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Saturday 4th – parkruns

52 runners across a record 10 different parkruns in 3 different countries. At Porthcawl Stephen Davies became our 3rd parkrun winner following in the footsteps of Neil Jones and Dai Kembery. His time of 18:15 was a huge 37 seconds clear of second place. Liz Sim clocked a new parkrun PB accompanied by Gareth Richards whilst Emma Williams made it 4 parkrun PB’s in 5 attempts. My February runner of the month Claire Taylor knocked 48 seconds off her PB making it an improvement of 2 minutes and 16 seconds this year.

Away from Porthcawl, Chris Pratt ran at Cambridge parkrun where an issue with the timers meant everyone was given a time of 59:59. Could argue Chris was joint first. Jayne P ran at Gnoll, Ann Davies ran at Llanelli, Shawn and Julie ran at Penrhyn, Niki, Brian and the Hillmans ran at Grangemoor, and Chris S ran at Hereford. Kelly ran at Florida’s Clermont Waterfront parkrun for the second week in a row and third time in total. Dai K was just 6 seconds away from a PB at Cardiff. Neil Jones clocked yet another sub 18 at Pontypridd parkrun with Karl Johnson also in attendance.

Sunday 5th – Newport HM, Cambridge HM, Anglesey 10K and HM, St Davids Day 5K and 10K

One of our busiest Sunday’s in a long while in terms of number of different events. 48 runners across 6 different events. Starting in Cardiff with the St Davids Day 5K where founder member Ross Jones made a return to running 2 and a half years after his last parkrun with a 32:17. New members Angharad Rees and Shareen Bentley also completed the 5K run.

Our biggest number of entries for the day was the St Davids 10K event which seen 30 of the Blue Wave in attendance. Chris Roberts lead the Blue Wave home with Daniel Clark and Mark Gabb getting PB’s just behind him. Nicola Symonds was our first female home in what could be her last event for us before moving to the newly formed Pencoed Panthers. Liz Sim joined a short list of runners who’ve completed a double PB weekend again accompanied by Gareth Richards. Claire Goldworthy and Sara Vowles got PB’s under the hour mark. The huge number of PB’s continued with Stephanie Dyke, Amy Williams, Joanne Rowling, Cath Griffiths, Angela Parry, Emma Jayne, Nicola Parsons, Alun Wylde, Rhiannon Whiteley, Mandie Owen and Pippa Clark.

There were 13 of the Blue Wave at Newport Half Marathon. I was first back with a PB run of 1:33:21 in my 37th Half Marathon. It also meant I temporarily held the record for fastest club HM time in 2017. Graham Mackleworth, Karl Johnson, Darjia Mann and Matt Murray all clocked PB’s as well. Great team spirit with 5 of our 13 runners finishing together as Matt had a team of pacers with the Garratts, Liz and Mark Worrall joining him.

Chris Pratt ran the Cambridge Half Marathon in 1:44:10… not bad after a parkrun time of 59:59 the day before! Shawn Cullen ran the Angelsey Half Marathon in a PB of 2:26:36 whilst Ellen Wyn Evans ran in the 10K event.

Saturday 11th – parkruns

48 runners across 7 parkruns.  A first sub 20 at Porthcawl for me with a 19:59 and a very rare parkrun where I was first Cwm Ogwr runner across the line. New member Chris Truman set an impressive debut parkrun time of 20:33. There was a course PB for Kirsty Evans accompanied by Stephen. Stephanie Dyke clocked her first parkrun PB since November last year. 2017 Zero to Hero recruit Leah Boon made it 3 PB’s in what is already her 5th parkrun appearance.

Away from Porthcawl Denise was first in her age category in Grangemoor and had the highest age grade percentage of the day. Dawn and Kevin ran at Swansea, David Sheard ran at Cwmbran and Karl Johnson ran at Pontypridd. Aled Hughes made one of the longest journeys ever to attend a parkrun and informs me it is the furthest West of any parkrun done by a club member as he ran at Crissy Fields parkrun in San Francisco.

Sunday 12th – Llanelli HM, Bath HM, Wrexham HM, Silverstone HM, Grisly 20 miler, Neath 10 miler

Another very busy Sunday with four different half marathons and a 10 miler.

Starting at Llanelli were we had 24 runners. Chris Pratt lead the Blue Wave home just ahead of Simon Harrison. Juliet Amner set a new club age category record and was 2nd her category in the race itself. Tula Smallman bagged herself a PB with a sub 2 hour finish.

David Shaun McCann, Matt Murray and Shawn James Cullen all made it two half marathon PBs in as many weeks. I helped pace Matt in what was my 5th half marathon in 24 days. A 3 minute PB for Lisa Jenkins. A huge 22 minute PB for Claire Taylor having run Swansea Half last year. Well done to half marathon newbies Angela Parry, Rhiannon Whiteley and Pippa Clark who pick up PB’s for their first half marathons.

The Garratts ran their half around Silverstone race track. There was a 9 minute PB for Emma Williams at Bath Half Marathon following a parkrun PB last week. Carole Bartle was 3rd in her age category with a PB at Wrexham Half.

At the Neath 10 miler there were PB’s all round. Niki broke his own club record. Neil was running his first 10 miler for the club whilst Kevin set an club age category record and knocked over 10 minutes off his 10 mile PB having only previously run the multi terrain Pembrey 10 mile course.

Richard Lowcock James took on the Grisly 20 miler. Described on the website as “Twentyish muddy, hilly, boggy, beachy miles of the multiest-terrain running experience you will find this side of the end of time.” It’s so popular entry is via a ballot. I can confirm RLJ made it out alive.

Saturday 18th – parkruns, Windsor Half Marathon and Darth Mannion

50 runners across 3 parkruns with 46 of those at Porthcawl. We had an influx of new runners with a few of the new Zero to Hero running their first parkruns for the club. Despite blustery conditions there were a number of PB’s. The first of which was for David McCann who I helped pace to a 86 second PB. David is just 1 second away from making it 5 minutes off his first parkrun time just 2 months ago.

Brett Bonnell bagged a PB in his first Porthcawl parkrun in over a year. Gwyneth Steddy, Alana Lutwyche and Sarah C King all got PB’s as part of our Zero to Hero group. Alana was our 200th different finisher registered as Cwm Ogwr at Porthcawl parkrun.

There were also PB’s for Louise Bennett and Lisa Jenkins. Leah Boon made it 2 PB’s in as many weeks and has now knocked over 4 minutes off her first parkrun time set just 6 weeks ago. The Hillmans ran at Cardiff whilst at Pontypridd Neil Jones got first place for the first time at that venue. It’s the 4th different parkrun venue he has finished first.At the Windsor Half Marathon Nicola Prior got her first sub 2 hour half marathon time whilst there were superb times across the board for our girls with a couple of others very close to PB times.As you’ll have seen from other posts, Richard Lowcock James managed to find another bizarre crazy mudfest of a run called the Darth Mannion. Haven’t seen any results for this one yet but I suspect our captain may convince a few more to do it next year.

Sunday 19th – Forest of Dean Half Marathon and San Dom 20 miler

We had 5 runners at the Spring edition of the Forest of Dean Half Marathon. There’s also an Autumn one in September if anyone interested a trial half marathon later in the year. Juliet Amner lead the way in 1:52 whilst Liz Sim clocked her 3rd PB of the month at her 3rd different distance with a 2:02 knocking 4 minutes off her PB accompanied by Gareth Richards. Ian Lewis clocked a 2:10 whilst Jonathan Mead got 2:17.

Before this date, only 12 Cwm Ogwr runners had done a 20 mile event so it was a bit of a surprise to see 18 signed up for the San Domenico 20 miler. Neil Jones lead the way in a 20 mile PB time of 2:13:31 putting him in the top 10 finishers. Niki Puleio was next up with an impressive 2:27:45. New member Emma Jane Morris was our first female and came in under the 3 hour mark with a 2:56:39. Of the ones that had run a 20 miler before, Christie Coleman picked up a PB knocking 5 minutes off his time set at Llanelli last year.

Saturday 25th – parkruns

57 runners across 5 parkrun venues. 52 of which were at Porthcawl were Stephen Davies became the second Cwm Ogwr member to be the first finisher with his first sub 18 as well and also a club age category record. Not many other PB’s due to a lot of Princess fancy dress efforts slowing most people down (except Stephen). However, there was a PB for Rhian Nolan in her first Porthcawl parkrun in almost a year.

Away from Porthcawl, the Denholms ran at Beeston, Dawn Hopkins ran at Parke whilst Neil Jones and Karl J ran at Pontypridd.

