parkruns
This month saw 216 parkrun finishes by 108 different members across 25 different parkrun venues.
As well as the usual South Wales parkruns, tourism included Seaton, Bath Skyline, Burham, Ellesmere Port, Old Deer Park, Gloucester North, Bideford, Kingsway, Telford and Exmouth plus some further afield which I’ll come onto next.
Tim and Philippa Rees returned from Australia but not before completing Lake Entrance parkrun taking Tim’s total number of Aussie parkruns to 14 across 7 different venues whilst Philippa did 12 across 7 venues. With Philippa only recently having started parkrunning, 12 of her 14 parkruns have been in Australia and she’s already visited 8 different venues. Interestingly, Chris Roberts, Martin Beard and Kaye Pedler have also done parkruns in Australia with each one being a different venue so in total, there have been Ogmore Phoenix Runners at a massive 18 different Australian parkruns.
Now you may have missed this (although if you have any social media then I think you’ll probably have seen a post or two) but 7 members of our club went to Jersey just to do a parkrun. Led and organised by super tourist Karl Johnson, some chose to stay in London the night before whilst others got up at 130am to travel to London to then get a flight to Jersey, do the parkrun, and make the return leg that afternoon. Well done to the crazy gang of Aled, Steven James (who had only done one other parkrun prior to this), Dawn, Karl, Chris Stanlake, Rhiannon Sian and James Beynon.
The crazy parkrun tourism continued with Jo Gamba and I going to Delaware and Raritan Canal parkrun in New Jersey. It was the nearest parkrun to where we were staying in New York but still required about an hour and half of travel time. I finished 3rd overall whilst Jo was first female finisher for the first time in her 124 parkruns. If you want to read more about this, I did a lengthy post about the event on our Facebook page if you wish to read more about it.
This month saw Debbie Bennion and Richard Purnell celebrate their 50th parkruns.
Some highlights in month included Ben Davies, Sian Jenkins and Chris Bimson all notching up two PB’s each, yet another PB for Claire Taylor, Shawn Cullen bagged himself a PB, plus many more. At the super speedy end, Aled Hughes and James Littlewood both ran 19:15 PB’s at different locations on the same day, whilst returning member Chris Truman smashed his previous best with a 19:28. Niki Puleio was first finisher at Maesteg for the first time since September whilst Dawn Hopkins was first female finisher at Elsmere Port.
10K
The month kicked off with a couple of very different 10K events. Emma Morris completed the London Winter 10K in 51:45 through the parks and streets of London whilst Dawn Hopkins, Chris Richards and Adrian Pearce took on the Worms Head 10K. A multi terrain race near Rhossili Bay with over 800 feet of elevation. This was Dawn’s 11th event for the club in just 34 days and a day after being part of the crazy gang who went to Jersey parkrun.
Emma was back in 10K action again later in the month with the Castle Combe 10K in which she came in just under 1 hour.
Our final 10K of the month was the Pontypool 10K where Karl Johnson was our first member across the line followed by Liz Davis, Shawn Cullen with another PB, Debbie Bennion, Julie Ransom with a PB time, and Sharon Pritchard. A tough course which goes to show the improvements by Shawn and Julie recently with them managing PB’s there.
10 miler
Shawn Cullen ran the inaugural Cardiff 10 mile event where he smashed his previous PB with a 1:33:23 just 24 hours after getting a parkrun PB at Gloucester North. There aren’t too many 10 milers about so this should definitely be one on peoples lists for next year.
Half Marathons
Darija ran the Ras Cors Caron Half Marathon in 2:30:24 despite being out for Presentation night the previous evening.
The big Half Marathon this month was the Llanelli Half Marathon which had 47 Ogmore Phoenix Runners in attendance as well as several volunteering and many more supporting. Ryan Evans ran 1:27:42 despite having not run much over the Winter, Chris ‘Wonka’ Williams was next up with 1:36:30, before our first PB of the day with Keith Coleman running an impressive 1:41:30. The PB’s continued with a 1:44 for Gareth Davies and Claire Dunbar Bowen became only the 3rd female member to go sub 1:45. A long list of PB-ers were to follow with Gregg Harris, Craig Alexander, Sian Thomas, Shawn Cullen, Hannah Bartle, Natalie Aryal, Ken Salvatore, Rhiannon Sian, Hannah Knight, Rosaleen Lian, Kerry Worthington, Helen Griffiths, Shelley Evans, Claire Taylor, Michelle Alexander, Rhiannon Lewis, Louise Bennett and Leanne Parsons. Some remarkable achievements in amongst those including Claire Taylor now having knocked over an hour off her Half Marathon since joining the club, and Shawn Cullen becoming one of the first members ever to record 4 PB’s and 4 different distances in the same month… in fact, it was 4 over the course of 3 weekends.
