Category: Running

parkruns – a record month

This month saw a record 330 parkrun finishes by a record 149 different members across a record 36 different parkrun venues. With a 5 Saturday / parkrunday month, it was always going to be big numbers, but even after 4 Saturdays we’d set new record amounts. The total numbers for each Saturday were 52, 56, 71, 85 and 62. The jump marks when the new batch of Zero to Hero’s graduated on the 3rd Saturday of the month. The 4th Saturday saw a huge proportion of them return as well as a few more that had missed the previous week and were graduating a week later.  The final weekend saw a slight drop which was understandable considering the turnout of Cardiff Bay 10K the next day and with just a week to go until the Vale races.

As well as the usual parkruns across South Wales, tourism included Telford, Winchester, Dartford Heath, Lancaster, Mount Edgcumbe, Cirencester, Sandwell Valley, Didcot, Harlow, Milton Keynes, Bath Skyline, Gloucester North, Tewkesbury, Wotton, Kingsway, Mile End, Minehead and Burham.

Further afield we had two different Dublin parkruns with Gary Loo at River Valley and Fiona Drysdale at Fairview. Plus we had yet more Australian parkruns with Frances Manship at Albert parkrun in Sydney, and the Sheards at Centennial parkrun on their first Saturday in Oz and Hamilton Island on the second.

This month saw David Sheard become the 5th club member to join the 250 club whilst Victoria Hillman, Julie Ransom and Shawn Cullen all celebrated her 100th parkruns.

Normally at this point I would list the PB’s in month but there were so many with the new influx of Zero to Hero graduates that it would be exceptionally long. A massive well done to everyone whether it was a first timer PB or a PB on your 100th run.

10Ks

Sally Pensom ran the Chester 10K which had almost 4000 runners in a new PB time of 55:59.

We finished off the month with the Cardiff Bay 10K with an outstanding 62 runners. However, what is even more remarkable is that there were 39 PB’s. Where do I start? Well James Littlewood led the club home with a huge PB and became only the 5th member to go sub 40 with a 39:28. Neil Price also claimed a PB with 40:20, whilst Steven James made it 2 PB’s in 2 days with a 41:52. Keith Coleman got his first sub 45 whilst Simon Harrison claimed a PB despite starting towards the back.

The girls absolutely smashed it. Sarah Littlewood moved to 5th in the club female 10K ranking with an outstanding 46:07 which I think surprised everyone including Sarah. Emma Loyns was just a couple of minutes back with a 48:56 PB despite the last thing she said to me walking into the pen was that she ‘was taking it easy with the Vale Ultra in 6 days time’. Denise Bradley claimed the female 55-59 age category club record with 50:07 and was closely followed home by Sarah Davies in 50:25, Jo Gamba in 50:34 and Dawn Hopkins in 52:38 with all adding to the PB list.

Ben Davies added a 10K PB to multiple parkrun PB’s in 2019. Last months male runner of the month, Shawn Cullen, added yet another PB to the list for this year adding to parkrun, 10 mile and Half Marathon PB’s. Emma Marshall, Natalie Aryal, Rhiannon Sian, Hannah Knight, Julie Ransom, Steph Iveson, Phillip Iveson, Sharon Pritchard, Debbie Bennion, Deb Edwards and Helen Griffiths all claimed PB’s between 56:17 and 59:54.

Our 2018 Runners Runner and Most Improved winner, Tammie Baker, smashed her PB by 5 minutes missing out on a sub 1 hour time by just 12 seconds. Alexis Barrett, Sarah Davies and Sian Jenkins were next up with PB’s and all followed within a couple of minutes of Tammie. Jamie and Stephne Puddy made it 3 PB’s at 3 different distances in just 8 days with parkrun, Half Marathon and 10K.

There were PB’s ranging from 39 minutes to 80 minutes so to complete the list, well done also to Gareth Davies, Craig Alexander, Paul Iskander, Andrew Hughes, Paul Barrett, Joanne Burrows, Maria George and Ffion Smith.

10 milers

This month saw our members at 2 different 10 milers. The first being the San Dom 10 miler where Kayley Griffiths, Julie Ransom and Stephne Puddy all notched PB’s. Later in the month, Emma Winch took on the super tough multi terrain Soulbreaker 10 miler and earned herself a first official 10 mile time and therefore PB.

