BRECON AC’s endurance athletes were faced with two traditionally gruelling cross country fixtures in the space of six days last week.
Opening with the third round of the Gwent League held on a windswept mountainside at Bryn Bach Park, Tredegar, the rain was fairly constant and the ground very quickly turned into a quagmire. Despite this there were a number of big positives for the club runners.
It was the U11 girls who once again kicked off proceedings and another gutsy run by Ruby Herdman who, despite being one of the shorter athletes in the race, has a high pick-up and made light of the mud to finish fourth out of exactly 100 finishers. Ruby remains third overall in the league standings. Emily Peltor was next home in an excellent 25th position with Niamh Aplin only seconds behind in 28th. Charlotte Lewis in 44th, Pippa Harris in 46th and Clemmie Davies in 61st were in the thick of things as runners finished in very close succession. Freya Roberts in 78th ,Rosie Evans in 82nd and Amelie Murphy in 86th were a little further back but importantly they were running strongly and improved upon their positions at the second round. The girls team were an outstanding fourth out of 48 on the day and are fifth overall after three fixtures. Because the turnout is so good Brecon also scored a ‘B’ team in 23rd and a ‘C’ team in 40th – excellent girls!
The U11 boys also saw some great results. Out of 103 finishers Joe Edwards battled to 28th, Henry Johnson was 35th and Finley Burnett was 66th. With Alex Peltor 79th, Frankie Bell 84th, Iwan Jones 86th and Nye Turner 100th the ‘A’ team was placed 11th on the day out of 43 and is 12th overall. The ‘B’ team was 28th. Well done lads!
Four U13 girls toed the line for Brecon and already the course was cut up and boggy so it was a slog around the 2800m track. Of the 77 finishers Freya Platt was the first local home in a strong 42nd position closely followed by relatively long striding Ava Nicholl in 44th. Martha Eacock had a good race in 58th while Anna Peltor looked a little stunned by the wild conditions as she came home in 64th. On the day there were 27 teams represented. The girls finished 13th – a very creditable achievement.
The U13 boys team was below strength due to other commitments and at least one bout of illness. Owen Griffiths ran solidly throughout as he returns to race fitness having missed most of the early season. He was just pipped by a fast finishing Ellis Morgan who was making his first appearance in this league for this winter. The boys took 21st and 22nd places which, out of 71 finishers, is an excellent achievement. Sprint hurdler dan Ricketts would not expect to be quite so high up but deserves great credit for his run and 40th place finish. Owen Price-Davies was a little lower than expected in 52nd due to problems with his kit but he never gave up and contributed to the points score as the boys placed fifth out of 27 teams represented on the day.
There were no U15 girls but the two U15 boys turned out and were the first age group to go into the top ‘field’ on the long lap the reclaimed slag heap was already just sodden sticky mud and gave the boys no respite from the conditions of the lower fields. Iwan Coyle, at the higher end of the age group, came in strongly at 13th out of the 56 finishers while Isaac Pierce at 41st was one of the leading runners from the lower half of the age group.
The only Brecon AC male to take part in the U17/20 race was first year U17 Sam Clayton. Sam ran a determined race and actually enjoyed the falling temperatures, fading light and sticky mess on the ground as he came home as 34th U17 out of 51 finishers.
In the U17/20 girls age group Tiegan Ward had probably her best race of the season so far. Driving out of mud holes and surging away from bends Tiegan finished sixth in the race but when the two age groups were separated she was third U17 and moves up to fourth overall for the season. Glesni Powell also conquered the swamp and looked to be running stronger than previously as she came home 30th in the U17’s.
The small senior ladies team had enjoyed a good start to the season but were always going to be a little short of numbers for this match. Donna Morris found the conditions didn’t really suit her but still managed to slog through the sludge to register 53rd out of exactly 300 finishers. U23 Meg Tucker was again the second finisher at 106th while F45 Kathryn Powell improved again to 195th. In 250th Alex Marsh was making her club cross country debut and despite choosing one of the hardest courses to open her account she was smiling at the end and rightly proud of her achievement.
