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parkruns

The first weekend of the month saw 69 runners across a club record of 20 different parkruns! There was an even split across Aberfields, Porthcawl and Maesteg whilst 22 members visited 17 other parkruns which included Angela Parry at Wexford Racecourse parkrun in Ireland. Jacob was first finisher at Maesteg with a 16:52.

The second weekend saw 61 runners across 16 different parkruns. With several of the Maesteg regulars heading up the Ogmore Valley to try Aberfields, it was left to Tom Mahoney to continue the clubs streak of always having at least one runner at every Maesteg parkrun since it started. Interestingly 15 of the 16 parkruns which had OPR runners were in Wales with just one marginally over the border at the Forest of Dean.

Week 3 saw 62 runners across 13 parkruns with Aberfields our most popular venue yet again both in terms of runners and volunteers and where Adam Kearns was first finisher. There was a bumper turnout for the Wales Cowfest event at Pontypridd parkrun hosted by Karl Johnson and his team – for those wondering, it was for members of the UK parkrun tourists Facebook group who have cow-print products in honour of the first person to run at 100 different parkruns – Chris COWell.

Week 4 saw us fall just short of our recent record of different parkrun venues in a single day with 77 runners across 19 different parkruns. Our three local parkruns shared 57 of our members with Nicky Bennett taking the first finishers token at Maesteg and Aled Hughes taking the first finishers token at Aberfields. Jamie Verran was also first finisher at Gloucester North making it the first time we’ve had 3 first finishers on a single parkrun day. Kierran Spiers celebrated their 50th parkrun with their home parkrun of Riverfront being the venue for the milestone. Some interesting tourist venues that weekend with Karen Dando at Medina on the Isle of Wight. Then Sarah Davies, Melanie Thomas and Dawn Hopkins had a fun trip to Belfast to pick up another Q for the parkrun alphabet with Dawn now not far off completing the challenge twice and Sarah only a few behind. Dai James was even further afield finishing second overall at Clermont Waterfront parkrun which is by far our most visited USA parkrun due to it’s proximity to Disney World – although I’m sure those who’ve done it will want me to point out it’s still a 40 minutes of so drive from Disney.

The final Saturday of the month saw 64 runners across 15 parkruns. Not too many PB attempts with Cardiff Half Marathon the next day although Jamie Verran did run close to his parkrun PB with a 18:58 at Groe. Sarah, Mel and Dawn were off on their tourism travels again with University Parks the venue this time. Nick Harris broke his streak of doing every Aberfields parkrun to date by running at Queen Elizabeth parkrun in Portsmouth, leaving Laura Worrall as the only club member to run the first 7 Aberfields parkruns. I believe there’s possible one or two others that have either volunteered or ran at all 7 so have been at all in some capacity as well.

Races

10K’s

September is always a big month for 10K running with both Cardiff and Swansea bookending the month. At Cardiff we had 26 members running with an impressive 9 PB’s which included a sub 40 for Wayne Hayhurst plus PB’s for Adam Kearns, Claire DB, Lee DB, Steph IH, Terri-Leigh, Paul Harris, Karen Dando and Julie Greenman. At Swansea we had 13 runners with 3 PB’s including an incredible 33:23 from Nicky Bennett. Adam Kearns notched up his second PB of the month and dipped under 40 minutes for the first time whilst Jamie Verran got a PB of 42:17.

Away from the super fast flat road 10K’s, Kris Denholm ran the Hillbilly 10K and we had an impressive 17 runners at the Llantwit 10K which takes in some of the coastal path.

Marathons and Ultras

Carl Walsh had another busy month starting off with the RIDUM which is a 30 ultra marathon hosted by Pegasus events company along the Rhymney Valley Ridgeway. He was joined by Danny Ridley and Antonio Antoniazzi in completing that event. Carl and Danny also Beacons to Blacks Marathon with an eye watering 8,000 feet of elevation which is close to the equivalent of climbing from the railway station to the summit of Snowdon three times!

Ken Salvatore was in Berlin to take on one of the Marathon Majors and absolutely smashed it with a PB of 3:55:12 running in the same race where the women’s world record was set and following in the steps of Eliud Kipchoge. Rosie signed up for volunteer duties on the day making her possibly our first international running volunteer.

Seven weeks after my Dragon 100 mile finish, some last minute changes of plans meant I was available for the Loop-a-thon event hosted by Albany Road Runners. I did this charity event last year when they ran it for the first time and finished on 50 miles (by my watch) having run 16 loops of the 5K course around Roath Park and the lake. Just like last year, it was scorching on the day but I exceeded my expectations to get one more lap in this time finishing on 53 miles after 11 hours and 11 minutes before I decided to call it a day.

Other Races

We had a rare 10 mile event in the month with Chris Pratt, Denise Bradley and Dawn Hopkins heading to Oldbury for the 10 miler that forms part of series of events in that area.

There were several Half Marathons in the month with 8 members taking on the hilly multi terrain Pumsaint course where Jacob Tasker smashed the previous course record with a 1:18:48. Emma Loyns was the 2 hour pacer at the Big Half. Wayne Hayhurst and Gail Newell were our only runners at Llanelli HM which is by far our lowest attendance at the event but did clash with several other events and was just a week before Cardiff Half.

We had 9 runners at the Roman Run with many using the 16 mile course as a perfect training race ahead of Snowdonia / Eryri Marathon. A week later saw another chance to train on the hills with the Beast of Bryn. We had 5 runners in the 7.5 mile event whilst we had 10 runners in the 15 miler where Jacob bagged himself another course record as he continues his preperations for Snowdon.

Back on the flat, speedy tarmac, we had 14 members head down to West Wales for the Welsh Road Relay Championships. Nicky Bennett, Toby Kearns, Josh Parry and Angelo Doria teamed up for the Senior Men’s A Team finishing as 19th team overall in an extremely competitive event. Adam Kearns, Jamie Verran, Max King and Emyr Bissmire formed a super fast ‘B’ Team finishing as the 26th team. However, the ladies did even better with Bethan Moor, Jules Esmond, Carys Cronin and Willow Hughes finishing 13th team in the Senior Women. Gareth Richards and Chris Richards were part of what should have been a 3 person Masters team but someone who will remain nameless was a no show but the boys still got to set a time regardless.

BCRL

The final BCRL event saw us head down to Merthyr Mawr Lane for an out and back 5K down to Candlestone car park and back. An excessive amount of reminders resulted in an incredible turnout of 102 OPR members running the event. Our third biggest attendance ever and biggest since 2019. With other clubs also turning up in big numbers, we still needed big performances from our top 10 men and women and they absolutely delivered. Jacob added another BCRL victory with a time of 15:36 meaning that with OPR members had a clean sweep of having the overall winner in every fixture for the second year in a row. August’s runner of the month Angelo Nico Doria ran a PB of 16:30 whilst there were also PB’s for Lee Dunbar-Bowen and Paul Harris. Another strong performance from our top 10 men and women alongside the incredible turnout resulted in our club retaining our BCRL club title after a close fought battle throughout the year with Bridgend and Porthcawl regularly in the mix as well. A huge well done to everyone who participated this year.

Chair’s Runners of the Month

The unsung heroes.  The ones who head out of the door even when life puts obstacles in their way.  Many of us feel that too and so often we empathise.

Running is a healer; a way to keep the body fresh.  Exercise releases endorphins which are known to be big stress relievers and improvers of well-being, and we thrive on what they provide – the balance.

The battle between the pressures that weigh us down and finding the desire to exercise is very real to many of us.  Motivation often ebbs away and that all-important mojo, to which we refer, departs.

Climbing that hill can be a big challenge.  The hill that exists in our minds down the passageway to the front door.  It doesn’t require trail shoes or poles – it’s not a lung buster that tests our legs to carry us over the top.  It’s a feeling.  It’s a desire.  The pressures of life replace gravity and it takes all our inner strength to reach the top to be able to benefit from the slope on the other side that leads us to the front door and beyond.

I’ve been inspired by many over the last few years who have battled that mountain and found the way the other side.  We have seen challenges the likes of which none of us knew how to deal with and we, as a group, have done wonders to pull each other together.  Reaching out and looking out for each other.  It’s what we do.  Please keep doing it.

Sorry for rambling but I want to celebrate two people who have inspired me hugely this year for their endeavours.  

My first is such a core element of our club with a true heart of gold.  I’ve seen the ebbs and flows in her running and seen her determination that brings her back to it every time it falls away. Trying to find the right path to maintaining motivation and staying out there.  Helping others often does that and self-driven recent incentives have lit the fire under others to come back into the fold searching for the same end goal – to return to running.  A selfless contribution that has had the effect it so often does – self motivation.  Give and you will receive back – often tenfold – or more.  Providing the mechanism for others to find their way back onto the path ignites the flame to keep going.  I’ve seen the troughs and ridden them with her and I’m seeing the peaks outweigh them now.  So often we are unaware of the inspiration we are imparting on others.  Many will never know the impact they have – so often silently made – on the journey of others.  It is this that is pure magic.  We have many within our midst who cast that magic powder – but this month I want to celebrate my first Chair’s Runner of the Month as Siân Jenkins.  Keep inspiring Siân and keep getting out there and showing the world the power of running!

My second choice for this month has been a true inspiration in so many ways.  Just finding the strength to lace up the trainers and head out of the door has been a very real challenge, but with the support of a great friend and that of family and the wider circle of friends, he has done just that.  Trainers to run.  Helmet and bike to cycle.  Signing up for races so the challenge will draw him out.  Giving him a target to head for.  Keeping the body active with training miles and parkruns and heading to start lines of races – each of which results in another finish line crossed and another boost.  It’s on the increase too.  More miles are being covered – with positive outcomes.  More consistency and planning heading towards goals being set.  Utilising the healing power of activity to keep pushing forward and gaining balance.  Not only hugely inspired by the endeavours of this choice for my Chair’s Runner of the Month, but those who remain close and keep encouraging this journey to flourish.  My choice is Paul Harris.  Paul, you have inspired us all with your determination, keep it going my friend.  We are all very proud of you.

parkruns

The first Saturday of the month saw 56 of our members complete parkruns across 14 different parkrun locations. An impressive total considering I don’t think many of us escaped getting absolutely drenched. At Maesteg, OPR made up 3 of the top 5 overall with Claire Dunbar-Bowen the first female finisher and 10th overall. At Porthcawl, new member Angelo (Nico) Doria was first finisher overall in an outstanding 17:48. On the parkrun tourism front, Sally Pensom was in Bangor, Northern Ireland, Jamie Verran was 2nd overall at Aberdare parkrun, whilst Shawn Cullen and Julie Ransom ticked off a ‘U’ at University Parks in Oxford.

The second weekend of the month saw 68 runners across 14 different parkrun locations. Angelo Doria was our fastest runner of the day with a PB of 17:15 as he notched up another first finish at Porthcawl. Plenty of targeted tourism this week with Nick and Linda Harris at Oaklands, Kaye, Melinda an Huw at Jersey Farm, and Karl at Upton Court which I’m sure were all parkrun alphabet related trips. Sarah, Melanie, Dawn and Darija were at Teifi Marshes Nature Reserve which is the newest Welsh parkrun to come online.

The third weekend was a momentous occasion. After first being considered pre-lockdown several years ago and seemingly being ‘any day now’ for the last 18 months, it was finally the inaugural Aberfields parkrun. The heavy downpours before the start and unseasonably cool temperatures for the middle of August didn’t put off 180 runners turning up to run with 57 of those being from our club. It felt a bit like a BCRL event with our runners making up 12 of the first 20 runners across the line including Jake as the first finisher, setting the course record at a hard-to-beat 16:28. Claire Dunbar-Bowen can claim the club ladies course record with 24:23. We actually the first two and final two finishers with Angelo the second finisher whilst Karen Dando and Rhiannon Whiteley came in as the tail walkers. There was a huge cake to celebrate at the end before a load of parkrunners headed over to a packed Wyndham pub for breakfast.  A huge well done and congratulations to event director Jay Howells and a whole host of people that have volunteered as Run Directors and regular volunteers in the future.

On that third weekend, we actually had 31 runners elsewhere making it 88 runners across 7 parkruns. Karl ticked off an ‘I’ at Isabel Trail whilst everyone else was at local or South Wales parkruns.

August Bank Holiday weekend we had 83 runners across 15 different parkruns. We saw a sign of things to come with a relatively even split of members across Aberfields (23), Porthcawl (19) and Maesteg (17) with 24 tourists heading elsewhere. Johnson’s tours took 7 members to University Parks in Oxford with many chasing that ‘U’ for the parkrun alphabet.