Half Marathons

I need to start with one I missed out last month – the Hoka Winter Trail Half Marathon. Fortunately for our 8 runners, conditions weren’t quite as bad as forecast but we still had strong winds and a downpour half ways round to contend with on the course which includes close to 2000 feet of elevation. The Lovelucks were in attendance setting astonishing times to pick up yet more age category trophies with Steve clocking a 1:41 PB and Anneliese a 1:43. Steven James was up next in 1:55 whilst I was just outside 2 hours. Juliet Amner claimed a first in age category and was followed home by Liz Sim, Adam Rowe and new member Sam Connell.

March saw an incredible 12 different Half Marathons with 7 all on the same day (24/03).

The first Saturday of March saw Shawn Cullen ran the notoriously tough Ras Dewi Sant Half Marathon in 2:25:30. Despite the course distance coming up a bit short, this is yet another indication of the improvement Shawn has seen since marathon training.

A day later saw 7 members complete the Newport Half Marathon. This race was called off last year due to bad weather so I believe most of our runners were actually running as a result of deferred places and may have originally signed up in late 2017. Nige Rees led the club home in a PB time of 1:56 whilst Sarah Davies picked up her first sub 2 hour time coming in a few seconds under 1:59 with Alun Wylde just a few seconds behind. Paul Barrett got a PB of 2:20 with Nigel Hitchings and Steph Dyke finishing in the same time. Our final finisher was Alexis Barrett in 2:26.

Louise Bennett had a taster of what’s to come in the London Marathon when she completed the London Big Half in a PB of 2:49 following in the footsteps of Mo Farah who won the event. The course took in most of the middle section of the London Marathon course (but in reverse) finishing at Cutty Sark.

Weekend 3 of the month saw Saul Harris finish the Bath Half Marathon in 1:42 ahead of his brother Nick (1:48). Ashley Howells notched up an excellent PB of 1:55:47 on what isn’t the flattest of courses. Our final finisher was Jonathan Pritchard in 3:11.

Weekend 4 of the month was when we saw an incredible record with members running at 7 different Half Marathons on the same day in 3 different countries. The biggest attendance of the day was at Cardiff Taff Trail Half Marathon. A no-frills race at just £11 to enter (therefore no goodies afterwards), on very flat out and back course. Paul Smith was first back in a PB time of 1:27:46 whilst Neil Price clocked his first sub 90 minute Half Marathon with 1:29:29. Kris Denholm who very rarely runs Half Marathons, ran his fastest Half Marathon since joining the club with a 1:40:49. Jo Gamba was our first lady back in 2:06:04 and not too far behind was an astonishing run by Julie Ransom who knocked 23 minutes off her PB with a 2:10:29. It means she’s pretty much mirrored what her husband Shawn did a month earlier with 5K, 10 mile and Half Marathon PB’s all within a couple of weekends.

Many of our Maesteg parkrun / Just Run Penybont contingent ran the Weston Super-Mare HM with Gregg Harris finishing with a PB of 1:46:59. More PB’s followed for Alun Job, Jamie Puddy and Stephne Puddy who ran with Emma Marshall as our final finishers. Seven members made their way to London for the London Landmarks Half Marathon with Gary Loo and Nicola Veasey clocking PB’s.

The Littlewoods ran at the Ironbridge HM with James getting a 1:36:40 PB. Emma Morris paced 2:30 at the Limassol Half Marathon in Cyprus coming in at 2:29:26. We had 9 runners at the Forest of Dean Half Marathon. No PB’s to be had on the undulating trail course with many of our runners using it as another training run towards the Vale races or marathons.

Finally we had 4 runners at the Merthyr Half Marathon were Anneliese Loveluck annihilated the female club record with 1:32:33 which was also a PB by over 9 minutes. It also puts Anneliese in 10th for fastest Half Marathon PB in the club overall. Wayne Randall was next up with a 2:06 whilst Vickie Blake ran a PB of 2:41:51. Our final finisher was Karl Johnson who finished in 2:53:03 having stopped to help another runner.

Marathons

Emma Loyns and Liz Sim took on the Ras Dewi Sant Marathon finishing in 6:05 and 6:52 respectively. The marathon is one of the toughest in the UK with technical multi terrain and steep sections along the clifftops of the Pembrokeshire coast. It was the final marathon in a challenge Liz had set herself which was to run 10 marathons in 2 years. An outstanding achievement.

Chris Pratt ran 2 marathons in March with the Infinity Spring Marathon which I’ll come onto later, and then at another event by the same company which was set in Aberdare.

West Glamorgan Cross Country League

With the season complete, I thought I’d do a quick round up of how we’ve done this season. Promotion for the men’s team in the 2017/18 season meant our first season in Division 2 which is almost a mini-Bridgend League with Brackla, Cornelly and Porthcawl all in the same division. TROTS, Neath Black Tuesday, Swansea University and Amman Valley Runners made up the remaining teams. Many of these clubs have been competition in the league for decades whilst this was only our 4th season.