The ladies team came ninth of the 12 teams in division two on this occasion but this only triggered a slip of one place to fourth overall in the current ranking. All to fight for in the final two rounds! Finally, at 2.30pm approximately 450 senior men set out on a 3 lap 10K splashathon. Admirably the first two finishers seemed to float over the ground and lapped probably 200 runners. Missing former team leader Robin Woods and long term absentees Rhodri Buffet and Austin Davies the first Brecon finisher was M40 Phil Morris who seemed to relish the conditions and his 41st place was by far his best yet. Michael Holloway was next in at 53rd which was a good result despite a slow start and he was followed by U20 Evan Price-Davies making his debut in a senior race and performing superbly at 84th. Gareth Lawrence at 145th showed slight signs of fatigue after his transatlantic jet setting where no doubt his lifestyle was just a little different. M55 Peter Sowerby at 162nd was the final ‘A’ team scorer followed by the second member of the M55 contingent Mark Roberts at 227 and the 3rd M55 scorer Derek Osborne at 339th. M40 Gary Bartram will hopefully have by now withdrawn his ‘never again’ verdict and amended it with ‘till next year’ as he came in a creditable 410th out of 438 finishers. The mens team, despite being weakened finished 10th of the 12 in division one and moved up to 11th overall. Within the age group break down stats Brecon AC’s M55 team finished second on the day and moved up to second overall with Peter Sowerby in third place overall in the individual rankings.
Six days after the Gwent League many of the athletes were back in action representing East Wales at the Welsh Inter Regional Championships at Llandrindod Wells. On a wet, rough course shoehorned into a small area behind Trefonnen School high winds coupled with spitting rain made conditions challenging again. The course zig zagged back and forth with much of it on a side slope.
The opening race for U13 girls saw Freya Platt and Anna Peltor making their East Wales debuts. Both ran determinedly in what was a higher standard race than they are used to – Freya edging out Anna by placing 41st to Anna’s 46th.
The U13 boys race provided East’s one team success of the day in the junior sections and it also proved to be a happy hunting ground for Brecon’s Jack Organ as he came through strongly in the second half of the race to take the individual title. The fourth east finisher in 12th place in the race was Arthur Bell who, for much of the race was well up in the top 10 before fading slightly. Arthur also wins a gold team medal. Just outside the scoring eight but providing valuable back-up were Owen Griffiths in 36th, Cian Aplin in 40th and Owen Price-Davies in 42nd as Brecon had probably the largest representation in this age group.
Club regulars Iwan Coyle and Isaac Pierce lined up for the U15 regional team. Iwan was well placed initially but a leg problem meant that he slipped back to 25th place while Isaac again ran well and showed great determination to come in 40th. Both boys were in the scoring 8 for East Wales.
Tiegan Ward set off very positively in the U17 girls race and was in third place for much of the early loops. The effects of two hard races in six days took it’s toll though and Tiegan had a bad spell before rallying in the second half to place 12th and second East finisher. Ruby Carleton at 27th and Glesni Powell 30th helped to ensure that East had a scoring eight and while the region only finished third they beat the usually powerful west region. Sam Clayton was a little too enthusiastic (again) as he set off high up the field in the U17 boys race. After enduring the mentally challenging period when others are going past Sam settled into a steadier pace and finished 38th, again helping to ensure that East finished a scoring eight.
Both Brychan Price-Davies and his brother Evan toed the line of the U20 mens race but unfortunately they made up 50% of the East turnout which was one short of a scoring team in this age group. Brychan’s eighth place was just over a minute ahead of Evan who was 13th after having one of his better days and again maintaining stride while many were struggling. The East senior women were represented by Donna Morris from Brecon AC who was another who found two tough races in six days hard going. 36th place and ninth F35 was probably a little way off her true capabilities but with over 120 finishers this was far from a disaster. In seventh place former Brecon AC junior Hannah Jarvis showed that, despite recent niggles, she is still a force to be reckoned with at this level.
Finally, the senior men’s race featured 4 Brecon AC athletes. First home and running superbly was Michael Holloway in 26th (16th SM) ahead of last weeks top finisher Phil Morris in 41st (16th M35). M55 Peter Sowerby was 87th but more importantly perhaps 8th M55 while Mark Roberts was 123rd and 21st M55.