ATHLETICS
ROWAN Hobbs (Brackla Harriers) last Saturday pulled off a third successive Porthcawl Parkrun 5k victory, writes Tony Poole.
It was only the second occasion for a competitor to win three consecutive Porthcawl races.
The last time the feat was achieved was back in June 2015 when Peter Avent (Shettleston Harriers) took event numbers 114–116.
When Hobbs gained a first victory at the 56th time of asking on May 13, he recorded a personal best time of 17mins 58 secs.
The second victory was clocked at 18:03 while last Saturday’s hat-trick victory was achieved with another personal best tag of 17:45.
The 217th staging of the popular Saturday event from Porthcawl seafront to Rest Bay and back was this time was conducted under threatening skies and attracted 367 competitors.
Runner-up Richard Dando (Bridgend) completed the course in 17:57 with first-time competitor Stephen Mathers (Parc Bryn Bach Running Club) third in 18:02.
Another first-timer, Andrew Poston (Port Talbot Harriers), was fourth in 18:40 while Daniel Nicholas (Cornelly Striders) was next to finish with a time of 18:46.
Two more newcomers were next to cross the finishing line with Nino Gatti (Port Talbot Harriers) clocking 18:58 and Michael Benns (Run4All Neath) 19:00.
Paul Speyer (Brackla Harriers) was eighth in 19:13, and the other top10 places were occupied by newcomer Mark William Brown (Crystal Palace Triathletes) 19:18 and Jamie Clode (Bridgend) 19:21.
Three other runners registered sub-20 minute times – Will Edwards (Porthcawl Runners) 19:21, Ian Ogilvie (Brackla Harriers) 19:38 and firsttimer Marcus Taylor (unattached) 19:55.
Top female finisher and 36th overall was Melanie Wingar in a personal best 21:34 from 49th-placed Olivia Norris (both unattached) pb 22:08, 56thplaced Lucy Edwards (Cornelly Striders) 22:22, and Ellie Evans (Bridgend) pb 23:17.
And on Sunday, a second best time was recorded dur- ing the 90th-staging of the Bridgend Junior 2k Parkrun in Newbridge Fields.
Ryan Edwards (Cardiff) turned up for a first time, and clocked a toasty time of 6mins 50secs.
It was a mere eight seconds outside the record that Bridgend runner Devin Coombes set back in April.
There was a personal best from runner-up Mia Allen (Bridgend), who completed the course in 8:39, and third-placed Osian Yardley got 8:45.
Fourth-placed Ffion Howe (Bridgend) also carded a personal best time of 8:47 and pb also went against the name of the next competitor home – Willow Hughes in 8:53.
The other-10 places were occupied by Joshua Morgan (Bridgend) 8:55, Taylor Greig 9:07, first- timer Alfie Osborne 9:07, Thomas Clarke 9:09 and Ethan Wyatt 9:18.
Other fine runs came from first-timer Ewan Williams 9:28, Maya Bilal 9:30, Louis Parry pb 9:32, Charlie Paget pb 9:36, Georgia Smele (Bridgend) 9:37, Daniel Perriman 9:41, Mia Amerein pb 9:45, Vincent Borg pb 9:51, Nate Greig 9:55, Maddison Mustoe (Cornelly Striders) 9:56.
Close to the 10-minute barrier came four personal best young achievers – Luke Woodhouse 10:01, Elliot Jenkins 10:01, Riley Darroch 10:02 and Scarlett Hodges 10:03.
There were 19 other personal bests in a run that attracted 106 competitors and they came from: Corin Walters, Jack Wells, Andrew Poulton, Molly Thomas, Eden Elizabeth Goss, Josie Powell, Ieuan Price, Gwendolen Adams, Nicholas Poulton, Ben Beckinsale, Dylan Wright, Olly Phillips, Lucca Nicholas (Cornelly Striders), Harry Wells, Esme Cornwall, Merryn Price, Lili Howard, Joseph Littlewood (Cwm Ogwr) and Gwen Trivett.