May 2016 review

May has seen distances ranging from 2.5 to 42 miles, a record number of events and attendances, club records broken, the start of the Bridgend League and the hugely successful fourth Cwm Ogwr 5 miler.

 

Sunday 1 May – Brecon to Cardiff 42 mile Ultra

 

Back last year when a few of us signed up for the Vale Ultra, Dai Kembery opted for this one instead with Aled promising to join him. He remained the only one on the list with just a couple of weeks to go before Nick Harris and Aled signed up and a shock entry from Brian Cotton. The shock being that he signed up for a 42 miler having only run his furthest distance of 19 miles in the Vale Ultra.

 

They decided to run the course together with Jon Thiel of Bridgend Athletic. All went well until they split up at some point and Nick and Brian took a slight detour (just as they did in the Vale races!). Obviously 42 miles wasn’t enough so they wanted to add a bit on! With 3.2 miles remaining they put on t-shirts Dai had made with a photo of Army Captain David Seath who tragically collapsed that distance from the end of the London Marathon just a week previous. The tribute was picked up by Walesonline and featured in the Glamorgan Gazette along with details of how many of our other club runners ran a 3.2 mile tribute the same day or as part of a longer run. See below for link to article

 

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/config/config_topic/config_topic_news/config_topic_news_Bridgend/runners-complete-final-32-miles-11272482

 

Over a dozen supporters waited for our four hero’s at the finish line with some much needed cakes, alcohol and other goodies. Aled and Dai finished in 8:04 whilst Nick and Brian finished in 8:11 after their little detour. An exceptional effort by all and now talk has turned to the Gower 50 miler this October! Where will it end!

 

Sunday 1 May – Tonmawr Hilly 5

 

Several Cwm Ogwr runners made their way to Bryn Bettws Lodge for a 5 miler organised by Port Talbot Harriers. The course is off road with a mile long incline to start before a long downhill / undulating section before a steep half mile or so incline to finish. David Sheard was first Cwm Ogwr finisher whilst Kelly passed Fiona Drysdale on the final incline to claim first female in what was a club championship fixture to make up for the cancelled Cardiff Bay 5 miler which normally would have been that weekend.

 

Saturday 7 May – parkruns and Preseli Beast races

 

Drainage work on the lower Promenade meant that for the first time in over a year, the contingency course had to be used at Porthcawl which means doing ‘the hill’ to Rest Bay twice. Despite this Claire Dunbar Bowen, Kirsty Evans and Bethan Cross got PB’s with 19 Cwm Ogwr runners in attendance.  Elsewhere, Sarah and James Littlewood both clocked PB’s at Telford parkrun and myself, Brian, David S and Peter ran at Llyn Llech Owain on route to the Preseli Beast Bach race. Our Ponty contingent travelled to Cardiff for their parkrun fix with Lisa Jenkins also in attendance for her first parkrun as part of the club. My April Runner of the Month, Neil Jones, smashed his PB (and club record) recording his first sub 18 time by some margin with a 17:41.

 

As mentioned the four who did Llyn Llech Owain parkrun then went on to do the Preseli Beast Bach 11 miler along with Richard LJ (who had ran it the previous couple of years) and Ann Davis. We’d chosen the ‘short’ distance as there’s also a 24 miler and 33 miler which I’ll come onto later. The Beast Bach entailed 1,700 feet of elevation with mostly off road terrain including grass, mud and even a slate quarry. The final hill was un-runnable and after spreading out early on, myself, David and Brian all ended up walking up it together. Brian probably having the best excuse to walk given he’d run 44 miles just 6 days previous! I ended up being the first Cwm Ogwr runner across the line with David just half a minute or so behind and then Brian, Peter, Richard and Ann. A really tough race. A mixture of responses at the end ranging from my ‘I’d rather run Snowdon Marathon than do that again’ to Ann who ‘absolutely loved it’ and David who is considering the longer course next year. Great value at only £10 with no additional booking fees to enter. The cawl, bread roll and cheese was very welcome at the end along with a huge selection of cakes and a goody bag.

