ATHLETICS
ELLIOT Cole fired a magnificent seventh victory last Saturday in the 207th staging of the Porthcawl 5k Parkrun, writes Tony Poole.
The Leeds City runner won the event in a time of 16mins 49secs that was 14 seconds outside his personal best from May 25, 2013.
Runner-up James Carpenter hammered his way through the mist along the Wales Coastal Path to clock a personal best time of 16:52.
Mark Emery (Bridgend) was third in 18:12 ahead of three members of local Porthcawl Runners – Dave Dickson 18:45, Christopher Jenkins 18:48 and Will Edwards 19:38.
An unknown runner was seventh, and the remaining top places came from Dave Bennett (Porthcawl Runners) 19:42, Jeffrey Thomas (Bridgend) 19:54, Stephen Davies (Cwm Ogwr Running Club) 20:01, Matt Edwards (Pencoed Tri Club) 20:31 and Dave Evans (Cwm Ogwr Running Club) 20:39.
Top female finisher and 42nd overall was Deborah Goule (Porthcawl Runners) in a time of 22:12 from 46th-placed Lucy Edwards (Cornelly Striders), who clocked 22:25, and Holly Jones (unattached) 50th in 22:38.
In the 80th staging of the Bridgend Junior 2k Parkrun in Newbridge Fields last Sunday, victory went to Alfie Smallman.
He maintained a remarkable record in the event, as this proved a second win while his other five runs resulted in second-place finishes.
This time around he clocked 8mins 24secs – 43 seconds outside his best – with Jack O’Brien (Bridgend) second home in a time of 8:36.
Third placed Finlay Cannon shot home in 8:39 with Alex Powell clocking 8:40 and Joshua Morgan (Bridgend) 9:04.
Top female finisher was Mia Allen (Bridgend) in 9:15, and the other top10 places were filled by Abigail Morgan 9:12, firsttimer Ami Fraser (Bridgend) 9:32, Josie Gronow personal best 9:41 and Lucie Warren 9:42.
Other sub-10 minute times came from Euan Jenkins pb 9:45, Rory Griffiths pb 9:45, Jude Jenkins pb 9:48, Jessica Crawley (Bridgend) 9:50, Georgia Smele (Bridgend) 9:52 and James Beemer (Refail Runners) 9:56.
There were 27 other personal best times and they came from: Scarlett Hodges, Maya Bilal, Jake Watts, Grace Pattison, Ewan Harris, Oscar Jones, Madison Pang, Benjamin Lewis, Rhydian Lloyd-Francis, Elin Dickson, Isabella Cole, Taylor Fraser, Bethany White, Molly Thomas, Gracie Lodey (Pencoed Panthers), Edward Adams, Gwen Adams, Lily Richards, Alfie Hughes, Lily May Crump, Alexandra Woodward, Miles Thomas, Malachy Jordan, Jack Woodhouse, Ben Bailey, Chloe Jones and Evie Matthewson.