News Of Interest To Les Croupiers Members

Leo Holmes' Roundup w/c 16th March

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At Pulford 10K, Ed Foster flew round in a rapid 31:28, a huge PB! 💨

Meanwhile at Eastleigh 10K, Paul Francis brought home 🥈 V50 in 36:29 👏

Over at the Gloucester Half:

- Sam Griffiths stormed to 🥈 overall in 1:10:08!

- Emily Musgrave was first woman home for the club in 1:38:45

- Owen Rivers clocked his second-fastest half in 1:23:02

From Gloucester, to the Forest of Dean Half:

- Sue Watson took 4th F55 in 1:46:08

- Phil Hodge led the Croups home in 1:35:09

- Great running too from Hazel Craven & Rory McDermott

Further afield, on the international stage at Johannesburg Marathon, Howard Owen was home in a brilliant 4:15:09 

From South Africa to Italy, we had a couple of members in action at Rome Marathon:

- Mari Watkins 3:50:16 – especially impressive after completing the Brecon to Cardiff ultra earlier this month

- Tom Hall 3:16:40, a great warm up for Newport in a few weeks time! 👏

More strong performances from the weekend:

�📍 Reading Half

- Jeremy Thomas finished a fabulous🥈 M60 in 1:32:30

- James Craddock completed the race in a strong 1:23:25

📍 Surrey Half�- Will Royer: 1:24:47 - it’s so good to see him back racing after a time out with injury.

Leo Holmes' Roundup w/c 9th March

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We start this weeks roundup on Saturday on the indoor track, where club legends Kieran McDonnell and Colin Williams were competing for 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 in the masters inter-area championships!

Kieran was 2nd in the M70 200m and third in the 800m. He also competed in the M60 4x200m relay alongside Colin! Colin did the 400m where he was 4th, leg two of the aforementioned relay and was second in the 800m. Brilliant performances 🙌

Turning to Sunday, on the international stage next. Starting farthest away, in South Korea 🇰🇷, a huge well done to Owain Griffiths for completing the Seoul Marathon. Owain was home in a brilliant time of 4:11:01! 👏

Over to Europe, we had a couple of Croups in action over in Spain. Starting in Barcelona, Emily Musgrave completed the Marathon in a fantastic 3:32:58, an amazing result!

Nick Dukes was also in action in Malaga Half Marathon, coming home in 1:49:44, a brilliant run 🇪🇸

Turning to the Olympic Park 10k, Kay Chapman, Paul Chapman and Ceri Hooper were in action supporting the 10 athletes that are running the London Marathon for the Special Olympics GB team next month! Ceri was 🥇 F55 in 46:01, brilliant work 👏

Ending the roundup with two popular events run by club members on Sunday, we first turn to bath half marathon.

Sam Griffiths was first home for the men in another impressive PB of 1:07:05, building on his impressive PB from a few weeks ago in Llanelli! Eliana Bazzini - Gazzi was first back for the women in an incredible 1:24:19, a big PB for her also on the day 🙌

A big shoutout must also go to Cathan Ivory who completed his last half in a Croups vest 🥹, finishing in 1:18:49 - best of luck for your future races! We were also pleased to bump into the legend Paul Reddaway, club member Jack’s father, who continually takes home age category wins!

Lastly, but very much not least, we turn to the fission 20 mile & half marathon race, an event always popular with the club!

A huge well done to Darragh Hanley-Crofts who finished 🥈 overall in the half in 1:18:06!

He was followed by Arwel Evans in a fantastic 1:22:52, and 9th overall! Huge kudos too, to Martin Williams, who was home as 🥇 M60 in 1:33:30!

They all formed part of a croups team that finished 🥇

A few club members also took part in the 20 miler, Sarah Hamill finished a fab 6th F40 in 2:34:22, and James Bruce continues his fine form by coming home as 5th M50 in 2:29:45! 👏

Leo Holmes' Roundup w/c 2nd March

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Another big roundup to sink your teeth into this week, with Croups once again running on the international stage.

Beginning in Lisbon half marathon, James Dickinson was home in a brilliant personal best of 1:24:08 - his upward trajectory over the past year has been immense! Lucy John was also in action in Portugal, finishing the half in a brilliant 1:58:28, her second fastest half marathon date! 👏

Staying on the international scene. A huge congratulations to Tim and Dimitri Petrides who completed Cyprus Marathon together on Sunday! Tim finished the course in a brilliant 4:44:36 in his marathon debut. Huge congratulations to you both for conquering the marathon distance for the first time! 🙌 

On to Pembrey next, we had a significant number of croups partaking in the Great Welsh Marathon events!