 

We waited a while for Kevin who we thought was doing the 24 mile race but didn’t see him. It was only the next day at the Zero to Hero session it came to light he’d actually got a place in the Ultrabeast race last minute… a 32 mile ultra with 6000 feet of ascent! Kevin finished in 6:14.

 

Sunday 8 May – Porthkerry 5 miler

 

Ten runners for this off road 5 miler around Porthkerry Park near Barry. Christie Coleman was first Cwm Ogwr runner across the line with Fiona Drysdale first female. Several runners were doing their first 5 miler with the club including Karen BH, Alica, Helen LJ and Sian LJ. Rhiannon Buckley suffered a back injury prior to the start but bravely continued and finished the course with Helen and Sian keeping her company along the way. Amazing team spirit.

 

Friday 13 May – Unilite Night Trail 10K

 

A rare Friday evening race attracted an incredible 38 Cwm Ogwr runners starting from the same place as the Hilly 5 but taking in a completely different course. The elevation profile was much the same though with a mile long climb to start before a two mile downhill section before flattening out. At this point I think all of us were aware we’d gone down a lot further than we climbed at the start so knew there was a hill to come and what a hill it was reducing almost all of us to walking at least part of it so agonisingly close to the end. A real sting in the trail! Neil Jones continued his amazing form finishing 2 overall and clocking the second fastest ever 10K time for a Cwm Ogwr member despite the off road course and killer hill at the end. I won’t go through the whole list of 38 but Betty Lee was first female in her fastest 10K since joining the club – it should be noted all of which are hilly off road trail 10K’s. It was a first off road trail 10K for many including Diana Purnell and Jayne Powney who picked up 10K PB’s. An really well organised event and many of our runners had an official Buff ‘buff’ for being in the first 50 to sign up plus there was a tech t-shirt, mug and sausage and chips afterwards. Almost everyone said they’d be back again next year.

 

Saturday 14 May – parkruns

 

Having enjoyed some parkrun tourism the previous week David S, Peter and Brian joined Aled, Shawn, Chris S and Julie at Pontypridd parkrun whilst Porthcawl endured the contingency course again. Brian equalled his PB with Neil Jones helping pace him. Unfortunately Neil had picked up his daughter’s barcode so the time appeared in her name probably breaking a British record for a under 10 female runner! Julie Ransom got an excellent PB of 33:07 and has already ran at 3 different parkrun venues. There was plenty of other tourism with Kirsty Evans setting a PB whilst on a hen weekend in Brighton, Richard LJ ran at Grangemoor with Fiona D and Dai P at Penallta.

 

Sunday 15 May – Cwm Ogwr 5 miler

 

Our fourth annual Cwm Ogwr 5 miler was a record breaker in several ways. A record 282 finishers (up from 162 the previous year), around 100 finishers in the 2K fun run (up from around 40-60 in previous years), plus course records in every category. Warm, sunny conditions met our huge team of volunteers with around 40 Cwm Ogwr members offering to help in various roles. Plus we still had a record 35 running the event as well. The event was won by James Thie from Cardiff AC whose name you may recognise from being the running coach on BBC TV program Alfies Angels where former Welsh Rugby International Gareth Thomas trained a group of ladies for the Cardiff Half Marathon. He smashed the course record in a blistering 26:44. Neil Jones broke another club record (which had stood for 3 years) with a phenomenal 29:56 and Niki Puleio was also inside the previous record with a 32:27. There were PB’s throughout the field with over two-thirds of our runners running their first 5 miler and many of them running our tough 5 mile loop for the first time. A special mention to Rhiannon Buckley, Sarah Rees and Louise Bennett who again showed team spirit crossing the line arm in arm.