Races

5K

The final Aberavon 5K of the 2023 series took place on the first Wednesday of the month. Gareth Battle was our first finisher in 18:53 with Aled finishing in 19:04, Mark Teesdale in 19:08 and a new PB for Wayne Hayhurst with 19:12. Aled finished third in the veterans category for the series but unfortunately only first place received a prize. Jo Jenkins ran her best time in almost a year with a 24:31 which also meant she finished 3rd in her age category for the series. We had 24 members at the event with 12 completing all 3 races in the series.

The Podium 5K is probably the closest we get as a club to an ‘elite’ only event. Jacob was the men’s race which was only for sub 16 runners! The first 4 runners finished in under 14 minutes. Jake smashed his 5K club record again with a 15:01. Incredibly he was ‘only’ around 50^th out the 60 finishers going to show just how crazy fast the runners in that race were. There were also A and B races – you know – for those slow coaches that can only run sub 17/18/19 – I am of course joking and would love to be able to run these times myself. Nicky Bennett ran 16:11 whilst there were PB’s for Dylan Panting, Connor Panting, Scott Gray and Adam Kearns on a very successful night for some of our Flyers.

The Sunday before the Aberfields parkrun inaugural there was a trial run with OPR members making up 27 of the 66 runners and made up most of the volunteers.

The final 5K of the month was a new event in Swansea by Tri Hard Harriers which 7 of our members completed including a sub 40 a for our reigning Runners Runner Laura Worrall.

10K

We had 26 runners at the Barry 10K with Dylan Panting our first runner across the line in 40:37 followed by Tom Mahoney and Wayne Hayhurst. Jamie Verran bagged himself a PB of 43:27 in his first 10K for the club. Our first female finisher was Dragon 100 finisher Angharad Hinam.

Bank Holiday weekend saw 4 of our member take on the Narberth Nobbler 10K whilst we had 5 at the Severn Bridge 10K event.

Other Races

Three members took on the ‘Murder Mile’ race with Jacob Tasker smashing the course record.

Angelo Doria proved he has the speed over the longer distances as well with a 1:18:29 Half Marathon which is the fastest debut Half Marathon in the history of the club. Danny Ridley, David Sheard and Gregg Harris also completed the event.

Carl Walsh notched up another marathon with the Menddips Hill Marathon and also completed the Beast of Llangattock 32 mile ultra as he continues he quest to reach his 100th marathon/ultra at Snowdonia / Eryri Marathon at the end of October.

BCRL

The penultimate BCRL event saw 76 runners take on a tough course at Heol y Mynydd. The course had been changed to previous years which included a brutal incline that apparently only a handful of runners actually managed to run, as well as various terrain but also will some fast downhill sections. Jacob picked up his 12^th BCRL win and 5^th of this year which almost certainly means he’s won more BCRL fixtures than any other runner in the history of the BCRL. Our 18 year old superstar Angelo Doria was second overall and we again had a really strong top 10 in the men’s category. Our ladies were equally if not more impressive with another excellent top 10 backed up by big numbers picking up minus points to help the cause. Our club won the event putting us in a really strong position going into the final fixture as we attempt to retain our team title from last year.

Another incredible month and it’s over to Chris for the Chairman’s Runners of the Month.

To set markers in the sand and show improvement over them and then keep beating times is mightily impressive.  When this just keeps running on and on over an extended period it’s worthy of celebration.  It’s not just event times – it’s the consistent and persistent attitude to the training.  The dedication to getting out there and not resting on laurels.  Making improvements takes some focus.  When there’s consistency to training the improvements come.  More PB’s and regular sharing of progress.  Positivity abounds and it’s infectious.  Others feed off it and it inspires people to head out themselves.  Something I’ve lauded previously with others.  Sharing the whole story too – the highs and the lows can help others to understand their own peaks and troughs.  I’m sure we’re going to see a continued journey along the same path for some time.  Keep the focus going Laura Worrall – my first Chair’s Runner of the Month for August.  

It’s happened before, and I’m sure it will happen again.  A new member joins and bursts onto the scene with some gusto.   Taking many of us by surprise and causing us all to sit up and take notice.  It can be for many reasons – not always speed.  There can be many reasons for having an impact.  When first (or thereabouts) finish positions become the norm and prizes are collected for podium finish in competition, heads are turned.  Whether running for free in non-competetive events good times are recorded and directly transpose to events that scoop rewards.  Snapping at the heels of our fastest runners and with youth on his side, it’s no doubt we’re going to see progression here.  A marker has been set at a number of distances and I’m sure we’re going to see those times tumbling over the coming months.  Although we are saying a temporary farewell while academia beckons, I’m sure we’re going to see much more from this young man for years to come.  My second Chair’s Runner of the Month for August is Angelo Nico Dorio.  Well done Nico – keep up the excellent work!

On Monday 20th August 2012, around a dozen of us met in the Berwyn Centre in Nantymoel to discuss setting up a club in the Ogmore Valley and our club was formed.

To celebrate our 11 year anniversary I thought we’d have a look at the incredible stats that we have accumulated over that time.

31,018 results have been recorded from 570 different members (past and present) from 4.374 events. In total the club has been represented at 1,087 different events.

Longest Standing Members

Aled Hughes, John Burridge Helen Griffiths and I attended that first meeting and are the only four ‘founding members’ who are still currently members of the club.

Other long standing members who have all been heavily involved in the club since the early days include Nick Harris, Denise Bradley, Liz Davis, David Kembery, Richard Lowcock James, Kevin Raymond, Fiona Evans and Chris Pratt who all joined within the first 2 years.

Most Events Records

Total events top 10 (races and parkruns combined)

1. Gareth Jenkins 757
2. Nick Harris 711
3. Aled Hughes 557
4. Chris Pratt 548
5. David Kembery 471
6. David Sheard 435
7. Kris Denholm 402
8. Dawn Hopkins 399
9. Chris Roberts 377
10. Jo Jenkins 355

Since last years post, Aled has overtaken Chris P into 3rd place, Dawn has overtaken Chris R into 8th overall, and Jo Jenkins has recently overtaken Denise to pop into the top 10.

Total events top 10 (races only)

1. Gareth Jenkins 328
2. Nick Harris 283
3. Aled Hughes 234
4. Chris Pratt 206
5. Dawn Hopkins 197
6. Denise Bradley 181
7. Sharon Pritchard 155
8. Mark Worrall 153
9. Debbie Bennion 148
10. Gareth Richards 148

After Dawn, Denise, Sharon and Debbie our next top females for number of races are Jo Jenkins (138), Fiona Drysdale (130) and Emma Loyns (129).

Most events in a single year (parkruns plus races)

1. Nick Harris 125 in 2019 – also set the record for most races that year with 73
2. Aled Hughes 116 in 2019 – became the first member to run all 55 available parkruns
3. Christie Coleman 108 in 2016
4. Gareth Jenkins 101 in 2015
5. Gareth Jenkins 100 in 2019
6. Dawn Hopkins 95 in 2023
7. Aled Hughes 94 in 2023
8. Gareth Jenkins 93 in 2016
9. Dawn Hopkins 89 in 2019
10. Sarah Davies 89 in 2023

Aled Hughes is currently leading the way so far this year and is on course to have a third entry in this top 10 when it’s refreshed next year. Just missing out on this list are Jo Jenkins, Sharon Pritchard and Debbie Bennion who did 88, 86 and 85 events respectively in 2019.

Longest race distances run (the top 10+ are all now 100 milers so just in date order)

1. Nick Harris 100 miles – Pembrokeshire Coastal Ultra – May 2017
2. Jamie Vanstone 100 miles – Pembrokeshire Coastal Ultra – May 2017
3. Nick Harris 100 miles – Dragon 100 – May 2019
4. Steven James 100 miles – London to Battle 1066 Ultra – July 2019
5. Steven James 100 miles – Dragon 100 – September 2019
6. Elizabeth Sim 100 miles – Dragon 100 – September 2019
7. Gareth Jenkins 100 miles – Centaur 100 – June 2022
8. Gareth Richards 100 miles – Dragon 100 – July 2022
9. Gareth Jenkins 100 miles – Dragon 100 – July 2023
10. Gareth Richards 100 miles – Dragon 100 – July 2023
11. Emma Loyns 100 miles – Dragon 100 – July 2023
12. Angharad Hinam 100 miles – Dragon 100 – July 2023

Incredibly not making the list we have a further 92 finishes over 40 miles as well. I’ve also run 88 miles (local charity event), 80 miles (Conquer24), 77 miles (Escape from Meriden), 50 miles (Dragon 50) and 50 miles (Loopathon charity event). Wayne Hayhurst, and Simon Poole have done different 100K events (62.2 miles) whilst Denise Bradley, Fiona Evans, Mel Thomas and Rhiain Casseldine-Forman have run 100K split over 2 days. Several other members have done the Gower 50 miler and Brecon to Cardiff (44 miles). Including the Vale Ultra and all other Ultra distance finishes, the number of Ultra finishes is 286 from 71 different past and present members. If virtual events were counted then Steven James would make the list again with 84 miles for the Last Runner Standing event with Kris Denholm and myself completing 72 miles.

Most number of Ultra’s completed (official events only)

1. Kris Denholm 21
2. Gareth Richards 20
3. Emma Loyns 15
4. Steven James 13
5. Nick Harris 12
6. Gareth Jenkins 11
7. Liz Sim 9 (much higher with those done whilst not a member)
8. Wayne Hayhurst 8
9. Jamie Vanstone / Simon Harrison / Chris Pratt

48 current members have run an Ultra with 24 of those doing more than 1.

Most number of Marathons completed (official events only)

1. Chris Pratt 38
2. Carl Walsh 23 (over 90 marathons or ultras including those before joining us)
3. Nick Harris 17
4. Kris Denholm 17
5. Wayne Hayhurst 16
6. Gareth Richards 15
7. Emma Loyns 14
8. Liz Sim 14
9. David Kembery / Niki Puleio 13

89 current members have run a marathon with the club meaning around 34% of our current total membership have run a marathon. 67 of those have run more than 1 marathon.

Most number of Half Marathons completed (official events only)

1. Gareth Jenkins 68
2. Chris Pratt 31
3. Nick Harris 30
4. Denise Bradley 28
5. Dawn Hopkins 28
6. David Kembery 26
7. Mark Worrall 26
8. Sharon Pritchard 25
9. Liz Davis / Debbie Bennion / Wayne Hayhurst 24

Interestingly these figures haven’t changed massively since last year which maybe indicates a preference for longer or shorter events for some of our most regular race entrants. 161 current members (around two-thirds of our total membership) have run a Half Marathon with the club. 140 of those have run more than one, and incredibly 52 members have run 10 Half Marathons or more with the club.

Most number of 10Ks completed (official events only)

1. Gareth Jenkins 51
2. Dawn Hopkins 51
3. Sharon Pritchard 49
4. Debbie Bennion 46
5. Aled Hughes 36
6. Nick Harris 35
7. Emma Morris 31
8. Denise Bradley 29
9. Mark Worrall / Niki Puleio 28

184 current members have completed a 10K with the club which is around 75% of our membership.

Number of event finishes by distance

1. 5K / parkrun – 19,609
2. Other distances – 4,883
3. 10K – 2,788
4. Half Marathon – 2,129
5. Marathon – 654
6. 5 mile – 419
7. Ultra – 285
8. 10 mile – 251

Biggest events by number of members finishing

1. Cardiff Half Marathon 2019 – 116 finishers
2. Ogmore Castle BCRL 2019 – 114
3. Kenfig Sands BCRL 2022 – 98
4. Porthcawl 10K 2019 – 97
5. Sandy Bowl 2023 – 95
6. Planka BCRL 2022 – 93
7. Merthyr Mawr Lane 5K BCRL race 2017 – 92
8. Cardiff Half Marathon 2016 – 92
9. Llanilid Loop BRCL race 2019 – 92
10. Ogmore Castle BCRL race 2022 – 92
11. Cardiff Half Marathon 2018 – 91
12. Cardiff Half Marathon 2017 – 90
13. Pencoed BCRL 2022 – 90
14. Sandy Bowl BCRL 2022 – 90
15. Pencoed BCRL 2023 – 89

In total there have been 54 races where we’ve had 50 or more members finishing. 32 of those are BCRL races with Cardiff Half also making a frequent appearance. Our biggest Marathon attendance was at Snowdonia in 2019 when we had 45 finishers.

We’ve also had 65 finishers at Porthcawl parkrun on 2 occasions – way back on Christmas Eve 2016, and then again in September 2019 which coincided with a Zero to Hero graduation. On the latter date, we also had a record 85 members finishing a parkrun on the same morning and more than 100 members attending a parkrun when including those that volunteered or supported.