Sunday 26th – West Glam XC League and Merthyr HM

25 runners at Aberavon Beach for the final fixture of the West Glamorgan XC League. A 5 mile route along the beach with some testing sand dunes in the middle before battling a strong head wind on the way back. Stephen Davies was first Cwm Ogwr runner back with Gareth Richards, Simon Harrison, Chris Truman and Chris Thomas making up the remainder of the points scoring positions. A massive well done to our men’s team finished 2nd in Division 3 gaining promotion!

Betty Lee lead the women home with Kelly Owen, Victoria Hillman, Denise Bradley and Bethan Cross making up the other scoring positions. Bethan achieved a top 5 club finish in all 5 events and was one of only three members along with myself and Pippa to run in all fixtures. Our female team finished 6th in Division 2 which should secure them a place in the same division next year even if a third division is created with additional teams joining.

At the Merthyr Half Marathon, Karl Johnson picked up his second half marathon PB this month with Nigel Rees and Darjia Mann also running for the blue wave.

Chairman’s Runners of the Month

For one month only, I’m listening to the members for who the runners of the month should be as a few people have suggested these for this months choices…

Male Runner of the Month – Gareth Jenkins

Yes – it’s with some embarrassment but great pride that I’m writing about myself for runner of the month. My Half Marathon PB in Newport of 1:33:21 remains the fastest half marathon time in the club so far this year. A week later I got my first sub 20 at Porthcawl parkrun. I also helped pace Matt Murray to a Half Marathon PB in Llanelli and David McCann to a parkrun PB this month. I also ran the final fixture of the West Glam XC League and was the only male runner in the club to complete all 5 fixtures finishing second highest in the club in the overall individual standings.

Female Runner of the Month – Elizabeth Sim

An easy choice with Liz getting 5K, 10K and Half Marathon PB’s this month. She beat all by large margins and the Half Marathon was actually a hilly trail race in the Forest of Dean.

Wednesday 1st – Club Championship 1500m time trial

The first club championship event of this year seen 41 members run 5 laps of the 300m Bridgend AC track in a 1500m time trial. Times were compared to average mile pace for each members parkrun best over the past 12 months to come up with results. A great atmosphere on the night with each group being cheered around by the rest of the runners who were awaiting their turn. New member David McCann came out on top with Claire Taylor top female and Lisa Jenkins 3rd. Fastest time of the night went to Niki Puleio with 5:17.

Saturday 4th – parkruns and Presentation Night

60 runners across 6 parkruns. A huge turnout with 53 of the Blue Wave at Porthcawl. Chris Pratt clocked his second sub 20 in as many weeks whilst I knocked 28 seconds of my best at Porthcawl which dates back to 2015. Winner of the first club championship event David McCann knocked nearly 4 minutes off his PB in his second parkrun. My January runner of the month Angela Parry got her 3rd PB of this year whilst Joanne Rowling clocked her first PB of the year.

Claire Taylor was accompanied by Jo Betty for the 5K whilst I joined the party for the final 2K with a huge 88 second PB for Claire. We also had our first 2017 Zero to Hero graduate with Leah Boon running her first parkrun with a little help from Rhiannon, Sian T and Sian LG.

Away from Porthcawl Aled Hughes beat his PB dating back to May last year with a 19:19 at Swansea. Neil Jones ran a 17:48 which took him past 100 miles of running for the week! Stephen, Bethan and Dawn ran at the Gnoll, Chris Roberts ran at Grangemoor and Ian Lewis ran his 50th parkrun at Bedford.

We had over 100 attendees at the Presentation Night at the Heronstone Hotel to celebrate achievements of the club and it’s members for 2016. A massive thank you to the social committee and everyone involved in the evening and well done to all the winners listed below.

2016 Presentation Night Winners

Club Championship

Super Veterans – Denise Bradley and Christie Coleman

Veterans – Fiona Drysdale and Aled Hughes

Senior and Overall – Shelley Smithson and Neil Jones

Newcomers – Claire Dunbar-Bowen and Keith Coleman

Level Playing Field – Lucy Hancock and Neil Jones

Best Runners

Super Veterans – Denise Bradley and Kevin Archie Raymond

Veterans – Claire Dunbar Bowen and Aled Hughes

Senior – Shelley Smithson and Neil Jones

Most improved – Rhiannon Buckley

Best Newcomer – Pippa Clark

Zero to Hero – Shawn James Cullen

Runners Runner of the Year – Christie Coleman

Sunday 5th – Beast 10K

The first Cwm Ogwr event of the year seen the second annual Beast 10K which sold out weeks in advance. Despite a small delay with using our chip timing system for the very first time, the event was another huge success with the male and female course records broken. A huge thank you to everyone who volunteered – particularly as most had been out the night before at the presentation night.

Saturday 11th – parkruns

A record 64 runners across 7 parkruns. A record attendance at Porthcawl as well with 57 runners. Stephen Davies equalled his PB of 18:43 despite the parkrun being in the middle of a 22 mile run. There was a huge 70 second PB for Matt Murray accompanied by myself, the Hillmans and Chris Pratt.

A PB for new member Tula Smallman just behind us with a 25:50. Club Championship leader David McCann got yet another PB knocking another 20 seconds off his time. A great PB by Catherine Griffiths whilst Nicola Allen knocked 51 seconds off her PB.

Saturday 18th – parkruns and Hoka Trail Half Marathon

39 runners across 3 parkruns. A slightly smaller attendance than usual due to the Hoka Half Marathon later that morning. At Porthcawl, Stephen Davies ran an outstanding 18:08 and is now well clear in second place in the club 5K rankings. Aled Hughes ran a Porthcawl best of 19:33 whilst Karl Johnson also ran a course best with 22:40. There were also PB’s for Mandie Owen and new runner Leah Boon.

Elsewhere Neil Jones ran a 17:52 at Pontypridd whilst Ann Davies ran a 29:53 at Llanelli.

39 runners at the Hoka Trail Half Marathon at Margam. Simon Harrison was our first runner back in 1:47:54 on a tough hilly course with 1800 feet of elevation including a mile long incline from mile 10 to 11. Our first female back was Josie Bishop in 2:10:33. Well done to Bethan Cross who despite a injury managed to get a Half Marathon PB of 2:27:43.

Sunday 19th – Brecon to Cardiff Ultra Marathon

Last year seen over a several members enter the world of Ultra running which was a big factor in 6 signing up for this 44 miler following the Taff Trail from Brecon to Nantgarw. Jamie Vanstone ran a superb sub 7 hour time to finish in 18th place overall. Gareth Richards, Wayne Hayhurst and Gary Piper all completed their first ultras whilst Brian was running it for the second year in a row and his third Ultra in 11 months having not run much more than half marathon previous to that.

Sunday 25th – parkruns and Ras Dewi Sant Half Marathon

63 runners across 6 parkruns. 57 runners at Porthcawl where Neil Jones finished 3rd in a time of 17:43. Stephen ran another sub 19 whilst Niki ran a sub 20 making it 3 Cwm Ogwr runners in the first 6 finishers. There were birthday celebrations for myself and Nicola Cornock with a lot of cakes on offer.

Away from Porthcawl, Claire DB ran a PB at Swansea with a 23:38 for her first sub 24. Sarah Littlewood ran at Lanhydrock parkrun which interestingly has had 7 different Cwm Ogwr tourists. The Hillmans ran at Cardiff whilst Diana Purnell ran at Llanelli.

Meanwhile Richard LJ ran the Ras Dewi Sant Half Marathon in around 2:18 on a tough multi terrain course around the Pembrokeshire course with storm Doris.

Sunday 26th – Pontypool 10K

Just a single Cwm Ogwr runner for this one with Matt Murray getting his first sub 1 hour 10K and knocking 3 minutes off his PB in the process.

The “Three halves and a little parkrun”

As part of my 2017 goals I wanted to run Half Marathons on consecutive days. I’d seen a running events company that do a week of events in Hartlebury which is 5-10 minutes drive from my in-laws in Worcestershire so having already signed up to the Hoka Trail on Sat 18th Feb I decided to enter their Thursday and Friday events to make it 3 in 3 days. The Hoka race didn’t start until 11am so I couldn’t resist still including a parkrun as well.

That particular week of events was called ‘The Seven Deadly Sins’ with a different deadly sin medal for each day. There was 10K, Half or Full Marathons options each day. It turned out I was the only one doing the half so am down on their website as the Half Marathon winner for that day! My intention was run around 1:55 to save myself for the subsequent halves… I ran 1:47:33 but felt comfortable.