The men’s team ended up finishing 5th out of 8 which should see us stay in Division 2 barring another reshuffle of the tables.

A decent finishing position in 17/18 and a reshuffle of the divisions meant that the ladies were also given a place in division 2 out of 3 for the 18/19 season. They were in direct competition with 3M’s, Llanelli AC, TROTS, Paul Popham Running Club, Celtic Tri, Tata Steel and Swansea University. Again facing teams with a lot of experience.

The ladies team also finished 5th out of 8 which should see them stay in Division 2 barring another reshuffle of the tables.

The first fixture at Llanmadoc saw 10 runners with a split of 5 men and 5 women which is the minimum required as each team’s first 5 runners count for team scoring purposes. There was a better turnout with 16 at Kenfig and another increase to 20 for Margam Reservoir where we had a particularly strong men’s team with Adrian Pearce, Niki, Paul Smith, Neil Price and Kris Denholm. 15 attended Margam before 16 ran the final fixture at the Gnoll.

Well done to Adrian Pearce who finished as our highest ranked runner in the individual standings at 46th out of 470 runners. Jo Gamba was our highest ranked lady at 44th out of 360 female runners. In total we had 48 number of different members run during the season.

Other races

We had 10 runners for the Rhayader Round the Lakes 30K. A popular event for many runners training for a springtime marathon or ultra as was the case for many of ours who ran. Aled Hughes led our runners back in 2:35 closely followed by Simon Harrison. Our first lady back was Carol Bartle in 3:20.

The next event in the Infinity Running series saw 4 of our runners complete 4 different distances so I’ve included it in this section rather than repeat the same event 4 times. The event in Margam Park included laps of around 3.3 miles. Judith Jeeves completed 2 laps to record a ‘10K’ of 1:06, Sharon Pritchard completed 4 laps for a Half Marathon time of 2:36, Nick Harris completed 5 laps for 16.5 miles in total in a time of 2:51, whilst Chris Pratt did 8 laps to record a marathon time of 4:16.

David Sheard took on ‘the Grizzly’. A roughly 20 mile race including bog, cliff edges, beaches, waist deep water crossing and over 3000 feet of elevation. Despite all this, it’s an incredibly popular race and one of only a few in the UK that you need to ballot to get a place. David completed the course in 4:06.

The Narberth Numbers event provided a different challenge with 6 runners from the club pairing up and using maps to find 8 checkpoints on a trail course… in the dark. The shortest route would be around 6 miles but as you can imagine, some did a couple more. Well done to Aled and Nick who completed the course finding all 8 checkpoints in 1:48. Gareth Richards and Leigh Francis managed 6 out of 8 and added a bit more distance than required, whilst Fiona Evans and Denise Bradley found 4 out of 8 before returning a lot sooner than the other pairs. Shawn and Julie took on the

Cosmeston Pursuit 10K however, it’s included under ‘other’ races as due to storm-force winds, the route had to be amended to avoid a forestry section and ended up being closer to 8K.

AGM

This month also saw the club AGM where it was fantastic to hear the chairman’s report on such an outstanding year for the club. I’m honoured to be the new Male captain after our long standing captain Richard Lowcock James stood down to focus on his many other roles within the club. Congratulations to Jo Gamba and Nick Harris who are the new Vice Captains whilst all other roles remained as they were.

That wraps up my review of one of the busiest months ever for Ogmore Phoenix Runners. Over to Chris for his choices for Chairman’s Runner of the Month – I don’t think that will be an easy task!

 Chairman’s Runners of the Month

This task gets tougher and tougher.  As we grow as a club it becomes increasingly more difficult to choose someone who stands out from the crowd.  Months like March make it virtually impossible.  Personal bests left, right and centre.  Valiant efforts in every race.  Mutual support by the bucketload.  Gareth sent me a message saying the blog was complete at the start of April and I’ve deliberated since then.  Who to choose?

We see it quite often where running improvements coincide with lifestyle changes.  Changes in diet combined with a focus can lead to weight loss and subsequent fall in times.  March was the start of this journey for someone and very early on in the process times started to tumble.  Races abound at this time of year and we all love to sign up in numbers.  As a result it was a flurry of improving times for one.  parkrun, 10k, 10 mile and half marathon all saw personal bests during one month – three of them within 8 days!   It’s wonderful to see that the focus has continued beyond March and looking forward to seeing more to come in the year ahead!  I am delighted to award my Chairman’s female runner of the month to Stephne Puddy.  Well done Steph – a fantastic month of running, long may it continue! 