Most popular races by number of times club has been represented (excluding parkruns)

1. Aberavon / Run4All 5K series – 15*
2. SSAFA 5K (Cardiff) series – 15
3. Cardiff Half Marathon (including World Half) – 10*
4. Llanelli Half Marathon – 9*
5. Cardiff 10K – 8*
6. Swansea Bay (Paul Popham) 5K series – 11
7. Merthyr Mawr Pudding Run – 9*
8. Swansea 10K – 9*
9. Caerphilly 10K – 8*
10. London Marathon – 8*
11. Cardiff 10K – 8*

*club has been represented in every one of these events since we formed or the series stared. Aberavon / R4A series could arguably be 22 as we’ve also done all 7 Santa 5K’s there as well.

Club record progression

Male records

5K / parkrun

First 5K / parkrun result: Ross Jones – Cardiff parkrun – September 2012 – 26:31.

First sub 20: John Burridge – Porthcawl pakrun – May 2013 – 19:59

First sub 19: Neil Jones – Pontypridd parkrun – October 2015 – 18:58

First sub 18: Neil Jones – Cardiff parkrun – May 2016 – 17:41

First sub 17: Neil Jones – Pontypridd parkrun – December 2017 – 16:55

Current club record: Jacob Tasker – SSAFA 5K – July 2022 – 15:01

10K

First 10K result: Gareth Jenkins – Cardiff 10K – September 2012 – 48:25

First sub 45: Gareth Jenkins – Cardiff 10K – September 2013 – 44:17

First sub 40: Neil Jones – Caerphilly 10K – June 2015 – 39:31

Current club record: Jacob Tasker – Caerphilly 10K – May 2023 – 31:45

Half Marathon

First Half Marathon result: Matthew Jones – Great North Run – September 2012 – 1:48:26

First sub 1:40: Matthew Jones – Cardiff Half Marathon – October 2012 – 1:39:05

First sub 1:30: John Burridge – Cardiff Half Marathon – October 2013 – 1:29:31

First sub 1:20: Neil Jones – Swansea Half Marathon – June 2016 – 1:18:51

Former Club Record – Neil Jones – Cardiff Half Marathon – October 2018 – 1:18:33

Current Club Record: Jacob Tasker – Swansea Half Marathon – June 2023 – 1:09:35

Marathon

First Marathon result: Phil Lewis – Budapest Marathon – October 2012 – 4:14:49

First sub 4 hour: Chris Mogg – London Marathon – April 2013 – 3:59:04

First sub 3:30: Aled Hughes – Manchester Marathon – April 2015 – 3:28:27

First sub 3:20: Kevin Raymond – Great Welsh Marathon – April 2015 – 3:18:46

First sub 3 hour: Neil Jones – Great Welsh Marathon – April 2016 – 2:57:43

Club Record: Neil Jones – Newport Marathon – April 2019 – 2:43:07

Fastest current member: Niki Puleio – Chicago Marathon – October 2022 – 2:48:21

Female records

5K / parkrun

First 5K / parkrun result: Elinor Marsh – Cardiff parkrun – March 2013 – 32:52

First sub 24: Helen Davies – Porthcawl pakrun – April 2013 – 23:16

First sub 22: Sian Price – Porthcawl parkrun – November 2016 – 21:14

First sub 21: Anneliese Loveluck – Porthcawl parkrun – October 2018 – 20:41

Current club record*: Emma Morris – Swansea parkrun – September 2021 – 19:52

10K

First sub 50: Helen Davies – Cardiff 10K – September 2013 – 48:31

First sub 48: Heather Garratt – Swansea 10K – September 2015 – 47:51

First sub 47: Josie Bishop – Cardiff Bay 10K – April 2017 – 46:29

Club Record: Anneliese Loveluck – Magor 10K – July 2018 – 41:26

Fastest current member: Emma Morris – Swansea 10K – September 2021 – 42:19

Half Marathon

First Half Marathon result: Helen Davies – Cardiff Half Marathon – October 2012 – 1:48:40

First sub 1:45: Julie Webster – Llanelli Half Marathon – March 2016 – 1:44:43

First sub 1:42: Sian Price – Cardiff Half Marathon – October 2017 – 1:41:44

Current Club Record – Anneliese Loveluck – Merthyr Half Marathon – March 2019 – 1:32:33

Fastest current member: Emma Morris – Tewksbury Half Marathon 2022 – 1:38:02

Marathon

First Marathon result: Fiona Evans – London Marathon – April 2014 – 4:23:02

First sub 4:15: Lorna Domachowski – Manchester Marathon – April 2015 – 4:12:06

First sub 4 hours: Julie Webster – Manchester Marathon – April 2016 – 3:48:55

Club Record: Anneliese Loveluck – Great Welsh Marathon – April 2019 – 3:13:56

Fastest time from a current member: Claire Dunbar-Bowen – London – April 2023 – 3:46:07

Presentation Nights

Runners Runner Winners Roll of Honour

1. 2013 – Gareth Jenkins
2. 2014 – Nick Harris
3. 2015 – Chris Pratt
4. 2016 – Christie Coleman
5. 2017 – Niki Puleio
6. 2018 – Tammie Baker
7. 2019 – Nick Harris
8. 2020 – Kris Denholm
9. 2021 – Jacob Tasker
10. 2022 – Laura Worrall

Most main awards won

This includes Runners Runner, Best in age category, Club Championship winners, Most Improved, Best Newcomer, Zero to Hero, Spirit of the Phoenix and Outstanding Achievement. The number represents the number of times they have won in total and in brackets are the years they won one or more prizes.

1. Denise Bradley 9 (2014, 2016, 2019, 2021)
2. Gareth Richards 7 (2017, 2020, 2022)
3. Niki Puleio 7 (2017, 2019, 2021, 2022)
4. Jacob Tasker 6 (2021, 2022)
5. Neil Jones 6 (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018)
6. Claire Dunbar-Bowen 6 (2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2022)
7. Nick Harris 5 (2013, 2014, 2015, 2019)
8. Emma Loyns 5 (2018, 2019, 2022)
9. Keith Coleman 4 (2016, 2019, 2020, 2022)
10. Adrian Pearce / Aled Hughes / Anneliese Loveluck / Chris Pratt / Christie Coleman / Gareth Jenkins / Juliet Amner / Kevin Raymond – all received 3

77 different members have received awards over the 10 presentation nights.

parkrun specific stats

Like it, loathe it, or just indifferent to it, parkrun is a huge part of our club with over 50% of all results recorded to date being parkrun finishes. We also have a significant amount of parkrun tourists so I thought I’d share some of the crazy stats and challenges below.

Most popular parkruns (number of parkrundays with at least one club finisher)

1. Porthcawl 451
2. Maesteg 225
3. Pontypridd 158
4. Swansea Bay 144
5. Cardiff 119
6. Grangemoor 99
7. Gnoll 90
8. Barry Island 89
9. Newport 75
10. Llanelli Coast / Sandy Water 74

There have been 404 events at Porthcawl meaning there have only been 4 parkruns at Porthcawl with no members of the club finishing – all of these were in 2013 and the last time we had no recorded results at Porthcawl was 12th October 2012. Niki Puleio, Chris Pratt and David Sheard were all in attendance that day but weren’t members at that point. I’ll take the blame as I was our only member who was parkrunning that day but went to Pontypridd. Nevertheless, it does mean we’ve been represented at the last 376 Porthcawl parkruns that have gone ahead. At Maesteg we have 100% record with at least 1 member at every one of their 176 parkruns so far – Tom Mahoney saved that record recently when he was the only finisher from the club although we did have a few others volunteering.

Total number of parkruns Top 10 – ranked by number done with club then numbers in brackets are total parkruns run including those before joining the club

1. Gareth Jenkins 429 (429)
2. Nick Harris 428 (428)
3. Chris Pratt 341 (412)
4. David Kembery 332 (332)
5. Aled Hughes 323 (323)
6. Chris Roberts 308 (336)
7. David Sheard 294 (383)
8. Kris Denholm 281 (359)
9. Bev Sheard 221 (221)
10. Jo Jenkins 217 (252)

When looking at overall numbers including those done before joining club then we also have Peter Harrop (270), Richard Lowcock James (264), Claire Goldsworthy (222) and Liz Davis (211).

Top 10 volunteers (number of different days volunteering – includes volunteering at both the 5K and junior parkruns)

1. Alison Allen 264
2. Stephne Puddy 241
3. Karl Johnson 195
4. Rhiannon Whitely 131
5. Chris Stanlake 119
6. Angela Parry 117
7. Freya Allen 115
8. Richard Lowcock James 105
9. Sian Jenkins 72
10. Kris Denholm 72

This information isn’t as easy to find so apologies to anyone I’ve missed who would make this list. These numbers have shot up since last year with Rhiannon, Chris, Angela and Richard all passing 100 in that period plus the addition of Alison and Freya plus Stephne and Karl notching up more than 50 in the last year. The numbers will also include volunteer stints done before joining the club. Also have to mention some former members – Maria Lalic has done more than 350 different days of volunteering, Emma Marshall who is on 257, Michael Brain who is on over 100 as well as Dave H Evans with a significant proportion of each of these being whilst a member of the club.

Top 10 parkrun tourists (number of different venues)

1. Chris Roberts 125
2. Karl Johnson 121
3. Julie Ransom 116
4. Dawn Hopkins 109
5. Shawn Cullen 109
6. Gareth Jenkins 102
7. Kris Denholm 80
8. Sarah Davies 76
9. Chris Stanlake 75
10. Jo Jenkins 72

I was the early leader for parkrun tourism and was the first to complete 20 different parkruns back in 2015 and led the way until mid 2017 when Shawn and Julie took over and were in joint top spot for over 4 years and became the first to reach 100 different parkruns. Karl Johnson breifly held top spot but for the past few months its Chris Roberts who has been top of our tourism table. In the past year, I also joined the ‘Cowell’ club by running 100 different parkrun venues becoming the 6th member to do so. Chris Pratt was also one of our early regular tourists and set himself a challenge of running all the Welsh parkruns in 2015 when I believe there were around 15 or 16. Shawn and Julie have by far the highest ‘tourist percentage’ in the club having run 109 different venues in just 143 parkruns overall. Jamie Verran is heading for all sorts of tourism records and is currently on a club record tourism streak having done 35 different parkruns in a row.

Most new parkrun venues visited in a calendar year

1. Karl Johnson 35 in 2019
2. Jamie Verran 34 in 2023
3. Dawn Hopkins 30 in 2019
4. Dawn Hopkins 27 in 2022
5. Shawn and Julie 26 in 2019
6. Karl Johnson 25 in 2017
7. Sarah Davies 25 in 2022
8. Toni Howells 25 in 2022
9. Sarah Davies 24 in 2019
10. Paul Barrett / Melanie Thomas 24 in 2023
11. Shawn and Julie 24 in 2018

Jamie is on the brink of setting a new record in a calendar year and is likely to set an unbreakable number given he’s even done a special (extra) day overseas this year as well and therefore could exceed 52.

parkrun Alphabeteers (members who have run a parkrun starting with every letter of the alphabet)

Dawn Hopkins was the first to achieve this followed by Sarah Davies. Alexis and Paul Barrett in becoming alphabeteers with Paul completing it in just 68 parkruns overall.

Dawn is now on course to complete it for the second time!

We have around a dozen members who are all just a few letters away from completing the challenge.

‘Gold Obsessive’ parkrunners (members who have run 50 or more parkruns in a calendar year)

1. Gareth Jenkins – on 4 separate years
2. Aled Hughes – on 4 separate years
3. Nick Harris – on 2 seperate years
4. Kris Denholm – on 1 occasion

Surprisingly despite being on more than 300 parkruns each, Chris Pratt, David Sheard, Chris Roberts and David Kembery don’t make the list, although all have been just one or two off on a couple of occasions. Aled Hughes and Kris Denholm are the only members to have run every parkrun occasion available in the UK in a single year (52 Saturdays plus New Years Day and Christmas Day).

Stopwatch Bingo (collecting finishing times ending in all possible numbers from 00 to 59 seconds)

1. Chris Roberts – completed in 202 parkruns (started before joining club)
2. Aled Hughes – completed in 203 parkruns
3. Richard Lowcock James – completed in 210 parkruns (started before joining club)
4. David Sheard – completed in 214 parkruns (started before joining club)
5. Jo Jenkins – completed in 216 parkrun (started before joining club)
6. Nick Harris – completed in 222 parkruns
7. David Kembery – completed in 256 parkruns
8. Chris Pratt – completed in 258 parkruns
9. Peter Harrop – completed in 260 parkruns
10. Gareth Jenkins – completed in 286 parkruns

Kris Denholm has the most parkruns without completing this challenge and is on 359 parkruns and still has 1 more to tick off (number 9). Since last year, Jo Jenkins and Peter Harrop have joined the list of having completed Stopwatch Bingo.