Day two I felt surprisingly good.. I did have one competitor on day two but she was a 2 hour plus runner so I’m down as winning twice! Ended up running slightly quicker than the first day with a 1:46:43.

Traveled back Friday evening which meant Porthcawl parkrun that morning. The original plan was to leave early Saturday morning and do a parkrun tourism on the way back but it was cutting it too fine. I ended up offering to pace 25 minutes at Porthcawl which was pretty much the exact pace I’d done in the first 2 halves. Legs felt a bit heavier. Off to Margam for the final half marathon where I’d arranged to run with Bethan would be running around 2:30. We ran 2:27 with Bethan being the only runner to PB.

Really pleased with how the challenge went and definitely looking to extend it to 5 or 7 days of half marathons.

Chairman’s Male Runner of the Month – David McCann

Following in the footsteps of Matt Murray, Jo Betty and others, I’ve chosen David as my runner of the month in the first full month with the club. David has reduced his parkrun PB from 31:03 to 27:24 and only narrowly missed out on making in 4 PB’s in 4 parkruns at last weeks event. David was also the overall winner in the first club championship event of the year at the start of this month.

Chairman’s Female Runner of the Month – Claire Taylor

Second place overall and first female in the first club championship event of the year. Claire followed this up with parkrun PB knocking 88 seconds off her PB. This month has also seen Claire training for Llanelli Half Marathon including running to parkrun. An inspirational runner.

January 1 – parkruns and Kenfig 4 miler

New Years Day is the only day of the year that parkrun allow you to run two parkruns. With Cardiff starting at 9am and Barry Island at 10:30am, Chris Pratt, Nick Harris, Kris Denholm, Karl Johnson and myself went for the option of doing both. Neil Jones joined us at Cardiff where he ran 17:27 for his third sub 18 time within the space of 24 hours and 18 minutes and in the process set a seasons best that is unlikely to be beaten by anyone but himself less than 10 hours into the New Year. Mark Gabb joined us to do Barry Island only. Meanwhile, Aled clocked 19:58 at Swansea parkrun just ahead of Brian Cotton with David Evans, Juliet Amner and Christie Coleman also in attendance.

Later that morning was the Kenfig 4 miler with 39 members in attendance including the 5 who’d ran Swansea parkrun earlier. Neil Price was first of the Blue Wave across the line in a speed 25:07 on what turned out to be a 3.7 mile new route. Our first female was Denise Bradley who was celebrating her 100 event for the club. Well done to several of our runners who completed the Festive Four competition with this being the final event. Sian Tossell finished 5th in the ‘Green Jersey’ competition which looked at how participants did against seasons best times. Helen Griffiths, Jo Betty both made the top 10 with 9th and 10th respectively whilst Pippa and Claire T were just outside in 11th and 13th.

January 4 – Track Session

The second track session attracted even more runners with around 50-60 in attendance. Some chose a technique session in the clubhouse whilst others were put through their paces by multiple club record holder Neil Jones. The session ranged from doing 8 laps with 30 seconds recovery to some of the faster runners doing 12 laps and a couple of cool down laps to finish. Another superb session with many already looking forward to the next one.

January 7 – parkruns

58 runners across a massive 8 different parkruns. 33 were at Porthcawl where Stephen Davies annihilated his previous best set just 3 weeks earlier and finished a remarkable 3 overall with a time of 18:43. He becomes only the third Cwm Ogwr runner to get a sub 19 time and over the past month has jumped from 25 in the club 5K rankings to 3. Aled Hughes set a new course best for himself with 19:43 whilst Niki Puleio clocked an early season sub 20 time as well. Interestingly Aled’s time of 19:43 gives him a better age grade percentage than Stephens 18:43. New member Alun Wylde clocked himself his 3 PB in as many parkruns. Chris Stanlake got a course best whilst Cath Griffiths got a PB of 31:06.

We had 16 runners at the Gnoll which was a memorial run for Dan Tomlinson, a promising young runner who tragically died just over a year ago. Chris Pratt lead the way with seasons best all round with most running their first 5K of the year. Great to see coach Kev in attendance and some great team spirit with Pippa, Rhiannon, Sian T and Llinos running the whole course together.

The Hillman’s attended Cardiff parkrun where they had a record 815 runners. Dawn was at Newport, Jo Betty at Cheltenham and Fiona D at Grangemoor. Neil Jones clocked 17:37 at Pontypridd parkrun – the same time to the second that he ran there a week earlier. At the same parkrun, Neil Harris set a new PB with a time of 19:31. I attended Gloucester North parkrun where I became the 20 member of the sub 20 club with a time of 19:58 knocking 12 seconds off my PB. A lot of us had put what our goals for 2017 were on the clubs Facebook page and my top priority was to get a sub 20.. I didn’t expect it to come on the first Saturday of the year! It also meant we have a record 6 runners under 20 minutes on the same morning at 3 different venues.

Sunday 8 – Tata Steel Run Round the Reservoir   

This is normally a fixture in the West Glam XC league but after not making the list this season, they decided to still put on the event and only charge £2 for affiliated runners. A combination of no Zero to Hero session and interest in off road running seemingly being at an all time high in the club meant that over 30 members chose to do Richard’s trail session which took in part of the Hoka Half Marathon course just a few miles away from where this race was. Christie Coleman and Chris Roberts were our only runners in what was described as ‘the Blue Dribble’ as opposed to ‘the Blue Wave’. It meant after the first full weekend of the year, Christie already gained top spot on the 2017 most events table.

Thursday 12th – Chepstow Night Run 5 miler

Stephen, Bethan, Emma W and Ian signed up for this one which was a headtorch required night race which included hills that reduced runners to using their hands to climb and running through caves. Stephen finished the course in 41:37 for 21st position overall out of 294 runners. Bethan, Emma and Ian finished close together around the 1 hour 5 to 6 minutes mark.

Saturday 14th – parkruns

54 runners across 5 different parkruns. 46 of which were at Porthcawl where Stephen Davies helped pace Graham Hillman, and Chris Pratt helped pace Victoria Hillman to course bests. I ran with Jo Betty helping her knock an incredible 69 seconds off her PB which had been set over 6 years previous at Cardiff parkrun. There was more pacing heroics with Bethan helping Matt Murray to PB meaning both my December Runners of the Month picked up PB’s in the same morning. Angela Parry picked up a PB whilst Dai Power made it 5 Cwm Ogwr pacers to help others get PB’s with Lisa Jenkins knocking 43 seconds off her previous best.

Away from Porthcawl, Karl, Julie and Chris S ran at Newport, Sarah Littlewood ran at Telford and Peter Walsh ran at Brighton. Aled got a parkrun PB and was 2 seconds shy of his overall 5K PB at Cardiff parkrun with an impressive 40th place finish amongst a record attendance of 856. Nick Harris and Mark Gabb also ran at Cardiff with Mark pushing a buggy round.

Sunday 15th – West Glamorgan XC league – Margam Park and Riverbank Rollick

33 runners at the 4th fixture of the West Glamorgan Cross Country League. This one was a 2 lap course around Margam Park which was advertised as approximately 4.5 miles – it turned out there was a bonus mile and it was closer to 5.5! The lap started with a lengthy tarmac section before entering the zig zag ‘Field of Dreams’ which included a mixture of mainly grass and some muddy sections whilst gently inclining before a short sharper incline towards the top. At the highest point runners were treated to a mile or so of trail and mostly downhill back to the tarmac section at the start.

Stephen was first of the Blue Wave across the line in a speedy 36:12 followed a couple of minutes later by stand in captain for the day Chris Pratt. Simon, Kevin and Graham H made up the remaining scoring positions with myself and Nick Harris close behind.

Bethan Cross was the first Cwm Ogwr female across the line in 47:29 which would actually indicate a large 5 mile PB. Victoria, Claire W, Liz Davis and Sara made up the remaining points scoring places. In true Cwm Ogwr spirit, most of the members in attendance waiting for our final runner who on this occasion was Pippa and ran the final straight with her.

Meanwhile we had 17 runners taking on the Riverbank Rollick. A 9 mile race with mud, mud and more mud. Aled was first across the line for Cwm Ogwr with Daniel Clark second. Fiona Drysdale was first of our female runners.

Saturday 21st – parkruns

56 runners across 8 different parkruns. 45 at Porthcawl where Neil Price was first Cwm Ogwr back in a PB time of 19:42. Denise Bradley beat her PB which had stood for over a year whilst there was another PB for Angela Parry.

