Happy Sunday Crofties & co!
Another frantic, yet fun, week in the world of Croft Ambrey Running Club was started by our Juniors, as they took to the playing field at Wigmore High School for their weekly session. Our Juniors train every Monday, coached by Kelly and Eric, and boy, do they work hard! The Juniors, that is! Throwing it back towards the end of last week, not only did Saffi, who also runs for Hereford Athletics Club, absolutely smash the RUN Hereford 5k last Sunday, she also took part in the Bourton-on-the-Water Mile just two days before! She crossed the line, finishing as 3rd female overall, as well as scoring a new mile PB of 06:09. Elsewhere, Liv, who has been racing for her school at the Herefordshire Districts, finished in 1st place in the 1500m. This result lands her a place at the County Championships in Stourport. A fantastic achievement from both girls!
Tuesday evening saw the second race in this year’s Club Handicap Series in Leinthall Starkes. Here’s a quick rundown from Mike Blenkinsop:
“The second race in the 2024 Handicap Series and time for the handicap times to kick in. I certainly would not choose The Bible as my specialist subject on Mastermind, but I seem to recall the quote of ” the first shall be last and the last shall be first” from my angelic (!) Sunday School days. Time for some runners, unaccustomed to being out front and being hunted down like escaping criminals, to try to avoid being overtaken by their not-so-matey team mates. Perhaps also time for me to head back to church to pray for forgiveness. I have predicted for years that my head would explode when lots of runners ran to their optimal level and fulfilled the accuracy of the handicapping system by charging for the finish line en masse. Well …. tonight it became a reality and the time-recording system that had been in operation since 1989 finally malfunctioned. We did our best to try to rectify the situation as accurately as possible, but apologies if there are a few slight discrepancies.
None of that nonsense had any affect on the runners’ performances, however, and there were 12 PBs recorded and a colossal age-group record.
At the sharp end of the field a battle-royale was developing. Claire Verran quickly overtook the 2 runners who had started in front of her and was then listening intently for the sound of heavy breathing and athletic footsteps approaching from behind. Do you dare to look behind ? Is it a sign of weakness ? No invading sounds were detected until the final few hundred metres when defending handicap series champion Alison Davies suddenly appeared into view and was hot on Claire’s heels. Both runners now had to dig deep as they sprinted for the welcoming finish line. Claire just prevailed by the slender margin of 2 seconds after a tenacious race. Well done both. Alison Benwell finished a clear 3rd to complete an all female top 3. In fact, it was a female triumph on the night as the women runners outnumbered the men by 27 to 23.
Frank Luscott will have been pleased with his 4th place and an improvement of over 2 minutes on his time recorded last month. Mike Hayward recorded the biggest PB of the night with an upgrade of 1.38, closely followed by Anna Bromley’s 1.36 improvement. Others to slice big chunks off their previous best times were Rob Martin with 1.16 and Joe Lynch with 1.13. Joe would have been motivated by the lack of a tuck shop on the course and the thought of nourishment awaiting him at the finish. I have not, unsurprisingly, kept stats on this possible record, but Joe overtook 32 runners as he sped around, no doubt giving cheery words of encouragement as he flew past. Double celebration time for the Haywards as Jayne knocked 55 seconds off her best time to rival Mike’s choccie award.
Guy Whitmarsh, with typical humility and self-effacement, had kept shtum about turning 80 a few days ago. He quietly and modestly celebrated becoming an octogenarian by setting a new MV80 course record by the massive margin of 10 mins 29 secs ! He was tested for surplus Sanatogen after the race and passed with flying colours. Guy’s achievements tend to fly under the radar a bit, but here he was running on the roads, which he mostly avoids as he prefers the challenge of fell racing, and still recording a time (46.39) that will be the envy of many younger runners. Well done Guy – a notable achievement.
Yet another excellent turnout for this event and rewarding to see 3 more runners making their debuts.”
Results are now available to view on our members Facebook page and will also be here, on the website, in due course.
