After a season of some hard fought battles and impressive running, the Croft inter-club championship concluded on Sunday 19th February with the Hereford 10 Mile road race. Fourteen Croft members braved the early start and met at Hereford Rugby Club in time for the race to begin at 9am. And, after the usual team photo, the sun appeared through the clouds and the runners were off.
A total of 182 runners set off along the Great Western Way and, before they knew it, had arrived into the small village of Breinton where a long and steady hill awaited them. Once at the top it was then down hill to the village hall where a small group of Crofties were gathered ready to cheer their team mates on.
The route continued along Breinton Lane up to the A438, or Kings Acre Road as it’s usually known, and, with a small portion of running on the main road, it wasn’t long before the runners made a left hand turn back onto the country lanes, hitting the half way mark. The second half of the race could be described as rolling with steep uphills and the occasional down. But still, the runners powered on.
Back in Breinton, the Croft supporters were still there giving everyone some much needed motivation as they, the runners, were about to tackle yet another hill. But after this came a much needed resbite with a couple of easy miles before the big slog up the dreaded Broomy Hill. Once the runners had defeated “the big one,” it was one last downhill push back onto the Great Western Way with a sprint to the finish.
Croft’s own Eric Apperley crossed the line in first position, with an eye-watering time of 57:46, a course PB for himself. And, Eric wasn’t the only Croftie to take home an award with Sam Juson, Neil Taylor, Roxy Woodfield, Jo Tilby and Jo Marriott finishing first in their respective age categories. Full CARC results are:
- Eric Apperley – 57:46
- Sam Juson – 59:01 – 1st Senior Male
- Roxy Woofield – 1:15:02 – 1st Senior Female
- Neil Taylor – 1:18:00 – 1st Vet 65 Male
- Jo Tilby – 1:18:36 – 1st Vet 40 Female
- Jo Marriott – 1:24:45 – 1st Vet 55 Female
- Thea Preece – 1:24:45
- Bronwyn Preece – 1:25:05
- Ian Price – 1:25:30
- Lisa Gray – 1:33:54
- Huw Williams – 1:37:28
- Sam Harper – 1:38:12
- Clare Preece – 1:47:01
- Theresa Jones – 1:47:14
For me, this race was tale of two halves. I had a relatively strong start and kept a steady pace throughout. As I mentioned in the report above, the second half was a challenge and I may have pushed myself on the hills a little too much, as by mile 7/8 I was starting to flake. People started to catch me and it wasn’t long before I was overtaken by Thea and Jo M. Towards the end I found some energy from somewhere and gave it one last push, getting back past a few people who had past me a couple of laps before. Unfortunatley, Thea and Jo had pulled too far ahead for me to get them thus crossing the finish line a few seconds before me. Even though I feel slightly disappointed with how I ran, I think I should be happy with my result. I feel like I’m running well again at the moment which is all that matters. I’m already looking forward to my next race.