Away from Porthcawl, Aled helped pace Karl to a PB at Penallta parkrun, the Hillmans ran at Cardiff, Neil clocked another sub 18 at Pontypridd and Shawn and Julie continued their parkrun tourism run in Bournemouth. Dawn and Kevin ran at Swansea, Stephen, Bethan and Mark Gabb ran at Grangemoor and finally we had Jayne P at the Gnoll.

Sunday 22nd – Buff Trail 10K

The first 10K of the year brought an off-road event following the same course as the Night Trail Race that had a huge Blue Wave attendance last May. Just 12 runners this time with Nigel Hutchings leading the way just under the hour mark on the tough course which has a killer incline in the last kilometre. Josie was first Cwm Ogwr female less than a minute behind Nigel. Top effort by all.

Saturday 28th – parkruns

46 runners across 5 parkruns. At Porthcawl Stephen notched up another sub 19 and a time only Neil and Niki have beat in the past. There was a first sub 20 at Porthcawl for Chris Pratt and his fastest 5K since last June. Matt smashed his PB by 51 seconds and has 9 PBs from his 14 Porthcawl parkruns. Emma Williams got a PB despite running down to Porthcawl in only her second parkrun. Rhiannon Buckley had PB of the day knocking a huge 109 seconds off her best at Porthcawl. Her stepson George was first junior over the line in a swift 20:43.

Away from Porthcawl, Aled beat his PB which had stood since May last year. Aled has now achieved sub 20 at 6 different parkruns plus the Merthyr Mawr Lane 5K. There was also parkrun tourism from Chris R at Passhanger, Dawn at Barry, Nick and Mark at Penallta, whilst Saul ran at Southampton.

Sunday 29th – Lliswerry 8

29 runners for this race which sold in out just a few hours after a Snowdon Marathon style midnight entry system. Chris Pratt was first across the line beating his previous course best with Dai K and Nick Harris next up. Josie Bishop and Claire Dunbar Bowen were the two fastest female club runners respectively. We also had members running their first race over 10K distance so a massive well done to them.

Chairman’s Male Runner of the Month – Stephen Davies

2 months ago, Stephen had run 3 parkruns, a 10K and a two Cardiff Half Marathons in around 15 months. I’m not sure what happened.. but he seems to have caught the racing bug. He’s doubled that in January alone. An incredible 18:43 at parkrun catapulted him from outside our top 20 ranked 5Kers to third and only to Neil Jones and very close behind second placed Niki Puleio. He also finished 3rd in that parkrun. In another parkrun he helped pace Graham Hillman to a course best and then got another sub 19 in the final parkrun of the month. Add to that being first Cwm Ogwr by some margin in the Margam XC and a 21st placed finish in the Chepstow night race and it has been a remarkable month for Stephen.

Chairman’s Female Runner of the Month – Angela Parry

Angela notched up two parkrun PB’s in 2 weeks knocking a total 39 seconds off her previous best set in October. She also volunteered as tail runner in the final parkrun of the month in a role she has now done 4 times. There were also great performances in both the Kenfig 4 mile on New Years Day and the Lliswerry 8.

Saturday 3rd – parkruns, Aberavon Santa 5K, Might Contain Nuts Brecon 10 miler and Christmas drinks

The month kicked off with 43 runners across 5 parkruns. 38 of which were at Porthcawl where Brian lead the Blue Wave home with his first sub 20 at Porthcawl. There were overall PB’s for Wayne Hayhurst, Bethan Cross, Matt Murray and Jayne Kembery. Away from Porthcawl, Fiona D ran at Penallta, Ellen Wyn Evans at Penryhn, Simon M at Newport whilst Nick Harris and Mark Gabb warmed up for the Santa run by doing the Gnoll parkrun beforehand.

Later that morning, 40 of the Blue Wave got into their Santa Suits for the Aberavon Santa Run 5K. A dozen had already run a parkrun but we totaled 73 different runners for the morning. Brian led us home for the second time in two hours and despite wearing Santa Suits, Lloyd West and Rhiannon Buckley managed to bag themselves 5K PB’s.

Meanwhile, in Brecon, Gary Piper and Mark Worrall were taking on the ‘Might Contain Nuts’ Brecon 10 miler. A very hilly off road race with technical ascents and descents.

Later that day around 40 members met at the Wyndham Arms in Bridgend for the annual Christmas drinks with a few going onto the Wicked Lady and a small hardcore group carrying on until the early hours. A great night had by all.

Sunday 4th – Childrens Christmas Party

Our social committee are evil and decided to organise the clubs first childrens Christmas Party for the morning after the Christmas drinks. The chairman was in attendance and a little worse for wear and this was a theme for a few adults in attendance. Another fantastic event set up by the new committee and a massive thank you to everyone involved… even if they did insist on me getting involved in the party games!

Saturday 10th – parkruns

43 across across 5 parkruns with 36 at Porthcawl. Neil Price clocked his second sub 20 and improved his PB by a further 2 seconds. Jamie Bevan, Kim Thomas, Amy Williams, Louise Bennett and Joanne Rowling all got PB’s as well. Away from Porthcawl, Neil Harris ran a PB of 19:36 at Cardiff putting him up to 6th fastest on the Cwm Ogwr rankings. Julie and Shawn ran at Perry Hall, Chris Pratt ran at Huddersfield and Karl ran at Cheltenham.

Sunday 11th – Merthyr Mawr Pudding Run

An amazing turnout with 61 runners making the Blue Wave by far the biggest represented club at the event. Our top 5 runners were seperated by just 51 seconds with Aled, myself, Nick, Dai K and Graham H. Kelly was our first lady in with a course best. A special mention for Rhiannon Buckley who ran the event last year having only started running a few weeks before and on her return this year, beat her time by over 18 minutes. Plenty of the Blue Wave ran in fancy dress so it was a mixture of fun running and competitiveness with the race also being a club championship fixture which ended up confirming several winners which I’ll post about in the final review of the year. The race also marked the 102nd event of the year for Christie Coleman, setting a new record which again, I’ll write more about in the final blog of the year.

Saturday 17th – parkruns, Cottrell Park Christmas Cracker 10K and Christmas Party

40 runners across 8 parkruns with one of our lowest Porthcawl attendances in a while at 29. Neil Price set a PB for the second week in a row knocking another 8 seconds off his time for a 19:49 with Graham Mackleworth up next also beating his PB. David Kembery shaved a second off his PB whilst Jo Betty smashed her first parkrun with a 27:38 after apparently telling others she’d be happy with sneaking under the 30 mark. PB of the day has to go to Jayne Kembery who on her 50th parkrun beat her PB by 26 seconds and in the process got her first sub 30 with a 29:42. Oh, and did I mention we were all wearing Christmas jumpers as well!

Away from Porthcawl, Aled, Karl, Christie and Brian ran at Grangemoor before heading to the Cottrell Park 10K which started by 30-40 minutes after they’d finished their parkrun. Aled ran a super-speedy 19:43 making it the 3rd different parkrun he has achieved sub 20. Neil J and Niki are the only others to achieve this. Neil Harris followed up his overall parkrun PB last week with a 19:51 at Pontypridd. Bethan Cross was first in her age category at Bognor Regis. The Hillmans ran at the Gnoll, Chris R at Harlow and Fiona D at Linford Woods. Martin Beard ran the Rhodes parkrun in Australia – his 3rd different Australian parkrun and despite a slightly earlier start time, the temperature was around 28 degrees.

14 of the Blue Wave headed to Cottrell Park for the Winter version of their 10K that just myself, Brian and Christie ran the year before. Neil Jones finished 6th overall and would have finished higher had it not been for a fall around the halfway mark. Jayne Powney was first Cwm Ogwr female whilst Llinos Humphreys won a prize for being the final runner.

That evening around 20 odd of the Blue Wave descended on the Hi Tide in Porthcawl where the local Bridgend clubs got together for a joint Christmas Party. A great night had by all with the highlight being the secretly new formed band ‘Caution Runners’ which included our very own Chris Pratt as well as representatives from Bridgend AC, Porthcawl Runners and Cornelly Striders.

Still to come in December

The Festive Four competition is due to get underway with parkruns on both Christmas Eve and New Years Eve, an option of either the Porthcawl Lions 7K on Boxing Day or a 5 miler in Glynneath, plus the New Years Day 4 miler in Kenfig. Nos Galan 5K can also be used as one of the options. Rhiannon Buckley won the most improved category last year having beaten her previous bests by more than anyone else and is back to defend her title.

