Welcome to Super Marathon Sunday! Has there ever been a day packed with more running? Crofties were running in London, Manchester and Stratford. More about them in a bit, let’s have a look at what we got up to during the week shall we?
On Tuesday evening it was the opening race in the legendary Bryan Markham Handicap series. Forty Eight Crofties turned out for the first race – another great turnout from the sky blues. With a start like this it’s likely that there will be a strong field for the next two races in Leinthall Starkes before we move to the hills of Bircher.
We’re fortunate as a club to have our own poet poet laureate in Mike Blenkinsop. If you haven’t read his race report yet, Mike’s brilliant write-up is on the website. Sit back and enjoy.
Thursday Night Training
Thursday night Croft Ambrey Running Club went up to the Ambrey at Croft to run some long intervals and short hills. It was one of those evenings when you realise that we must live in one of the best places in the country for off-road running.
Cwmyoy Horshoe Fell Race
On Saturday 26th Flora, Gary and Gary Pearson tackled the Cwmyoy Horshoe Fell Race. 5.20 miles and 1263 feet total ascent. Gary Pearson 53:46, Flora 1:00:04, Gary Gunner 1:08:32. Well done all.
Also on Saturday Ali, Anna and Howard decided that cake was the mission of the day at the Cake Walk. Playing fast and loose with the event’s name they ran nearly 24 miles from Holdgate in a loop via Abdon Burf and Wenlock Edge. Cake was consumed, and, looking at the photos, there wasn’t any great urgency over their 7 hour escapade.
Every week, behind the scenes, something is happening to make sure our Hillfort Hustle race is going to be the success we all hope it will be. On Sunday Ali and Anna were out, secateurs in hand, checking and snipping along the route. One of the challenges we’re going to have is to make sure that parts of the course don’t get overgrown. We’ll be organising some walks and runs in the months ahead to help keep the paths well trodden and to stop the pricklies from taking over.
Also on Sunday, under a brilliant blue sky, Hayley and Dave Milichamp, Jim Bowers and Liza ran the Clun Valley Half Marathon. It’s a very tough course and Jim was back first in 2:02 followed by Liza in 2:29, Dave in 2:42 and hayley in 3:23. Nice one guys.
And so we get to the climax to a week of fantastic running with Marathon Super Sunday. Even as seasoned runners, a road marathon is hard – very hard. Judge your pace badly and it will bite you back. A little bit too fast and you’ll be struggling badly in the last few miles. Cut it too fine and that target time can slip cruelly from your grasp. We had 15 athletes in 3 marathons – London, Manchester and Stratford. Saffi took part in the London Mini Marathon on Saturday.
London Marathon: Sam: 2:29:27, Eric: 2:46:59, Scott: 2:55:20, Kath 3:45:02, Jo Marriott 3:50:33,
Janet: 5:04:03, Emma 6:04:05
London Mini Marathon: (2.6k). Safi finished in 63rd place in a time of 10:20. Well done Safi.
Manchester: Grant: 3:03:37, Andrew: 3:21:28, Louise: 3:57:11, Bron: 4:17:34,
Roland 4:41:09, Amy: 4:54:11
Stratford: Steve: 3:39, Ryan: 3:42
Amazing performances from our Croft Runners. A special mention must go to Emma Jones who ran to raise money for Kidney Care UK. Emma a Manager of 2 Renal Units & has been a dialysis nurse for 19 years. She set out to raise £2,500 but ended up with sponsorship of £5,776! Absolutely brilliant. And, quite rightly, Emma was interviewed by the BBC!
Caught on Camera
That’s all for now. Hopefully Bron will be back in control of things next week! Remember to send Sam, Bron or Huw any news and keep posting on Facebook.