Various news updates are posted below.
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A big roundup this week ๐
Starting in the far south of the UK, in the Truro Half, Ian Chapman was in action, finishing in a big PB of 1:53:33! ๐
Continuing in the half distance, we had a super duo in action at the Worcester half. Emily Fell completed the race in 1:20:44, finishing ๐ฅ in her age category and 4th woman overall. Nynke Kuiper was not far behind, coming home in 1:20:57, finishing 4th overall in her age category and 6th woman overall! ๐ฅ
James Bull also continued his build back, completing Worcester 10k in 37:15 ๐ฅณ
Now, what does the West Midlands city of Worcester, and the Capital of Denmark have in common? Both cities had croups racing in respective half marathons of course. A total of 6๏ธโฃ croups were in action in Copenhagen, first home was Matthew Jones in a super PB 1:22:54. Gethin Parker completed the superhalfs medal with his run, a super achievement. Well done also to Liz Neville, Maria Zubizaretta, Brian Jones and Michelle Lee who were in action ๐
Another half marathon in a place beginning in C, Chippenham, saw Emma Wyatt-Haines finish in an impressive 1:32:38, 6th in her age category ๐
Lastly in the Half Marathons category, Dave George was yet again in action in Burnham-on-sea! Dave is well on the way to completing his goal of running 1๏ธโฃ0๏ธโฃ0๏ธโฃ half marathons! ๐คฉ
From 13.1, to 10.5 miles, we had runners taking part in Velindreโs Castle 2 Castle charity run on Sunday. A huge well done to all Croups that ran, a fantastic cause to run & raise money for ๐
ย A load of Croups were also in action in the Swansea 10k. The Welsh 10k championship race saw Rhys Thomas first home for the club in 35:02 for the men, and Louise Flynn for the women in 36:41. We also had an amazing set of age category results:
Andy Blair ๐ฅM60
Clare Johnson ๐ฅ F80
Louise Flynn ๐ฅ F40
Susan Watson ๐ฅF55
Julie Scholey ๐ฅ F65
Janneke Van Beijnum ๐ฅ F45
Adrian Mason ๐ฅ M60
Mick Tabor ๐ฅ M70
Lastly, but very much not least, a huge well done to Judi Rhys, who was crowned winner of the Run 4 All 5k Summer Series F65 category. A truly fantastic achievement for Judi who is in red hot form, also coming ๐ฅ F65 in Richmond Half on Sunday, running 1:49:56! Sheโs unstoppable! ๐
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On Saturday, we had 5 runners competing in the Roman Run. This is a 16 mile trail and road run beginning in Brecon, ending in Merthyr, taking place on the Roman road! The course takes in breathtaking scenery and climbs from 500ft - 1600ft! A huge congratulations to Ed Donovan (who finished 7th overall), Cassie Summers, Angela Lewis, Paul Wesson & Kelly Crofts for completing the race! ๐
Sundayโs highlights are dominated by Cardiff 10k, an event which is always popular with the club. We had over 40 of our members competing, and many more out on the course supporting ๐
Tris Rees first home for the men in 31:22, and Louise Flynn for the women in 36:14, finishing also 6th woman overall and ๐ฅ F40!
Other key results:
Dave James ๐ฅ M65
Judi Rhys ๐ฅ F65
Paul Francis ๐ฅ M50
Dave Craig ๐ฅ M45
A huge thank you to everybody for coming along to the social in the Owain Glyndwr & Quantum Coffee after the race. There is nothing better than debriefing post race in the company of the croups โค๏ธ๐ A huge thank you to Stephen Campbell for organising ๐
Sunday also saw the return of the Great North Run in Newcastle! Carole Goddard was in action for the club, finishing a fantastic 9th in her age category in 1:36:12 ๐
Continuing in half marathon distances, Dave George completed the Bridgwater half marathon in a super time of 1:51:36! Congratulations too to Emily Ann Jones and Ceri Hooper who were also in action, finishing in 1:39:12 & 3:35:10 respectively! ๐
Lastly, but very much not least, Lolly Evans and Julie Scholey completed the Waun Fach fell race! This 11.2k course involves over 600m of climb and tremendous views (when it is not cloudy and raining!) Huge congratulations both ๐
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This weekend, Croups were out racing in a range of disciplines and terrains ๐ด๐ข
The fast racing continuing in the Home Nations 5k. We had Croups competing across the field, with PBs and fantastic runs being seen in wet and wild conditions. A huge shoutout must go to Alaw Beynon-Evans, who competed in the Elite Womenโs race for Wales. Alaw has been a staple in the Wales team since 2004, an absolutely brilliant achievement ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ท๓ ฌ๓ ณ๓ ฟ
From 5ks, to Ultras, and a huge well done to Cassie Summers who finished 4th Female in the Wyedean Ultra on Sunday! The route saw huge climbs, tough trails and biblical rain, but Cassie was smiling all the way through! ๐
Croups were also out competing the Wyedean relay on Sunday! A further post will be shared in due course with a detailed roundup on Instagram! ๐
On the international stage, there were a number of Groups , competing in the European Age Group Championships Triathlon in Turkey ๐น๐ท
- Tim Gibbons finished an amazing 6th overall in his race
- Norman Gibson & Bill Snowden competed in the 70-74 age category
From Turkey, to Australia, and a huge well done to Sarah Beeching, Owain Griffiths, Liz Neville and Bryan Jones who completed the Sydney Marathon! Sarah ran an amazing PB of 3:30:51, Liz was back in a brilliant 3:33:22, Brian in 4:44:59 and Owain in was home in a brilliant 4:43:55 Right onโ!