My next blog is likely to be after Christmas, so a Happy Christmas to everyone. Hope Santa brings you lots of running related gifts!

Christmas Drinks – part 3 and 4

 The week leading up to Christmas seen the club take the usual quick stop at a local pub a bit further. Tuesdays session involved more than 20 members running to the Wyndham pub with most staying for at least an hour and some (Kirsty Evans and Claire Dunbar Bowen) staying considerably longer. Then Wednesday’s session also decided to do a more swift pub stop at Tondu Railway club. No doubt this will now be an annual fixture with potentially more focus on the drinking than the running!

Christmas Eve – parkruns

Surely people got other things to do on a Christmas Eve morning? Apparently not… a staggering 70 runners across 5 different parkruns setting a new parkrun participation club record and a record at Porthcawl with 65 of the runners there. It was a triple celebration with Dai Power, Sian Tossell and Mervyn Beckwith all carefully timing their 100th parkruns for the occasion. Many dressed up and the less said about my outfit the better. As for the running bit, Stephen Davies got himself into the sub 20 club despite starting towards the back of a record 425 strong crowd at Porthcawl with a 19:53 and was first Cwm Ogwr across the line. Richard Lowcock James set a late season PB whilst Jo Betty and Matt Murray got PB’s – both for the second time in December. Bethan Cross helped pace Kimberley Thomas to a PB whilst Amy Williams had the unfortunate sight of my outfit for the entire run as I paced her to PB exactly one minute faster than her previous time – she may have been trying to run away from me which might have helped. Nicola Allen completed the set of Porthcawl parkrun PB’s for the morning.

Away from Porthcawl, Neil Jones notched up another sub 18 run at Cardiff whilst Neil Harris ran another sub 20. Karl Johnson ran at Pontypridd, Simon Melksham at Newport and Brett Bonnell at the Gnoll.

Christmas Day – parkrun

 Yes – this is a thing… Cardiff and Newport have both done Christmas Day parkruns for a number of years with Richard LJ, Dai Power and Sian Tossell attending in previous years. Sian was back again, along with Fiona Drysdale, Gavin Lewis and Juliet Amner.

Boxing Day – Porthcawl Lions 7K and Glynneath 5 miler

35 runners in attendance for the Porthcawl Lions 7K which starts at the Hi Tide and takes in the entirety of the parkrun course plus a bit extra at either end. Neil Jones finished 3rd overall with a time of 25:36 for the 4.5 mile course (roughly 7K). Several members including Aled, Brian and myself improved on our times from the previous year in what was also the final club championship event of the year. There was an unfortunate incident with Tammie falling at Rest Bay which resulted in a broken finger and hospital admission. A massive thanks to several of our club members who stopped to help and others that ran back to assist.

5 members attended the Glynneath 5 miler where Shelley Smithson smashed her PB and was agonisingly just 4 seconds short of the female club record. Carole Bartle set a PB with a superb sub 40 time. A PB for Helen Griffiths meant she joined a select group of runners to have achieved the ‘Grand Slam of PB’s’ in a calendar year which includes 5K, 5 miles, 10K, 10 miles, Half Marathon and Marathon distances. Joanne Rowling also set a PB with it being her first 5 miler and was encouraged around the course by Keith Coleman.

New Years Eve – parkruns and Nos Galan 5K races

 55 runners across 4 parkruns. 49 at Porthcawl where we had yet another new member of the sub 20 club with Joey Howland clocking 19:51. Mark Gabb got a PB of 23:24. I paced Jo Betty for the second half of her run to a PB of 26:13. Incredibly this beat a time that was set over 6 and a half years previous. Richard Lowcock James became only the second member to run his 200th parkrun. Away from Porthcawl, Claire Taylor and Pippa ran at Swansea, Chris S, Julie R and Shawn ran at Llyn Llech Owain and Neil Jones ran at Pontypridd. Julie and Shawn’s run at LLO parkrun marked their 20th parkrun venue putting them on the UK parkrun most events table.

That evening 19 Cwm Ogwr runners were in Mountain Ash for the Nos Galan races. Neil Jones and Neil Harris ran in the Elite 5K race where Neil Jones set yet another club record of 17:08 whilst Neil Harris got 19:57. Neil Jones had also run a 17:37 at Pontypridd parkrun that morning. In the fun run 5K they were no more PB’s to be had as many enjoyed the party atmosphere on the course. The final race of the year resulted in Christie Coleman finishing on a club record 108 events for the year.

Chairman’s Male Runner of the Month – Matt Murray

Two parkrun PB’s for Matt in December as well as great performances in the Pudding Run and Cottrell Park 10K.

Chairman’s Female Runner of the Month – Jo Betty

The only member to get three parkrun PB’s and beating that 6 and a half year previous best. Jo also ran at the Pudding Run and accompanied Pippa on the Boxing Day 7K.

That’s it for 2016. Bring on 2017!

November 1 – Halloween Party

The first event set up by the social committee was a kids Halloween disco in Ogmore Life Centre. A great evening had by all and I think some of the adults enjoyed it even more the kids. Great costumes by those who attended and a mountain of fabulous food. Thanks to Natasha and her team for decorating the room and for the music and party games. Definitely one to be repeated.

November 5 – parkruns

A record equalling 55 runners across 8 parkruns. 44 of which were at Porthcawl where there were PB’s for Joey, Emma Loyns and Kimberley Thomas with her first sub 30. We had another new parkrunner with Amy Williams completing the course in 32:22. There are now 180 different Cwm Ogwr runners who’ve ran Porthcawl parkrun.

Away from Porthcawl there were plenty of tourists with Martin B in Bath, Neil Harris running his 50 parkrun in Pontypridd, Wayne running in Colby and Neil J finishing 3rd in another sub 18 time in Grangemoor. We had 3 runners at Cardiff where Jamie V set a new PB of 19:44 with the Hillmans also in attendance. Another 3 at Penallta where Shawn Cullen set a new PB of 27:04 with Dawn and Julie also running there. Kirsty Evans ran Swansea parkrun and obiliterated her previous PB by over a minute to finish in 23:07 to go equal 5th with Lorna in the 5K female rankings.

November 6 – Richard Burton 10K and Bog n Bryn

37 runners at the Richard Burton 10K, smashing last years total of 18 (which seemed a lot at the time). Niki Puleio was first Cwm Ogwr runner back in 40:50 with Aled just 5 seconds further back. Peter Walsh ran 43:53 to add a 10K PB to his 5K and Half Marathon PB’s he achieved in October. Both Lloyd West and Shelley Smithson made it three 10K PB’s in 2 months with Cardiff, Swansea and Richard Burton. Shelleys time puts her up to 3 fastest club female in the 10K rankings with her 48:03 and second fastest this year. The PB’s continued with James and Carol whilst Emma Williams knocked almost 4 minutes off her time set at Caerphilly earlier this year. June Parry, Bev Sheard, Rachel G, Cath Griffiths and Julie Ransom completed the PB list. Impressive running by all.

Starting at Cwmbran Stadium, 8 crazies from the Blue Wave turned up to take on the Bog n Bryn Trail ‘Half Marathon’ (actually 13.8 miles). A multi-terrain course with a mixture of tarmac, fields, mud and forestry paths. With countless amounts of styles, a few narrow wooden bridges and a couple of small streams added to the 1800 feet of elevation – this was certainly a good challenge. Most of the elevation is included between mile 5 and 10 and is agonisingly mostly undone with a mile of steep descent similar to the final mile in Snowdon Marathon. Jamie Vanstone completed the course in the most satisfying time of 1:59:59 and was 15th overall in a small field of just 130 odd runners. Graham Hillman was up next followed by Daniel Clark and then myself. Victoria Hillman was first Cwm Ogwr female over the line followed closely by Richard LJ. Emma Loyns and Bethan Cross came in together just under the 3 hour mark. All eight of us really enjoyed the event with Bethan even declaring it as her favourite race so far, so I’m sure we’ll be looking to recruit a few more to take on the challenge next year. Just a gentle warning though – it’s almost always the week after Snowdon Marathon so bare that in mind.

November 12 – parkruns and Gower Trail Half

46 runners across 5 parkruns with 41 of which at Porthcawl were there was a plethora of PB’s. Neil Jones was first finisher for the 3rd time at Porthcawl and beat the club record he already held with a 17:12. Neil Price got the perfect first ever sub 20 with a 19:59 making him the 17th club member to achieved the feat. Joey Howland was just a few seconds off making it 18 members with a PB of 20:11. Daniel Clark smashed his parkrun PB by over a minute which was set on the short Salt Lake Car Park course, so realistically it was a 2 minute PB if only counting times on the original course. Lloyd West also beat his previous best a parkrun by around 2 minutes although this was only his 3rd parkrun. I helped pace Bethan Cross to a 55 second PB with a 26:08. She has knocked over 5 minutes off her parkrun time in just 7 months. Natalie Griffiths ran a late season PB and her fastest time since August 2015 whilst Angela Parry completed the PB list.