In the marathon, Dave Craig was first home in a brilliant new PB of 2:42:47. This put Dave 6th overall, and 🥇 M45! Fantastic! Liz Neville was first back for the women in the Marathon, completing the course in an amazing 3:22:28, 10th overall, and 🥇 F40!

A huge shoutout to, to Janneke Van Beijnum, who finished a fab 🥈 F45 in a brilliant 3:25:35! 👏

Furthermore, a huge well done to the croups also in action in the half marathon and 10k events! Brian Jones picked up 🥈 M55 in the 10k, with a brilliant time of 48:28!

By far the most popular event of the weekend for the club however was the Cardiff 20/10 in Bute Park. We had lots of members in action in both the 20 mile and 10 mile distances! A summary of results:

20 mile:

👉 Louise Flynn 🥇 female in 2:07:00

👉 Ben Kennedy 🥈 man in 1:59:54

👉 Andy Blair 🥇 M60 in 2:13:44

👉 Alex Price 🥉 man in 2:01:37

10 mile:

👉 Oli Williams 🥇 M40 in 56:44

👉 Julie Chamberlain 🥇 W35 in 1:06:56

👉 Megan McBrien 🥉 female in 1:06:03

Lastly, but very much not least, we head to the Dorney Lake Half Marathon! Daniel Pettit was in action, collecting a brilliant PB of 73:56 and winning the race! Incredible running! 👏

Leo Holmes' XC Champs Roundup

Leo Holmes' Roundup w/c 23rd Feb

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We have a big roundup this week, as a result, a separate roundup will be shared for cross country results later in the week!

We start our roundup with an impressive run from Ed Foster in the Friday Night Under The Lights 5k in London. Ed clocked a superb 14:57, his first time under 15 mins! A huge congratulations Ed 🫶

From 5k, to marathon. We had members in action in Tokyo! First home in the Marathon for the men was Gafin Griffiths, completing the course in a fab 3:30:33!

We had a trio of runners complete their 6th Marathon ⭐️ in Tokyo!

👉James Bruce in 3:42:30! He has started the year on the right foot!

👉 Judi Rhys was first back for the women in a brilliant 4:07:45, evidence of her amazing marathon prowess!

👉 Ceri Hooper brought her 6th star home in 4:11:25!

Clare Bruce was also in action in Tokyo, partaking in the visually impaired 10.7km. Claire clocked 1:04:10, finishing 🥉 overall. Brilliant work Claire, you’re a true inspiration 🫶

From the lights of Tokyo, to the lights of Barry, where the famous Barry 40 returned on Sunday! John Ross competed for the club in the 40 miles, completing his 161 laps of the track in 5:58:48! 😮 Dave Coles was in action in the Marathon, coming home in a superb 3:32:22! A huge well done both! Brilliant work too from all of the volunteers, and of course Mick, the fantastic organiser 👏

Another long distance event taking place on the Sunday was the Brecon to Cardiff ultra, involving *43 miles* across all terrains - a mega race! We had several athletes in action!

👉 Bryony Eames - 7 hours 29 mins

👉 Mari Watkins - 9 hours 19mins

👉 Peter Heath - 10 hours 56 mins

Brilliant work everyone 👏

The most popular event for the club on Sunday was the City of Newport Half Marathon! A summary of the results:

👉 Sam Griffiths first home for the men in 1:12:31, and 🥉 overall.

👉Big shoutout to Darragh Hanley-Crofts, who achieved almost a minute PB, crossing the line in 1:16:12 👏

👉 First home for the women was Carole Goddard in 1:35:27, a huge PB and🥈 F50!

👉 Carole was followed swiftly by Sarah Hamill in 1:35:28, 6th F40!

👉 Big shoutout to Bill Snowdon who finished 🥈 V70 in 2:02:28!

Susie Bowes was also in action on the weekend, completing middlesborough half in an impressive time of 1:36:15 - great work Susie! 👏

Turning to 10k distances now, and the big news of the weekend for the club was Georgia Palmer, who finished Trafford 10k in 35:00! This was not only a huge PB, but also moves Georgia to 🥈 in the all time women’s 10k club results! Mighty work 👏

Lastly, but very much not least. George Collinson was out acting it at St Helens 10k on Sunday. He finished a brilliant🥈 overall in 33:51! 🙌

Leo Holmes' Roundup w/c 16th Feb

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A hugely varied roundup starts off this week indoors, where we had multiple Croups competing in the British masters championships! A summation of results as follows:

👉 Carl Nealon 🥈M35 in the 800m

👉 Oli Williams 🥈 V40 in the 800m

👉 Mel James 🥉 M80 in the 60m and 🥇 in the long jump

👉 Sean Price competed in 400m and 800m

👉 Colin Williams finished 4th in the 1500m, 800m and the 400m, narrowly missing a medal but recording seasons bests

