Various news updates are posted below.
(Some people will do anything to avoid Jools Holland's Hootenanny.)
Links to Howard Kent's footage can be found below.
Howard Kent's runner's-eye footage of this lovely event, complete with soundtrack by The Who.
(For images please see our instagram or facebook pages.)
By far the most popular event for the club over the latter end of the festive period was our very own Old Father Time race. Firstly, a huge thank you to all of the organisers and volunteers who enabled the event to be such a success for another year 🫶
Oliver Williams was the first home for the club and achieved 🥈 overall in a brilliant 26:49, with Louise Flynn first back for the woman and 🥈 F40 in an amazing 29:57! 👏
From Cardiff, to Llandeilo on New Year’s Eve, we had a couple of members taking part in the 10 miler! Amy Griffiths put in an amazing performance finishing 🥈 woman in the day in 1:12:43! 🤩 Rhys Thomas was first home for the club, finishing 10th overall and 6th in his age category in 1:04:22! Congratulations too, to David Flynn, who crossed the line in 1:31:03, finishing an amazing 🥇 V70 👏
Also taking place on New Year’s Eve was the historic Nos Galan race. It was a chilly night but this did not stop some red hot performances! First home for the club in the elite men’s race was Jack Reddaway in 17:17, with Caitlin Williams first home in the elite women’s race in 20:20!
Lastly, but very much not least, a huge well done to Claire and James Bruce for completing Shrewsbury 5k & 10k. Races which started in 2025, and ended in 2026! 🙌
Claire completed the 5k in a fab 29:11, with James crossing the line in the 10k in 41:06! 👏
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Croups have been incredibly busy across the festive season, taking part in lots of events internationally.
We start on Boxing Day, in Glynneath, where we had 6 runners taking part in the 5 miler! First back for the woman was Mari Watkins in a brilliant 35:59, with Elliott Davis coming home first for the men in 32:06. Pete Gillibrand not only achieved a PB, but also met a Welsh legend 🏴(Max Boyce)
We turn from Glynneath, south to Clevedon, where 8 croups were in action at the Boxing Day 4 miler! First back for the club was Matt Green in an impressive 22:44! Jenny Martin was first back for the women in a fab 37:23! Kudos too, to Matt Hurford, who was 4th M50 on the day! 👏
Turning to the Fields of Athenry 10k, three runners were in action for the club! James Bruce was the first man home for us in 39:45, with Aine Kenny first home for the women in 41:15! Shout out to Sam Cowman, who raced for the first time in Croups colours, finishing in a fab 41:33!
Lastly, but very much not least, picking up on a result before Christmas. Pedro Marabianca donned the croups vest taking part in the Aranjuez 10k!
Howard Kent's footage of the Senior Women/ Masters Men, featuring Rapper's Delight can be found using the link below:
Footage of the senior men's race is here:
(In this, the 250th anniversary year of Jane Austen's birth, it's worth mentioning that Blaise Castle gets a mention in the novel 'Northanger Abbey'. An exquisite pastiche of the then fashionable gothic romance novels, the book offers no advice whatsoever on the best footwear to use on the mixed terrain of the park.)
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Croups were out in force over the weekend, taking an advantage of the mild weather to race in a whole host of events!
The race which saw the most club participation was the Festive 10k in Bute Park!
First home for the women was Laura Jones who finished in an amazing 41:37, also coming🥇 F45! Tom Flitcroft was first home for the men and 🥉 overall in 33:29 🤩
Croups also shone in other age categories:
- Phil Hodge 🥇 M60 in 39:05
- Julie Lewis 🥇 F65 in 1:04:36
A shoutout to Mick McGeoch who was pleased to record a one second negative split on the day, expert pacing from the club legend 👊
Turning from Cardiff to Telford, we had several members taking part in the 10k:
Craig Blake was first home for the club in 34:38, a huge PB, followed by Ed Davies who finished in an immensely strong 34:53! James Craddock was back soon after in 35:33, a huge 45 second PB and Paul Francis in 36:02, a big PB for Paul too! Mia Goddard was first home for the women in a brilliant 37:12, Louise Flynn finished an amazing 6th F40 in 37:57! 😮
From Road, to sand. A bumper group of croups took part in the Merthyr Mawr Pudding Race on Sunday! Our members were impeccably dressed in lovely festive attire and expertly took on the 10km of hills, sand and water! 👏
Lastly, we turn to Malaga, where we had Peter Gillibrand taking part in the marathon. Pete finished in a brilliant 4:01:17, an excellent 14 minute PB! In the half, Jack Reddaway recorded an expertly executed 1:21:16, vamos!