Away from Porthcawl, Mark Gabb ran at Barry, Shawn and Julie ran at Newport whilst new member Karl Johnson ran at Pontypridd. Shelley took on the super fast Swansea parkrun course and finished as 3rd female overall with her second fastest parkrun time of 22:48.

An event that really slipped under the radar for the Blue Wave is the Endurance Life Gower Trail Half Marathon. They also do a 10K, Marathon and Ultra although all distances tend to be very approximate and the events are pricey which is maybe what’s put members off. The Half Marathon is slightly long at 13.6 miles (and probably longer in reality) and includes nearly 2500 feet of elevation – that’s not far off Snowdon Marathon but all the elevation squeezed into half the distance. Simon Harrison and Nicola Symmonds took on the challenge finishing in 2:16 and 2:38 respectively.

Sunday 13 November – Cardiff Mo Run 10K and Las Vegas Half Marathon

A bumper 22 runners for the Mo Run 10K this year after only having 5 last year and 2 the year before. A fun event with lots of people dressed up and a good atmosphere. A super flat course but not ideal for racing as the paths are narrow in places and it’s very congested at the start. The two lap course also includes a footbridge that is very busy with walkers and cyclists crossing which resulted in bottlenecks and even having to stop for a few seconds. However, despite all this, it was one of the most successful PB races we’ve ever had. Chris Pratt was first club member across the line followed by Josie in a PB time of 48:59 putting her 6th in the female 10K rankings for the club. I was next across the line in what was my 300th event for the club. Mark Gabb came in with a PB time of just under an hour with Matt Murray and Kirstie Ellen picking up PB’s just outside the hour mark. Then came a huge group of PB’s with Nigel H, Tammie, Stephanie, Cath, Angela, Rhiannon W, Nicola A, Llinos, Claire Taylor and Pippa Clark. Myself, Chris Pratt and Mark Worrall all returned part way up the course to run in with some of the girls whilst almost everyone stayed to cheer on the runners in the latter stages.

Kelly ran the Las Vegas Half Marathon in 2:01:11 under the bright lights as it’s run in the evening. She commented that it was an amazing atmosphere and the medal was pretty decent as well.

Saturday 19th – parkruns

51 runners across 9 different parkruns. 41 at Porthcawl where despite ‘character building’ weather as Richard LJ would say, several new Cwm Ogwr members who started training with Shelley Smithson attended. Their times ranged from 28 to 37 minutes with first time PB’s for all. Away from Porthcawl, Karl Johnson volunteered as tail runner at Pontypridd, Jayne Powney ran at Forest of Dean whilst new member Joseph Smith (son of Chris Pratt) ran at Cambridge in the fastest time of the day with a 20:23. The Hillmans ran at Cardiff, parkrun tourists Shawn and Julie ran at Llanhydrock, Mark Gabb at Barry, Martin Beard at Gnoll and Dawn Hopkins at the inaugural Llanelli parkrun.

Sunday 20th – Pembrey MT10, Margam Tough 10K and Valencia Marathon

For possibly the first time this year we actually had less members at an event than the previous year. The Pembrey Multi Terrain 10 miler seen 19 of the Blue Wave in attendance compared to 25 last year. The race sold out weeks in advance which I think caught a few out. The race includes a mixture of tarmac, forestry trails and lots of sand including a mile beach section and multiple sand dunes. Niki lead the way in an impressive 41st place and course record for a Cwm Ogwr member.  A few PB’s mainly for those doing their first 10 milers including Graham M, Aled, Wayne, Lloyd, Keith, Josie, Claire DB, James Beynon, Gary Piper, Dawn H, Lucy H and Liz Sim. Emma Loyns was the only non-first timer to set a new PB beating her time from the previous year by 38 seconds.

I ran at the Margam Tough 10K in place of Chris Stanlake who had to drop out through injury. A stunning course around Margam Park going up to the highest point with a mixture of terrain. It lived up to the ‘Tough’ name so I was pleased to finish 34th out of 333 finishers.

Fiona Drysdale ran her first marathon and went for an alternative venue with Valencia her choice. Her impressive time of 4:17 is a club age category record.

Saturday 26th – parkruns

A record 63 runners across 5 parkruns with several more volunteering. 57 at Porthcawl which is also a record for a single parkrun venue and where Brian Cotton was celebrating his 50th parkrun. Conditions were cool (cold some might say) but with minimal wind it made it ideal for going for some speedy times. Sian Price annihilated her own female club record by 68 seconds with a 21:14. Incredibly the old record of 22:22 was smashed twice as Amy Roberts who was the long term record holder became the second club female to break 22 minutes with a 21:53. Jo Kendall, Stephanie Dyke, Catherine Griffiths and Joanne Rowling all also achieved PB’s whilst Richard LJ and Natalie Griffiths secured their best times of 2016.

There was a further PB away from Porthcawl with Katie Wood getting 30:49 at Burnley parkrun. Shawn and Julie continued their tourism at Cwmbran parkrun, the Hillmans were at Cardiff for their 50th parkruns and Dawn ran at Swansea.

Sunday 27th – West Glam XC League Kenfig fixture

The third fixture of the league seen the Blue Wave numbers increase against with 31 in attendance after 20 at the first fixture and 29 at the second fixture. This time it was advertised as a 4.5 mile route taking in the same course as the Bridgend League Kenfig 5K but with the additional mile or so thankfully being an extra loop around the trail part rather than the sand.

Neil Price was first of the Blue Wave back followed by Chris Pratt. Nick Harris, Brian Cotton and Graham Hillman made up the 5 male scorers. As for the ladies, Kelly led them home with Victoria Hillman, Sarah Littlewood, Bethan Cross and Denise Bradley made up the 5 female scorers. Both Bethan and Denise have been in the top 5 in each of the first 3 fixtures.

Chairman’s Male Runner of the Month – Lloyd West

Lloyd started off the month with an impressive 46:21 PB at the Richard Burton 10K which was also his third 10K PB in just 2 months. A week later he followed it up with a huge parkrun PB of 21:38 equating to a 71.65% age grading which is amongst the best in the club. A week later Lloyd got a PB at the Pembrey 10 miler with a 1:22:22 placing him 15th in the male 55+ age category. He wrapped up the month with a great performance at the Kenfig XC finishing as our 9th male runner.

Chairman’s Female Runner of the Month – Emma Loyns

Emma started off the month with 41 second PB at parkrun with a time of 25:21. A day later she ran the tough hilly 14 mile off road Bog n Bryn in Cwmbran showing some nifty footwork whilst running with me along one of the trickier sections and finishing alongside Bethan having thoroughly enjoyed the event. Emma was the only member at the Pembrey 10 miler to beat a previous 10 mile PB and then finished off the month with a run down to parkrun.

Coming up

Hopefully members don’t think Christmas is a time for relaxing. Very important to carbo-load and ‘hydrate’ of course but still a busy month of events. The opening weekend will see a few doubling up with parkrun plus the Aberavon Santa Run whilst there’s plenty of other Santa / Reindeer / Elf fun runs to choose from over the coming weeks. The second weekend see’s one of the highlights of the racing calendar with the Merthyr Mawr Pudding Run which I believe despite selling out in around half an hour, we have over 50 members entered. We have a few doing Cottrell Park 10K the week after and then over the Christmas period there’s the Festive Four competition. This includes a Christmas Eve parkrun, Boxing Day 7K, New Years Eve parkrun and a New Years Day 4 miler. To a non-runner this sounds like the most horrendous idea ever but I think we’ll see quite a few of the Blue Wave getting involved. Merry Christmas everyone!

October 1 – parkruns and the Gower 50

33 runners across 4 parkruns – a little lower than usual due to Cardiff Half Marathon the next day. Bizarrely there were 2 PB’s and both were exactly the same time with Victoria Hillman clocking 23:51 in Cardiff and Jonathan Townend getting the same time at Porthcawl. Victoria’s time made her the 5th club female to go sub 24 this year along with Shelley, Josie, Lorna and Kelly.