My male choice has been on my radar for some time even though he flies under it quite often. When he runs he has a habit of pulling performances out of the bag.  It’s fair to say he’s quiet on a day to day basis.  All the while he’s getting his miles in and largely unbeknown to us signing up for events.  Whenever he appears at events he excels.  This month has seen some big improvements in a household where improvements have being seen across the board.  With a huge sub 40 PB at 10k and a huge PB at Ironbridge half marathon I sense this is the start of a string of improvements over the coming months.  Evening up the balance of Chairman’s accolades in one household I am delighted to award my Chairman’s male runner of the month as James Littlewood.  Well done James – looking forward to seeing what the rest of the year brings!

parkruns

This month saw 216 parkrun finishes by 108 different members across 25 different parkrun venues.

As well as the usual South Wales parkruns, tourism included Seaton, Bath Skyline, Burham, Ellesmere Port, Old Deer Park, Gloucester North, Bideford, Kingsway, Telford and Exmouth plus some further afield which I’ll come onto next.

Tim and Philippa Rees returned from Australia but not before completing Lake Entrance parkrun taking Tim’s total number of Aussie parkruns to 14 across 7 different venues whilst Philippa did 12 across 7 venues. With Philippa only recently having started parkrunning, 12 of her 14 parkruns have been in Australia and she’s already visited 8 different venues. Interestingly, Chris Roberts, Martin Beard and Kaye Pedler have also done parkruns in Australia with each one being a different venue so in total, there have been Ogmore Phoenix Runners at a massive 18 different Australian parkruns.

Now you may have missed this (although if you have any social media then I think you’ll probably have seen a post or two) but 7 members of our club went to Jersey just to do a parkrun. Led and organised by super tourist Karl Johnson, some chose to stay in London the night before whilst others got up at 130am to travel to London to then get a flight to Jersey, do the parkrun, and make the return leg that afternoon. Well done to the crazy gang of Aled, Steven James (who had only done one other parkrun prior to this), Dawn, Karl, Chris Stanlake, Rhiannon Sian and James Beynon.

The crazy parkrun tourism continued with Jo Gamba and I going to Delaware and Raritan Canal parkrun in New Jersey. It was the nearest parkrun to where we were staying in New York but still required about an hour and half of travel time. I finished 3rd overall whilst Jo was first female finisher for the first time in her 124 parkruns. If you want to read more about this, I did a lengthy post about the event on our Facebook page if you wish to read more about it.

This month saw Debbie Bennion and Richard Purnell celebrate their 50th parkruns.

Some highlights in month included Ben Davies, Sian Jenkins and Chris Bimson all notching up two PB’s each, yet another PB for Claire Taylor, Shawn Cullen bagged himself a PB, plus many more. At the super speedy end, Aled Hughes and James Littlewood both ran 19:15 PB’s at different locations on the same day, whilst returning member Chris Truman smashed his previous best with a 19:28. Niki Puleio was first finisher at Maesteg for the first time since September whilst Dawn Hopkins was first female finisher at Elsmere Port.

10K

The month kicked off with a couple of very different 10K events. Emma Morris completed the London Winter 10K in 51:45 through the parks and streets of London whilst Dawn Hopkins, Chris Richards and Adrian Pearce took on the Worms Head 10K. A multi terrain race near Rhossili Bay with over 800 feet of elevation. This was Dawn’s 11th event for the club in just 34 days and a day after being part of the crazy gang who went to Jersey parkrun.

Emma was back in 10K action again later in the month with the Castle Combe 10K in which she came in just under 1 hour.

Our final 10K of the month was the Pontypool 10K where Karl Johnson was our first member across the line followed by Liz Davis, Shawn Cullen with another PB, Debbie Bennion, Julie Ransom with a PB time, and Sharon Pritchard. A tough course which goes to show the improvements by Shawn and Julie recently with them managing PB’s there.

10 miler

Shawn Cullen ran the inaugural Cardiff 10 mile event where he smashed his previous PB with a 1:33:23 just 24 hours after getting a parkrun PB at Gloucester North. There aren’t too many 10 milers about so this should definitely be one on peoples lists for next year.

Half Marathons

Darija ran the Ras Cors Caron Half Marathon in 2:30:24 despite being out for Presentation night the previous evening.