Some other random parkrun stats

Earliest parkrunner (former member) – Ann Davies – 23rd February 2008 at Cardiff parkrun – Ann was in the first 13,000 to sign up for parkrun and there are now over 7 million registered worldwide.

Earliest parkrunner (current member) – Jo Jenkins – 14th February 2009 at Cardiff parkrun – Jo was in the first 27,000 in the world to sign up for parkrun

Fastest to reach 50 parkruns – Jamie Verran – 47 weeks from 1st to 50th

Fastest to reach 100 parkruns – Nick Harris – 107 weeks from 1st to 100th

Fastest to reach 250 parkruns – Nick Harris – 274 weeks from 1st to 250th

Longest to reach 100 parkruns – Ann Davies – 564 weeks from 1st to 100th

Most International Tourisms – Chris Roberts – 13 – Chris ran 11 parkruns in Australia whilst there over on two separate occasions over Christmas / New Year and has also run parkruns in Denmark and Poland.

Number of different parkruns visited by all members past and present – 404

Number of different parkrun countries visited by all members past and present – 15 (UK, Ireland, Germany, Poland, Denmark, Canada, France, USA, Norway, Australia, Russia, Netherlands, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden)

Longest parkrun streak – Kris Denholm – 92 parkruns

Current ongoing parkrun streak – Jamie Verran – 74 parkruns

Number of current members to have reached 50 parkruns – 109

Number of current members to have reached 100 parkruns – 58

Number of current members to have reached 250 parkruns – 11

Most runs at Maesteg parkrun – Aled Hughes 111

Most runs at Porthcawl parkrun – Nick Harris 329

Most parkruns only at one venue (no touring) – Claire Goldsworthy – all 222 parkruns at Porthcawl

Other stats

Longest standing coach – Aled Hughes

Longest standing committee member – Liz Davis (secretary / general committee)

Longest standing captain – Gareth Jenkins

Most age category records – Kevin Raymond

Most club records – Jacob Tasker

Number of current members to have run 100 events (parkruns plus races for the club) – 73

Highest number of events without doing a parkrun – Simon Harrison – 74

Number of people to have recorded a result with the club – 570

And finally….

Number of hours spend collecting these stats over the past 11 years: I don’t want to even think about it but it’s something I enjoy and will continue to do. Hopefully if you’ve got this far then you’ve enjoyed reading the stats. I’ll do a refresh of all the numbers for the 12 year anniversary – until then, happy running.

parkruns

The first parkrunday of the month saw 54 members running across 14 different parkruns. It was Nicky Bennett and Toni Howells 100th parkruns with celebrations split between Maesteg and Porthcawl respectively. Our fastest parkrunner of the day was Jamie Verran who was continuing his tourism streak at Sandy Bay where he was 3rd overall in a time of 19:01.

Weekend two saw 64 of our members running at 13 different parkrun locations. Tourism included Chris Pratt at Sewerby, Karen Dando at Darlington and Vickie Blake at Didcot amongst others which were closer to home. Dai James was our fastest runner of the day with an 18:31 at Porthcawl, whilst Wayne Hayhurst was the latest member of the first finishers club at Maesteg.

A dip in attendance for the third weekend of the month with 48 runners across 13 parkruns which would largely be due to the Rabbit Run which was that afternoon as well as the Dragon 100. Our tourists venturing outside of Wales were Toni Howells at Luton, Rhian Casseldine-Foreman at Market Harborough, and Jamie Verran at Eastville. Having just signed up as a member, our speediest teenager in the club’s history, Angelo Doria was second finisher at Maesteg in 18:16 in just his second ever parkrun after running 18:04 at Porthcawl the week before.

A big turnout on the 22nd with 70 members completing parkruns across 16 different locations despite awful weather for late July. Jamie Verran broke the club record with his 32nd different parkrun in a row eclipsing a record held by Dawn Hopkins. Bethan Moor ran her 50th parkrun having started parkrunning as a teenager. Dawn, Sarah Davies and Melanie Thomas tourism took them to Mount Edgcumbe – a parkrun that required getting a ferry to get to the start. Nicky Bennett was first finisher at Maesteg in 20:15 on their 6th year anniversary event. Maesteg must be one of the most inconsistent parkruns in terms of top 10 finishing times as some weeks the entire top 10 are sub 20 with a first finisher of 16/17 minutes and then other weeks like this one, the first finisher is over 20 minutes. Toby and Adam Kearns had the furthest tourism by some distance as they ran Clermont Waterfront parkrun in Florida.

The final weekend of the month saw lots of celebrations with Emyr Bissmire and Carys Cronin having a wedding themed parkrun at Maesteg which was also Carys’ 50th parkrun. Jo Jenkins also ran at Maesteg becoming the first female member of the club to reach 250 parkruns having started parkrunning way back in 2009. Carl Price ran his 100th parkrun at Porthcawl which I’m pretty sure is the first time we’ve ever had 50, 100 and 250 milestones all on the same morning. Dawn Hopkins also ran her 200th parkrun with Blaise Castle her parkrun location. New member Angelo Doria was first finisher at Maesteg in a frighteningly quick 17:38 – only Jacob Tasker has run quicker at Maesteg from our club. A quiet weekend race-wise helped as we had 78 members run across 16 locations which is one of our highest attendances ever.

Races

5K

The start of July saw the second race of the Run4All Aberavon 5K series. 21 members ran the course with Aled Hughes leading the way in 18:41 followed by Gareth Battle and Mark Teesdale both finishing in 18:53. Carys Cronin was our first lady across the line in 23:17. There were PB’s for Teri-Leigh Roche with 29:01 who had run a 10K PB just 4 days earlier, and Laura Worrall in 39:28.

With plenty of flat tarmac 5K’s available during the summer, the Keeper of the Colliery 5K gave our runners something a little different with it’s hilly, part gravelly course. Toby Kearns was our first runner across the line followed by Carys Cronin of the 5 members that ran.

The final race of the Paul Popham Swansea Bay 5K series saw Aled Hughes as our first finisher in 18:36 which secured him top spot in the male veterans for the entire series. Despite being less than 72 hours before his 100 miler, Gareth Richards ran 19:37 with Wayne Hayhurst, Dylan Panting and Connor Panting all finishing just a few seconds back. Sarah Davies was our first female finisher with 16 members running in total.

In the final SSAFA 5K of the 2023 series, Jake broke his own club record by a massive 12 seconds to finish in 15:10. Jamie Verran also got a PB with 18:26 whilst Wayne Hayhurst continued his run of good form and consistent improvement with a 19:27 which was his fastest time in a couple of years.

10K

The second of the month saw what has become one of our most popular races since it’s inception in 2019 – the Porthcawl 10K. We had 59 runners making it the biggest attended 10K since the same event last year when we had 65. Jake Tasker finished 11th overall in a high class field running just outside his PB with a 31:50. Nicky Bennett and Geraint Lewis were our next finishers. There were PB’s for Mark Teesdale, Connor Panting, Tom Mahoney (who agonisingly missed out on a sub 40 by 2 seconds but a huge PB nonetheless) and Ceri Jones. Katie Plimmer followed up her 5K PB a few days earlier with a 10K PB. The PB’s continued with Mike Nicolson-Lewis, Terri-Leigh Roche, Lisa Ryan and Ruth Thomas.

At the Keeper of the Colliery 10K event in Maesteg, Jacob Tasker finished in an outstanding 34:49 on the bumpy course. Katie Plimmer was our first female finisher with 13 members running in total.

We also had the Mic Morris 10K which Sharon Pritchard and Debbie Bennion ran. The race is renowned as a super fast course as it’s almost entirely slightly downhill – however, before anyone gets any ideas, it doesn’t count for PB purposes. David Sheard completed the Cardiff Epic Trail 10K in the month as well.

Other Races

25 members took on the popular Rabbit Run race in Merthyr Mawr. For the second year Jacob Tasker was first overall over 11 minutes ahead of our next finisher Aled Hughes with Connor Panting and Tom Mahoney finishing in under an hour on the multi terrain course. Claire Dunbar-Bowen was our first female finisher. With Vickie Blake as one of the tailwalkers, we had OPR members first and last across the line with several other OPR members also volunteering and supporting at the event. The event was a South Wales Trail Championship race and at the time of typing I think we’re still awaiting confirmation of what individual and team medals may have been won to add to the collections won in previous years.

Marathons and Ultras

Several of our members took on the Tenby Long Course with distances of up to a 2.4 mile swim on the Friday, 112 mile bike on the Saturday and a Marathon on the Sunday. Obviously for this running blog, I’m focusing on the Sunday where Sarah Davies, Paul Barrett, Alexis Barrett and Dawn Hopkins completed the marathon after doing the full swim and bike in the previous days. Kris Denholm was our first finisher in 4:45:58. Deb Edwards, Kaye Pedler and Sian Jenkins all ran marathon PB’s. It was a first marathon for Deborah whilst it was redemption for Kaye who missed out on a PB in Snowdonia by less than a minute last October and smashed it this time by over 22 minutes. Sian’s time beat her previous best set almost 4 years earlier in Snowdonia.

Carl Walsh was racking up yet more marathons and ultras to count towards his goal of joining the 100 marathon club and becoming the first member to achieve that. He ran the 50K distance of the Race to the Stones along with Danny Ridley and also ran the Wye Valley Tunnel Marathon during the month.

New member Simon Poole ran the continuous 100K version of the Race to the Stones whilst Melanie Thomas and Rhian Casseldine-Foreman notched up their 3rd (and arguably 4th) Ultra’s within 3 months with the 100K run split over two days.

Four members took on this years Dragon 100 miler (actually 103 miles). Starting in Rhossili in the Gower, the race follows the coastal path until Baglan and then heads up into the mountains of Afan Forest and Bryn overnight, eventually coming out in Margam Park before heading back to the coast at Kenfig and following the coastal path all the way to the Norweigen Church in Cardiff Bay. Gareth Richards completed the event for the second year in a row and was less than 20 minutes off his time from last year despite having 9 weeks out with injury during April and May. I completed my second 100 miler having done the Centaur 100 last year – this one was 100 times harder and took 5 hours longer. Emma Loyns completed her first 100 miler in 33 hours and 20 minutes. Then, after being pulled out of the race in 2021 and having to drop out just before the 2022 race with injury, Angharad Hinam battled through getting significantly lost early on and only making the half way checkpoint by a few minutes, to eventually finish 20 minutes inside the 34 hour cut off.

BCRL

The first of two BCRL fixtures during July saw us head to Kenfig Nature Reserve to run 5K on the dunes. Bizarrely despite this being our highest attendance at any event in 2022, it was one of our lowest BCRL turnouts in recent years but still outnumbering all other clubs with 62 finishers. Jacob won by a huge margin and several members stepped up and gave great performances with several of our top 10 contenders for the men and women absent. I think we were all a bit shocked that our club won the fixture putting us right back in contention overall. It was also great to see several new members at their first BCRL event including Sian and Sam Spiers.

The second fixture of the month and 5th of the season saw our club host at the Planka. Firstly, a massive congratulations to the race committee and volunteers for putting on another superb event. Somehow we were lucky enough to have the sun shining which was pretty much the only day in the previous couple of weeks that it hadn’t rained. We had 80 finishers with Jacob again winning by a huge margin on the cross country style course measuring a little over 5K. It was one of our best team performances in any BCRL fixture with our top 10 men all finishing in the top 25 overall including new member Angelo Doria who was 5th overall in his first ever competitive race for the club. Our ladies were incredible with our top 10 scorers finishing in the top 37 women overall and beating the leaders going into the event, Bridgend AC. With all our other finishers contributing to the scoring, it meant we won the fixture by a huge margin which moved us to the top of the team standings overall for this first time this season with just 2 fixtures left.

Chair’s Runners of the Month

100 miles.  It’s a long, long way!  When you think about driving it – you consider it a significant distance.  When you think about it on foot, many would shy away from even considering the start line.  There are some within our midst who have the right mindset and resilience to tackle this epic journey.  Whilst many of them have been celebrated in these posts recently for other achievements, one has not.  Someone who has faced this challenge before and it wasn’t to be.  Many would turn away from the challenge at this point, but in this case that is very much not the case.  Back to the drawing board to replan the quest.  To revisit what went awry the first time and address it.  Refocus.  Training once again and following a process that will get to the finish line.  It was a hard fought battle again but there was a dogged determination to succeed.  One foot in front of the other.  Never giving up.  Coming close to the cutoffs but getting there.  Never beaten and marching over the finish line in time to celebrate a victory and demonstrating, like all who take on this challenge, that the body is capable of amazing things.  For coming back to do it again and showing the will to succeed, my first Chair’s Runner of the Month for July is Anghard Hinam.  Well done Angharad – what’s next?

