Read all about it! It’s that time of week again, folks! Get comfortable because it’s been another fabulous week of running at Croft Ambrey Running Club!
Training sessions were full systems go starting on Monday with our youngsters taking to Wigmore School playing field for their weekly session. On Tuesday, it was a short drive over to Shobdon, where Kelly put our Seniors through their paces with Long Intervals along the road behind the Kingspan factory.
Thursday brought something that little bit different to our training sessions… We went gardening! Literally! Theresa invited us to her farm to help sow wild flowers and grasses into one of the meadows to start a traditional hay meadow in conjunction with Herefordshire Meadows and their sponsors. Eventually, this meadow will act as a CARC training base to help roll the seed in. This was followed by a short training session which included us running in the seed that had just been sown as well as nearly 2 laps around the field! Well done Crofties, and thank you to Theresa, her family and Herefordshire Meadows for a very different, but very fun CARC evening!
Parkrun Saturday had Crofties heading off in all directions for their weekly Saturday morning running fix.
Kicking things off was Ludlow Parkrun, with Oliver M finishing as first Croftie and 13th overall. Steph K was our first female. Over in Hereford, Andy D finished 1st, while recording a new PB of 18:22. Oli C-S made his debut at Ross-on-Wye Parkrun finishing in the top 20 with a time of 26:00. Also making their debuts at different Parkruns was Eric, Sam J and Lee. Eric ran at Merthyr, finishing 1st with a time of 16:59, not too far off the course record! Sam also finished 1st, running at Forest of Dean with a time of 17:19. Lee, alongside his beautiful doggo, ran by the sea at Newborough Forest Parkrun. His time was 35:47.
Also on Saturday, away from the hustle and bustle of Parkrun, several Crofties headed over to Kington to take part in the annual Kington 8 Peaks Challenge event. 4 Croft groups headed out onto the trails, with some choosing to run/hike the route anti-clockwise, while others opted to complete it clockwise. After battling the up and down terrain of the Welsh border, our first group returned to base in just over 3 hours, and just in time to take shelter from the incoming rain! And yes, the remainder of us out there did indeed get just a little bit wet! Regardless, everyone returned to base with big smiles upon their faces as they headed home with a sense of accomplishment.
Across the pond, Louise P was off on another adventure to take part in the Barkley Fall Classic at the Frozen Head State Park in Eastern Tennessee, USA. As per the BFC’s website; “The course is designed to challenge the runner mentally, as well as physically,” with the use of GPS a big no-no around the numerous hard climbs and descents. There is also a decision point for the runner, where they decide to complete the race as a marathon or carry on to complete the 50k. The catch? “At the BFC it is all or nothing, if you go beyond the decision point you will either finish a 50km or DNF!”
For Lou, she made the decision to complete the marathon distance rather than the 50k. She said: “What a day! The toughest thing I’ve ever done … and ever will do! But the feeling as I hauled my a** back over the top of Rat Jaw (from the hardest out and back ever, it was over 100 degrees on Meth Lab and full sunshine) when the lovely volunteers were yelling “Great job, you made it back!” was priceless… I didn’t even care if I got the marathon finish after that! 26 (ish) miles and about 15,000 feet of climbing. Most pleased I’ve ever been with a fail. I did a Barkley Marathon!”
Elsewhere, Flora was also off taking part in a fell race that she also described as “the most challenging race I’ve ever done since I started running.” This was Pedol Peris Mountain Race in the British Championships – 18 miles and a total of 8461 ascent. She said: “I was so nervous just in case I won’t be able to make the cut off time and finish the race. Parts of the course is so rocky I’m having difficulty going up and going down. There’s some good points at least it wasn’t raining is just so misty. I can hardly see anything especially when I’m going up towards the summit from the bottom of the opposite mountain of Snowdon. (…) I was glad when I reached the finishing line and still in one piece with no injuries. My time results is = 5:56:07 ( came second out of 4 in my age category.) I received a lovely silver medal (O60 UK Long Course fell &hill championships 2024 )written in it , with the cash as my prizes . They’re quite generous of giving their prizes.I wasn’t expecting any prize for a second place . I was pleased and grateful to them.”
Croft Junior, Saffi, was busy on a very wet Sunday morning, running the Apperley Quarter Marathon in Gloucestershire. Saf was very lucky to have been gifted this place in the race by the organisers and, being the youngest runner in the field didn’t faze her one bit. She finished 21st female and 102nd overall out of 444 runners. Her time was 55:13.
To round things off, this weekend Simon took part in the European Triathlon Championships in Vichy, France. He said: “Lots of drama, rain, puncture, mechanical but managed to pull back and finish 22/43 in my AG.” His overall time was 02:28:54. We look forward to hearing all about it!
Brilliant running this week, Crofties! 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).