The big Half Marathon this month was the Llanelli Half Marathon which had 47 Ogmore Phoenix Runners in attendance as well as several volunteering and many more supporting. Ryan Evans ran 1:27:42 despite having not run much over the Winter, Chris ‘Wonka’ Williams was next up with 1:36:30, before our first PB of the day with Keith Coleman running an impressive 1:41:30. The PB’s continued with a 1:44 for Gareth Davies and Claire Dunbar Bowen became only the 3rd female member to go sub 1:45. A long list of PB-ers were to follow with Gregg Harris, Craig Alexander, Sian Thomas, Shawn Cullen, Hannah Bartle, Natalie Aryal, Ken Salvatore, Rhiannon Sian, Hannah Knight, Rosaleen Lian, Kerry Worthington, Helen Griffiths, Shelley Evans, Claire Taylor, Michelle Alexander, Rhiannon Lewis, Louise Bennett and Leanne Parsons. Some remarkable achievements in amongst those including Claire Taylor now having knocked over an hour off her Half Marathon since joining the club, and Shawn Cullen becoming one of the first members ever to record 4 PB’s and 4 different distances in the same month… in fact, it was 4 over the course of 3 weekends.

Jo and I also ran the Central Park Half Marathon whilst in New York. We ran together finishing in 2:12:11. Again, I did a lengthy post about the race on our Facebook page if you wish to read more about it.

Other Races

Nick Harris and Simon Melksham ran the 3rd event of the Chepstow Night Race Series. A 5 mile event with over 800 feet of elevation.

There were 5 club finishers in the Dursley Dozen which was the 2nd race in this years Trail Championship. Adrian Pearce led the runners home followed by Steven James, David Sheard, Emma Loyns and Bev Sheard.

We had 4 runners at the Brecon to Cardiff Ultra. Kris Denholm completed the 44 mile course in 8 hours and 6 minutes with Gareth Richards a few minutes behind. Dan Clark completed his second Brecon to Cardiff in 8:40 knocking 50 minutes off his time from 2018. Wayne Hayhurst completed our Ultra finishers in 9 hours 40 minutes.

February also saw the first event of the Club Road Championship. I set our runners the challenge of completing the regular 5 mile training loop from the Life Centre in Ogmore up to the top of Nantymoel and back down and around… twice. A challenging 10 miler with almost 1000 feet of elevation, although it should also be pointed out, a significant amount of miles downhill. 36 members took on the challenge with Niki Puleio clocking the fastest time of 1:07 whilst Sarah Littlewood was the fastest female with 1:26. The next event in the club championship is the Cardiff Bay 10K on March 31st.

Presentation Night

Celebrating the achievements of the club and its members during 2018 , the Presentation Night was held at the Richard Price Centre on Saturday 16th February. The night kicked off with a speech from our Chairman, Chris Pratt, followed by an hour long video containing photos and short video clips of the year – over a 1000 in total.

The awards followed with Tammie Baker winning the top prize of Runners Runner after a fantastic year including huge improvements from 5K to Half Marathon (which also saw her win the Most Improved Female prize as well).

Runner’s Runner: Tammie Baker

Runner’s Runner 2nd place: Siân Jenkins

Runner’s Runner 3rd place: Denise Bradley

The next batch of awards listed are based on the fastest times by a runner in that category over the ‘standard’ distances of 5K, 5 miles, 10K, 10 miles, Half Marathon and Marathon. Whoever has the most ‘fastest in category’ wins – it’s a simple as that. The Club Runner is then chosen by the awards panel (made up of committee members, captains and myself as stats guru) from the 6 category winners.

Club Runner: Anneliese Loveluck

Super Veteran Female: Juliet Amner

Super Veteran Male: Steve Loveluck

Veteran Female: Anneliese Loveluck

Veteran Male: Neil Jones

Senior Female: Amy Roberts

Senior Male: John Burridge

The Age Grade Championship included fastest times (and corresponding age category percentages) at Maesteg and Porthcawl parkruns as well as age grade percentages for each of the 6 Bridgend League events.

Female Age Grade Champion: Juliet Amner

Male Age Grade Champion: Steve Loveluck

The inaugural Trail Championship included multi terrain races spread out across the year which included everything from short fell races to Bridgend League to 10+ mile multi terrain events.

Trail Championship Female Winner: Emma Loyns

Trail Championship Female 2nd place: Emma Louise Winch

Trail Championship Female 3rd place: Bev Sheard

Trail Championship Male Winner: Steven James

Trail Championship Male 2nd place: Richard Lowcock James

Trail Championship Male 3rd place: David Sheard

Best Newcomer doesn’t really need much explaining. Basically anyone who has been in the club for less than a year and have made a big impact which could be a combination of time improvements, events run / representing the club, volunteering and encouraging others.