As you know, everything we do revolves around running – but it’s one of my favourite phrases to say that “it’s so much more than running”.  Supporting is big on that list of the extras and we always do it so well – with fabulous supporters throughout our midst.  When someone is injured, they often support.  Many run and support.  It’s ingrained in our own personal constituion.  Not a requirement – but an inbuilt passion for helping others.  Some go the extra mile in the pursuit of helping others.  Selfless acts – jumping in and taking part when team members are unavailable.  Multi-discipline events where equipment is required – collecting it and travelling long distance to fill the gap.  All the while attending events, league and otherwise, and giving it their all. Participation and support and all the while not shouting it from the rooftops – just getting on with it.  It took a long while for this member to succumb to joining – but we’re so glad he did.  Championing others while quickly becoming embroiled in club culture.  I am delighted to announce that my second Chair’s Runner of the Month for July as Peter Evans.  Well done Pete and thank you for your continued support of others and great committment to your running!

Since the inaugural in July 2017, we’ve had 237 runners registered under OPR that have completed 2,810 runs at Maesteg parkrun. Our club make up nearly 10% of all finishes at Maesteg in their 221 events to date. Just to note that these figures do include some juniors and some former members. At that inaugural, we had 35 runners who were members at the time – 30 of which are still members.

Most parkruns at Maesteg

1. Aled Hughes 107
2. Niki Puleio 106
3. Nicky Bennett 90
4. Tom Mahoney 89
5. Kris Denholm 86
6. Toby Kearns 75
7. Dai Kembery 72
8. Emyr Bissmire 62
9. Peter Walsh 57
10. Denise Bradley 57

 Keith Coleman and Adam Kearns have run at Maesteg on 50 occasions whilst Carys Cronin, Sally Pensom and Alison Allen all have over 40 runs at Maesteg.

Highest percentage of total parkruns at Maesteg (for those with over 25 runs there) 

1. Tom Mahoney (89/94) 94.7%
2. Emyr Bissmire (62/67) 92.5%
3. Carys Cronin (45/49) 91.8%
4. Ben Batchelor (33/36) 91,7%
5. Arwen Rees (35/39) 89.7%
6. Nicky Bennett (90/101) 89.1%
7. Jacob Tasker (35/41) 85.4%
8. Scott Gray (29/35) 82.9%
9. Adam Kearns (55/69) 79.7%

 There’s quite a big drop off after that so it’s mainly these 9 that are the ‘Maesteg or nothing’ runners. 

Maesteg first finishers

1. Jacob Tasker 35
2. Niki Puleio 10
3. Nicky Bennett 8
4. Josh Parry 6
5. Toby Kearns 4
6. Gareth Richards 2
7. Rhys Williams 2
8. Kyle Blackmore / Steve Holloway / Kris Denholm / James Littlewood / Gareth Battle / Tom Mahoney / Aled Hughes / Adam Kearns / Jamie Verran / Wayne Hayhurst

 We also had Neil Jones and Adrian Pearce as first finishers when they were members of the club meaning there’s been around 80 times that there’s been an OPR member first across the line at Maesteg.

Female first finishers

1. Carys Cronin 5
2. Claire Dunbar-Bowen 4
3. Sarah Davies 2
4. Sarah Wilkes 2
5. Sian Price / Sarah Littlewood / Juliet Amner / Bethan Moor 1

 Fastest Maesteg PB’s (Male)

1. Jacob Tasker 16:12
2. Nicky Bennett 17:53
3. Josh Parry 18:27
4. Niki Puleio 18:30
5. Gareth Richards 18:57
6. Rhys Williams 18:59
7. Toby Kearns 19:07
8. Gareth Battle 19:13
9. Aled Hughes 19:16
10. John Burridge 19:20

 We have another 5 current members who have run sub 20 at Maesteg – Jamie Verran, James Littlewood, Adam Kearns, Dylan Panting and Wayne Hayhurst. 

Fastest Maesteg PB’s (Female) 

1. Sarah Wilkes 21:23
2. Bethan Moor 23:01
3. Claire Dunbar-Bowen 23:04
4. Freya Allen 23:08
5. Sarah Littlewood 23:29
6. Carys Cronin 23:36
7. Willow Hughes 23:52
8. Alison Allen 24:18
9. Kate Lee 24:37
10. Dawn Hopkins 24:37

 Top age grade percentages 

1. Jacob Tasker 79.63%
2. Gareth Richards 77.22%
3. Niki Puleio 75.02%
4. Kris Denholm 75.02%
5. Aled Hughes 74.13%
6. Gareth Battle 74.10%
7. Denise Bradley 73.78%
8. Jason Griffiths 73.20%
9. Keith Coleman 72.15%
10. Nicky Bennett 72.13%

 Judith Jeeves, Claire Dunbar-Bowen and Freya Allen would be the next ladies. 

Age Category Records at Maesteg (noting any in the top 5) 

SM20-24 – 1^st – Jacob Tasker 16:36

SM25-29 – 1^st – Jacob Tasker 16:12 / 3^rd – Nicky Bennett 17:53

VM50-54 – 2^nd – Gareth Richards 19:13

VM55-59 – 4^th – Kris Denholm 20:29 

JW15-17 – 5th – Freya Allen 23:08 (before joining club)

SW18-19 – 4th – Willow Hughes 23:52

SW20-24 – 3^rd – Sarah Wilkes 22:06

SW25-29 – 5^th – Sarah Wilkes 21:23

VW55-59 – 4^th – Denise Bradley 24:50

VW60-64 – 4^th – Denise Bradley 25:56 

Biggest OPR attendances at Maesteg 

1. 11^th September 2021 – 45 (Dai Kembery’s 250th parkrun)
2. 24^th December 2022 – 43 (multiple club milestones / Christmas theme)
3. 3^rd August 2019 – 41 (I think this was the morning before a Beer Mile and everyone was dressed up – not sure what the occasion was though)

Volunteering at Maesteg parkrun

1. Stephne Puddy 183
2. Sian Jenkins 66
3. Kris Denholm 41
4. Nicky Bennett 37
5. Tom Mahoney 32

Emma Marshall who was a member of our club until this year has the most volunteer credits at Maesteg with 200. Over the years there’s been several OPR takeovers where 20+ volunteer roles have been filled by our members so it’s easily the parkrun that has had the most different number of OPR members that have volunteered there at least once.

If you haven’t been to Maesteg parkrun before, then come along sometime soon. It’s one of the most friendliest, welcoming parkruns around and you’ll be sure to see a Phoenix or two along the way.

parkruns

We kicked off the month with 71 runners across 16 different parkrun locations. John Burridge was our fastest runner of the day with a 18:58 at Porthcawl parkrun whilst Jamie Verran picked up a first finisher token at Pontypool parkrun in 19:32. Tourism included Saul Harris at Eden Project and Julie Greenman at Bideford.

A couple of days later saw the opportunity to get two extra parkruns in with special days in Denmark and Sweden. If you weren’t aware, parkrun lets each country have a couple of ‘special days’ where they can put on parkruns outside of the usual Saturday. In the UK, it’s Christmas Day and New Years Day but some other countries have theirs on other national bank holidays. This obviously peaked the interest of Johnson’s parkrun Tours with Karl arranging for Nick Harris, Vickie Blake, David Cooper and Satera James along with himself to visit Amager Strandpark parkun in Denmark on the Monday and then Vaxjosjon parkrun in Sweden on the Tuesday.

The second weekend saw 50 members running across 15 parkruns including Carl Walsh running at North Beach parkrun in South Africa ahead of the Comrades Marathon. The reduced turnout was largely due to Welsh Castles also being that weekend as well as Swansea Half Marathon the next day.

Numbers were back up slightly the week after with 57 members running across 12 different parkrun locations. Toby Kearns led home a OPR top 3 at Maesteg parkrun with Willow Hughes also first female finisher there. Aled Hughes became the first member to run 100 parkruns at two different locations with his 100th at Porthcawl to add to his 100+ at Maesteg.

The final Saturday of the month saw another increase with 65 runners across 15 parkrun locations. At Maesteg, Nicky Bennett was running his 100th parkrun whilst it was the 100th parkrun for Toni Howells with Porthcawl his chosen venue.

Races

5K

The first race of the Aberavon / Run4All 5K series saw a huge turnout of 31 members making up 15% of the field. Our first finisher was Aled Hughes closely followed by John Burridge and Emyr Bissmire. Our top ladies were Claire Dunbar-Bowen, Carys Cronin and Denise Bradley.

At the second race of the Swansea Bay 5K series we had 23 runners. Aled Hughes was our first member back in 18:04 and also won the veteran age category prize with Claire Dunbar-Bowen picking up 3rd for the ladies veterans.

At the second race of the SSAFA 5K series in Cardiff, Jake matched his PB of 15:22 running exactly the same time has he did at the same event a month earlier! There were also impressive performances from Jamie Verran with a 18:55 and Katie Plimmer who ran a PB of 22:31.

Half Marathons

We had 18 runners at a very hot Swansea Half Marathon where Jake matched his 2021 performance by finishing 4th overall, but ran an even quicker time, lowering his own club record to 1:09:35! It was 24 minutes before our next runner crossed the line with Daniel Jenkins finishing in what most of us would consider to be a very speedy 1;33:31. I was one of the official 1:50 pacers at the event whilst Gail Newell was one of the tail runners. Emma Loyns was the first female finisher for our club in 1:52.

There were a couple of other half marathons in the month with Jade B running the Run Walk Crawl Dare Half Marathon. Steph Dyke and Nigel Hitchings completed the challenging Cheddar Gorge Half Marathon.

Marathons and Ultras

Three members took on three different challenging marathons during the month with Carl Walsh completing the Black Mountains Marathon, Chris Richards at the Giants Head Marathon, and Liz Sim at the Dare Valley Marathon.

It was a busy month for Ultra’s with Mel Thomas and Rhiain Casseldine-Foreman running the Battle of Brampton Valley Way Ultra. Dai James completed the VOGUM which starts in Porthcawl and finishes in Cardiff (basically the reverse of the Vale Ultra with an additional 8 or so miles). Then Dai was back in action just two weeks later along with Denise Bradley as they took on the Race to the Kings 100K over two days. Both had similar experiences with day one going really well but niggles on day two making it very challenging but both finishing nevertheless.

I’m saving what I consider the best for last as Carl Walsh ran the Comrades ‘Marathon’. For those reading this that aren’t familiar, although it’s called a marathon, it’s actually 55 miles and is the oldest and biggest participated ultra in the world. It runs from point to point in South Africa with a significant amount of elevation and different medals depending on what time you finish it.

Other races

Kierran Spiers ran at the Caerlon 5 miler. Aled Hughes and Nick Harris ran at the 3 mile event of the Cardiff Summer Series. Danny Ridley completed the 23K Maverick Forest of Dean trail event.

Rack Raid

This was the third year the club had been invited to enter Rack Raid having first done it in 2019 and then again last year in 2022 with the years in between being cancelled due to the pandemic. It was the second year we had two teams and with lots of runners signed up for Welsh Castles the following week, the captains group thought it would be a good opportunity for others to be part of the team that hadn’t done it before. In the end we had quite a range with 15 members running it for the first time, 9 running it for the second time and just myself and wifey Jo making it 3 out of 3. Jake won his half marathon stage for the second year in a row in a quicker time than last year and only just missing out on the course record. Our A team finished 10th overall out of 28 teams with a combined time of 12 hours 42 minutes and 3 seconds which was within 6 minutes of what we achieved in 2019 and 2022 which were just seconds apart. Team B finished in 27th place in 15:09:57. Another great day although I do wish they were turn the temperature down as every year has been hotter and hotter.

Welsh Castles

Finally, after 10 years, we finally entered and completed a Welsh Castles Relay. A huge effort particularly from ladies captain Dawn Hopkins and men’s vice captain Nicky Bennett in finally getting this off the ground and hopefully setting us up to do this year after year. There was a huge build up to this event behind the scenes for months before the excitement really built in the week leading up to it with team photo’s, lots of posts and a profile on every runner by our Insta queen Jayne Bissmire.

As for the event itself, 20 of our top runners became pioneers and wrote themselves in the history books as they each took their turn over the two day event to run their allocated stage. The competition was fierce with top clubs from around the UK, not just Wales competing. We held our own and finished in a combined time of 25:30:09 for 39th out of 66 teams.

BCRL

The third fixture of the season took us to Rest Bay where we had 84 finishers lead home by overall winner Jake Tasker, taking his 9th BCRL victory and making it 10 in a row that have been won by an OPR member. Our top 10 runners had crossed the line with just 19:04 on the race clock for the 3 mile race. The distance had been extended from past years to add in a section around Pink Bay with the tides just about working out but everyone getting very wet feet nonetheless. A solid performance from our ladies, plus another big turnout meant that although we only finished 3rd in the team standings, we lost very little ground to Bridgend and are still in contention overall.