 

An amazing and successful day which I’d like to again thank race director Kelly and everyone who helped out.

 

Thursday 19 May – Bwlch Run

 

Not an official event but a training run worth mentioning. Kelly had a bit of a shock when we received a entry to the 5 miler from someone living in Canada! The person in question was Pete Richards who grew up in the valley and had mentioned wanting to do a Bwlch Run as a tribute to his uncle Eddie whilst here. Kelly suggested we combined his run with our usual Thursday training night run and despite wet and misty conditions over 20 members turned up run either 8 miles from the Life Centre or a 4 mile route from the cattle grid to join Pete for the run. Another great example of why so many love this club.

 

Saturday 21 May – parkruns

 

A third week on the alternative course in Porthcawl meant that many of our runners decided to try a different venue with a biggest parkrun tourism Saturday to date. 16 went along to the Gnoll parkrun, Lisa Jenkins got a PB at Cardiff, Saul ran Bath Skyline parkrun, Neil Jones set another club record with a 17:31 at Pontypridd, Chris Roberts ran at Brentwood, Juliet Amner bagged a PB at Grangemoor and Ann Davies and I bumped into each other at Colby parkrun. Including the 18 that still ran Porthcawl, our total was an incredible 41 runners across 8 different parkruns.

 

Sunday 22 May – Cottrell Park Relays

 

Encouraged by our club captains and Kelly, we had over 60 runners across 16 teams making up over a third of the overall field. The event involved teams of four running 2.5 miles each in a predetermined order on an off road course which included the quite significant ‘Bunker Hill’ segment. Unlike most other relays events, mixed teams / age categories and even juniors were allowed with family teams encouraged and even fancy dress although no one took up the final option (one for next year). Some interesting team names with ‘The Old Farts Club’ consisting of Brian, Chris P, Aled and Kevin finishing 6 overall and eventually being awarded as winners of the male over 35 category after a bit of a mix up. Niki Puleio clocked the fastest split as part of the “8 legged groove machine” who finished 7 overall. Lorna clocked the fastest female split by one second over Shelley. A really fun event and definitely one to be repeated. Great effort by all and a few runners joined Shawn Cullen who was the final runner over line in the ‘Four Candles’ team.

 

Wednesday 25 May – Whitford Point Multi-Terrain Race

 

Five Cwm Ogwr members made the journey down to the Gower for this midweek multi-terrain 5.8 miler. The course includes tarmac, sand, forestry track, wooden bridges, gravel and grass for a proper multi terrain experience with a decent climb at the start and end (something a lot of the May races seem to include). Aled broke the club course record with a 42:51 with Brian just over 3 minutes behind. An in form David Sheard who seems to be entering every event lately came in at 52 minutes whilst Mark Worrall was just outside an hour with Sarah Littlewood following close behind accompanied by her husband James. Aled described it as one of his favourite races ever and I’m sure it’ll be one more members will try in future years.

 

Friday 27 May – Talley 5K and Cardiff Summer Series 2 miler

 

Richard Purnell made the trip down West for the Friday evening 5K organised by Sarn Helen Running Club. Still awaiting results but from what I’ve seen and heard it’s a great little race with beautiful scenery with BBQ afterwards and alcohol. I suspect more club members may have joined Richard had they known that last bit!

 

Christie ran the second event of the Cardiff Summer Series with a great time of 15:41 considering it was his first run back after nearly 2 weeks out injured. He’s hoping to complete the whole series which includes a 3 and 4 mile event over the next couple of months. Only £3 to enter each event and all on pancake flat courses around Bute Park on Friday evenings.