Female Newcomer: Leigh Francis

Male Newcomer: Tim Rees

Most improved is one of the trickiest to decide as there were so many worthy contenders. From those who’ve been running for years and working hard to chip away a few seconds, to those knocking several minutes off as they start their running journey’s, and everyone in between.

Most Improved Female: Tammie Baker

Most Improved Male: Chris Stanlake

The criteria for the Zero to Hero award is simple – someone who started through attending Zero to Hero, and like Best Newcomer, has shown improvement in times and / or volunteered and represented the club.

Zero to Hero: Siân Jenkins

For those that don’t know what this assuming moment is – Matt Murray (selfie extraordinaire) managed to catch Alica popping her head up from behind a wall after a ‘call of nature’ stop in the middle of Snowdonia Marathon.

Most Amusing Moment: Alica Thomas

Photo of the year was actually a series of photos put together of Aled falling over in a river during the Merthyr Mawr Pudding Run as he was busy looking behind him and no doubt ‘gently encouraging’ in his Aled sort of way to catch up.

Photo of the year: Aled Hughes

There was also recognition of the top 10 male and female finishers in the Trail Championship and a list of everyone who got a vote for Runners Runner. Another brilliant evening organised by the social committee and huge thanks to them on another successful evening.

That wraps up my review of another busy month for Ogmore Phoenix Runners. Over to Chris for his choices for Chairman’s Runner of the Month.

Chairman’s Runners of the Month

Spring is in the air.  Warmer weather and the build up to the spring marathons.

Miles have been trod through the cold and miserable winter months and the long runs are being completed by those nearing the finale.

My first choice is one such person.  If you told someone they’d be tackling a marathon in a few months time, let’s say 6 months time, you’d often see either an initial excitement or fear.  One might lead to overtraining and subsequent difficulties.  The other might lead to ignorance and lack of training that also lead to difficulties down the line.  I think it’s fair to say this was never an intentional pathway for one.  A position in a prestigious event was bestowed upon one which resulted in a combination of the latter scenario coupled with denial.  However, the resulting actions have not been the characteristic lack of training it has been a complete change of lifestyle.   Renowned for loving to eat out and a tipple or two he has completely reformed.  Eating well.  Cut out alcohol.  Training like a demon… and I mean a demon!  Regular yoga and spin classes.  Getting out for the required runs according to plan – but also being mindful of his body, which is exactly how it should be.  When it doesn’t feel right, easing back.  Not only are the miles building, but the times are coming down naturally.  The weight is falling off which often leads to natural improvements, but when combined with a good training plan the improvements are accelerating.  PB’s left, right and centre.  Four at four different distances over three successive weekends.  This is a disciplined approach that you cannot help but admire and celebrate.  I have absolutely no hesitation awarding my Male Chairman’s Runner of the Month to Shawn Cullen.  This is the first time I’ve awarded a runner of the month to the same person twice and it won’t happen very often, but this month’s efforts were something which cannot be overlooked. Keep it up Shawn – it’s a mightily impressive way to tackle marathon training for the first time!  

I have said in the past many times that this is more than just running.  As a club it’s something we celebrate.  Not only do we run, but we also volunteer for many things – usually associated with running.  The month started with some of our number away in foreign climes.  For two it was in extreme heat about as far from home as they could possibly be on the other side of the world.  Despite the heat they managed to find opportunities to run thanks to parkrun.  Indeed, at several locations whilst away on their travels visiting family.  We enjoyed the stories of each one reported back via social media.  Many of stories told of battling with the heat in normal everyday life, but making that extra effort to head out of the door to actually run in it every week is fantastic! 

On immediate return one of them had volunteered to man a water station at Llanelli Half and dutifully turned up ready to do so.  It’s no mean feat standing in the cold handing out bottles of water but when your body has been subjected to incredibly hot temperatures for an extended period of time it’s an extra shock to the system.  Not only that but when a runner arrives at the water station and is feeling unwell and collapses the nursing instinct took over and she lay down alongside said runner to shield her from the strong and very cold onshore breeze for half an hour putting herself at great risk from the elements.  Above and beyond the call of duty, but instinctive.  Rest assured, I’ve discussed this with her since and she realises how risky it was for her but doesn’t recognise the adulation that it attracted as it was just such a natural thing for her to do.  I totally get this, but it is worthy of praise because it demonstrates an extraordinary natural kindness of spirit. Going above and beyond the call of duty to help others.  Something worthy of commendation.  I am delighted to announce my Female Chairman’s Runner of the Month as Philippa Rees.

parkruns

This month saw an a record 303 parkrun finishes by 123 different members across 41 different parkrun venues.