Over to Chris for this months Chair’s Runners of the Month decisions.

Chair’s Runners of the Month

It becomes increasingly difficult to choose winners for these accolades as all our members do fabulous things daily – but choose I must and so here are my choices for June 2023.

Commitment and dedication.  These are traits that are highly praised, but it’s very important to acknowledge that we all have periods where we fall away.  When the desire wanes or the focus shifts.  We need something at those times to inspire and lift – to resurrect that commitment and to our journey.  It comes in many forms and quite often we don’t know what it is – we just feel the uplift and ride on the back of it to a more consistent running routine.  This year I’ve noticed one in our midst had started to find focus again.  Posts were increasingly positive and runs were consistently spaced with races popping up in increasing number.  Clearly enjoyment has been steadily returning for some time and the uplift has been apparent and led to epic races completed with a smile and celebration.  Times have naturally improved as pressure was removed from the expectation with June seeing podium finishes.  Massively impressive but even more so is learning that throwing off the shackles can create the ability to improve by just being relaxed at the start.  Much more to come and many more happy smiling race pictures!!  I’m delighted to announce my first Chair’s Runner of the Month for June as Claire Dunbar-Bowen.  Well done Claire – keep up the fabulous running!!

I’ve often said you don’t have to run fast or long to make a mark.  Heading out of the door is achievement enough to secure a round of applause – and recognition for this accolade may I add!  But, those who do run long, or fast, often get the plaudits – especially when the commitment to training has been worthy of celebration.  The outcome is the thing that we recognise, but the hard work is often the weeks of hard graft following a process that you can finally trust in when the start line is reached.  A local event along the coast woos many of us to take part every year, but one in the opposite direction this year had one member zooming along the 40 miles for a top ten finish!  Not only that but then two weeks later tackling a back-to-back ultra event totalling 100km.  While on day two he felt the pinch, the outcome was a celebration of a commitment to training that gave him the strength of body and mind to complete both tasks.  Impressive stuff!  I’m thrilled to announce my second Chair’s Runner of the Month for June as Dai James.  Keep sharing the journey Dai!!

parkruns

The first weekend of the month saw 67 of our members across an incredible record breaking 18 different parkrun venues. Our number 1 tourist, Chris Roberts has obviously made such an impression on the parkrun tourist world that he’s had a parkrun named after him and visited Roberts park parkrun for the first time. Our fastest runner of the day was Toby Kearns who ran an impressive 18:51 at Cardiff parkrun.

The second parkrunday of the month saw 67 members (again) but this time across 16 different parkrun venues. Bethan Moor was first female finisher at Sandy Water whilst we had a rare double at Maesteg parkrun with Toby Kearns and Carys Cronin first male and female finishers.

The third Saturday saw an slight increase with 71 members across 14 parkruns. Jo and I visited one of the toughest parkruns in the UK, Woolacombe Dunes where I can now claim the club course record in a speedy 30:49! Trust me, it was hard work just to run 9 minutes slower than my fastest time this year. Much more impressively, Jacob Tasker broke the course record and was first finisher at Coed Cefn-Pwll-du in 17:00 which is actually in the top 10 toughest parkruns in the UK. There were lots of visits to Coed Cefn during May by our members as it was part of the trail club championships. Aled Hughes ran a parkrun PB of 18:19 finishing 3rd overall at Porthcawl parkrun whilst Nicky Bennett was first overall at Maesteg.

The number increased again for the final weekend of the month with 76 across 16 different parkrun locations. There was a big turnout with 35 club members at Porthcawl on another sunny bank holiday weekend. Jamie Verran ran in Zuiderpark parkrun in Amsterdam as he continues his streaks of not missing a parkrun since he started. On the Monday, there was a extra parkrunday in the Netherlands where he did Delftse Hout parkrun and has now broke the club record for most different parkrun tourists in a row with 23.

Races

5K

May marks the start of about 20+ 5K races located between Cardiff and Swansea over the next few months and we started off with some amazing performances and PB’s.

The Race for Victory 5K is arguably the fastest of them all with PB’s galore every year that our members have attended. This year was no exception with Nicky Bennett running an incredible mind-blowing 15:59 PB followed by PB performances from Toby Kearns (17:46), Aled Hughes (17:47), Dylan Panting (18:20), Emyr Bissmire (18:26), Adam Kearns (18:49) and Rhodri Thomas (19:08). Carys Cronin joined only a handful of women in the clubs history to run sub 22 with a 21:57 PB. Denise Bradley ran 24:35 to break the club’s female over 60 record and run what I believe is her fastest 5K in around 4 years.

No PB’s on offer at a windy Paul Popham Swansea Bay 5K which was the first of a series of 3 races. Possibly the best value race of the year as although £12 might be more than some other 5K’s, runners were presented with a burger, bottle of beer and leftover Swansea 10K tech t-shirts from last year. There were 24 in attendance for this one with Nicky Bennett leading us home in 4th place overall followed by Aled Hughes and John Burridge. Sarah Davies was our first female followed by Denise Bradley and Jo Jenkins.

This month also saw the Samtampa Memorial 5K in Porthcawl. A first time event raising money for the RLNI which saw 7 of our runners complete. I believe it more than 5K but including in this section for ease.

10K’s

We had 9 runners at the Caerphilly 10K where Jake lead our runners home in a new club record time of 31:45. Geriant Lewis ran 35:36 whilst Aled Hughes just missed out on another PB with 37:36.

We had 7 runners at Treforest 10K where Jake Tasker ran 32:11 which is the second fastest 10K in club history behind his record at Caerphilly this month. Katie Plimmer ran a PB of 48:50 for her second 10K PB already this year.

During the month, we also had Abbi Lumsden run the Great Bristol 10K and Dawn Hopkins run the Gorseinon 10K.

Half Marathons

Our largest attended Half of the month was 6 members running at the Weston Super Half including long term supporter Alison Allen running her first event for the club. We had 4 runners at the Bristol Half with Jay and Toni Howells adding Half Marathon PB’s to their Marathon PB’s at Manchester a few weeks before. It was a 20 minute PB for Toni from his time in Cardiff Half just 7 months before.

Elsewhere, Jake won the Welsh Trail Running Championship Half Marathon event, Danny Ridley was first finisher at the Limitless Blacks Half, and Melanie Thomas completed a ‘long’ half in Brecon with some crazy elevation and technical terrain.

Marathons

Carl Walsh and Danny Ridley completed the Blacks to the Beacons Marathon whilst Carl also did another Brecon Trail Marathon in the month. We had 6 runners at the inaugural Rob Burrows Leeds Marathon where Carl was in action again with Danny. Denise Bradley, Chris Pratt, Ian Lewis and Helen Griffiths also ran the marathon raising vital funds for MND.

Other distance races

Jake Tasker took the overall win at Porthkerry 5 miler running 28:09. That smashed one of the longest standing club record which had stood for 7 years. The marathon is the only club record Jake doesn’t have and if he can get that one, then he’ll become the first runner in the 10+ year history of the club to hold every distance record from 5K to Marathon. We had 6 other runners at the 5 miler with Chris Pratt, Mark Teesdale, Katie Plimmer, Fiona Drysdale, Sharon Pritchard and Debbie Bennion.

There were a few short speedy races in May with Aled Hughes running both the 1 mile and 2 mile Cardiff Summer Series events. We had 7 runners at the Bannister Mile with Nicky Bennett running 4:43 which is the fastest official mile time recorded for the club. Incredibly our ‘slowest’ runner came in at 5:43 so that particular event attracted the very top end of our club although just to note for next year, it is open to all abilities.

We had a couple of hilly races with the aptly named Pentyrch Hill race which returned for the first time since 2019 with Mark Teesdale, Aled Hughes and Nick Harris running that one. Kevin Raymond took on the Cader Idris Mountain Race which includes an eye watering 3,000 feet of elevation in just 11 miles.

Emma Loyns took on arguably the toughest race in the history of the club with the Snowdonia UTS 100K which has 21,000 feet of elevation over the 64 mile course with some of the toughest and steepest terrain anywhere in the world. Just to make it that extra bit tougher, it was unusually hot for Snowdonia and unfortunately Emma had to pull out around half way have done 33 miles and over 11,000 feet of elevation due to heat exhaustion. There was a significant drop out rate including runners who had previously completely the UTMB which is widely renowned as the ‘World Championship’ of Ultra Running and one of the toughest mountain races on earth.

BCRL

This month saw the second fixture of the BCRL with Pencoed the venue for a cross country style event. As they were for the first running of this fixture last year, conditions were very hot. Jake Tasker won the event by some distance with Geraint Lewis second making it a 1-2 for Ogmore Phoenix. Our top 10 male runners all finished in the top 20 and a great performance from our ladies combined with a huge turnout of 89 meant that we were within 7 points of Bridgend who won the event in the club competition.

Over to Chris for his Chair’s Runners of the Month

Passion.  Focus.  Dedication.  Commitment.  Heart!  All positive and things that we all aspire to in our training and our running.  Often driven by a cause.  Mix with that excitement.  Some exude it when they’re driven.  Emotions become a part of the fire that burns within.  Sometimes we read it on a face.  Sometimes we hear it in the voice as the journey is recalled.  Outwardly displaying that excitement and passion is infectious.  It feeds into the soul of those around looking on.  Motivation follows and others find themselves taking a path that mimics that excitement – we get drawn in!  I am incredibly inspired by the positivity and excitement of others and watching recent achievements has added weight to that inspiration.  Having represented the club at the London Marathon this year, she was incredibly humble and overflowing with excitement.  Driven by a cause it was a fabulous build up to the race and then an emotional journey around the streets of the capital creating memories that will last a lifetime.  The whole process was inspiring and just the start of a year-long challenge to raise valuable funds for a worthy cause.  So inspired by the commitment to it.  Huge well done to my Chairman’s Female Runner of the Month for May as Shelley Evans.  Keep the focus and smash the challenge out of the park!

parkrun is a love for many of us.  We’ve all had it in our lives to varying degree.  Some dip their toe in and some just launch headlong into the throng and get completely absorbed by everything it has to give.  That detail could be attributed to many within the blue wave, that’s certainly true, but to project to such commitment from a standing start is incredible to see.  A passion for moving around.  A serial tourist – including jumping on a plane and visiting foreign climes.  Every week a different venue.  Every week a different location.  Each time sharing the experience.  With family often in tow for support it’s been a fabulous journey to observe and be a part of.  Reporting back on endeavours and hitting quicker times than ever before along the way.  All of this with an excitement that exudes and inspires.  I’m sure it will continue as he gets drawn in by other weekly challenges under the parkrun umbrella and we look forward to following all future antics.  Keep up the good work Jamie Verran, my Chairman’s Male Runner of the month for May!

parkruns

With this month having 5 parkrundays we saw some huge overall numbers for the month with 347 parkrun finishes across 67 parkruns.

The first weekend of the month saw 58 members running across 12 different parkrun locations. Our leading tourist Chris Roberts added another venue to his list with Crystal Palace. Linda Harris ran her 100th parkrun whilst visiting Newport parkrun. There was a big turnout at Maesteg where several members were celebrating birthdays and Carys Cronin was first female. Newly returning member Dai James was 3rd overall at Porthcawl.

The second weekend was huge. A club record 95 members ran a parkrun beating our old record of 85 on a single Saturday. This came down to several factors – good weather,, Porthcawl parkruns 10 year anniversary celebrations, our latest Zero to Hero graduation at Porthcawl, plus lots of people taking the long Easter weekend to go away and do some tourism. We had 55 runners at Porthcawl which surprisingly isn’t a record but still a huge turnout and included over half a dozen new members completing their first 5K with lots of members coming out to support. Nicky Bennett was also first finisher. There was a presentation afterwards at the Hi Tide where there was a celebration of 10 years of parkrun and where I spoke on behalf of the club having been involved since the start… and because Chris was away.

That second weekend saw Julie Ransom run a parkrun in Amsterdam, Alun Wylde ran at Clermont parkrun in Florida, leading tourist Chris Roberts notch up another new venue, Liam O’Sullivan ran a PB at Brynaman and Jacob Tasker was first finisher at Maesteg.

Weekend 3 saw a big drop in numbers due to the Vale races being the same day but our 46 runners were still spread across 14 different parkruns including Karl Johnson at Amsterdam Bos parkrun. John Burridge clocked the fastest time of the day with a 18:57 at Swansea Bay parkrun.