On Monday, James Heyman was in action at Redmond Harvest half in Seattle! James recorded a mightily impressive 1:15:08, a huge PB!
Sped up, and with suitable backing music, Howard Kent's footage.
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A really busy week for the Croups means weโve got lots of results to cover in this latest roundup! ๐ด๐ข
Starting on Tuesday last week, Sarah Hamill finished๐ฅ FV40 in the Severn Bridge 10k, crossing the line in an impressive 44:11. Congrats to Kelly Crofts & Angharad Parry Jones, who also completed the race in 58:42 & 1:05:26 respectively, with Claire Bruce and Jeff Aston starring in the 1 mile race ๐
Onto Wednesday, and the Ponty Road Relays Stephen Campbell, Tomos Whitmarsh - Knight, Leah Stephens, Dave Craig, George Collinson, and Ryan Pugsley, otherwise known as Guinness RC, finished 4th overall in what was a competitive race ๐
Moving to the weekend, and Saturday saw Ed Foster & Elliott Richards shining in the Tonypandy track classic. Ed finished in a huge 15:13, a 23 second PB! ๐ฎ Oli Williams was also in action on the track, competing in the 1,000 metres, finishing in an impressive 2.34.8!
Closer to home, it was the return of the Cardiff Pentath-Run (CPR) race over the weekend, including a number of events totalling marathon distance over the Saturday and Sunday.ย Congratulations to all croups who competed! A huge well done to Susie Bowes too, who finished ๐ฅ female overall! ๐
Sunday was a big day for Mark Palser, who finished๐ฅin Stowe 10k ๐
Duncan McLauchlan was also in action in Antrim Half, crossing the line in 1:26:44. The heat played its part during the race, so Duncan did an amazing job hanging on in there to complete the race! ๐คฉ
On the international stage, Emily Musgrave completed Ironman Switzerland, storming home in ๐ฅ in her age category! An amazing achievement ๐
Lastly, but very much not least, the Machen Mountain Fell race took place on Bank Holiday Monday, a race always popular with club members. In hot & blustery conditions, all runners did an amazing job to complete the race, which involves 340m of climbing on a 7k course! ๐ฎ Congrats to Julie Scholey,ย who finished๐ฅ F60, and Ella Jennings, who achieved ๐ฅ Woman!
๐ธ Tosh Simpkin, Bill Scriven, Joseph Mordey
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It may be the middle of the summer holidays, but Croups were still out and about racing over the weekend ๐
Starting this weekโs roundup on Saturday, biggest congratulations of the week must go to James Vassallo, who finished ๐ฅ in the Chepstow running festival Half Marathon! An amazing performance! ๐
Sunday saw Mark Farrar completing the two tunnels 50k ultra in Bath! The race involved loops of a 10km course, with a total of 20km taking place underground!
Emily Fell travelled down to Porthcawl for the Aquathlon, but, unfortunately, the swim was cancelled! The run still went ahead however, and Emily placed ๐ฅ in the F25-29 age category
30th August, Podium 5k Croups Corner Cheer Squad
7th September, Cardiff 10K - Post Race Celebrations - Owain Glyndwr or Quantum Cafe, the choice is yours
13th September, parkrun social - Barry Island
5th October , Cardiff Half - Post Race Celebrations - Bike Lock Cafe
13th November, Bake off! at club
More details will follow as we get closer to the date of each event.