Come Thursday, and there was something a little bit quieter awaiting our runners at Wapely Hill… Yup, you guessed it. A hill session. Regardless, after a speedy Tuesday evening, plenty of Croft runners turned out for a session in the woods with Huw. All in all, it looks like they had a darn good time!
Plenty of Croft runners managed to get out and about on Saturday in the sun before the thunderstorms rolled in over the course of the afternoon.
A sight we’re quite accustomed to, Eric finished first at Ludlow Parkrun in a time of 18:46. Jasper and Grant joined him in the top four. First Croft woman was Steph K. Volunteers this week included Eric (multi-tasking!), Jamie and Guy.
Several Crofties also ran Parkruns elsewhere. In Hereford, Jo M finished in 23:15, Crispin in 28:34 and Lou P in 30:46. Sam J, continuing his fine form, was running in Rome at the Roma Pineto Parkrun with his girlfriend; Sophie. He finished in 17:11 – nearly 3 minutes ahead of second place! Sophie, taking part in only her 8th Parkrun, finished in a fantastic 34:13.
Steve, Ryan and Sarah chose something a little bit different on Saturday morning, taking part in the Runningmonk’s Ultra Trail 50k. The trio ran together, finishing in just under 7 and a half hours. Steve said; “Started getting warm early and just got hotter. Glad to get another ultra done. When’s the next?.” Sarah took a slightly different stance on the challenge describing it as “brutal.” Regardless, all three managed to get to the line – an amazing achievement!
The Millichaps – Dave, Hayley and dog – Smudge, took on the Wye Valley Long Half Marathon on Saturday morning. Hayley said on Facebook:
“Dave (canicross) and I (back runner), took on the Wye Valley Long Half Marathon (just under 25km) yesterday. It was smudges first half marathon distance, it was a bit warm, so took it nice and steady with plenty of dips in the river keeping Smudge nice and cool . There were a couple of road sections on which Smudge and Dave became tangled when Smudge was spooked by a car, ending in Dave taking a tumble. Beautiful first half following the river bank to Monmouth, then the climbs started up to Redbrook and to the round house on Kymin (great views!) , then back down to the river banks and over the suspension bridge back to the start. Great route with a few technical descents and rather steep climbs , but thoroughly enjoyable!”
Kicking off Sunday was a couple of races for our second claim runners. Eric, racing for Builth, took on the hot and humid Cardiff Bay 10k. He finished in 14th place with a time of 33:05. Elsewhere, Mark P, running for Maldwyn Harriers, was racing the Newton to Abermule Point to Point, as part of Maldwyn Harriers Running Club Summer Series. He finished in just under 40 minutes, taking an age category win. Well done both!
“Social Sunday” lived up to it’s name this weekend with a couple of social runs taking place near and far.
First of all, a large group of Crofties headed over to Titterstone for an out and back run to Brown Clee. They ran, walked, jogged, a total of 14-15 miles in the bright sunshine that was reigning down on the hills. At the end, they were treated to (by themselves) a drink or two at The Cross on Clee Hill.
Elsewhere, Huw joined some friends from other running clubs at a recce of the Crocodile 8, hosted by Wye Valley Runners. He said:
“A lovely run out along The Crocodile 8 course this morning with our friends at Wye Valley Runners. It really is a beautiful route – not too hard, not too easy – just right. This is always a popular race for Crofties. If you haven’t yet, you can enter now at Entry Central. Hopefully there will be a good showing for the Sky Blues next weekend.”
If you are yet to sign up for the Crocodile 8, which takes place next weekend, you can do so here!
Finally, Thea and Roland decided to take a day trip up to Elan Valley for a run around the trails.
“Me and Thea went off to Elan valley and ran the route from Claerwen Dam to Llyn Egnant Dam. Bloody hot, but good run until we decided to go across country on the way back and came across a bog, about a mile long which took about an hour to navigate. Won’t go that way again”
Some great running in the sun 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).