Weekend 4 saw the numbers return with 81 parkrunners across 15 different events. There was a huge turnout at Maesteg for multiple birthday celebrations including Tammie Baker who despite taking a tumble and having to stop for 10+ minutes, still finished the parkrun. New member Bethan Moor was first lady at Maesteg. Kris Denholm was the only one of our London Marathon runners to get in a parkrun whilst in the big city.

The final weekend of the month saw 67 members across 14 different events. Nicky Bennett was first finisher in Maesteg where we had the top 3 finishers. Jamie Verran was 3rd at Severn Bridge parkrun as he continues both his tourism streak and this month made it a entire year of not missing a parkrun. Despite all the different venues, we only two runners outside of Wales with Adam Kearns at Southampton where they had over 1000 runners and Chris Roberts at Harlow.

Races

The first weekend of the month saw four of our members take on the Great Welsh Marathon. Wayne Hayhurst who I believe first ran the event more than 10 years ago completed the course in 4:20. Alun Job was one of the official pacers and finished in just over 4:45. Heather Morgan ran her first marathon just a year after supporting at the same event whilst on crutches. Gail Newell also ran her first marathon since joining the club. In the Half Marathon, I was the official 2 hour pacer coming in at 1:59:50.

On the same weekend, Jacob Tasker was third at the Forest of Dean Half Marathon in an outstanding 1:13:15 which was part of the British Trail Running Championships. Jade B and Katie Plimmer bagged PB’s at the event whilst Chris Collin, Melanie Thomas and Elizabeth Sim all also completed the course. We had 6 runners at the London Landmarks Half Marathon on the same day. We also had Rob and Emma Loyns at Southampton where Rob ran the Half Marathon in just over 2 hours, whilst Emma bagged herself a PB of 3:56:43 and first sub 4 hour marathon after narrowly missing out in London last year. Impressive considering the past few weeks have included marathons or ultras pretty much every weekend.

Carl Walsh was back in action at the Beast of Beacons 40 mile ultra. Another super tough event with crazy amounts of elevation after doing the Beast of the Blacks 40 miler the previous month. Carl later went on to run the Inca Trail Marathon in Peru which is one of the toughest marathons in the world. It ticked off his 6th different continent in his quest to run a marathon on all 7.

Jay Howells and Toni Howells both ran PB’s at the Manchester Marathon with a first sub 4 clocking for Jay and a debut marathon time of 4:31 for Toni.

Melanie Thomas and new member Rhiain Casseldine-Forman ran the Wye Valley Ultra in 10:21:35.

Several members took on the Pentrych Hill Race. The race is classified as a fell race with a couple of very steep inclines to test the runners over the 7 mile course.

The final weekend of the month saw Jake Tasker win the Red Kite Trail Half Marathon which was the official Welsh Trail Half Marathon Championship Race therefore earning him yet more medals and trophies.

Carl Walsh and new member Danny Ridley took on yet another bonkers long distance trail event with the Black to the Beacons Trail Marathon which included well over 5,000 feet of elevation for his 83rd career marathon.

Liz Sim took on the longest ultra anyone in the club has ever entered. The Thames Ring 250. 250 miles! No overnight accomodation, the clock starts and you have 100 hours to complete it. After amazing preparation and hundreds of miles of training, it didnt go to plan for Liz as she had to drop out after over 100 miles due to not being able to eat/ drink. Lots of us dot watched her progress in absolute awe and have no doubt we’ll see Liz attempting something equally huge in the coming months / years.

We also had by far the fastest race of the year at the Race to Victory 5K around Whitchurch in Cardiff where we had 16 members running. Nicky Bennett became on the second runner in the clubs history to run sub 16 minutes with a 15:59. Toby Kearns ran 17:46 with Aled Hughes one second behind in PB times for both. Dylan Panting and Emyr Bissmire smashed their PB’s with 18:20 and 18:26 respectively whilst it was a similar story for Adam Kearns with his first sub 19 run of 18:49. Carys Cronin ran a PB of 21:57 to become the first female member of the club to run under 22 minutes in over 6 months. Arwen Rees ran a Flyers qualifying PB of 24:53.

Vale races

We had our usual big turnout at the Vale races with plenty of supporters out in force as well at the OPR gazebo that was set up in it’s usual spot just before the finish line in Ogmore by Sea. We had 5 runners in the 10 mile event where Jade B was first lady for the second year in a row and also 5th overall. Our new Runners Runner, Laura Worrall knocked over 30 minutes off her previous time on the course. We had 19 runners in the 18.5 miler with Katie Plimmer setting a new female club course record with 3:41:25. Linda Harris was our final finisher in her longest official event. In the 32/34 Ultra, we had 12 runners with first time ultra runner Carl Price coming in with a speedy 5:18. Emma Loyns broke 7 hours for the 3rd time and remains the only female member of the club to achieve that. Liz Sim was just 42 seconds away from joining her in that sub 7 hour club. Paul Barrett, Phil Iveson, Kaye Pedler and Jo Jenkins all completed their first ultra marathons.

Newport 10K and Marathon

A day after the Vale races we had 11 runners in the Newport Marathon and 17 in the 10K. The only person crazy enough to be involved in both was Emma Loyns who was pacing 60 minutes at Newport a day (or actually about 15 hours after finishing her 32 mile ultra). In the 10K Nicky Bennett ran an outstanding 33:44 PB which saw him get plenty of airtime on the S4C highlights as he was up alongside the top couple of female finishers that they were following on the coverage. New member Dylan Panting ran a new PB with a sub 40 clocking. Deb Edwards and Nicola Baker also bagged themselves PB’s in the 10K.

In the marathon there was excitement throughout as Aled Hughes was aiming for a sub 3 hour marathon and had been training hard throughout the year. He started alongside returning member Dai James and the two of them went through half way still on for that sub 3 hour time. Dai unfortunately couldn’t maintain the pace but still finished in an unbelievable 3:06:27 – frustratingly just a few seconds shy of a PB. For Aled, it came down to the final couple of miles… his time… 3:00:37! Gutted to miss that sub 3 but nevertheless an absolutely incredible performance and a 28 minute PB from a marathon time that had stood since 2015. There were remarkable debut marathons from the Kearns brothers with Toby coming in at 3:17:42 and Adam coming in at 3:26:42. The rapid improvement from both over the last 12-18 months has been inspiring. In fact, Toby’s 5K splits during the marathon were faster than his parkrun PB just a year or so ago. Martin Beard, Alun Job, Sian Thomas, Liam O’Sullivan and Leanne Parsons also ran their fastest marathon times since being in the club with Wayne Hayhurst our other runner.

London Marathon

We had 14 runners in the race this year with a mix of first timers and a couple on their 3rd time around the course. Paul Smith ran 2:59:00 which was less than a minute off a PB but a second sub 3 in as many marathons. Niki Puleio who ran 2:54:38 in the Boston Marathon just 6 days earlier and only flew into the UK the day before the race, ran 3:03:09. His average time for the 2 marathons in the same week was 2:58:53! First time marathoner and recent ‘Most Improved Male’ winner, Emyr Bissmire ran 3:16:10 to put himself up with the Kearns brothers on the impressive marathon debut front. Claire Dunbar-Bowen and Emma Loyns ran together until just after halfway and bagged themselves PB’s of 3:46:07 and 3:53:50 respectively. Claire’s time being the fastest female marathon time of a current club member whilst Emma’s PB is mind-blowing when you consider she ran a marathon PB just 3 weeks earlier and ran a 32/34 mile Ultra just 8 days before the event. Kris Denholm was just a couple of minutes off his PB with the club with a 3:48. There were huge PB’s for Chris Richards, Kate Lee, Carol Bartle, Rob Loyns, Jonathan Tidball, Stephne Puddy and Shelley Evans with our final finisher being Andrew Hughes.

BCRL returns

The Bridgend County Running League returned with a slightly earlier start in the year than usual and a change in the order with Sandy Bowl as the first fixture. We had a phenomenal turnout with 95 members including several first timers to the league and including a couple of the recently graduated Zero to Hero’s. Conditions didn’t quite suggest late April as we stood shivering at the start and had strong winds and rain during the race itself. Despite that, there were amazing performances throughout the field with dozens of members running their fastest 5K times along the way on the 5.1K course. Despite Jacob taking it easy (by his standards), we still had the overall winner with Nicky Bennett claiming first place extending our run of having the first finisher to the last 8 BCRL fixtures. With a change to the scoring it meant our ladies made a bigger contribution than ever and there were some superb runs throughout with Sarah Wilkes our first female finisher. In the Team scoring, Bridgend finished first with our club not too far behind and then Porthcawl in 3rd in what is shaping up to be a very close and exciting season.

AGM

April also saw the club’s AGM where it was great to hear the chairman’s report which highlighted many of the successes over the past year including of course that BCRL win. Lots of thanks given to all the elected members and volunteers. The only change in roles was Nicky Bennett becoming Male vice-captain with Nick Harris stepping down after several years as part of the team. Nicky has played a massive part in getting the club into Welsh Castles for the first time and has also rallied the troops for XC over the past couple of seasons so will fit into the role perfectly.

What a month – 8 different marathons in 4 different countries – 4 different ultra marathons – 10 year parkrun celebrations – Zero to Hero graduations – 95 runners at the first BCRL fixture – a Welsh Championship win – super fast 5K PB’s. This month saw a massive 263 race finishes which is our highest since May 2022 which included 2 BCRL fixtures.

Chair’s Runners of the Month

Running consistently well at distance is tough.  It takes time, focus and dedication.  It means keeping your body in a state where it can just go again and again.  Big challenges require big commitment.  Sometimes there are sacrifices due to avoidance of things that might upset the balance and prevent the completion of a challenge – especially when it’s something that’s been shared and for a cause.  Last year was like that for one of our midst and it was completed with focus.  It’s often the case when running through a purple patch that we hanker to extend it.  While running in form, there’s a desire to keep that form and continue as long as we can.  Such has been the case here with additional long distance events appearing on the calendar long after the ultimate finish line has been crossed.  Long distance completed with smiles and jumps.  New times being set at ultras and marathons just weeks apart.  Endurance on display and admired for every step.  Huge well done to my Female Runner of the Month for April – Emma Loyns!  Well done Emma – keep up the good work!  I’m writing this is she builds up to a bigger, longer and even more challenging endurance event with sights on even more on the horizon!  Fabulous!

What can I say?  We’ve admired distance and now it’s time to look at another metric for measuring success.  Time.  It’s not the be all and end all of everything but it’s the most celebrated common denominator.  We all run for different reasons and I’m a huge advocate of celebrating every element of endeavour – as is demonstrated by the spread of this award.  However, I always will also consider time and performance as one measure when it particularly catches my eye.  Even more so when it makes someone jump for joy with their own achievements.  I’ve seen it many times where injuries have been respected and allowed to heal – giving the body a suitable period of recovery.  When sensibly observed it often leads to a stronger return.  Focused.  Committed.  Working hard to achieve – whatever they themselves class achievement to be.  In this case it’s times and they are starting to tumble.  First place finishes.  Breaking new ground and setting times that many of us can only dream of.  Incredible impressive stuff.  Huge well done to my Chairman’s Runner of the Month for April – Nicky Bennett!  Huge well done Nicky – keep pushing and keep inspiring us with your commitment!

The club at Porthcawl parkrun

355 different runners are currently listed as Ogmore Phoenix Runners and have completed the course at least once (this does include a few juniors). This is the most of any club. Those 355 runners have completed 9,642 Porthcawl parkruns between them.

The inaugural and record attendance growth

Although not all had joined the club at the time, current members who ran at the inaugural Porthcawl parkrun on 13th April 2013 include David Sheard, Chris Pratt, Peter Harrop, John Burridge and myself.

There were 134 runners in total at the first Porthcawl parkrun and the average for the first year was only around 100. By the end of 2015, there were regularly 200+, then 300+ in 2016 before a huge record attendance of 425 on Christmas Eve that year. In January 2020, there were 667 finishers which remains a record. Numbers were significantly lower after returning from the parkrun pause but are now around the 400 mark again.

Most individual Porthcawl parkruns

I believe the record for most Porthcawl parkruns in held by Michael Davies (Porthcawl Runners) who has completed all of his 391 parkruns at Porthcawl despite serious illness during that time.

As for our runners, our top 10 for most Porthcawl parkruns are…

1. Nick Harris 323
2. David Sheard 295
3. Chris Pratt 293
4. Gareth Jenkins 255
5. Peter Harrop 227
6. David Kembery 212
7. Claire Goldsworthy 204
8. Chris Roberts 176
9. Liz Davis 175
10. Bev Sheard 162

Gareth Davies, Angharad Rees, Ian Lewis, Debbie Bennion, Ben Davies, Kris Denholm, Sharon Pritchard, Gary Loo, Dai Power, Sara Davies and Jo Jenkins have all also completed over 100 Porthcawl parkruns.