Turning to the outdoors, we begin in sunny Alicante, Dave James was in action in Alicante Half. He finished in a brilliant 1:27:51, finishing 🥈 M65 🙌 🇪🇸

By far the most popular event for the club over the weekend though was Wokingham Half! Ciaran Lewis was first home for the club and 32nd overall in a brilliant 1:11:59! A huge shoutout to Craig Blake, who finished in brilliant PB time of 1:16:49 👏 Ciaran and Craig formed part of the Croups Male Team who finished 4th overall! 😮

Nynke Kuiper was first home for the women in 1:21:52, finishing 6th Female Senior! 🙌 Emily Fell was not far behind in 1:23:29, coming 12th Female Senior! 👏

Jeremy Thomas also needs a shoutout, finishing a brilliant 12th M60 in 1:33:07!

Finally, from Wokingham to Winchester, Cathan Ivory was in action in the 10k! Cathan’s time of 35:58 shot him up to 15th overall and 4th 20-29 Male! 🫡

Leo Holmes' Roundup w/c 2nd Feb

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Starting on Saturday this week, we turn to the Gwent League cross country race which took place on Chepstow racecourse!

In the senior women’s & over 65 men. Georgia Palmer absolutely flew home in 🥇 overall in a brilliant 29:07, almost 30 seconds ahead of second!

The club had several age category scorers in this race!

Rob Evans 🥇 M70 in 39:13

Louise Flynn 🥈 W40 in 31:02

Nynke Kuiper 🥉WSnr & 4th overall in 29:48

Richie Bullen 🥉 M60 in 34:31

Turning to the Senior men, Tom Flitcroft was first home for the club in 35:48, finishing a brilliant 19th overall in a stacked field. Ben Kennedy was not too far behind in 36:30, second Croup and 29th overall! 👏

Elsewhere on Saturday, Oli Williams was competing in the Welsh indoor championships! He ran a brilliant 4:31:76 in the heats, and 4:08:72 in the 1500m races on the Saturday, finishing a brilliant 4th overall and becoming Welsh Senior Champion 👏 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 He then took part in the 800m on the Sunday, running a fantastic 2:02:40, brilliant work!

Turning to Sunday, and in the rare sun of south Wales, we had club members running along the streets & coastal paths of Llanelli 🙌

👉 Sam Griffiths was first home for the club & 🥉 overall in 1:08:46, a blazing run and a huge PB, congratulations! 👏

👉 Simon Lee was second back for the club in a strong 1:19:43 his second fastest half too! 🙌

👉 James Bruce was third back in 1:27:21, continuing some solid form ahead of travelling to Tokyo marathon in a few weeks!

Lastly, but very much not least, a huge shoutout to Rachel Hooper who completed her 3️00th parkrun on Saturday! An incredible statistic meaning that Rachel has run an incredible 1500 parkrun kilometres 😮

Leo Holmes' Roundup w/c 26th Jan

We start this week’s roundup with a Saturday fell race, Craig Yr Allt. Always popular with the club, this race involves tough climbs, steep descents and rugged terrain!

First home for the club for the women was Janet Holmes in 43:06, followed shortly after by Cassie Summers in 43:13 🙌 First home for the men was Gabrelius Stuokus in 39:16! Congratulations to all who finished 👏

Turning to Sunday, and by far the most popular race was the Handicap 10 miler. The unique nature of the race sees runners setting off at a predetermined time, with the aim of completing the race all at the same time of 10am!

Louise Flynn finished 🥇 woman in 60:43, with Dan Pettit finishing as 🥇 man in 55:53 👏

In terms of the handicap:

Duncan Mclauchlan finished closest to his handicap, being 2 seconds quicker. Sarah Beeching was 🥈 closest to her handicap by 9 seconds, and Vaughan Edwards was 🥉 closest to his, finishing 12 seconds off. A further congratulations to Karl James who first to cross the line on the day!

Finally, a huge thanks, and Kudos to Jeff Aston, whose calculations managed to predict 46% of runners’ times within the minute, and 76% within two minutes! 🙌

10 mile races were popular this weekend, with a few members also taking part in the Reverse 10 in Pontypridd!

Wayne Humphries first back for the club and came an impressive 🥈 M50 in 64:35. Aileen Lyons was first back for the women and finished a fab 8th F35 in 81 in 81:49! 👏

Leo Holmes' XC Champs Roundup

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Saturday 24th January saw the return of the Welsh XC championships to Cardiff, and. As always, it was well attended by club members!