 

Saturday 28 May – parkruns

 

Another big week of parkrun tourism with 29 runners across 5 different parkruns. 17 of which were at Porthcawl were the contingency course is still in use. I got down there early and offered to pace 25 minutes and thought I’d go for a short warm up. However, after taking some random turns through Nottage I ended up in Rest Bay with only a few minutes to get back to the start line. Despite my best attempts, I missed the start and found almost 200 runners heading in my direction. I didn’t want to cheat and just turn around and join in so I headed back to the start line and had to sprint the first mile to get to roughly where I should have been had I paced it properly. Thankfully most seen the funny side but apologies to anyone who was hoping to follow the 25 minute pacer and I promise I’ll make the start next time. Anyway – on a brighter note, new member Ann Lalic got a PB as did Pat Stanley for the first time in almost a year with Christie Coleman running with her. Kris Denholm ran alongside his wife Lynda who knocked over 2 and a half minutes off her PB in a super effort.

 

Away from Porthcawl, 9 members made the trip to Barry Island parkrun with Aled leading the club members home on the double out and back course. Fiona Drysdale ran at Yeovil, Chris Roberts got a season best performance at Swansea and was only a few seconds off a long standing PB, whilst Julie Ransom knocked a huge amount off her PB at Grangemoor.

 

Sunday 29 May – Treforest 10K, Women’s Running 10K, Edinburgh Marathon and Liverpool Marathon

 

Still awaiting results of the Treforest 10K where Chris and Amy Roberts ran as well as Christie, Ann and new member Jonathan Edwards. According to Chris’s Strava data it looks like him and Amy ran around 52 minutes and a post by Jonathan suggested a 1:06 finish in his first 10K.

 

At the Cardiff Women’s Running 10K event there were 9 Cwm Ogwr runners – although with so many new members I’m still investigating whether I missed any. Kirsty Evans who only attended her first training session with the club less a month ago was 42nd overall in a time of 53:32 which is an incredible debut 10K with the club. There were also PB’s for Kimberley Davies, Bethan Cross (who started the same time as Kirsty), and longer standing members by comparison Rhian Nolan and Rhiannon Buckley both knocking a couple of minutes off their respective PB’s.

 

Antony Lewis ran the Edinburgh Marathon in a great time of 4:07:10 in warm conditions. His review of the popular marathon in keeping with reports I’ve heard elsewhere – basically that’s it’s not that great.

 

Dai Power ran his first marathon since joining the club with the Liverpool Rock and Roll Marathon. He finished in 6:07:48. A super effort on what apparently isn’t a flat course and again in warm conditions.

 

Bridgend Running League

 

This month has seen the announcement and first event of the Bridgend Running League. It came about after the successful Kenfig Sands 5K event last summer which was used as an inter-club one off competition with 20 runners from each of the clubs involved counting. Cwm Ogwr had the largest turnout and it was well represented by all clubs. Shortly after the event I suggested to contacts of each of the Bridgend County clubs (Bridgend, Brackla, Pencoed Tri, Cornelly Striders and Porthcawl) through e-mail that we could set up an inter-club league with each club hosting a fixture. Initially the responses were quite muted but eventually we got together to agree fixtures and see how it goes.

 

The first fixture was our Cwm Ogwr 5 miler which had an amazing 102 sign ups from the 6 clubs involved. The second fixture at Merthyr Mawr Lane 5K already has a record number of overall sign up’s and we could be looking at 150-200 just from the 6 Bridgend League clubs. Cwm Ogwr are currently 4th in the standings after the first event which technically should have been our weakest event given most of us were volunteering.

 

Of course there’s a competitive element to the league, but it’s also about the local clubs supporting each others events, creation of new events (of which there’ll be two this year), building relationships between club and more socialising between club members. There’s already talk of a presentation night at the end of the series.

 

Chairman’s Runner of the Month

 

Proving this ‘award’ (please note there is no award) is not just about PB’s, my runner of the month goes to David Sheard. David has had a series of great performances at the likes of the Hilly 5, Preseli Beast Bach, Unilite 10K, Cottrell Park Relays and Whitford Point entering almost every event possible. When he hasn’t been racing he’s also been helping out on Wednesdays and Sundays with some of our Zero to Hero members. Well done David.

