Hello all! It’s time for another dose of your Weekly CARC Update – London Marathon special! And of course, bar the marathon, we have plenty of other races for you to catch up on!
Over at Junior training this week it was a 400m effort session on the newly painted track. Getting our youngsters in shape, ready for their upcoming sports days at school!
On Tuesday, there was a change to our usual training session as we welcomed back the Bryan Markham Handicap Series for 2026! 51 Croft runners donned their Sky Blue shirts, laced up their racing shoes and took to the country lanes around Leinthall Starkes in the first of 3 road races before we move to Bircher Common for the final 3 races on the trail.
The first race, which was a mass start, was won by Sam Juson in a time of 24:50 – a new course record by 35 seconds! Eric Apperley and Grant Womack were are 2nd and 3rd finishers. First female went to Nina Walmsley, her debut around this course. Emma Jones and Sam Harper followed her home. There were 5 PBs and 10 Crofties made their Leinthall Starkes debuts! A full race report from Mike Blenkinsop can be found here. Full results:
The next race, which will be handicap style, will be on Tuesday 19th May. Start times will be released closer to the time via the members Facebook page and weekly newsletter.
Thursday’s Senior training was Sprints at Wigmore School with Kelly.
This week’s Parkrun Saturday was extremley busy for Croft runners. From a Parkrun takeover to marathon shakeouts, Sky Blue appeared all over the country!
Starting at Queenswood Country Park parkrun, where we took over in aid of Simon’s Teenage Cancer Trust fundraiser, Crofties volunteered from Run Director to Marshal to Tail Walker. Volunteers this week were Sam J, Kath, Paul L, Rob W, Sue W, Angus, Mike B and Christina L. A further 10 Crofties ran, with Eric taking the win in 21:09 – while taking video clips for our next England Athletics Social Media project! Jo T, making her Queenswood debut, finished 1st female. Steve, Casper, Thea, Roland and Lisa all recorded new PBs. Back to our home Parkrun stomping ground, Ludlow, where only 5 Crofties took part this week. Leading Croftie was Jamie, who finished in 25:24 and in 9th place. Reachel K recorded a new PB in 33:10. Oli C-S took part in Worcester Parkrun this week, where he finished in 27:31. Up in Scotland at Torvean Parkrun, Liza finished in 25:09. Further south, Jo M ran at St Albans, finishing in 25:02. Rounding out this week’s Parkrun are our London Marathoners and their number one supporter. Lou R, Gemma and Kelly headed to Upton Court Parkrun in Slough. Kelly finished 2nd female overall in a time of 23:05. Lou and Gem, who were getting ready for London, finished in just over 34 minutes!
Elsewhere on Saturday, Huw and Mike H headed down to Pembrokeshire to run the Endurancelife Pembrokshire 10k. Huw said: “The sun shone on the righteous this morning in Pembrokeshire. The Endurance Life 10k along the coastal path to Little Haven was stunning. It turned out to be closer to 7.5 miles – but that wasn’t a hardship on a day like this. There was ice cream in the sunshine at the end. We can watch the London Marathon tomorrow happy that we got out and got our bodies moving.” Results:
Huw Williams – 01:46:41 – 3rd MV65
Mike Hayward – 01:52:49 – 3rd MV60
Closer to home, Hayley and Anna took part in the Corvedale Cake Walk – a Marches Long Distance Walking Association event. Hayley and Anna chose to complete the 22 mile version. The second option was 10 miles. According to Strava, they finished in 6 hours and 50 minutes.
As per usual come the weekend, a couple of our fell runners were back in action. This time it was Flora and Guy as they ran the Cwmyoy Horseshoe Fell Race in Monmouthshire. Flora finished in a time of 01:02:40 and 3rd in the FV60 category. Guy finished in 01:03:58, first in the MV80 category and new CR holder for said age category!
Onto another busy day – Sunday!
Kicking us off was Eric who ran at the Wrexham 10k. The second race in the Adrenaline Sporting Events 10k Series. He would finish in 4th position with a time of 33:17. He was also 3rd Senior Male.
A group of Crofties headed to Brockhampton Estate near to Bromyard to run in the free event Brockhampton 10k. This is a new event that will be held monthly that gives the runner to explore the Brockhampton grounds for free. As described on their website: “The route includes a mix of accessible paths, forestry track, private road and unmade paths which can get very muddy and slippery, and there are some steps in the woodland.” There are no online results for this run. The next one will take place on 24th May 2026.
Over in Clun, Steph M ran at the Clun Valley Trail Half Marathon. She finished 3rd FV50 in a time of 02:32:51.
We’ll end the week with our London Marathoners!
This year, it was down to Howard, Janet, Gemma and Louise to take some Sky Blue rep to the capitol! First home was Howard in a time of 05:05:21, followed home by Janet in 05:19:59. Gem and Lou, running together, finished in 05:42:08 and 05:35:36, respectively! Well done all! Be sure to keep an eye out on our Facebook page for pictures soon!
That’s all we have for this week. If you have been doing something that you would like included in the weekly roundup please let Bronwyn, Huw, Sam H or Tori know before 6pm on a Sunday.
We are always on the lookout for race reports to go on the website too. They do not need to be huge, or even go into too much detail, but let us know where you went and how it went for you together with a couple of photos and make our website current and up to date.
Enjoy your week of running everyone!