Blink and you miss it. It’s Sunday, once again! Get comfy because it’s time for your Weekly CARC Update.
We welcomed a couple of new faces to our Junior session this past Monday, where our young runners continued working on their endurance and pacing. It’s great seeing how much they improve week in, week out. We did notice this week that it got dark quickly towards the end of the session, so it may be time for running torches to make an appearance very soon!
Our Senior runners headed to Shobdon Wood on Tuesday for a tempo session led by Sam H. Afterwards, they were treated to the belated awards ceremony from the last Handicap race. As a reminder, Steph K was our overall winner of the Bryan Markham Handicap trophy this year! On Thursday, it was over to Wigmore School for a short interval session with Kelly.
Also running on Thursday this week was Saffi. She and her mum headed down to Weston to take part in the Junior Prom Run – a mile road race. With over 200 young runners competing, Saf finished in 7th place overall, coming home 2nd female. She recorded a new mile PB of 05:38.
Onto Parkrun Saturday, and once again many Sky Blue runners were out repping CARC at different Parkruns all over the country. Starting in Ludlow, there were several Crofties out for a morning around High Vinnalls. First Croftie home was Casper in 23:42. His dad; Richard, was just behind him with a new PB in 23:58. First Croft lady home was Naomi. She would also finish 4th female overall. PBs this week went to Richard – as mentioned above, Paul L – time was 25:16 and Leni – time was 38:36. Volunteers this week were Oli C-S, Frank, Jamie and Guy. Sam J was the sole Croft runner at Hereford. He finished in 1st with a time of 17:00. Down in Newbury, Eric ran at Victoria Park Parkrun. Running at an easy pace due to Abingdon Marathon on Sunday, Eric finished in a time of 20:31. I could have ran at Victoria Park also. However, I think running is taking a back seat for now! Elsewhere, the Spicer duo of Toby and Owen ran at Teifi Marshes Parkrun. Toby finished in 23:35, with Owen just behind in 25:26. This was also a new PB for Owen. Angus headed to Aberaeron to run at Llanerchaeron Parkrun. He finished in a time of 27:13. Rounding out Parkrun Saturday is Neil who headed to Hasenheide Parkrun in Berlin Germany. He said to us: “In 1990, 35 years ago I did the Berlin Marathon, running through the Brandenburg gate for the first time after the fall of the Berlin wall and the reunification of Germany. Returning to Berlin for our 40th wedding anniversary, on a crisp autumn morning, I marked the occasion by completing the Berlin Parkrun (Hasenheide) in a reasonably respectable time of 25:11 and 1st M65-69.” Well done all!
Well done to Kath who headed to Somerset’s Quantock Hills on Saturday to take part in the 2nd year of Man v Horse England. This race is 23 miles long, roughly the same length as Man v Horse Wales. Unfortunatley, at the time of writing, no results had been published, but Kath has told us that her finishing time via her Garmin was 3 hours and 44 minutes!
Saf was racing again come Saturday, this time at the Midland Counties Cross Country Relay Championships taking place in Wolverhampton. Saf had a good run, finishing her 3K leg in 2nd place in a time of 12:05 and helping her team pick up bronze.
On Sunday there was plenty of racing going on in the wet and windy weather!
Nine hardy Crofties took on a club favourite – the Ron Skilton Half Marathon in Llanwrtyd Wells, Mid-Wales. Christina said: “Possibly the hardest thing I’ve ever done. If you like Man versus Horse – do this. It’s harder.” Click here to read Jo Marriot’s (nee Skilton) race report and our intrepid Croftie’s results.
Another race where results are not yet available is the Bridgnorth 10k, where a small cohort of Croft runners took part. Simon, Steph M, Frank and Hannah made up our Croft team for this race. We can tell you, however, that Hannah won her age category and Simon was 3rd in his. Simon said: “Myself, Steph Main, Hannah, Frank tackled the Hilly Bridgnorth 10k, big field of runners, great crowd support & atmosphere.”
Rounding out our two 10k races this weekend was Saffi who ran at the Wellington 10k. The race description was “a moderately hilly circular running route, mostly off-road, approximately 10.1 km long”. The Garmin clocked 10.17K. There were 253 runners and Saf did well to finish in 44:00 as 3rd female and 25th overall!
Elsewhere, a couple of Croft runners took on gruelling 26.2 milers! That’s right, shall we call this Marathon Sunday?
Eric headed to Abingdon, Oxford to take part in the world famous Abingdon Marathon. This marathon is described as “flat and fast,” and “a great race for a PB.” For Eric, that’s exactly what he did. Finishing in 02:40:36, Eric beat his marathon PB by around 6 minutes and 19 seconds. He finished 26th overall. Although there were moments in the race that he found challenging, he was really chuffed with how he got on.
Up north in York, Andy ran at the 2025 Altra Yorkshire Marathon. This marathon is described as “a standout event.” It starts in York City Centre before taking on a scenic route and ending back in the centre. Andy finished in a time of 03:00:59.
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).