Jo and I also ran the Central Park Half Marathon whilst in New York. We ran together finishing in 2:12:11. Again, I did a lengthy post about the race on our Facebook page if you wish to read more about it.
Other Races
Nick Harris and Simon Melksham ran the 3rd event of the Chepstow Night Race Series. A 5 mile event with over 800 feet of elevation.
There were 5 club finishers in the Dursley Dozen which was the 2nd race in this years Trail Championship. Adrian Pearce led the runners home followed by Steven James, David Sheard, Emma Loyns and Bev Sheard.
We had 4 runners at the Brecon to Cardiff Ultra. Kris Denholm completed the 44 mile course in 8 hours and 6 minutes with Gareth Richards a few minutes behind. Dan Clark completed his second Brecon to Cardiff in 8:40 knocking 50 minutes off his time from 2018. Wayne Hayhurst completed our Ultra finishers in 9 hours 40 minutes.
February also saw the first event of the Club Road Championship. I set our runners the challenge of completing the regular 5 mile training loop from the Life Centre in Ogmore up to the top of Nantymoel and back down and around… twice. A challenging 10 miler with almost 1000 feet of elevation, although it should also be pointed out, a significant amount of miles downhill. 36 members took on the challenge with Niki Puleio clocking the fastest time of 1:07 whilst Sarah Littlewood was the fastest female with 1:26. The next event in the club championship is the Cardiff Bay 10K on March 31st.
Presentation Night
Celebrating the achievements of the club and its members during 2018 , the Presentation Night was held at the Richard Price Centre on Saturday 16th February. The night kicked off with a speech from our Chairman, Chris Pratt, followed by an hour long video containing photos and short video clips of the year – over a 1000 in total.
The awards followed with Tammie Baker winning the top prize of Runners Runner after a fantastic year including huge improvements from 5K to Half Marathon (which also saw her win the Most Improved Female prize as well).
Runner’s Runner: Tammie Baker
Runner’s Runner 2nd place: Siân Jenkins
Runner’s Runner 3rd place: Denise Bradley
The next batch of awards listed are based on the fastest times by a runner in that category over the ‘standard’ distances of 5K, 5 miles, 10K, 10 miles, Half Marathon and Marathon. Whoever has the most ‘fastest in category’ wins – it’s a simple as that. The Club Runner is then chosen by the awards panel (made up of committee members, captains and myself as stats guru) from the 6 category winners.
Club Runner: Anneliese Loveluck
Super Veteran Female: Juliet Amner
Super Veteran Male: Steve Loveluck
Veteran Female: Anneliese Loveluck
Veteran Male: Neil Jones
Senior Female: Amy Roberts
Senior Male: John Burridge
The Age Grade Championship included fastest times (and corresponding age category percentages) at Maesteg and Porthcawl parkruns as well as age grade percentages for each of the 6 Bridgend League events.
Female Age Grade Champion: Juliet Amner
Male Age Grade Champion: Steve Loveluck
The inaugural Trail Championship included multi terrain races spread out across the year which included everything from short fell races to Bridgend League to 10+ mile multi terrain events.
Trail Championship Female Winner: Emma Loyns
Trail Championship Female 2nd place: Emma Louise Winch
Trail Championship Female 3rd place: Bev Sheard
Trail Championship Male Winner: Steven James
Trail Championship Male 2nd place: Richard Lowcock James
Trail Championship Male 3rd place: David Sheard
Best Newcomer doesn’t really need much explaining. Basically anyone who has been in the club for less than a year and have made a big impact which could be a combination of time improvements, events run / representing the club, volunteering and encouraging others.
Female Newcomer: Leigh Francis
Male Newcomer: Tim Rees
Most improved is one of the trickiest to decide as there were so many worthy contenders. From those who’ve been running for years and working hard to chip away a few seconds, to those knocking several minutes off as they start their running journey’s, and everyone in between.