 

Coming up in June

 

Merthyr Mawr Lane 5K will kick off the month where it looks like we could actually exceed the 61 runners we had in the Cottrell Relays. Chris Pratt will be heading off to do his 4th marathon (or further) event in the space of 14 weeks when he does the hilly Huddersfield Marathon next weekend. Later in the month we’re expecting big turnouts at the Caerphilly 10K and Swansea Half Marathon with many club members running the distances for the first time. The success of Zero to Hero continues with new people turning up almost every week and the real success is the fact they keep coming back for more.

April 2016 review

April was the month of the marathon for Cwm Ogwr. It also seen the Porthcawl parkrun 3rd year celebrations and plenty of other races besides so lets get into it.

 

Saturday 2nd – parkruns

 

Whilst 17 Cwm Ogwr runners were running the Vale Ultra or 18 miler (see separate blog post), we still had an impressive 21 runners across 4 different parkruns. Neil ran at Pontypridd, Alana run at the Gnoll, whilst Kimberley ran Paris parkrun! The remainder were at Porthcawl with Keith Coleman, Beverley Sheard and Beth Rees getting personal bests.

 

Sunday 3rd – HBA 5/10/20 milers

 

The miler seen David Kembery running his first 5 miler in an impressive 6:59 minute mile average to clock 34:55. He was also 3rd veteran but unfortunately there were no prizes on offer. Jo Kendall, Jayne K, Nicola H and Rhiannon B all also picked up first time PB’s for the distance.

 

The 10 miler also seen a clean sweep of PB’s with Chris Thomas leading the Cwm Ogwr runners across the line followed by Nicola P, Andrea R, Gail P and Helen G.

 

Almost a clean sweep in the 20 miler with Nick Harris the only one not to pick up a PB… hang on, didn’t he run the 33 mile Vale Ultra the day before? Indeed he did! Whilst the rest of us done 3-4 mile recovery runs or in my case nothing at all, Nick ran 20 miles in a pretty speedy 2:56. Neil Jones broke the clubs 20 mile record by a huge margin with a 2:17 and was followed by Kevin, Chris W, Anthony, Nick, Christie Coleman and Mark W. Chris, Christie and Mark running their longest race distance to date.

 

Saturday 9th – parkruns and Porthcawl’s 3rd birthday celebrations

 

FIFTY ONE Cwm Ogwr runners smashed the previous parkrun participation record with 46 at Porthcawl’s 3rd anniversary parkrun. Brian, Mark, June, Sarah L, Diana, Lucy H, Emma W, Beverley S, Jayne P and Rhiannon W all celebrated with PB’s. A presentation was put on afterwards in the Pavillion which was well attended by Cwm Ogwr runners. It included stats from the past three years which nicely documented the phenomenal rise of the Blue Wave and an excellent video from Chris Pratt of footage from the first few parkruns right up to this year.

 

Sunday 10th – Manchester Marathon and Welsh Road Relays

 

Julie Webster ran a PB and London Marathon ‘Good For Age’ qualifying time with an impressive 3:48:55. It also smashed the female club record by nearly 24 minutes!

Neil J, Chris W and Brian C teamed up for the Welsh Road Relays in Bargoed on a 5.7K course whilst Kelly O, Emma L and Dawn H made up a female team in the W35+ category. Excellent performances by both teams and great feedback has been instrumental in dozens signing up for the next relay event at Cottrel Park in May.

 

Saturday 16th – parkruns

 

A rare weekend with only runners at Porthcawl with 33 in total. Another PB for Brian Cotton whilst new members Richard Purnell, Sara Bayliss, Shawn C, Beverley S, Kimberley D, Mervyn Beckwith and Julie R all joined the PB list for that morning.