Tourism included Alice Holt, Aston Court, Basingstoke, Bath, Bexley, Burnham, Chippenham, Chipping Sodbury, Colby, Eastville, Fletcher Moss, Hereford, Kingsbury, Lullingstone, Medina, Minehead, Shewsbury, Telford and Wormwood Scrubs. Our members visited more English parkruns than Welsh ones. We also had more international tourism with Tim and Philippa Rees completing Karkarook, Maribyrnong, Wyndham Vale, Toolern Creek and You Yangs parkruns in Australia.

Other notable parkrun stats in the month include a record 20 members recording a New Years Day double – the only day of the year it’s possible to record 2 parkruns. 11 of those are on the maximum 6 parkruns out of 6 for 2019.

This month saw Denise Bradley celebrate her 100th parkrun whilst Adrian Pearce and Claire Taylor reached their 50th parkruns.

Ben Davies had a fantastic month with 3 PB’s in 3 parkruns knocking 97 seconds off his best time which was achieved in his last parkrun of 2018. It marks a 3 minute improvement since starting with the club.

Ryan Evans set a marker for the year with a 18:56 in his first ever parkrun with Neil Price setting a new PB of 19:38 on the same day. Natalie Aryal smashed sub 30 for the first time with a 28:45 despite having run more than 7 miles to parkrun beforehand.

There were plenty of tourism PB’s in the month with Sarah Littlewood running her first sub 24 at Shrewsbury on New Years Day having run sub 25 the same morning at Telford as part of the double. Rhiannon Sian bagged herself a PB at Aberbeeg. Dawn and Brett got PB’s at Riverfront. Claire Taylor had an incredible running year in 2018 and started 2019 with a PB at Swansea. Julie Ransom got a PB at Kingsbury Water.

Other PB’s in month included Chris Bimson (twice), Maria George, Sarah Davies, Paul Barrett (twice), Sian Jenkins, Ken Salvatore and Cath Robinson. Well done to our first time parkrunners with the club, Paul Iskander, Frances Manship and Lynnette Griffiths. Apologies if I’ve missed any other PB-ers or newbies.

10K

The first 10K of the year came courtesy of the Buff Trial race in Afan Argoed. Steve Loveluck was first in his age category with an incredible 43:46 clocking on a course with around 800 feet of climbing. Anneliese was first female overall (not just in the club or category but first lady in the overall race) with 45:58 and was over a minute ahead of the second place lady. Impressive performances throughout our runners with Sarah Davies, Sharon Pritchard, Debbie Bennion, Alexis Barrett and Dawn Davy all completing the tough course.

Half Marathons

I ran an event set up by Infinity Running in Margam Park. It was a 6 hour lapped event which was roughly 3.3 miles per lap so you could do 1 lap for 5K(ish), 2 laps for 10K(ish), 4 laps for Half Marathon, 8 laps for Marathon, or as many laps as you can within the time limit for an Ultra. They are putting on similar events every month and I would highly recommend them.

To my surprise, I led the entire field for the first mile and a half before a 10K runner went passed. It was 5 miles before another runner went passed which unfortunately for me was someone doing the Half. However, I was absolutely delighted to end up finishing 2nd in a time of 1:37:30 which was my fastest half marathon time for almost 2 years.

Other races

25 members started the year with the Kenfig race as part of the Festive Four on New Years Day. Adrian Pearce led our runners home which earned him top spot on the Festive Four age category standings and secured 3rd place overall for fastest cumulative time over the series. Gregg Harris was our 4th runner back and was rewarded with 3rd place in the male season best ‘improvers’ category. Our first female runner was Denise Bradley whilst Tammie’s performance earned her 3rd place in the female season best ‘improvers’ category.

23 runners made the trip just over the bridge to Thornbury for the Riverbank Rollick. This event has increased in numbers from our club year on year since just Richard Lowcock James and I ran it in 2015. Richard definitely promotes it more than I do as I haven’t been convinced to run to the 9 miles of energy sapping mud since whilst only injury stopped him making another appearance this year. I’m not adverse to a muddy trail run but you have see it to believe it. Luckily (or maybe not if you were looking forward to the mud), the course was a bit drier than usual this year and James Littlewood ran an impressive 1:15:57 with Aled Hughes just a few seconds behind. The in-form Dawn Hopkins was our first female across the line.