Most Improved Female: Tammie Baker
Most Improved Male: Chris Stanlake
The criteria for the Zero to Hero award is simple – someone who started through attending Zero to Hero, and like Best Newcomer, has shown improvement in times and / or volunteered and represented the club.
Zero to Hero: Siân Jenkins
For those that don’t know what this assuming moment is – Matt Murray (selfie extraordinaire) managed to catch Alica popping her head up from behind a wall after a ‘call of nature’ stop in the middle of Snowdonia Marathon.
Most Amusing Moment: Alica Thomas
Photo of the year was actually a series of photos put together of Aled falling over in a river during the Merthyr Mawr Pudding Run as he was busy looking behind him and no doubt ‘gently encouraging’ in his Aled sort of way to catch up.
Photo of the year: Aled Hughes
There was also recognition of the top 10 male and female finishers in the Trail Championship and a list of everyone who got a vote for Runners Runner. Another brilliant evening organised by the social committee and huge thanks to them on another successful evening.
That wraps up my review of another busy month for Ogmore Phoenix Runners. Over to Chris for his choices for Chairman’s Runner of the Month.
Chairman’s Runners of the Month
Spring is in the air. Warmer weather and the build up to the spring marathons.
Miles have been trod through the cold and miserable winter months and the long runs are being completed by those nearing the finale.
My first choice is one such person. If you told someone they’d be tackling a marathon in a few months time, let’s say 6 months time, you’d often see either an initial excitement or fear. One might lead to overtraining and subsequent difficulties. The other might lead to ignorance and lack of training that also lead to difficulties down the line. I think it’s fair to say this was never an intentional pathway for one. A position in a prestigious event was bestowed upon one which resulted in a combination of the latter scenario coupled with denial. However, the resulting actions have not been the characteristic lack of training it has been a complete change of lifestyle. Renowned for loving to eat out and a tipple or two he has completely reformed. Eating well. Cut out alcohol. Training like a demon… and I mean a demon! Regular yoga and spin classes. Getting out for the required runs according to plan – but also being mindful of his body, which is exactly how it should be. When it doesn’t feel right, easing back. Not only are the miles building, but the times are coming down naturally. The weight is falling off which often leads to natural improvements, but when combined with a good training plan the improvements are accelerating. PB’s left, right and centre. Four at four different distances over three successive weekends. This is a disciplined approach that you cannot help but admire and celebrate. I have absolutely no hesitation awarding my Male Chairman’s Runner of the Month to Shawn Cullen. This is the first time I’ve awarded a runner of the month to the same person twice and it won’t happen very often, but this month’s efforts were something which cannot be overlooked. Keep it up Shawn – it’s a mightily impressive way to tackle marathon training for the first time!
I have said in the past many times that this is more than just running. As a club it’s something we celebrate. Not only do we run, but we also volunteer for many things – usually associated with running. The month started with some of our number away in foreign climes. For two it was in extreme heat about as far from home as they could possibly be on the other side of the world. Despite the heat they managed to find opportunities to run thanks to parkrun. Indeed, at several locations whilst away on their travels visiting family. We enjoyed the stories of each one reported back via social media. Many of stories told of battling with the heat in normal everyday life, but making that extra effort to head out of the door to actually run in it every week is fantastic!
On immediate return one of them had volunteered to man a water station at Llanelli Half and dutifully turned up ready to do so. It’s no mean feat standing in the cold handing out bottles of water but when your body has been subjected to incredibly hot temperatures for an extended period of time it’s an extra shock to the system. Not only that but when a runner arrives at the water station and is feeling unwell and collapses the nursing instinct took over and she lay down alongside said runner to shield her from the strong and very cold onshore breeze for half an hour putting herself at great risk from the elements. Above and beyond the call of duty, but instinctive. Rest assured, I’ve discussed this with her since and she realises how risky it was for her but doesn’t recognise the adulation that it attracted as it was just such a natural thing for her to do. I totally get this, but it is worthy of praise because it demonstrates an extraordinary natural kindness of spirit. Going above and beyond the call of duty to help others. Something worthy of commendation. I am delighted to announce my Female Chairman’s Runner of the Month as Philippa Rees.