News for the local press and more
17-20th May Summer rebellion ultra, caerphilly 10k and more.
Julian Howe at Summer Rebellion
A huge degree of endurance, grit and determination saw Spirit of Monmouth runner, Julian Howe, emerge as the joint-winner of one of the most beautiful but demanding ultra marathons in the UK. Julian set off on the “Summer Rebellion” ultra marathon from Knighton, Powys, at 7pm on Friday evening with 135 miles and a total of over 25,000 feet of ascent ahead of him.
The route follows the entirety of the Glyndwr’s Way National Trail which loops through Machynlleth, ultimately finishing in Welshpool. It was a long and exciting race with Julian running in 2nd or 3rd place for the first half. The leader was to drop out at the 107 mile mark, but a couple of mishaps cost Julian some hours and miles, leaving him well adrift of a new leader. However, through miles 100 to 120, he managed to close the gap and ultimately the two front runners ran into their third night, crossing the line together after 3am on Monday morning, in a time of 56hours 8 minutes. Julian is shown here holding the winner’s trophy, looking remarkably fresh, all things considered!
In Caerphilly, Natasha and Meryon Roderick took on a pretty tough 10K and finished together in a creditable 47.55. The festival of running at Forest of Dean saw Emma Griffiths continue her determined return to running and in Builth Wells, Phil Griffiths took on a beautiful 10K route at the Royal Welsh Trail Running festival. An one race missed last week… Allan Meek and Luke Felton ran Tewkesbury half in 1:28 (first in age group!) and 1:42 respectively.
11/12th May – Hereford half, 10K hereford, lymington, brecon beacons, spirit park run
5/6th May – Newport Marathon, newport 10k, cardiff 5k, bristol 10k, dragon Back 100m ultra
27/28th april – london marathon, whitebrook wind-up and world championship duathlon!!
24th april
Starting on 9th May, a running course to take you or your friends from 5k to 10k in just a few weeks.
Find out more about this course HERE
Easter weekend – 20/22 april
The Gilwern Grunt is one of the most loved and most challenging of local races, ascending a total of 1,500ft over its 8 miles. There’s a need for scrambling up and down some tough terrain, with one steep climb assisted by ropes. But the atmosphere and the views over Blaenavon are fantastic. Some great pictures.
13th-14th April
Spirit of Monmouth runner, Rich Foster (right), produced a remarkable performance to achieve a podium finish in the Great Welsh Marathon in Llanelli on Sunday. Rich’s personal best time of 2:49:05, in breezy conditions, was enough for a superb 3rd place. Unsurprisingly, this was also enough to be first first veteran runner. Absolutely brilliant run Rich. Congratulations.
Kymin Dash… What an event! I think we’re all super proud to have put on such a great race – with particular thanks to the race committee who invested so much time in making it happen. Results can be found through the Kymin Dash page on this website – with an open Kymin Dash facebook page also available there, which has loads more photos and stories.
Plenty of work goes into making these events a success. It was great being part of it.
Spirit Park Run – 13th April. Steve McMenemy’s idea to have a monthly park run, where we’re all invited to meet up a nominated park run, got off the ground with a trip to Pontypool (pic below). This is going to work! Second Saturday of the month, unless stated.
6th-7th April
Manchester Marathon, Offa’s MT 10K, Magnificient Eastnor Castle 7, Devon Coastal Trail.
A busy weekend of racing just gone. In no particular order…
At the Manchester Marathon, there was real elation for Karen Barratt, who has knocked loudly on the door to a 4-hour marathon several times but today smashed through it at the seventh time of asking. Alongside her, Sophie Williams also had a fantastic day, slashing 19 minutes off her previous best to also beat that important 4-hour mark – the two Spirit of Monmouth ladies clocking 3:57 and 3:55 respectively.
Closer to home, four Spirits raced the tough Offa’s MT 10K event, organised by our friends at Chepstow RC. Stuart Penney ran superbly to take 3rd place overall, and clearly fastest in his age group. Nerys Chaplin, Jeremy Creasey and Mex Gaillard all ran really strongly to claim second place in their respective age-categories, and this was enough for the three men to take second place in the Male Team standings.
Three other tough races saw Lucy MacDonald, Cathy Fletcher and Sally Williams take on the Magnificent Eastnor Castle Seven; an undulating 7 miles rural course over footpaths, tracks and through woodland culminating in the ‘Orrible’ climb to the Obelisk! Lucy was 4th woman home and Cathy 12th out of a field of 53 women. Down in Devon, Claire Jackson also took an excellent 4th place in the rather hilly Devon Coastal Trail race and new club chairman, Toby Wales, clocked 1:41 in the Devizes half marathon.
Forest of Dean Half Marathon, Cardiff Trail Half, Ashby 20 & Merthyr Half.
Wychavon Trail Ultra