On the same day as the Riverbank Rollick we had a further 20 runners in attendance for the Tata Steel Margam Reservoir XC fixture. It’s probably the most bizarre cross country fixture around as the course is entirely on tarmac paths around the lake. Adrian Pearce led the club home in 34:33 on the 5.6 mile course with Niki Puleio and new member Paul Jones less than a minute behind. Neil Price and Kris Denholm completed the scoring positions for the men. Claire Dunbar Bowen was our first lady with another in-form lady, Sarah Littlewood less than a minute behind. Jo Gamba, Victoria Hillman and Liz Davies made up the remaining scorers for the ladies.

We had 8 runners at the CF64 race in Barry. The 10.2K multi terrain event saw Simon Harrison cross the line as first Phoenix followed by Gregg Harris, Nick Harris, Dawn Hopkins, Nige Rees, Shawn Cullen, Julie Ransom and Jamie Puddy.

Steven James completed the Wychavon Way 40 mile Ultra in 8 hours 34 minutes. Steven was using the event as a step towards a long term goal of running even longer Ultras over the next year.

Our most popular race of the month was the Lliswerry 8 where we had 33 runners. Kris Denholm was first Phoenix back in 55:45 with Claire Dunbar Bowen our first lady in 1:01:49 and the in form Sarah Littlewood only just over a minute behind. Claire’s time was the fastest any female in our club has completed the course beating Josie Bishop who ran 1:02:33 in 2017. There were some amazing improvements by runners who had run the event last year and this year including an 11 minute improvement by Sarah Littlewood, 16 minutes for Dawn Hopkins, 15 minutes for Claire Taylor and a 5 minute improvement for Vickie Blake. Several others had course bests as well or saw even bigger improvements when compared to when they ran in 2017 or previously.

On the same day as Lliswerry we also had 15 runners brave freezing conditions in Margam for the 4th fixture of the West Glamorgan XC league. It’s the most ‘cross country’ of the 4 fixtures so far, mainly due to the fact it actually has some grass / mud unlike the others. It is more ‘multi-terrain’ though with forestry track and tarmac sections included. Ryan Evans was our first runner back followed by new member Paul Smith. Neil Price, Dai James and myself made up the scorers for the men’s team. The ladies were led home by Juliet Amner with Sara Vowles, Louise Foster, Steph Dyke and Jo Gamba the other scorers. Well done to Nigel Hitchings, Rosaleen Salvatore, Hannah Knight, Peter Walsh and Kimberley Davies who all represented the club at the event.

What a start to the year. 303 parkrun finishes and a further 125 race finishes completed by our members. Well done all.

Chairman’s Runners of the Month

2019!! 

Another year and more running to do.

Renewed enthusiasm and vigour throughout the Phoenix ranks as the new year brings positivity and hope!  Numbers swell at training for us and many of our neighbours.  Wonderful to see.

We’ve seen many members conclude a fantastic year of running in 2018 and not ones to reset on their laurels many have continued this run of form.  One of these has flourished quietly over the last few months and January was a month of continued excellence.  Reaching a very lean racing weight and continuing to bash out the miles at decent pace this run of form cannot be ignored.  With several mentions in the months summary it justifies my choice.  Always smiling with the characteristic expression on photos that is now become synonymous.  Always the soul of the party whether it be running or away from it.  The running is continuing to cut through the amusing expression and outshine it and it’s brilliant to see.  I am absolutely delighted to start the year by celebrating the achievements of Sarah Littlewood by awarding her my Chairman’s female runner of the month for January.  Keep up the hard work Sarah – 2019 is going to be a good year of running for you, I sense it – and keep on smiling – and don’t stop with the thumbs up!! 

It’s often the case that runners reach their peak of excellence and maintain form from that point on.  Peaks and troughs follow but the recognition for endeavour usually comes when they either step away from their comfort zone or during their initial stages of improvement – when they began running.  Those who have been in our midst for a long time tend to fade into the background.  Their introduction to running and subsequent improvements came before we all knew them and so their achievements, while impressive in their own right, can be swallowed up against a backdrop of a huge number of improvers within the club.  Sometimes, though, there is a dip in form that is followed by a return which does get noticed.  One of the troughs runs for a period of time (often as a result of helping others with their improvements – and that is the case here) and the ascent to the peak cuts through the background “noise”.  My next choice is one such runner.  He does so many events we just see another one as a tick on the list, but I sense a return to form that may see a peak that exceeds previous highs.  A focus has returned.  Chomping at the bit to improve and set a new marker in the sand.  With an impressive half marathon time set already this year that echoes back to two years ago it’s onwards and upwards and I, for one, am looking forward to seeing where that new marker will be set.  I am delighted to announce my Chairman’s male runner of the month as Gareth Jenkins!  Great start to the year Gareth!!