 

Sunday 17th – Great Welsh Half and Full Marathon and Brighton Marathon

 

The Great Welsh Marathon seen 10 Cwm Ogwr members enter the marathon with another 3 in the Half Marathon. Antony had a free place having been one of only three people to complete the HBA Series in 2015 which is the Llanelli Half Marathon, HBA 20 miler and Great Welsh Marathon. He signed up for all three again whilst Nick, Neil J and Chris W joined him. Christie signed up for his first marathon as did Denise whilst training partners Fiona and Lorna singled this one out as their spring marathon for 2016. Then there were the late-comers – Aled signed up about a week in advance deciding that the training had been done for the Ultra anyway, plus it served as a good training run for Brecon to Cardiff being right in between the two ultras. I wanted to do the Half but left it too late and entries sold out. A spare marathon place came up and although I tried to transfer it with HBA for a half place, they would only accept the name transfer if I took the full place.. so I did. A day later another came up and Chris Pratt was in as well despite having done no taper and having run every day for 3 weeks due to the 5×50 challenge.

 

The half entrants were Sarah Littlewood, Claire Dunbar-Bowen and Mark Worrall. It was supposed to be Sarah and Claire’s first half marathon but someone (me) helped convince them to enter the Cardiff World Half 3 weeks ago as well.

 

Setting off to travel to the race, it was quite cold but by the start the sun was shining and it was actually quite warm. Luckily Chris has brought along sun cream as there was actually a chance of sunburn if it had stayed like that for the duration of the race. As it turned out it became overcast and quite chilly again by the end. Most of us started reasonably close together but it wasn’t long before the only group that remained was myself and the two Chris’s. Chris W pushed on after mile 5 whilst I was on PB pace with Chris Pratt looking for his first sub 4 hour marathon time. I’d already mentioned before we even got to mile 3 that my left thigh was painful – an injury that occurred after the Ultra but I thought had eased. It got worse and Chris P pushed on at mile 8 maintaining the early pace whilst I started to slow due to the injury. I haven’t seen any photo’s from the event but I’d imagine any of me from mile 8 to 13 were me grimacing and a bit annoyed as I felt good and was confident I could give my PB of 3:50 a good go. I decided the sensible option was to only complete one lap and claim at half marathon medal instead which thankfully the organisers were happy for me to do given the circumstances.

 

Fortunately things went a lot better for the other half marathoners with Claire DB, Mark and Sarah all getting PB’s with times ranging from 2:01 to 2:12.

 

I’d limped off for a sports massage which confirmed super tight ‘locked’ hamstrings not helped by my reluctance to stretch (must do better) but was able to then go and support our marathon runners and provide live updates via Facebook of how everyone was getting on.

 

Neil was aiming for a PB and a sub 3:05 time which would guarantee him a place in the 2017 London Marathon under Good For Age qualifying times. He ended up doing a 2:57 for a huge club record and was just outside the top 10. In previous years his time would have been good enough for as high as 6th place. The success continued with Nick Harris knocking an incredible 21 minutes off his previous best with a 3:19 and Chris Pratt knocked 26 minutes off his with a 3:41. Chris Williams ran an impressive marathon debut of 3:44 whilst Anthony L achieved his first sub 4 time with a 3:58. Now I’ve been known to regularly volunteer to pace officially at parkrun or unofficially for club members up to half marathon distance but fair play to Aled Hughes who paced Christie at marathon distance, sticking with him the whole way for an excellent 4:10 finish for Christie in his first marathon.

 

As for the girls, Lorna agonisingly missed out on her PB by just a minute but was pleased with her run. Fiona’s race didn’t go to plan but she still finished in a respectable 4:36 whilst marathon debutant Denise Bradley was ecstatic with her 4:34 finish. A great day with some fantastic results.

 

Meanwhile, Alica, Dai K and Richie P were running the Brighton Marathon amongst thousands of runners and supporters – a far cry from the few hundred runners and supporters probably only in double figures at Llanelli. However, the task ahead was still the same, 26.2 miles. Dai K knocked 12 minutes off his previous best with a 3:40, whilst Richie was just a minute behind bagging a PB himself. Alica who was running her debut marathon came home in 5:47. Awesome running by our Brighton trio.

