A busy week for Crofties, with our Sky Blues popping up all over the world. Shall we take a look at what they’ve been up to?
On Monday, fresh from their cross-country appearances, our Junior runners were back in action for their training session at Wigmore, with Kelly and Eric putting them through their paces and giving them a taste of one of Croft’s favourite activities – Indian File!
Croft Seniors had their chance to train on Tuesday and Thursday. Clare’s session was all about sprinting, while Tim’s was focused on Short Intervals – both taking place at Croft Castle and Wood.
Parkrun Saturday began on Friday evening, UK time, with Sam J taking on Kingscliff Parkrun near Brisbane in Australia. Not only did he finish 1st, nearly a whole minute ahead of second place, he also managed a new overall Parkrun PB, with a time of 15:46.
Back in the UK, our Ludlow Parkrun numbers were a little bit thin on the ground, with many of our members attending Rhayader’s Round The Lake race instead. Junior runner, Jamie S, was first home for CARC. Lisa and Hayley, running together, were our first females. Simon N ran at Hereford.
As mentioned above, we had a sea of “brave” Sky Blues taking part in the 10k and 30k races over in Rhayader at the 40th anniversary of Round the Lakes. If you’re wondering why they were brave, ask our 30k’ers who endured blizzard conditions on top of the mountain! Regardless, our runners in both races, raced hard and returned home with smiles a plenty. In the 10k, Sam H and “Tori” aka Carol P, finished 2nd in their age categories. It was also brilliant runs for Louise R and Reachel. There were more awards in the 30k with Hannah coming home 2nd female. Gareth finished 2nd in his age category and Jo M 3rd in hers. Well done, Crofties!
Three of our fell runners were also out on the trails on Saturday in the Wintery conditions, taking part in the Cardingmill Canter. Well done to Gary for winning his age category. Flora came 3rd in hers. Tim J also took part. Good running – or felling!
With nicer weather on Sunday, several Crofties headed up to Bishops Castle for the Runningmonk Trail Events Bishops Castle 10K. After battling the muddy trails, there were age category prizes for Sue P (1st), Jenny M (3rd) and Toby S (3rd). Junior runners, Jamie S and Joe M, finished 2nd and 3rd in the MU17 category.
Also on Sunday, while Croft members slept, Louise P was running around the streets of Tokyo at the 2024 Tokyo Marathon. She said:
“Oh Tokyo, you absolute beauty! I loved (and I truly did) and appreciated every single step of that race, a wonderful course (I like out and backs) all the beautiful Japanese people out supporting, and the weather was perfect. I even managed to gain a whole extra mile (keeping left to spot Andy) and still knock 23 minutes off my November NYC time. Happy Lou this afternoon.”
Lou’s time was 04:25:15!
And, that’s it for this week. Please remember that our upcoming training sessions will be available to view on our Facebook page every Sunday evening. 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).