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The main race on Saturday for the Croups was the cross country in Blaise Castle, but this will be covered in a future post pending official release of results!
Therefore, we turn instantly to Sunday, which saw the return of the hugely coveted Valencia Marathon. We had Owain Zerilli racing for the Croups, finishing in a huge PB of 2:33:46! Vamos! 🫶
From Valencia Marathon to Lanzarote Half, James Bruce was putting his paces in the sun, finishing in an impressive 1:35:55! 😀
Elsewhere on Sunday, was had two members in action in the Aberystwyth Charity 10k! Gafin Griffiths was first back in an impressive 42:17, with Selina Griffiths finishing in a brilliant 52:16, which secured her 12th F40-49! 🥳
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It’s the time of year when things start to get festive, the gifts kept on giving with Croups picking up some superb results this weekend!
Starting on Saturday in Machen, Jerome Edwards finished a brilliant 🥇 overall in the Machen Trail marathon, a tough slippery course with huge elevation and tough terrain! Sam Wilson also completed the marathon, coming home in 10th 👏
There was also a half marathon taking place on the day, Hugh Ollard aced the course finishing 🥈 Male and the Mountain Goat Math Llwyd was home soon after finishing 9th. A huge congratulations too, to Aileen Lyons, Carol Francis & Eve Gallop-Evans who also aced the half! 😍
Saturday was the day off off roading, as we had lots of croups donning the South Wales stripes in the inter regional cross country! In the women’s race, Nynke Kuiper finished an amazing🥉overall in 23:10!
- Emily Fell followed soon after in 23:54
- Louise Flynn in 23:57
- Laura Stark in 24:37
- Steph Hambleton in 25:07
- Caitlin Williams in 26:58
- And, Andrea Webster in 32:04
They all helped the South Wales Ladies team take the 🥈 prize on the day 🙌
For the men, Phil Hambleton was first home with a strong run and finished a brilliant🥇 V35, Daniel Pettit followed closely behind finishing 🥈 V35 🤩
- Tris Rees was third back for the men in 32:15
- Tom Flitcroft in 32:34, Mark Price in 32:53
- Vaughan Edwards in 33:32
- Luke Starkie in 34:58
- Colin Williams in 39:19
Dave Coles and Clive Osmond were also in action in the V65 race, coming home in 27:02 & 29:28 respectively 😃
Swapping the grass of Wales for the sunny streets of Alicante, Stuart Reeves was in action in Sunday in the Marathon. Coming home in a brilliant 3:12:19! A brilliant result given he also did Eryri Marathon not too long ago! 😮
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We start our roundup with a rare midweek winter race! Matt Davies took part in the Severn bridge 5 miler, finishing 🥈 overall in 27:53! Matt was the 🥇 Male Senior finisher, continuing his amazing form on from his Mug of the Month win over the summer.
Starting the weekend off with a marathon, congratulations to Sioned Powell for completing the Marathon de Beaujolais in Fleurie in a brilliant time of 4:36:55! Hope you celebrated with some wine 🍷 🇫🇷
Elsewhere on Saturday, we had several runners taking part in the Elan Valley 10 miler, a race which forms part of our club championships.
Julie Scholey was first back for the women, taking 🥇 F65 in 1:31:58! Claire Johnson secured 🥇 F75, with her efforts being awarded with a well earned bottle of wine! First back for the men was James Bruce in 69:58, finishing 5th overall in his age category 😍
From the hills of mid Wales to the shores of southern England, Shannon Walker had an amazing race at the Bournemouth Coastal 10k, taking 🥈 F30-39 in an impressive 46:42! 👏
Starting Sunday in San Sebastián, Louise Flynn continues to put the club on the international map, finishing a brilliant 🥈 woman overall in the Donostia Marathon in 2:48:38! Louise, you are a true legend 🔴🟢
Elsewhere on Sunday, Dave George swapped Alicante for Wiltshire, competing the half in 1:47:58, an incredibly impressive half marathon streak! 👏
Final shoutout must go to another club legend, Tom Flitcroft, who managed to do a parkrun before getting married on Saturday. No better way to celebrate a big day, although sorry to hear Ben beat you!