Meanwhile Neil J, Tim, Aled, Nick, Brian and Kris were taking on the biggest challenge yet.. a 50 miler around the Gower Peninsula. More than a dozen members headed down to support in various places around the course which was much appreciated by our epic runners. Neil and Tim were the first Cwm Ogwr runners across the line in 11 hours 32 minutes. Aled and Nick came in together at 12 hours 18 minutes having run with Jon Theil and Dan Morgan from Bridgend AC. Brian and Kris had fallen off the group early on and eventually ended up going it alone. Brian finished in 13:26 whilst Kris came in at 15:14. A remarkable feat of both mental and physical endurance.

October 2 – Cardiff Half Marathon,  Keilder Marathon and Bournemouth Marathon

A record 92 runners for this one including Neil, Nick and Kris who had only finished the 50 mile Ultra as little as 12-14 hours earlier. Brave? Bonkers? I’ll let you decide. Niki headed the Blue Wave across the line with a new PB of 1:27:57 putting him second in the club Half Marathon rankings. Clearly with 92 runners this could be a blog post all on its own so you keep it short I’ll list the PBers of which there were a few. Starting with Joey, Wayne, Graham M, Lloyd W, Stephen, David S and Neil Morgan. Our first female was Josie Bishop in a PB time of 1:51:18, just 9 seconds quicker than Eryl James. Nick was the first of the Ultra runners home in 1:52:32. The PB’s continued with Daniel Clark and Denise Bradley coming in well under the 2 hours mark. Denise knocked nearly 8 minutes of her previous best. Within a few minutes of the 2 hour mark were PB’s for James B, Sarah L, Carole B, Sarah B, Liz S and Claire Worthington in her first half for the club.

With Snowdon approaching and other coming back from injury, there were plenty offering to help pace other members and Antony Lewis ended up between Jo Kendall and Diana Purnell who both clocked new personal bests closely followed by Kristy Thomas and Emma W. Kimberley Davies, Jayne P, Shawn C, Matt M and Phillip B were our next PBers. Phillip knocking over 30 minutes off his time having run with his wife, Rhiannon in the March Cardiff Half. Richard LJ was returning from injury and helped Chris Stanlake to a debut half marathon time of just over 2:32. Bethan Cross got a PB in her second half marathon with Kelly G just a few seconds behind. Rhian Kinsella, Rachel Goss, Kimberley T, Emma Gibbs and Karen S all finished between 2:38 and 2:42 with it being the first half marathon for most of them.

Coming in with PB’s at under 3 hours were Tammie, Rhiannon B, Tamara, Jonathan Edwards, Kerry E, Michelle R, Lisa J and Rhian N whilst Louise Bennett, Nicola C and Nicola Allen finished the Blue Wave (Tsunami) that took over Cardiff. Again, most of them running the debut half marathons.

Away from Cardiff with had 2 marathoners with Kirsty Evans taking on the Bournemouth Marathon, and Chris Pratt taking on the Keilder Marathon. Kirsty preparation for Bournemouth wasn’t quite to the coaches rule book as she signed up just a few weeks before and then smashed three significantly long runs within a couple of weeks to prepare having not gone further than half marathon distance previous to that. Incredibly the bonkers preparation worked and Kirsty came in at 4:15:30 – an incredible time for a debut half marathon less than 6 months after starting running.

Meanwhile, Chris Pratt was running his 6 official marathon distance or over of the year. A tough marathon with nearly 2000 feet of ascent spread over multiples hills not dissimilar to Tenby. Despite this Chris managed a new PB of 3:39:14 knocking around 2 and half minutes off his previous best set on the significantly flatter Llanelli course. You can read more about his race weekend here https://chrispratt24.wordpress.com/2016/10/24/kielder-marathon-2016/

October 8 – parkruns

A record 55 runners across 5 parkruns with 48 of those at Porthcawl for Aled’s 50 parkrun. Natalie Griffiths had arranged for more than a dozen masks of Aled’s face to made which came as quite a shock to Aled when we emerged from the Pavilion. As for the run itself, Peter Walsh, Josie, Jonathan T (second week in a row), Mark Gabb (paced by Nick H who ran without shoes on?!), Liz S and Ian L. Bethan Cross knocked almost 2 minutes off her PB paced by myself. Dai Power clocked a new parkrun PB for the first time in around 2 years and got agonisingly close to sub 30 with a 30:05. Kim D, Rhiannon Whitely and Tammie also got PB’s in a hugely successful morning for the Blue Wave. Maybe everyone was running faster to get away from the Aled masks.

Away from Porthcawl, Neil J ran yet another sub 18 time at Pontypridd, Graham Hillman got a PB at Cardiff, Shawn and Julie continued their parkrun tourism with Lydney whilst Sarah B and Martin C were at Swindon.

Sunday 9 – Gnoll XC and Oxford Half Marathon

The second fixture of the West Glam XC league took us to the Gnoll Country Park on a lapped course that included various terrain, a small stream and a few inclines. A bigger turnout than the Llanmadoc fixture with 14 male and 15 female members in attendance. Jamie, Neil P, Simon H, Graham H and myself made up the 5 scorers for the men’s team on the two lap 5.6 mile course, whilst Victoria, Denise, Nicola P, Bethan and June made up the female scorers on the female team. We have over a dozen members running their first XC fixture and hoping that number continues to grow throughout the season.

Wayne and Graham M ran their second half marathon in as many weeks with the Oxford Half Marathon. Wayne was just 34 seconds slower than his time the previous week whilst Graham knocked around 2 minutes off his time for his second Half Marathon PB.

Saturday 15 – parkruns

49 runners across 6 parkruns with 42 at Porthcawl. Another barrage of PB’s with Neil P, Jonathan T (third week in a row), Mark Gabb (second week in a row), James B, Nigel, Gary P, Matt Murray, Kimberley T and Rachel G. Away from Porthcawl, Kevin ran a seasons best at Swansea, Chris and Amy Roberts were at Stretford, Neil J and Neil H were at Pontypridd, Ellen was at Penrhyn and Saul was at Southampton.

Sunday 16 – Ponty Plod, Manchester and Great Birmingham Half Marathons

The second annual Ponty Plod 11 miler seen Antony Lewis as first of the Blue Wave across the line with newest member Sian Price 6 female overall. Christie and Mark W made up our four runners on the off road, hilly course which served as good preparation for them in their upcoming Snowdon Marathon.

Kirstie Edwards got a late place for the Great Birmingham Run and smashed her PB. Chris and Amy Roberts ran together in the inaugural Manchester Half Marathon with Amy clocking a new PB of 1:45:24 putting her second in the club female half marathon rankings.

Saturday 22 – parkruns

47 runners across 5 parkruns with 39 at Porthcawl. This was Aunty Pat’s 100th parkrun with the theme being frilly knickers for the girls and mankini’s for the boys – strictly to be worn on outside of clothing I should add! Plenty of people got involved with myself, Aled, Dai K, Richard G, Christie C and Mark W all wearing green mankini’s whilst several of the girls wore frilly knickers over their running gear.

Peter Walsh clocked his second parkrun PB of the month having also got a PB at Cardiff Half Marathon and a great performance at the XC. I ended up unintentionally pacing both Sian P and Shelley which ended up with Sian breaking the female club record which had stood for well over a year with a 22:22 which was also a 1 second PB having run a parkrun just before joining the club, and Shelley moved up to third place in the female rankings with a 22:34 which was also the second fastest this year. Josie Bishop also beat her PB with a 23:05 making it 3 of the fastest times by female members in the history of the club all in one parkrun. James B, Ian L and Matt Murray all clocked their second parkrun PB’s of the month whilst Nicola Allen got the perfect sub 40 (39:59) with Pippa and Claire T also notching up new personal bests.

Away from Porthcawl, Alana Charles ran her first parkrun in several weeks at Stevenage, Neil Harris clocked a seasons best at Pontypridd and Angela ran at Reigate Priory parkrun. We also had 5 runners at Barry Island parkrun where Neil J was first finisher making it the 4 parkrun he’s finished in first place adding it to Grangemoor, Pontypridd and Porthcawl. parkrun tourist enthusiasts Kris D, Shaun C, Chris S and Julie also ran at Barry.

Sunday 23 – Porthcawl 4K TT and Stroud Half Marathon

The final fixture of the Bridgend League seen a relay event along the parkrun course in Porthcawl. To make it a bit different, everyone signed up individually and was allocated a team through a draw meaning we had some teams with 3 different clubs represented and teams with sub 18 runners and +40 minute runners together. A bitterly cold morning at Porthcawl and a few last minute adjustments to teams as inevitably not everyone turned up. Unfortunately it meant that some teams had to run with 2 runners with the relay element was just a bit of fun and it was individual leg times that would count for overall scoring.