Fastest Phoenixes at Porthcawl parkrun

Our fastest listed Porthcawl parkrun time is 16:21 by Jacob Tasker which is also the 13th fastest time recorded by any runner at Porthcawl parkrun, just behind former GB international James Thie and ahead of Olympian and World Triathlon Champion Helen Jenkins. Nicky Bennett is next up with 17:20 and then returning member Dai James with 17:42. Gareth Richards, Ryan Evans, Gareth Battle, Niki Puleio, Neil Price, Josh Parry, Aled Hughes and John Burridge have all run sub 19 at Porthcawl whilst former members Neil Jones and Adrian Pearce also fall into that category. We then have a further 16 members that have run sub 20.

Jacob Tasker, Nicky Bennett and Neil Price Worth noting that Neil Jones has run 17:01 at Porthcawl and was first finisher on 5 occasions at Porthcawl whilst a member of our club. Dai James has been first finisher on two occasions whilst Jacob Tasker, Nicky Bennett and Neil Price have all been first finishers as well in what is a very competitive parkrun at the front.

Our top 10 fastest females are

1. Anneliese Loveluck 20:41
2. Sian Price 21:14
3. Amy Roberts 21:53
4. Claire Dunbar-Bowen 22:20 – fastest current member
5. Shelley Smithson 22:34
6. Josie Bishop 23:05
7. Lorna Domachowski 23:05
8. Sarah Littlewood 23:21
9. Kirsty Evans 23:41
10. Emma Loyns 23:50

Current female members with sub 25 times at Porthcawl include Denise Bradley, Julia Esmond, Rosie Salvatore, Sarah Davies, Jo Jenkins, Fiona Drysdale and Liz Davis.

Both Anneliese and Sian have also been first female finishers at Porthcawl.

Random stats

Biggest variation in fastest and slowest time: Chris Pratt 19:54 to 01:02:54

Oldest Porthcawl parkrun PB: Martin Beard 22:34 (27/09/14)

Fastest average Porthcawl parkrun time: Nicky Bennett 19:00 from 9 runs

First current Phoenix member to reach 50 parkruns at Porthcawl: Chris Pratt

First current Phoenix member to reach 100 parkruns at Porthcawl: Chris Pratt

First current Phoenix member to reach 250 parkruns at Porthcawl: Nick Harris

Most parkruns away from Porthcawl even though it’s considered their ‘home parkrun’: Gareth Jenkins 156

Volunteering

It seems fitting to end with some stats on the volunteers and the 436 Porthcawl parkruns wouldn’t have been possible without them. We’re very fortunate a Porthcawl to have a super dedicated and experienced core volunteer team – many of which have close links with Welsh Athletics and organise / volunteer at numerous other running events.

One of that core team is a a former club member – Maria Lalic who has volunteered at Porthcawl on over 250 seperate occasions. Of our current members, Angela Parry, Chris Pratt, Peter Harrop, David Sheard, Liz Davis, Chris Roberts and myself have all volunteered at Porthcawl on a dozen or more occasions.

Well done to everyone who has represented our club at Porthcawl parkrun whether it’s running, volunteering or supporting.

parkruns

The first Saturday of the month saw 65 members in attendance across 9 different parkruns. Nicky Bennett was first finisher at Maesteg where OPR had the top 3 spots and returning member Dai James was first finisher at Porthcawl with John Burridge just a few places behind in 6th. Keith Coleman bagged himself a PB at Aberbeeg, whilst our top tourist Chris Roberts added another venue to his growing list with Great Notley.

The second Saturday was 65 members again but this time across 12 parkruns. David Sheard ran at Roma Pineto parkrun in Italy whilst we had runners at Finsbury and Guildford parkruns as well. Stephne Puddy was agonisingly just 1 second off a PB with a superb 29:12 at Riverfront.

The third Saturday saw 69 members across 13 parkruns. It was the second Saturday in a row we didn’t have a first finisher at Maesteg which is a while since that’s happened. Our furthest travelling tourist was Chris Pratt at Brighouse.

The fourth Saturday saw 50 runners across a massive 16 different parkruns. Niki Puleio was first finisher at Maesteg with Luke Davis 3rd across the line.

Races

The month kicked off with Rhayader Round the Lakes where Jacob won the 30K event after winning the 10K last year. He didn’t have it all his own way in this one and only went into first place in the final couple of miles. There were also superb runs from Niki Puleio who was second in his age category and Kris Denholm. Katie Plimmer ran an outstanding 50:55 PB on the bumpy course and was 9th female overall.

On the same day coach Kev, Emma Loyns and Carl Walsh completed the tough Ras Dewi Sant marathon. A day later it was Newport Half Marathon where Steve Holloway ran 1:17:22 for a marker as the fastest half marathon time so far this year. Particular well done to Denise Bradley, Sharon and Debbie who ran after attending presentation night the night before.

A week later it was the turn of the San Domenico 10 and 20 miler. Niki Puleio ran the fastest 20 mile time in the clubs history beating Neil Jones time from the same event 6 years ago and knocking 2 minutes off his own previous best 20 mile time. Gareth Richards ran 2:15:05 which is the fastest 20 miler by anyone over 50 in the club by over 10 minutes. Aled Hughes ran 2:19:14 as his preparation continues for Newport Marathon. Kris Denholm finished in 2:53:59 which is under 3:50 marathon pace rounding off some excellent times by all. In the 10 miler, Jacob Tasker was first in 55:00 missing out on breaking his own club record by 11 seconds. Katie Plimmer ran a 1:26:53 PB for her second 10 mile PB this year. Ian Lewis and Helen Griffiths ran together coming in just over 2 hours.

On the same day it was the Kenfig Sands fixture of the West Glamorgan League. Despite a few of our runners being at other events, it was still a strong performance by both our men’s and women’s teams. Nicky Bennett was 9th overall with Steve Holloway, Toby Kearns, Gareth Battle, John Burridge and Emyr Bissmire making up the scoring places for the men with a further 8 of our male OPR members running. Carys Cronin was our first female followed by Sarah Davies, Arwen Rees, Melanie Thomas, Denise Bradley and Fiona Drysdale. Just a few miles away there was also a new 10K event around Margam Park which Karl Johnson, Leanne Parsons and the newly crowned Runners Runner, Laura Worrall completed. A busy day of races also saw Martin Beard and Claire Dunbar-Bowen complete the Surrey Half Marathon either side of 1:44, and Elizabeth Sim complete the Welsh Coastal Runners 20 miler in 3:15:59.

Last and certainly not least on that weekend, we had Emma Loyns and Carl Walsh battling the brutal 40 mile Beast of the Blacks Ultra in the Black Mountains. The race included almost 10,000 feet of elevation with much of the high ground covered in snow.

A week later (19th March) saw the final fixture of the West Glam XC league with 8 women and 9 men running for the club. Nicky Bennett finished in 6th overall and was followed home by Niki Puleio, Emyr Bissmire, John Burridge, Dylan Panting and Daniel Jenkins. For the ladies, Jade B was first across the line followed by Carys Cronin, Sarah Davies, Denise Bradley, Marianne Paterson and Arwen Rees. In the final standings, the men finished 4th in Division 1 which is the highest our club has ever finished in the league. The ladies finished 6th in Division 2, avoiding relegation and ready for a strong performance next season. Fiona Drysdale and Jamie Verran both ran in all 5 fixtures.

We had 37 runners at the Cardiff Bay 10K. Nicky Bennett ran a PB of 34:08 and was our first finisher across the line. Toby Kearns, Gareth Richards, Aled Hughes, Dylan Panting and Emyr Bissmire all ran sub 40 in times ranging from 37:35 to 39:20. There were PB’s for Jay Howells, Alun Job, Ceri Jones, Toni Howells, Rhys Davies, Terri Leigh Roche, Leanne Parsons and Laura Worrall, whilst it was a first event for the club for Kierran Spiers parents Sianed and Sam.

I was back on the Ultra running trail with another alternative event. This time I was escaping from an ever-expanding radioactive cloud from somewhere near Didcot, near Oxford, in an event called Fallout. It was similar to Escape from Meriden that I did last November where I had to run as far away as I could as the crow flies with no set route. This time involved a lot of mud and waterlogged fields and I eventually got ‘vapourised’ by the cloud after 8 hours having covered more than 36 miles of rough terrain.

On the final day of the month we had 5 runners at the Severn Bridge 5 miler with Aled running 31:10 to finish 1st in his age category followed by Martin Beard, Stephanie Dyke, Deb Griffin and Stephne Puddy.

Presentation Night

March also saw our annual presentation night with around 100 members in attendance at our long standing venue at Tondu Cricket Club. A fantastic night not only celebrating those that won awards, but celebrating our 10 years as a club, our BCRL win and reminiscing over the last 12 months of club activities. Our list of winners were as follows…

Runners Runner first place: Laura Worrall

Runners Runner second place: Gareth Richards

Runners Runner third place: Jacob Tasker

Club Runner: Niki Puleio

Best Senior Male: Jacob Tasker

Best Senior Female: Jo Jenkins

Best Veteran Male: Niki Puleio

Best Veteran Female: Claire Dunbar-Bowen

Best Super-Veteran Male: Keith Coleman

Best Super-Veteran Female; Fiona Drysdale

Most Improved Male: Emyr Bissmire

Most Improved Female: Rosie Salvatore

Best Newcomer Male: Joint winners – Mark Teesdale and Kierran Spiers

Best Newcomer Female: Jules Esmond

Trail Club Championship: 1st Jade B, 2nd Emma Loyns, 3rd Sarah Davies

Spirit of the Phoenix: Laura Worrall

Chairman’s Award: Alexis Barrett

Outstanding Achievement: Gareth Richards

Club Relay Teams

March was a huge month in terms of club relay teams as we successfully applied and got selected for our first ever Welsh Castles relay team. Huge thanks to female club captain Dawn Hopkins for taking the reigns with this one and Nicky Bennett who did a huge amount of the recruiting and legwork to ensure we had enough runners. We also found out we were successful in our application for two teams for the Rack Raid relays. The events are just a week apart in June and there’s still opportunities to be involved in a running or supporting capacity for either or both events.

Over to Chris for the Chairs Runners of the Month.

Chair’s Runners of the Month

As you know, and I share often, the focus for this accolade will change periodically.  Different attributes capture my interest and I celebrate achievement right across the spectrum.

We have many members who ebb and flow with their running.  I think it’s fair to say we probably all do to some extent.  Some more than others.  Life deals us all a different hand and things distract us from the task at hand.  That’s good – we need that.  The importance of aspects of our life change dynamically and it’s important to recognise that.  Absence makes the heart grow fonder.  I’ve used that a few times lately.  It’s so true.  Not just for people, but for running.  When you find it again; properly find it; it fills your heart with joy!   When you see others find it, it’s equally uplifting.  It’s been a while for one such runner.  For whatever reason there’s been a hiatus.  A period where running didn’t factor.  But there’s been a shift.  It’s been noticeable and effective.  I’m always impressed when someone manages to gain control and be so positive about a return that you know it’s going to happen, no matter what.  Positive social media posts accompany just turning up.  There’s no measure of ability here.  There’s no measure of distance or any running prowess whatsoever.  It’s simply about getting out there – turning up – getting to training and celebrating that fact.  It’s about the infectious effect that brings to others who are spurred on to do the same.  I am delighted to award my March Female Runner of the Month to Alica Thomas.  Keep it up Alica!!  You’re smashing it!

Celebrating achievements when there are so many doing amazing things is really difficult.  One I do want to credit and is on a definite purple “streak”.  It’s been a running a while now and the level of randomness and possibly craziness to it doesn’t seem to be ending any time soon…  It’s certainly true that when you’re not running long distance you wonder how others do it and maintain it.  Legs sore from a few miles and you wonder how others run a long way and then recover to run again only a day or two later.  It seems alien, but then it’s my long term belief that everything is relative.  You can’t pit yourself against someone doing that – we all have our own goals, dreams and aspirations.  Then a streak takes hold and you start to build and the events get longer and longer and you still feel great.  Injuries come and go – but the strength and fitness you’ve built often allow the body to heal and settle quickly.  Sensible measures through it so that it can continue.  Lockdown for some provided a platform for great running and this is no exception.  Leading in to 2023 has seen a continuation and an event during March saw another event escaping from a location with no fixed route – just a map and his own aptitude to carry him as far as possible as quickly as possible.  A novel way to combine running with on the spot planning and yet another intriguing event on the back of many others.  Long may this streak continue and look forward to seeing what comes next.  Worthy of an accolade as I’m delighted to announce Gareth Jenkins as my Chairman’s Male Runner of the Month for March – keep intriguing us with events Gareth!