October Highlights

Susannah
Nov 17
4 min read

Whoop, whoop, it's cross country season!

Gwent League Racing- Fixture No 1

Summer has gone, Autumn is here!

A return to Margam Park earlier in the year than previous seasons meant fast and dry conditions with very little wind.

We had 5 ladies and 13 men out competing in the two races with a large field for both. It was also a first XC appearance in the vest for Tom F & Robyn who both put in solid performances.

There was fantastic team support, a record number of photographs sent in and a lovely team effort packing up at the end.

Big thanks to Ron as always for setting up and to Chris M for taking the lead as this year’s cross country captain! More pictures are on our Cross Country page!

At the beginning of the month...

Cardiff Half Marathon

Storm Amy had pretty much gone by the time of the race, with a few sections of the course subject to gusts of wind including around the barrage and by the lake. However, crowd support around the course was fantastic!

Karen, Tom Wilde, Al & Em, Ben, Phil & Johnny were all spotted.

Out of over 36 runners, we had 16 PBs and 6 season’s bests! Well done team!

We’ve had two marathons and a fell race too..

Brubeck ran 3:54 at the Chester Marathon with great consistency over each mile, achieving the target he’d set himself and comfortably beating his previous record.

Dexter moved back to Malaysia and made sure he kept training ready for his first marathon at the Standard Chartered Kuala Lumpur marathon. To deal with the temperatures a bit easier, it was a 3.30am start! His time was near 5 hours given the conditions.

Chris M was back on the fells at the Cat’s Back Fell Race in Herefordshire, taking on just over 10km with some technical trails and steep sections. Thanks to Jane Aggleton for the photo.

And another half...

Seven of our runners take part in the Taff Trail Half Marathon, a great local race organised by @cardiff_running_events

The day got off to a gloomy start, and some challenging and slippery conditions with strong winds and rain, as well as wet leaves on the two laps of the Taff Trail.

A big thank you to the organisers and marshals, who braved the weather, providing directions and support throughout the race - it was definitely not the most pleasant conditions to be out there!

Also a shout out and thanks to Johnny Lam who provided cheers and photography half way around the course, which was a lovely surprise boost for those running!

All our runners had great performances, particularly notable was Matt T who was the first San Domenico runner home, and took 3rd place overall, and Kevin, who came away with a 1st place V50 category position.

Thanks to Sarah for the write up - and a congratulations to her on her new PB too!

Meanwhile in Amsterdam and Rome..

This weekend was full of races - one of those abroad was the Amsterdam Half and Amsterdam Marathon.

Guru was out pounding the streets first on a chilly morning and completed the marathon in 5:32. He’s already looking towards London marathon next year.

Dan L was able to watch the faster marathon runners finish in the Olympic stadium and by the time the half marathon started just after 1 it was perfect running temperature with a bit of breeze.

Despite being an extremely flat city, there were a few gentle slopes as the course went over and under road junctions in the early stages, with great views of the river Amstel. Jack had this to say about Rome -

“The half was really good, got to see a lot of the sites without crowds of tourists, weather was sunny but not too warm, so pretty perfect. Course was mostly flat but was difficult in the second half due to having to run on cobbles. Really well supported though”

A big up to..Simon and Daisy too!

Simon loved competing in the Yorkshire 10-Mile race, using it as prep for the Valencia half marathon this coming Sunday. Not having raced this distance before, it was always going to be a PB, but he was delighted with 1hr 10mins, and even more pleased to be able to share the experience with daughter Daisy. The race itself started in the campus of York University before heading into the city, past the beautiful Minster, and into the Yorkshire countryside. Highly recommended.

Welsh honours for..

The final race highlight was the Abingdon Marathon. The race formed part of the Age Group International Masters alongside the normal entries with just over 1000 competing.

George and Andy G represented the club as well as making their Wales debut in their age category.

Andy finished as 3rd Welshman in a time of 2:39:06 which was a 40 second PB and good enough for 18th overall and 3rd V35 in the competition between Wales and England.

George beat his PB from Newport earlier in the year by about 90 seconds and ran 2:45:12 to finish as the 7th Welshman over the line as well as 46th overall.

Both were very proud to run for Wales and will be looking to make the squad for Manchester marathon in April.

One more marathon?

October welcomed Marathon Eryri

A few months ago, we had quite a lot of people signed up but last minute transfers were made due to injuries and we were left with the final two: Matt Turner & John Light.

Conditions were grim out there with hail coming down from Pen Y Pass, as well as icy wind and rain elsewhere, but both did a great job, with Ben & Em on the course providing support and catching the hard effort on camera

Matt finished in 3:21 and John ran a time of 3:38. Both enjoyed their cup of tea at the end - more so because it was the hardest they’ve worked for one!

Craig was also competing at Stroud Half Marathon and ran his second fastest time to date after a PB at Cardiff Half a few weeks ago on the back of a solid training block.