Here at Croft, we’ve closed out the last week of June in style! Check out what we’ve been up to.
This week, we had another large group of young runners come to our Junior session on Monday evening at Wigmore School, where they, in groups of 4, took part in relays around the track. For our Senior runners, on Tuesday it was Dave Blenkharn’s Memorial Run (see below) and on Thursday it was their turn to run around Wigmore track doing Sprints/Long Intervals.
Throwing it back to Tuesday evening where our runners took part in this year’s Dave Blenkharn’s Memorial Run. The evening was warm(ish) and dry but there was a strong headwind! Around 40 Croft runners gathered for the mass start of two laps of the coppice at Bircher Common. They headed off across the bottom of the common and disappeared into the distance. Bobbing heads could be seen going up the steady climb towards the coppice. There then followed two laps of the coppice ending in an easy descent down to the finish line which Eric and Henry crossed in joint 1st. Full results:
Also on Tuesday evening, 3 of our hardy fell runners took part in the 5.30 miles and 1099 total ascent Night Sugar Loaf Fell Race, coming home with brilliant results!
Jasper Robinson – 38:41 – 8th Overall
Flora Gunner – 55:46 – 1st in age category
Gary Gunner – 01:01:57 – 2nd in age category
Not a huge Croft group out at Weston’s Cider on Wednesday evening for the 2nd Summer XC race. But still, we ran well, despite dropping to 4th in the team standings, with the runners who did travel all the way over to Ledbury! Means we have some work to do at Bearwood and Newton Court! That being said, with the next two races being closer to home, it means more Crofties! Let’s go Sky Blues!
Mark Lamonby – 29:03 – 1st Overall
Grant Womack – 34:11
Joseph Lynch – 34:12
Simon Norwood – 34:14
Steve Partridge – 35:15
Kath Hardwick – 38:56 – 1st CARC Female
Bella Evans – 40:09
Christina Pinto-Pearson – 43:06
Oliver Marsh – 43:26
Liza Austin – 44:56
James Pinto-Pearson – 46:01
Rob Wood – 46:24
Oliver Cameron-Swan – 46:48
Paul Lewis – 47:50
Guy Whitmarsh – 48:09
Angus Kirby – 49:19
Gary Gunner – 50:03
Steph King – 50:40
Sue Wood – 51:26
Huw Williams – 51:56
Alison Davies – 01:04:00
CARC Team 1 – 4th
Onto Saturday aka Park Run Day!
12 Croft runners took part in Ludlow Parkrun this weekend. Simon was first Croftie home in 23:03, placing him in 10th. Naomi was first Croft female in 26:44. Holly recorded a new PB with a time of 32:04. Volunteering this week was Liza, Steph K and Jamie. Hereford Parkrun was cancelled this week so, for obvious reasons, no Sky Blues appeared there. Oliver M and Liv ran at Groe Parkrun in Builth. Pacing each other round, they finished in 23rd and 26th with times of 24:11 and 24:29. Vanessa ran at Riverside Walk Parkrun in Hay. She finished in 37:02. Down in Ross-on-Wye, it was a PB and win for Sam J, with a time of 16:34. Jamie and Angus ran at Teifi Marshes Nature Reserve Parkrun. They finished with times of 25:32 and 26:19, respectively.
Onto Sunday, where the next race in the Croft Inter-Club Championship was held at Hundred House near to Builth Wells. 11 Croft runners rocked up to take part in Builth and District Running Club’s; Hundred House 10k, and despite it being a hot and humid day, our Sky Blues ran really well. Sam J was first Croftie home in 2nd overall, followed by Eric (running for 1st claim club) in 3rd and Gareth in 5th. Full CARC results:
Sam Juson – 33:36 – 2nd Overall
Eric Apperley – 37:11 – 3rd Overall
Gareth Leek – 38:46 – 5th Overall
Liza Austin – 56:33 – 2nd FV60
Rob Wood – 57:31 – 3rd MV70
Paul Lewis – 58:09 – 2nd MV40
Flora Gunner – 01:00:18 – 3rd FV60
Roland Preece – 01:01:54 – 3rd MV55
Sam Harper – 01:03:48 – 3rd FV50
Huw Williams – 01:05:14 – 4th MV65
Sue Wood – 01:07:05 – 2nd FV65
Steph K ran the North Devon Half Marathon on Sunday. This race would begin and finished at Woolacombe, running along the coast before circling back. She finished in 02:38:29, finishing 3rd in her age category!
CARC Junior; Saffi, has been incredibly busy this week! She was selected to represent Hereford and Worcester Schools in the 800m at the Inter-Counties Mason Trophy in Stoke on 21 June. She competed against the best year 8 and year 9 athletes from the West Midlands, Staffordshire, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Shropshire and Hereford and Worcester. Many of those athletes have national standards. Saffi did well to place 9th as she is at least two years younger than the majority of her competitors. Following success in the Districts, she represented Hereford Schools in the Minors County Championships on Wednesday and is the new 800m County Champion, winning by some distance, with a PB of 2:30. On Thursday she was over in Worcester at the Open Meet and ran PB’s in the 300m and 400m, finishing 1st female in both races. On Friday, it was Sports Day and she won the 800m and 1500m and broke the school record. On Saturday, she ran at the Welsh Fell Championships and finished 4th in the U15, U17 & U20 female category, running 5.5km up Aberedw with a 225m climb. And, finally, on Sunday she represented Hereford and Worcestershire Schools at the Regional Combined Events in Abingdon, finishing 2nd in the 800m.
Before we wrap this week’s report up, if you remember, last week we told you all about Greg and his success at the Summer Spine race. We now have a very detailed and fabulous race report that he has written that we have posted onto our website. Take a look at it here!
With that being said, 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).