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We start this week’s roundup in Leeds, where we had four runners representing Wales at the Masters International Cross Country!
Dave James was part of the M65 team that took home 🥇! A huge well done to Louise Flynn, Laura Jones, Dave Cundy & Mick Tabor for also competing in their respective age groups. You all are amazing ambassadors for the club on the national stage 🫶
From Leeds to Conwy, we had 5️⃣ runners participating in the half marathon! Alice Johnston took 🥇 female in an incredible 1:20:39, followed closely by Emily Jones who took 🥈 female in 1:22:05, an outstanding result! Congrats to Tomos Parry, Howard Owen & Sara Louise-Davies for also running!
5️⃣ runners also jetted out to the Netherlands on Sunday to take part in the Seven Hills 15k! A route which does everything it says on the tin, it looks like an amazing race congrats to:
- Phil Hambleton finished in 50:39
- Craig Blake in 54:50
- James Bull in 55:34
- Emily Fell in 56:36
- Nynke Kuiper 57:10
Elsewhere abroad, Dave George completed his trio of Spanish Half’s, finishing the Media Maratón Nacional Orihuela in 1:49:35, and great to see Claire run the 8km race! 👏
From Alicante, to Gosport, congratulations to Lee Treadwell for completing the half marathon in a strong 1:50:10!
Steve Chadwell was also in action on the weekend, completing the Fulham 10km in a brilliant time of 46:46! ⭐️
From the flat streets of Fulham to the hilly trails of Bath, congratulations to James Bruce on finishing the Bath Hilly Half in 2:04:41! Looks like a brutal race 🙌
Speaking of brutal races, Mark Palser took part in the Maverick Dark Castle race in Dorset. A hilly and slippy course, let alone in the dark, Mark did an amazing job and finished 🥇
Lastly, but very much not least, Mia Goddard had an amazing race at the BUCS duathlon on the weekend, finishing a hugely impressive 🥉! A magnificent result from Mia who’s in impressive form
Cardiff Cross is one of the key fixtures of the year for many Croups members. Saturday was no different, we had a hoard of members competing in all different age groups.
No matter if it was your cross debut, or 50th cross race, it’s always so unpredictable, so well done everybody for getting out there and racing!
First home for the women was Georgia Palmer in 23:37, finishing a brilliant 🥉 overall in the Gwent League standings. An astounding debut in club colours! 🔴🟢
We also had a number of age grade results:
🥈 W35 Louise Flynn
🥉W23 Georgia Palmer
First home for the men was Tris Rees in a fabulous 31:30, finishing an impressive 7th overall!
The men also had some great age graded results:
🥇M65 Dave James
🥈M35 Phil Hambleton
🥉M45 Vaughan Edwards
Team wise, our Senior Ladies finished 🥇 and lead the way in the standings 😍 our senior men came 🥉 and are 4th overall in the standings! 🫶
We also had a number of age grade team successes:
🥇 F65
🥇 M45
🥇 M65
🥉 F35
🥉 M35
🥉 M55
Stunning achievements! 🙌
See you all at Blaise Castle on December 6th 😍
The following advice is intended to keep our runners SAFE at all times!
It is also essential that, whilst out running as a club, we are seen to be polite, responsible, set a good example & not put others at risk.
AT ALL TIMES BE SAFE BE SEEN! You can never be too visible! During the day, always wear bright or light-coloured clothing - fluorescent is good.
At night we would strongly recommend that people ALWAYS wear light-coloured clothing plus a REFLECTIVE (not just fluorescent) bib or sash.
Clip on flashers are a great way to be seen. NEVER ASSUME YOU'VE BEEN SEEN. Always be cautious with traffic.
We would like to remind people that they are responsible for their own safety and that they run at their own risk.