parkruns
The first few days of the month saw 54 members across 12 parkruns. Slightly lower than normal but understandable given Cardiff Half the next day. The reason I’ve said the first few days rather than the first weekend is because there was an additional parkrun day in Germany which Nick Harris, Linda Harris and Darija Keenor took advantage. Darija then stayed in Germany for a few days to do Havelkanal parkrun. Closer to home, Carys Bissmire was 3rd female at Maesteg whilst there weren’t too many fast times with most not wanting to push it too hard before Cardiff Half.
Week 2 saw numbers back up to 66 members across 16 parkruns. Tourism included Rhodri at Bushy parkrun, Gwyneth Steddy at Shepton Mallet, Chris Roberts at Barking, and Jonathan Matthews at Leazes. We had the top 4 at Aberfields with Paul Teesdale followed by Aled Hughes, Luke Davis and Gareth Richards.
Week 3 saw numbers up to 69 at a massive 19 different venues. Connor Panting was second overall at Aberfields with Fiona Drysdale becoming the latest female member to claim the first female spot. Jamie Verran was third at Y Promenad whilst Sarah Davies was second female at Melksham. New member Angharad Croot put herself straight in amongst our fastest 10 females in club at 5K this year with a 23:35 at Porthcawl. Paul and Alexis Barrett, Kaye Pedler, Melinda Thomas and Sian Jenkins were at Zielony Jar parkrun where Kaye ran her 100th parkrun and Melinda completed her parkrun alphabet.
Week 4 saw 58 runners at 12 different parkruns despite a few missing due to Marathon Eryri. Dai Kembo was our only runner at Maesteg parkrun with most of the regulars choosing Aberfields or Porthcawl that weekend. Aled Hughes was first finisher at Aberfields with Kieron Burridge second. Sarah Davies was first female at Aberfields.
Races
Cardiff Half Marathon
The big race of the month was the Cardiff Half Marathon with 57 members completing the course with several completing their first Half Marathon. Our club marathon record holder, Aled Jenkins, was first Phoenix across the line in 1:11:59 followed a couple of minutes later by Angelo ‘Nico’ Doria who just missed out on a PB. There were then a plethora of PB’s between 1:21 and 1:25 with Paul Teesdale, John Burridge, Aled Hughes, Connor Panting and Scott Gray all setting their own best half marathon times. Toby and Willow might be giving Jake and Katie a run for their money as fastest club couple with both getting PB’s of 1:28 and 1:38 respectively. Willow’s 1:38 is the fastest time by a female club member since Sian Price ran 1:34 at the same race two years previous. There were plenty more PB’s throughout the field with James Marsh, Marina Konstantinova, Rhys Bradley, Dan Foreman, John Batchelor, Tammie Baker, Lee Dunbar-Bowen, Gavin George, Laura Worrall and Leanne Khan.
Marathon season
On the same day as Cardiff Half, Niki Puleio was representing Wales in the Chester Marathon. Despite a tough lead up with injuries and niggles and suggesting there was very little chance he would be starting, let alone finishing the marathon, Niki ended up running an outstanding 2:56.
Continuing with the marathons, we had three runners at the Chicago World Marathon Major event. Danny Ridley ran 3:47 whilst Claire Dunbar-Bowen managed a very respectable 4:09 after numerous setbacks in the weeks and months leading up to the event. Carl Walsh ran 4:37 and is on his way to yet another marathon goal if he runs all the marathon majors.
The biggest marathon of the month was Marathon Eryri (Snowdonia) although with 17 starters and 15 finishers, it was actually our lowest turnout since the first big club outing to Snowdon in 2015. Unfortunately both Gareth Thomas and Leanne Parsons had to pull out during the race. Gareth Richards was our first finisher in his 6th Snowdonia Marathon with a 3:24. Aled Jenkins ran 3:30 despite his charity efforts which I’ll come onto later. Robert Green ran 4:18 in his first marathon for the club. Katie Plimmer ran a PB of 4:24 knocking 19 minutes off her time from the previous year and narrowly beating the previous best course time by a female club member. Marina Konstantinova followed up her marathon in Riga earlier his year with another marathon PB of 4:49. Jo and I ran together with Jo getting a 35 minute course best on her 4th Marathon Eryri finish. Leanne Khan and Vickie Blake ran together with Leanne completing her first marathon in just over 8 hours. A huge thanks again to Jo Pratt and Emily Harris who manned Phoenix Corner which stood in place on the final corner for over 10 hours.
Cross Country
October saw XC season commence again. We started with the Gwent League in Pembrey Country Park where Bethan Moor, Jules Esmond, Alison Allen, Jo Jenkins and Tammie Baker completed the 7.15k course in the ladies event whilst Gareth Battle, Chris Pratt and myself completed the 9.15k course for the men’s race. We also had Angelo Nico Doria in the male under 20 race which qualified him for the inter-regionals to represent the South Wales region for the second year in a row.
The first fixture of the West Glamorgan league saw the return of a fixture that hasn’t been on the schedule for a few years with the Aberavon beach race. Despite it being the same weekend as Marathon Eryri, we did have 15 runners with Gareth Battle leading the Phoenix team home followed by the in form Jonathan Matthews. Bethan Moor was our first lady followed by Claire Dunbar-Bowen and cross country regular Jules Esmond.
Fundraising
I wouldn’t normally mention fundraising, however, there were some significant challenges during October by a few of our members which I think are noteworthy.
Claire Dunbar-Bowen raised funds for Cancer Research Wales and Alzheimer’s Society as part of her Chicago Marathon efforts.
Aled Jenkins cycled from Llanharan to Llanberis (184 miles) the day before Marathon Eryri, then ran the marathon on the Saturday, then cycled back on the Sunday to raise funds for Velindre Cancer Centre.
I ran 408.8 miles during October, averaging a Half Marathon per day for 31 days to raise money for Cardiff and Vale Health Charity whilst raising awareness of Mental Health issues on each of the 31 days with updates and signposting via social media.