There may be plenty of running in store for Crofties in the upcoming week. Before that however, it’s time for your Weekly Report on this week’s crazy, Croft shenanigans!
Half term week means a short breather for our Junior runners as they take some well deserved time off. For our Seniors, it was training as usual, with sessions on our regular Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Tuesday was all about short intervals, as our runners trained around the orchards in Shobdon. Thursday was hill intervals up on Bircher Common. A big thank you to Sam H and Clare for leading this week’s training, and well done to all of our runners who took part.
Parkrun Saturday saw many Crofties take to several different Parkruns in the surrounding area and beyond.
Kicking things off at Ludlow, Bronwyn was not only the first Croft runner home (closely followed in by Oli C-S and Jamie), she was also the first female overall. Jamie, Steph and Neil volunteered. At Hereford, Sam J was representing the Sky Blues, finishing in 2nd place. Saffi also took part in Hereford finishing in 22:52, before heading over to the Diglis Junior Parkrun in Worcester on Sunday, where she finished first overall. The first female to do this since the event’s inception last year! Toby ran at Riverside Walk Parkrun in Hay-on-Wye. No results had been published at the time of writing.
In Builth Wells, Mark P took on Groe Parkrun. He finished in 14th place, recording a new PB in the process, with a time of 21:53. Steve P and Joe L headed to the Wyre Forest Parkrun. Steve finished 9th with a debut time of 21:03. Joe came in 10th.
Saturday also saw the inaugural running of the Y Promenad Parkrun in Brecon, with 3 Crofties taking part. Eric took the win (and course record) with a time of 16:57. Vanessa and Ali A finished in 32:42 and 51:43, respectively. Elsewhere, Reachel ran at Delamere Parkrun finishing in 35:28.
Also on Saturday, Clare and Heather swapped their running shoes for hiking boots and walking poles as they took on the LDWA Social Walk – a 13.2 mile walk from Bucknell to Craven Arms. They managed to complete this in just under 5 hours! Clare said:
“Croft Amblers were out and about Saturday! Heather and I joined the LDWA (Marches) on a social walk from Bucknell to Craven Arms. A very enjoyable day in the company of about 25 other walkers. As we got to know our fellow walkers it was interesting to find out how many of them are also runners!”
This weekend saw a couple of our runners head up North to the Lake District to take part in the OMM Lite 2 Day Orienteering Challenge. Liza, Stu, Huw and Huw’s son George took part in the challenge that sees runners from all over find as many checkpoints as they can in the Grasmere area before making it back to HQ before time runs out. Both teams – Liza and Stu, Huw and George – completed the two day event that lasted from Saturday through to Sunday. Well done all!
Sunday saw the 2024 Hereford Tri Club Herefordshire Multi-Sport Event being held at Leominster Leisure Centre, with several different options for competitors to compete in – Triathlon, Duathlon, Aquabike and Aquathlon. Croft had members competing in the Triathlon, Duathlon and Aquathlon. In the Triathlon, Mark L and Simon brought home a 1st and 3rd place. In the Aquathlon, Sam J finished in 1st. Full Croft results:
Triathlon:
Mark L – 1st in 53:19
Simon N – 3rd & 1st in Age Category in 01:01:22
Duathlon:
Neil T – 7th in 01:28:54
Amy P – 2nd in Age Category in 01:46:39
Suzanne P – 2nd in Age Category in 01:52:09
Aquathlon:
Sam J – 1st in 24:48
Elsewhere, Jo M, while in Spain, took part in the HYROX Race La Santa, which included several 1km runs as well as other activities. There were also several social runs on going this weekend including a Saturday Social in and around Bishop’s Castle, and a Sunday Social on the hills near Knighton.
Great job this week, Crofties! 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).