Report by Huw Williams
I’ve often said that my favourite distance for a race is 10 miles. That’s definitely true for road races. On the hills and trails I’m happy to go further.
Ideally no more than 20 miles though. After 20 miles I always start to question my sanity! *
So the Offa’s 15 is definitely in the sweet spot for the type of race I love. Long but not too long, some tough hills but also decent runnable sections.
The day didn’t start well with heavy rain from early in the morning. Standing at the start, sheltering from the occasional shower and trying to stay warm it was difficult to believe that it was 15th June!
There was a short, sharp downpour 20 minutes into the race as we climbed out of Hay, after that the weather was just about perfect for a run across the hills to Kington.
Twenty Two Crofties lined up at the start so I’m sure most were running with a friend or two as we battled the climbs and descents. I ended up in a group with Anna, Tom P, Lisa and new member Lauren.
We ran together, moved ahead and dropped behind each other depending on the terrain. At the finish we were all within a few minutes of each other.
At Gladestry the jungle drums reported that Sam J had won the race with Gareth in 2nd place and Eric 3rd. We were also greeted by noisy cheers and welcome sweeties from Ali, Michelle and Hayley.
I was running with Lisa at the time who commented that Bryan would have been so proud. She was right of course, but it also made the race bittersweet. It would have been perfect if Bryan had been there to cheer everyone on in what was, after all, the race that inspired the creation of our Club 42 years ago.
When I ran this race in 2022 I remember that my legs were shot at the end which meant that the wonderful 800 foot decent from The Monkey Puzzle Trees was harder than it should have been. This year, whether I was a bit fitter or just judged my pacing better, the run down was lovely – over 4km all the way to the finish onto the school playing field.
At the finish we knew Croft had won the Men’s Team Prize but it was difficult to see how the women might have done. With the combined talents of Jo Marriot, Mia Davies and Ireland Laurence there really shouldn’t have been much doubt that we would take home the women’s team prize as well. It was a double win for Team Croft!
Tom Davies nephew Andrew George ran the first leg of the relay for Ali and Brian Davies. Andrew and Alison finished 3rd relay team in 2.39. Andrew continued the full distance and finished a few seconds behind Neil Powell.
At the finish there was some mishap over the buses taking runners back to Hay so Tim W-H and I ended up with 3 Kenilworth Runners in our car. They loved the race. They didn’t win though. Croft did. 🙂
Full results can be found here: https://www.racetecresults.com/Results.aspx?CId=16418&RId=882&EId=1e.
- An exception will be made for next year’s Man v Horse.
