March Highlights San Domenico

Apart from the San Domenico 20/10 races (for which we're extremely grateful to all those who ran or supported), the club had some excellent results and personal achievements. For the complete weekly breakdown, head over to our facebook account!

Early March..Newport Half Marathon & Cardiff Running Events & off road adventures..

A cold but sunny morning greeted 1,520 runners for the The City of Newport Half Marathon

We had 13 runners with great performances out there. Jack H finished 15th with a 6 minute PB whilst Del, Ian D and Alex also managed impressive PBs. JC was happy with his course PB and so was Simon running his fastest half in a few years.

A number of the club are running upcoming marathons including Del, Jack, George, Andy, Alistair, JC and Ian D who used today’s race as part of their training.

One of the Sunday morning races was the Cardiff Running Events 20 & 10 miler which covered Pontcanna Fields and out onto the Taff Trail and back.

Taking on the 10 miler were Paul J, Rowena & Niall. Paul broke the hour mark comfortably to get a new PB, with Rowena getting a PB despite getting cramp in her leg with two miles to go.

Niall managed to get in under 90 minutes whilst in the 20 miler, Jack put in a great performance that saw a large chunk of it running solo.

Chris M & Harry T took on the Tor Y Foel Fell Race in the Brecon Beacons.

Both have enjoyed the series so far and placed well in previous races.

Harry was 6th place and Chris finished in 9th, also taking first V50 again.

Harry said it was a lovely day and despite a huge climb at 3K, both took a few places on the final descent.

We also marked International Women's Day this month: Women make up half of our committee at San Domenico with our chairwoman Delyth leading the way for the ladies.

Tokyo Marathon Success & Lisbon Half...

On 2nd March, we had 3 club members - Meg P, Matt P & Matt T run the Tokyo Marathon, one of the Abbott World Marathon Majors.

The weather was unusually hot but despite this the team completed the race. There were extra celebrations as Matt T completed his sixth and final original Marathon Major with another sub 3 hour time, collecting his 6 star medal and making him the second person in the club to do so.

Meg competed her 4th Marathon Major and Matt P his 2nd, and all enjoyed their post race rehydration!

In other international news, Holly, Owen and Huw D ran the Lisbon Super Half marathon where Huw managed a PB of 1:27. Well done Huw!

Mid month...

Andrew H, Chris C-H & Steve P were all running the Bath Half. Andrew managed to get within a few minutes of his PB and comfortably under the 2 hour mark. Steve enjoyed the first two thirds but not the final hill and Chris C-H had to start further down the field due to some logistical issues and his time suffered as a consequence.

Craig ran the Milton Keynes half and despite a number of roundabouts and paths alongside them, he enjoyed the course despite the hill thrown in at the end.

Ian O did the Merthyr Half and finished 5th representing the Cyfarthfa Foundation on a course taking in Cyfarthfa Park as well as chunks of the San Dom 20/10 race

Congrats to the guys at the Welsh Road Relays..(see pic above!)

The return to the Welsh Road Relays after a brief hiatus!

James Salter got us underway at Pembrey, with Jack Hilldrup taking over as the weather warmed up rather quickly.

Chris Oxley had the penultimate leg before James Hansell had a pretty solo time trial of his own with an overtake on Neath Harriers part way through for an element of competition.

In the end, we finished 8th out of 24 teams with a lot of top local talent on display and some excellent performances. One extra added bonus - no traffic jam to get out like the Pembrey Cross Country!

The final weekend of racing saw...

Niall ran the Brecon Canal 10 on an out and back course with just under 100 participants. The overnight rain made little difference on a fairly flat and slightly tight course in places.

Toby D ran/cycled the Mumbles Duathlon after a few months out with a calf injury but it held out on the day.

Our highest attended race was the Fission 20 & Half in Berkeley, Gloucestershire. All six people running in the 20 miler including Andy, Del, Cat and JC were getting the miles in ahead of London Marathon. Joey and Andrew U also ran it but unfortunately Andrew had to pull out with a quad injury half way through.

Tom W ran the Welshpool 10k in a time of 37:41 for a top 10 time in a field of 550, getting bragging rights over his mate!

Not satisfied with running an incredibly quick leg at the Welsh Road Relays on Saturday, James H decided to run the rescheduled CF64 Winter Race, winning by over 45 seconds!

James will be back in Cosmeston soon for their backyard ultra where we’re expecting another top result!

And at Parkrun

Outside of Cardiff and Newport, we managed to rack up a diverse range of places.

Ceri went to Y Promenâd in Brecon, with Tony at Minehead and Harry W at Bryn Bach.

Steve did Conkers, Rob L was first at Hazelwood and Sue went to Salisbury whilst Cat ran at Warwick Racecourse.

In the southern hemisphere, James D ran at Albert Melbourne whilst Toby did Neale Park in New Zealand.

The following week, Renée and Sue were at Barry Island but further west Cat went to Llanerchaeron, finishing as first lady whilst James Sibley ran at Porthcawl.

We had two first finishers as Harry W went to Brecon and did Y Promenâd with Rob L at Hazelwood.

Paulina and Dan F ran at Riverfront, Ceri did Three Brooks and Lechy was down the road at Eastville. Kev enjoyed the scenery of Mallards Pike.

Meg P enjoyed the start of her hen do at Bath Skyline but was held up by cows on the course, much to the enjoyment of Del & Emily who were there too.

James H ran at the super fast Battersea whilst Karen & Andy ran in Chester.