No prizes for guessing that Neil J was our fastest runner clocking 13:54 for the 4K course. He missed out on being the fastest overall by just a few seconds. Kirsty Evans was our fastest female in her first club race since Bournemouth Marathon with a 18:32 suggesting her 5K time of 24:17 is set to be smashed in the near future. I multiplied up our results to see what sort of times we could see at 5K from some of our members, and apart from Kirsty, there were particularly fast relative times for Denise, Fiona E, Emma L, Bethan C, Shawn C, Emma W, Kim D, Dai P, Kim T, Tammie and Rhiannon B. All would get PB’s at parkrun if they could keep that pace going for the full 5K. In Kirsty, Bethan, Shawn, Emma and Kim T’s cases, it would be by over a minute.

As for the relay team results, Fiona Evans was part of the winning team whilst a mix up meant Chris Pratt’s team were awarded 3rd place but actually finished 6th – however, it meant another Cwm Ogwr member Dan Clark was in the actual 3rd placed team.

Cwm Ogwr finished 3rd for that particular event with Brackla winning their first event of the series. We finished 3rd in the overall league standings with a comfortable gap over 4th placed Cornelly and not too far behind runners up, Brackla. In the individual competition, Neil J finished 3rd.

Wayne Hayhurst ran his 3rd Half Marathon of the month with Stroud the venue this time where he clocked 1:40:11. Remarkably, all three half marathons were within 54 seconds of each other despite very different courses.

Saturday 29 – Snowdon marathon and parkruns

Despite so many either running or supporting at the Snowdon Marathon, we still had 33 parkrunners across 5 different parkruns. 24 of which were at Porthcawl where Ian Lewis and Ellen got PB’s and Angela Walsh ran her first event as a Cwm Ogwr runner having transferred from Porthcawl Runners. Elsewhere Zoe Tee ran at Ashton Court, Dawn, Shawn and Julie were at Cardiff, Chris S was at Lanhydrock (notable for being one of the toughest parkruns) and Mark Gabb was at Barry.

Meanwhile, myself, Aled, Dai and Jayne Kembery were on our way to Snowdon to support our runners and left in time to do the Dolgellau parkrun along the way. There were just 32 runners and I led for a few seconds early on before Dai took the reins and I dropped back. Despite some pressure from a fast youngster and another runner who briefly took the lead, Dai ended up being first finisher to add his name to the very short list of Cwm Ogwr ‘winners’. Aled was 4th whilst I finished 6th which is no doubt the highest 3 Cwm Ogwr finishers in a single parkrun.

On we went to Snowdon where 24 brave souls were getting ready to tackle one of the toughest road marathons in the UK. Close to 3000 feet of elevation spread over 26.2 miles. Several other supporters were already there for the weekend who we seen on our travels around the course. Our first stop was the 6 mile point which is just after the runners have conquered their first major hill up to Pen y Pass and are on the descent into the valley below. Dai had made signs whilst Aled had a megaphone at the ready. We met Fao, Jonathan, Janet and the Lowcock James there to cheer through every single runner from first to last. Plenty of smiles, high fives and hugs at this point. The atmosphere was electric despite only a couple of dozens supporters including the ever supportive Run 4 All crew. With 24 runners plus other local Bridgend based runners to cheer on as well as our friends in Pontypridd, Run 4 All and Lliswerry, barely a few seconds went passed without us pointing out another runner. I think between us we probably called out 90% of the runners names which were on their bibs. Every one of our runners looking strong at this point.

With the last runner through and roads reopened we made our way to Waun Fach – the final hill which stretches on from mile 22. With no access up the hill by car, we had to park at the bottom and walk the 2 miles to the top – even that was tough – at this point I wasn’t too envious of the runners who were due to tackle this after 22 miles having already climbed two significant hills. We put signs up along the way attached to walls and lampposts and headed to the proper summit of the hill. I say proper summit as at mile 24 it levels out slightly for an off road section which lulls you into a false sense that all the hills are done, but there’s actually another incline to come at around 24.5 miles. As we walked up the hill, the leader went passed which was an incredible sight to see someone probably running up that steep hill at what would probably be my pace on the flat.

When we seen the runners come through at mile 6, we estimated Neil was in about 50-60th place so we were stunned when after just 20 odd runners had passed he came through. A quick check of the watch suggested it was going to be very close to 3 hours dead. As expected, there was quite a significant gap to our next runner. I managed to get internet signal just long enough to suggest Kevin would be next up and decided to go back down the hill to find him and just as I was about to turn back, I seen Chris Pratt. Kevin was a few minutes later and then our runners started coming in at regular intervals. Some looking stronger than others but all having put in an incredible effort and relieved to finally be nearing the top. Some plodded on whilst others gave high fives or stopped for a quick hug before carrying on.

We decided to start walking back down after around 5 hours had passed since the start and seen Dai Power and Helen Griffiths along the way. We actually ended up seeing every runner from first to last again. Some incredible scenes were witnessed from the leader charging up the hill as if it wasn’t there, to an 82 year old runner from Port Talbot who was one of the few who didn’t walk on that final incline. Jayne’s highlight was seeing Shane Williams who many of runners can claim to have beaten as he struggled round in over 5 hours. Another guy has completed all 30 odd Snowdonia Marathons and one woman had a dog with her who had apparently completed 13 marathons. The woman was in her 70’s and had completed Snowdonia 18 times and said she had a few more left in her.

Finally with some internet signal we started going through the times. Neil J had finished 23rd overall with a time of 3:00:26. He was delighted with the 23rd placed finish but gutted about the 26 seconds over a time that most of us can only dream of. Chris Pratt finished in 3:43:08 – less than 4 minutes slower his PB set in Keilder just 4 weeks earlier and 24 minutes faster than his time the previous year. Kevin dipped under hours whilst Nick Harris who’d been out injured for a couple of weeks came in at 4:12 ahead of Richie Pett and Chris Williams. Kris Denholm ran a credible 4:20 just 4 weeks after the Gower 50 whilst Martin Beard got 4:24 only 6 weeks after completing Ironman Wales.

Lorna was our first female runner home in 4:39 closely followed by Neil M on his marathon debut. Kelly finished in 4:48 knocking a massive 27 minutes off her time the previous year with Snowdon first timer Christie just a couple of minutes behind despite injury limiting his training for the event. Denise Bradley and Rob Pritchard on his marathon debut both finished in 4:51 whilst Heather and Richard Garratt finished in PB times of 4:54 and 4:57 respectively having run 5:15 in their first and only marathon the year before. Caerwyn finished in 5:15 in his marathon debut whilst Liz completed her first Snowdon Marathon in 5:17.

Our most experienced Snowdon Marathoner, Fiona ran the course in 5:21 with Gary Piper in tow finishing a minute behind. Mark Worrall and Kirstie Ellen finished closed together in 5:26 and 5:27 respectively in what was a debut marathon for Mark. Dai Power ran his fastest marathon of the three he’s done this year with a 5:59 whilst Helen Griffiths completed her debut marathon in 6:12.

Amazingly, it looks like we’ll have even more signing up next year with 25 rooms already booked. In case you are interested, Chris has wrote an excellent blog about the weekend and race here https://chrispratt24.wordpress.com/2016/11/05/snowdonia-marathon-eryri-2016/

Sunday 30 – Worksop Halloween Half Marathon

A rare Sunday with only one runner. Matt Murray ran this event in 2:25:06 in his first half marathon with the club.

Chairman’s Male Runner of the Month – Neil Jones

He’s pretty much in contention every month and for the second time this year, I’m going to have pick Neil. Having never gone beyond marathon distance, Neil completed the Gower 50 at the start of the month and stuck by his mate Tim throughout sacrificing a quicker time for himself. He then still did the Cardiff HM the day after. He followed this up with a first finish at Barry parkrun and a second placed finish at the Porthcawl 4K TT which helped him to third overall in the individual standings and first senior. All of this topped of with the phenomenal 3:00:26 and 23rd placed finish in the Snowdon Marathon.

Chairman’s Female Runner of the Month – Kirstie Ellen

After running Cardiff Half Marathon with Louise and Nicola in just over 3 hours at the start of the month, Kirstie managed to get a last minute place for Snowdon Marathon. As part of training for this she completed the Great Birmingham Run in a new personal best time. Kirstie had run a marathon before but this was the first one in a while and she smashed her PB. Oh, and did I mention she only gave birth 7 months ago so has only been back in training since then. Amazing.