 

Saturday 23rd – parkruns

 

37 runners across 4 different parkruns. Mervyn Beckwith who was volunteering the next day at the London Marathon ran in Basildon, soon to be member, Joey Howland ran in Tailgate a day before his London Marathon, whilst Helen LJ also used the trip to London to support Richard by running the Lloyd parkrun.

 

That left 34 at Porthcawl on a record breaking day where despite running a marathon just 6 days earlier, Nick H, Aled and Chris P all set new PB’s. In Aleds case, it was a first 5K PB in well over 2 years whilst Chris knocked an impressive 23 seconds off his previous best. Shelley also notched up a new PB with a 22:53 putting her 3rd in the all time club female 5K rankings and over a minute ahead in terms of 2016 female times. Mark Worrall knocked a massive 30 odd seconds off his time for his first sub 25 clocking whilst there were also PB’s for Liz D, Phil B, Diana, Sara, Beverley, Jayne P and Natalie Griffiths. Beverley is on an impressive run of 5 parkrun PB’s in 5 attempts.

 

Sunday 24th – London Marathon and Bryn Bach Park 6 miler

 

Kevin, Richard LJ and Natasha were representing the Blue Wave in the London Marathon whilst dozens of the blue wave were glued to their TV’s / laptop’s / phones tracking them and seeing if they could catch a glimpse on the coverage. Kevin ran a great 3:31 having qualified to run through the Good For Age qualifying and is eligible to apply for a place through that again next year. Richard who got a place through the ballot put his Snowdon marathon troubles behind him and knocked an incredible 30 minutes off his time with a 4:47. However, I hope they won’t mind me saying that performance of the day had to go to marathon debutant Natasha Kerr with a fantastic 4:51 finish. Her consistent pace throughout made her look like a marathon pro rather than a first timer. When I was reviewing the splits, I discovered she actually ran faster in the second half of the race than I managed in 2014, than Kelly managed in 2015 and caught up with Richard by 8 minutes in this years event. Seriously impressive.

Lewis Nash, Christie and Mark did the Bryn Bach 6 miler all getting excellent times that would almost certainly have converted to big PB’s in Lewis and Mark’s case had it been a 10K.

 

Saturday 30th – parkruns

 

36 runners across 4 parkruns. 32 at Porthcawl with PB’s for Chris T, Richard and Diana P and Jayne P. Away from Porthcawl, Dai Power at Plymvalley, Niki Puleio at Burnham and Neil J and Fiona D at Pontypridd. Neil smashing his own club record with a 18:06 and is confident a sub 18 could be on the horizon.

 

Other races

 

Neil, Nick, Christie and Fiona D ran the Pentyrch Hill race on the final Tuesday in April. A 7 mile mostly off road, very hilly race with Neil finishing in 20th whilst Nick beat his time from last year. Christie also ran the Cardiff Summer Series 1 miler on the final Friday of the month in 7:26.

 

Chairman’s Runner of the Month – Neil Jones

 

With club records at 5K, 20 miles and Marathon it definitely time to reward Cwm Ogwr’s fastest runner with the Runner of the Month accolade. Phenomenal times. Look forward to seeing what’s next.

 

Coming up

 

May has already seen the Brecon to Cardiff Ultra and Tonmawr Hilly 5 which I’ll include details of in the next blog. This weekend see’s a lot of off road with the Preseli Beast races and Porthkerry 5 miler.

 

We have 30 runners signed up for the inaugural Night Trail 10K. Excitement is building with record numbers expected for the Cwm Ogwr 5 miler. We have several teams for the Cottrell park relays plus entrants in the Women’s 10K and Treforest 10K later this month.

 

Exciting times ahead.