Weekly Roundup, April 22nd – April 28th

April 28, 2019

Gilwern Grunt

Conditions were a lot more favourable this year for the bank holiday Gilwern Grunt race. Last year’s snow had melted to form rivers on the course and this year the wall-to-wall sunshine of the Easter weekend provided much different conditions. Photographs such as Tosh Simpkin and someone posting under the Howling Bull race account were on hand to capture the action.

Welsh Masters

Mark Williams, Louise Kirby and Sarah Coote all took part in the Welsh Masters League in Swansea this week and all performed fantastically. Sarah Lane Coote was 1st in her age group in the 800m,
Louise Kirby was 1st in her age group for both 200m & 400m and Mark was 1st in his age group for both the 800m and 3000m.

parkrun Tourists

Eden Project

Riverfront

Well done to Cerys Swift for getting a PB (23:42) at a very windy Riverfront parkrun. She also had first in her age category and 5th female overall.

Red Kite Trail Series Spring 10K and Half Marathon

Sam and Mabli along with Rebeccah Williams were in a very scenic Llanharan on a very windy Saturday morning for the Red Kit Trail Series. Sam and Mabli took part in the 10K race and Rebeccah took part in the Half Marathon.

Warrior Mud Run

Suzie braved the mud and water of the Forest of Dean on Saturday morning. Darren Swift: “Pure filth!”.

Virgin Money London Marathon

We had four club runners in this year’s Virgin Money London Marathon – Lee Aherne, Ian Line, Helen Williams and Alex Thomas. Ian and Helen were our club entry winners, Alex was a ballot entry and Lee was running with a GFR entry from the Cardiff Half Marathon. Lee was the first back home in a fantastic time of 02:38:21! Congratulations to Ian, Helen and Alex, hope you enjoyed the experience!

Gozo 2019

Airport Carb Loading Gatwick Style

Airport Carb Loading Heathrow Style

Pre-Race Training

The Fashionably Lates

More Pre-Race Training

Just Like Home!

Expo Day

Official Race Vehicle Spotted

Obviously those high prices runners are paying for entries into races are going on fancy lead cars. The bargain basement entry price into the Gozo Half pays for this well-loved Kia with a child seat in the back!

Race Day

Whitebrook Windup

I was due to be in Malta this weekend for my first race back after surgery but my Ken Butt scuppered those plans. As a backup I uses the Whitebrook Windup which also happened to be the very first race that I ran back in June 2016. Thankfully there was some improvement in the Ken Butt area on Saturday so felt good enough to run and apart from some power-walking up the big hill I felt I had a good race and finished in 01:00:34 which wasn’t far behind the time of 59:46 I had in my race three years ago.

Shakespeare Half Marathon

Congratulations to Julie Parry-Bishop who completed a half marathon this weekend. She ran the Shakespeare Half Marathon in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Frenchay 10K

Dave Kempton was on his old stomping ground on Sunday with the Frenchay 10k. There was even a water station located outside his old local! I caught up with Dave whilst I was driving on the M4 heading to the Whitebrook Windup. I wondered who was in an Audi driving like a truck driver and it was Dave! Race details were discussed across lanes before going our separate ways.

Danesfield Dash

Katie Hamer was also running on her old stomping ground in Marlow with a race that started and finished in her old Primary School. She ran with Steve in the Danesfield Dash 10K hilly trail race.

Sunday Runs

Trefil Trotters

Dai’s 12 Mile 9 Mile Run

If you want a group photo taken, don’t ask Michelle Cook else you may end up with some rogue selfies in your camera roll!