fullerton, California. Out of 32 runners, Sam finished in 1st position with a time of 16:06. According to the 5k app, this is a new Course Record, beating the previous time by over a minute. Just a hop across the Pacific Ocean from Cali is Tom P in Australia. This week she ran at the Kirra Parkrun in Queensland. Her finishing time was 29:20. She told us: “On flat concrete trail, missed the Ludlow mud, weirdly. Also did the Redbridge Parkrun near Brisbane last week but forgot to take my barcode. I plan on doing the Adelaide City one next week!”
Well done to Lou P who, on Saturday, took part in the Trails and Tarmac Backyard Ultra in the Brecon Beacons. According to her Strava, Lou managed just over 32.5 miles in 6 hours and 48 minutes. She said: “Really enjoyed that today, tough and very muddy and slippy on the downhills due to all the rain – didn’t fancy it in the dark and the time it would add to each lap so quit while I was ahead (and before it rained!)”
Sunday saw the return of the miserable, wet weather we’ve all become so accustomed to in 2026. And, for some, it meant having to run in it, with this year’s edition of the Hereford 10 Mile Road Race. Several Croft runners took part in this race, however, despite our runners enjoying it in previous years, in 2026, it opinions seemed to differ. One of our runners said: “Most runners did 10.39miles due to marshalling error. Lack of marshals.” Another said: “Bit of a cock up with some times and placing. (…) Some went wrong way. Some turned around and only did 7miles. I just kept following the person in front of me and hopefully they knew where they were going. I made it 10.64 others made it more or less miles depend which way they went.” Regardless, well done to our team who braved the weather. Here are their results: (Please take with a pinch of salt. The official results page seems to be all over the shop!)
Mark Lamonby – 01:04:10 – 7th Overall
Stuart Austin – 01:19:29 – 4th MV60
Mike Bending – 01:23:36
Jo Marriott – 01:25:09 – 5th FV55
Craig Price – 01:28:01
Liza Austin – 01:33:45 – 1st FV60
Paul Lewis – 01:34:37
Steph King – 01:38:06 – 3rd FV60
Oli Cameron-Swan – 01:40:22
Reachel Kenny – 01:57:28
Ali Davies – 01:57:47
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, Tori, Huw or myself (Bronwyn).