In the senior women and masters men’s race, Nynke Kuiper was first home for the club in a blazing run! 👏

We also had a number of category results:

F35 🥈 Helen Oliver

F50 🥈 Carole Goddard

F40 🥉 Louise Flynn

M65 🥉 Dave James

M70 🥉 David Flynn

In the senior men’s race, Tom Flitcroft was first home! A notable shoutout must also go out to Anthony Smets who put on a brilliant display 🙌

We also had two category results to celebrate: 

Andy Blair 🥈 M60

Vaughan Edwards 🥉 M45

Of course, XC is not only about the individuals, but also the teams. There was a number of outstanding results here:

F40 🥇 Croups A

F45 🥇 Croups A

F60 🥇 Croups A

M65 🥇 Croups A

M70 🥇 Croups A

F45 🥈 Croups B

M65 🥈 Croups B

Senior women 🥉 Croups A

M45 🥉 Croups A

M55 🥉 Croups A

A huge well done once again to everybody that raced, we’re looking forward to next year already! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Leo Holmes' Roundup w/c 12th Jan

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It was a big weekend of racing for the club, with Croups in action on both Saturday & Sunday. Croups exploits in the Welsh XC Champs will be covered in a separate roundup, as the achievements deserve a post of their own.

Therefore, we begin in Muscat, where Claire Johnson completed the 10k. Clare had a great race, racing alongside (and beating) people a quarter of her age! 🙌

Elsewhere on Saturday, we had several members taking part in the masters indoor championships.

Gab Stuokus finished🥉 British M35 & 🥇 Welsh in the M35 indoor 3000m. Kieran McDonnell also set new Welsh V70 800m record of 2:36, beating the current by 4 seconds 😮

Oli Williams continues his excellent form, finishing 🥇 in the 800 & 3000m!

Mel James starred, achieving🥇 in the 60m and M80 long jump! 👏

Claire Bruce was also in action in the 800 & 3,000m. Colin Williams finished as masters champion in the 800m & 400m, and finished a fab 🥈 in the 4x200m!

The main headline of the day for Sunday was the Lliswerry 8, an event always popular with the club.

A huge congratulations to Emily Fell, who finished a brilliant 🥇 woman overall in a brilliant 47:51 👏 Craig Blake builds on his form from Valencia 10k, and was first home for the men in 44:48! 🙌

A huge well done too, to Jeff Cox who achieved 🥈 M60, & Nynke Kuiper who finished 🥉 Female Senior - an amazing effort from Nynke given she also raced at the Welsh XC champs the day before! 👏

Lastly, but very much not least, we move onto the UTMB’s in Cornwall. A huge well done to James Vassallo who finished 🥈 M50 in the Arc 25! 🙌

We also wanted to shoutout Jerome Edwards, who attempted the arc 100 UTMB race. Jerome put in a stunning effort, making it to Lands End 12 hours in before having to withdraw.

Cross Country Champs Images

Paul Stillman's images of our mud-spattered selves can be found using the links below. Well done to all who ran!

• Read more:  Senior Women / Masters Men
• Senior Men
• A few people shots

Leo Holmes' Roundup w/c 12th Jan

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A big roundup from a busy weekend of racing 👇

Starting off in Beachley at the Speedway 10k, Ed Foster was first back for the men in a brilliant 31:54, a shiny new PB for Ed to start the year off 😍 Georgia Palmer was first back for the women in 36:15, a superb run and 🥉 overall in her age category, followed closely by Mia Goddard who was home in a brilliant new PB of 36:38, a huge performance! 😮

Another popular race this weekend for the club was the CF64 winter race! First home for the women in Cosmeston was Gillian Hopkins who was home in a brilliant 54:39, and 🥉in her age category! Ed Donovan was first home for the men in 🥉 overall and 🥇 in his age category, finishing in a fab 40:06! 👏

🥇 M55: Andy Blair

🥇M65: Clive Osmond

🥈 M35: Gab Stuokus

🥈M45: Phil Hodge

🥈M70 Howard Kent

🥉M65 Mick Tabor

Turning to a series of Half Marathons, we start in Cheshire, for the Four villages half marathon. A huge congratulations to Olivia Overton for achieving a new PB, finishing in a fab 1:37:11. Molly Dennis & Emily Jones also put in strong performances on the day! Great work 👏

Elsewhere in England, Susie Bowes was in action at the Brass Monkey half marathon in York. Susie was home in a brilliant 1:35:07 in what looked like wet and wild conditions 👏

From winter rain to winter sun, we had three runners taking part Santa Pola Half Marathon! Phil Hambleton was first back for us in a brilliant, 71:17. He was closely followed by Tom Flitcroft, finishing in a brilliant PB effort of 71:48! Mark Price completed the trio of fantastic times, recording an astounding 72:17! Vamos boys! 

Lastly, but very much not least, we head to the Kymin Winter Race. Cassie Summers was first home for the club, showing her impressive fell race credentials! 🙌 A huge shoutout to Marcus Meyrick and Steve Chadwell who competed in both the CF64, and Kymin Winter races 😮 top endurance!