THE second round of the Gwent League doubled up as the East Wales Cross Country Championship meaning there were individual and team medals at stake at Pembrey, Llanelli.
The event, where selection for the two East Wales representative fixtures later this winter were also up for grabs, was eagerly awaited by many of the Brecon Athletics Club juniors were prevented from competing in the first round of the Gwent League due to torrential rain.
The Pembrey course was largely flat and dry despite one or two heavy showers.
As usual the U11’s had first use of the track and a team of nine Brecon AC boys made up a big chunk of the 98 competitors. Joe Edwards added to his growing reputation by running strongly throughout and being rewarded with a top 20 slot as he finished 18th. Henry Organ was not far adrift of this as he placed 27th while Henry Johnson (42nd) and Will Herdman (44th) were also well up in a very competitive race. Only slightly down the field and certainly still within the main section of the race were Alex Peltor (65th), Nye Turner (70th), Josh Watson (74th), Frankie Bell (79th) and Ewan Jones (80th). Early indications show that the boys team should be picking up medals but may have been edged out of gold by a strong Newport contingent.
The U11 girls were led home by another outstanding run by Ruby Herdman who went one better than in the opening fixture in Cardiff, finishing third. Ruby took the East Wales title in the process. Niamh Aplin was also very much to the fore as she came home in 16th out of the 124 finishers. Brecon had a further nine competitors all supporting their team as well as aiming to make individual improvement. Emily Peltor was 22nd, Pippa Harris 36th, Lilwen Banning 69th, Charlotte Lewis 71st, Clemmie Davies 98th, Bronwen Roberts 99th, Rosie Evans 103rd, Freya Roberts 115th and Amelie Murphy 117th. The girls team have an excellent chance of winning but the official results are not yet out.
The Brecon U13 boys team was also almost at full strength and should be clear winners of the East Wales Championships. Jack Organ started in the top three and maintained this position for much of the first half of the race. Although falling back he dug in for a strong finish and placed eighth. Arthur Bell ran more evenly and at one point late on was alongside Jack but couldn’t quite produce the same finish and placed 12th. The boys took second and third in the East Champs. Owen Griffiths ran his first race for some time and was a very pleasing 29th. Cian Aplin (41st), Owen Price-Davies (42nd) and Dan Ricketts (59th) all got stuck into the frenetic mid-pack running and were well placed in terms of the 87 finishers.
It was good to see four U13 girls turn out in what has not always been a strong section for Brecon. With 86 finishers newcomer Ava Nicholl could be very pleased with her debut 47th place just ahead of Freya Platt in 51st. Anna Peltor came in next in 66th place with another newcomer Martha Eacock also running well for 77th place.
Only two U15 boys were able to compete so team medals were not accessible but Iwan Coyle and Isaac Pierce didn’t let this affect them and both had good personal performances. Iwan placed 18th but more significantly was the first East Wales finisher to take the regional crown. Isaac who is a year younger improved his Cardiff performance and came in 45th out of the 67 finishers.
With no U15 girls it was the senior ladies who went next. A 50% increase in team size meant that Brecon had six runners and once again Donna Morris led the team home. Having just been selected for the Welsh masters team Donna celebrated by coming 50th in Pembrey and ninth in the F35 category. U23 Meg Tucker was next home, also improving on her Cardiff performance and finishing strongly in 109th place out of the 301 finishers. Laurie Higgins made her first appearance of the season with a strong 143rd and just behind were Catherine Olivant in 155th and Bev Tucker in 159th. F50 Kathryn Powell, a relative newcomer to the sport, had another excellent run placing 191st. The ladies will probably not quite take East team medals but in Gwent League terms should be pleased with the team moving upwards into third place in division two.
A relatively small field for the U17/20 women’s race saw large gaps which makes it difficult to concentrate for runners to concentrate on their own performance. Tiegan Ward who has been in good form most of this year went with the early pace and although she couldn’t quite maintain this she never quit and was rewarded with a 10th place finish and first place in the East championships. Making up a team and ensuring that Brecon AC also won the team aspect of the championship were Ruby Carleton in 28th and Glesni Powell in 31st.
The penultimate race was also a five year age group for U17 and U20 men. Smack in the middle of the age range are Brychan and Evan Price-Davies. Brychan is normally the stronger at cross country and this proved to be the case here as, despite an early fall he worked solidly throughout to come in 10th overall out of 77 and eight of the 22 U20’s in the race. This was also good enough for third in the East Champs. With Evan placing 15th out of the 22 and a little further back Sam Clayton coming 39th out of the 55 U17’s the three lads will be hopeful of a team medal but will have to wait for the official results to see whether this is the case.
Finally, the largest field of the day as over 400 toed the line for the senior mens 10.2K race. First home at Cardiff Robin Woods was again prominent despite having to nurse an injury for most of the time between the two matches. Robin was 40th on this occasion and fourth in the M40 category and like Donna Morris has just been called up to the Welsh master team. Not too far behind Robin and contributing great points to team and individual causes were Mike Holloway in 60th and Phil Morris in 66th. Gareth Lawrence was fourth home in 132nd while M55 Peter Sowerby at 177th was seventh out of the 60 over 55 year old competitors.
The clubs M55 team finished third out of 34 and it was Mark Roberts at 255th who was next home (17th M55) ahead of youngster M50 Charlie Northey in 320th and another M55 Derek Osborne in 322nd. Debutant Gary Bartram was next at 365th, ever reliable Paul Bufton was 376th and relative newcomer Laine Skinner was 400th. Another great turnout with everyone pleased with their performances.
The only downside was that the team finished 12th out of 12 in division one but it was always going to be tough after last years promotion.
With Rhodri Buffet hopefully returning for the next fixture and a possibility of Austin Davies being fit for the fixtures after Christmas all is not lost yet.