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Our latest roundup starts last Wednesday night in Islwyn with the famous Scenic 7! Mia Goddard shone finishing fantastically as๐ฅ Female in 46:11! Matt Shipley was first home for the club and 5th overall in 43:03! A huge well done to Rachel Walsh & Elliott Hardee who also had brilliant runs ๐
From the hills of Islwyn to the flats of Bute Park, where the last race of the summer series also took place last Wednesday night! We had 25 croups running, and pick of the results where:
- Ollie Williams ๐ฅ overall
- Janneke Van Beijnum ๐ฅ F45
- Julie Scholey ๐ฅ F65
- Karen Seary ๐ฅ F55
- Sean Price ๐ฅ M60
- Owain Morris ๐ฅ overall
- Ella Jennings ๐ฅ Woman
- Ben Kennedy ๐ฅoverall
Saturday was seemingly dominated by the off road. Firstly, Sam Wilson finished 12th in Yr Helgi du, involving 25km of trail running with over 1000m of elevation in Eryri National Park ๐ฎ
Saturday also saw the Llanthony Show Fell Race take place, a 6.3k course with 350m elevation of climb ๐ฎย Four of our runners - Julie Scholey, Clive Osmond, Rachel Lammin & Owain Zerilli took part. Owain celebrated finishing the race in the company of lots of sheep.
Sunday was very light on the racing front given lots of Croups took part in the Mob Match vs Ponty Roadents. In Nottingham half marathon though, Emily Fell finished strong as ๐ฅ woman in 1:25:33 ๐ James Bull also cruised round the course, itโs great to see him coming back strong after a bout of injury ๐ฅน
And lastly, but very much not least, we turn to the triathlons. A huge congratulations to Paddy McDowell, who finished ๐ฅ in the Snowman Legend Triathlon taking place in Eryri national park ๐ฅณ
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From road, to trail, to triathlon, Croups were out smashing it on all terrains last weekend!
On Saturday, Lolly Evans completed the Y Domen Fawr Fell race in Ebbw Vale, involving 549m of climbing over a 9.3km course! Those climbs and descents looked absolutely brutal, da iawn Lolly ๐
From Ebbw Vale, to Cornwood, near Plymouth, and, if itโs an event near Plymouth, itโs of course most likely a Louise Flynn win. This was the case once again here, where Louise took ๐ฅ lady in the 10k! ๐คฉ
Sunday saw the return of the Magor 10k, an event always popular with our club members. Near perfect temperatures led to smashing performances across the board, including a number of new PBs, as well as category wins:
- Claire Johnson ๐ฅ F75 in 1:13:45. And, as Mick points out, is potentially the new Welsh F80 record! ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ท๓ ฌ๓ ณ๓ ฟ๐ฎ
- Julie Scholey ๐ฅ F65 in 50:02
- Croups ๐ฅ Menโs team
- Croups ๐ฅ womenโs team
- Phil Hambleton ๐ฅ overall in 32:38, a PB!
- Emily Fell ๐ฅ woman and ๐ฅ senior woman in 37:19
- Tom Flitcroft 4th overall & Ben Kennedy 5th overall in 33:01 & 33:07 respectively, PBs for both of them ๐
Lastly, but very much not least, a huge congratulations to Paddy and Rachel McDowell who also completed the Broadhaven Triathlon on Sunday! ๐
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Firstly, we look at Saturdays Rabbit run trail race, with 12k and 40k options covering the vast expanse of the Merthyr Mawr estate!
In the 40k, we had 3๏ธ athletes competing! A huge well done to all for finishing! A huge well done to Laura McClelland, who finished 4th woman & ๐ฅ F40 and Lee Dando, who finished 5th overall & ๐ฅ M40!
We had 9๏ธ athletes in the 12k! Results include:
- Alfie Sargeant ๐ฅ MU20
- Wayne Humphries ๐ฅ M50
In an interview after the race, Matt Jones said: โRabbit run? RABBIT DONEโ
From Merthyr Mawr to Gogledd Cymru, where Rachel Lammin & Owain Zerilli completed the Ras yr Wyddfa! The course involved a 10 mile race up and down the tallest mountain in Wales! Truly amazing running! ๐
Saturday also saw Gethin Evans taking part in the 100 mile rat race in Northumberland, huge kudos for completing 60 miles of challenging and hilly terrain!
Finally, Matt Green did a PB on the piano and gave a wonderful rendition of โEspressoโ to Reading train station on Saturday morning ๐ถ
Turning to Sunday, and the Wye Valley, where Joseph Mordey & Rory McDermott completed the Wye Valley tunnel run! The route involves a 4km tunnel, how cool is that!
The following advice is intended to keep our runners SAFE at all times!
It is also essential that, whilst out running as a club, we are seen to be polite, responsible, set a good example & not put others at risk.
AT ALL TIMES BE SAFE BE SEEN! You can never be too visible! During the day, always wear bright or light-coloured clothing - fluorescent is good.
At night we would strongly recommend that people ALWAYS wear light-coloured clothing plus a REFLECTIVE (not just fluorescent) bib or sash.
Clip on flashers are a great way to be seen. NEVER ASSUME YOU'VE BEEN SEEN. Always be cautious with traffic.
We would like to remind people that they are responsible for their own safety and that they run at their own risk.ย