Time to say goodbye to another Croft week with your Weekly CARC Update!
However, before we begin, we missed out Flora’s fell race from last week’s report! She took part in the Pen Tir Drop last Sunday. She finished in 33rd place out of 68 runners, while finishing 1st in her age category with a time of 47:10. Well done, Flora!
Back to the present day, and with this week being half term, only 3 of our juniors came to their weekly session at Wigmore School. Regardless, they worked extremely hard in their “slalom style” session, with a lap around Wigmore village to finish off. There was also no need for headtorches until the latter stages of the session which means Summer is well on it’s way!
As for our Seniors, their sessions, this week, took place at High Vinnalls and Shobdon Wood. Tuesday’s session saw Emma at the helm with long intervals around the easy access part of the Parkrun route. On Thursday, it was all about hills with Tim, including a run up everyone’s favourite hill at Shobdon Wood!
Onto Parkrun Saturday and it was the day our lovely Prepare for Parkrun Group would take on Ludlow Parkrun! “What a fantastic day for the Prepare 4 Parkrun group to run at Ludlow Parkrun. Everyone ran amazingly – so proud of all these runners – hopefully they all enjoyed it and will back for more!” Well done guys!
Continuing on with Ludlow Parkrun and it was Oliver M first Croft runner home with a time of 24:45. Naomi was first Croft female and first female overall. Her time was 27:13. Sam H, Jamie and Neil volunteered. Saffi was the sole Croftie at Hereford Parkrun this week. She finished 3rd female in a time of 22:02. Elsewhere, Eric would take the win by a second at Chippenham Playing Fields Parkrun in Monmouth, with Bronwyn also there, equaling her overall Parkrun PB.
Also on Saturday, 6 Crofties – Kelly, Clare, Thea, Paul, Howard and Ali, took on the South Shropshire Circular event, a 25 mile walk/jog/run race starting and ending in Clee Hill. Kelly said: “Very very muddy course taking on paths we hadn’t run before. Great navigational event plotting a route from a narrative format.” Good job by all!
Down in London, Lucy took part in the Sportshoes XC Senior Women’s Nationals on Saturday. Out of 1000 starters in a very, very muddy 8k XC race, Lucy finished in 291st with a time of 40:30.
Keeping on the XC theme, Sunday finally saw everyone’s favourite round of the Hereford and Borders XC League – Rotherwas, hosted by Hereford Tri Club. And, with the weather forecast looking extremely grim with plenty of rain and wind on the horizon, it wasn’t looking to be your favourite running Sunday morning. Alas, the rain would hold off, not so much the wind, but we got a dry, yet slight muddy race, with plenty of competition as our runners raced to increase our lead in the team standings. Gareth was first CARC runner home, finishing in 3rd place. Andy and Toby A joined him in the Top 10. It would be another 1st place finish for the Croft Mens Team made up of Gareth, Andy, Toby and Jasper. Our second mens team – Grant, Simon, Oscar and Steve, came home in 5th. Irina was our first lady home, finishing in 59th position, with Liza and Bronwyn not too far behind her. Our ladies team, made up of Irina, Liza, Bronwyn and Steph K, would finish in 8th. Oliver M and Jamie would take part in the Under 17 race, finishing in 5th and 6th respectively. In the Under 15 race, Owen M raced finishing in 5th, with Saffi running in the Under 13 race finishing 2nd female and 4th overall. Next up, it’s our turn to host at Croft on Sunday 9th March! Full CARC results from this round:
Junior Results:
Saffi Reid – Under 13 Race – 13:48 – 2nd FU13 and 4th overall, racing as Hereford & County AC
Owen Marsh – Under 15 Race – 19:14 – 4th MU15 & 5th overall
Oliver Marsh – Under 17 Race – 35:13 – 2nd MU17
Jamie Symonds – Under 17 Race – 37:56 – 3rd MU17
Senior Results:
Gareth Leek – 41:34 – 3rd Overall and 1st Mens Team
Andrew Davies – 42:01 – 1st Mens Team
Toby Austin – 42:39 – 1st Mens Team
Jasper Robinson – 44:33 – 1st Mens Team
Grant Womack – 44:40
Simon Norwood – 45:02
Oscar Austin – 45:48
Steve Partridge – 49:04
Stuart Austin – 50:39
Irina Whitfield – 53:17
Neil Taylor – 56:07
Liza Austin – 56:39
Bronwyn Preece – 56:53
Roland Preece – 1:01:54
Ian Price – 1:03:02
Rob Wood – 1:03:23
Guy Whitmarsh – 1:04:40
Stephanie King – 1:04:57
Ashley Robinson – 1:05:45
Oliver Cameron-Swan – 1:08:17
Sue Wood – 1:10:16
Frank Luscott – 1:17:19
Elsewhere, down in the warmer Spanish weather, Mia and Louise P ran the Seville Marathon, or Maratón de Sevilla if we want to keep things más tradicional. Mia would be the first of our Sky Blues to cross the finish line, with her chip time coming in at 03:42:08 – a new and big marathon PB for Mia who said that she is “absolutely chuffed with that!” Lou would also have a brilliant race, registering her 2nd ever fastest marathon time. She finished in 04:11:07. Absolutely incredible performances from both runners! And, despite the hoards of people there must have been, they managed to meet up for that all important Team Croft photo!
Well done all for another fantastic week. 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).