ATHLETICS
JOE Beech (Brackla Harriers and Ogmore Valley Wheelers) rounded off a magical weekend in setting a record time for the penultimate leg of the Welsh Castles Relay event, writes Tony Poole.
Earlier in the day, he won the third Porthcawl Triathlon – also setting a record time in the process.
Beech then covered the 19th leg for Brackla Harriers – stretching 7.7 miles from Abercynon to Nantgarw – in a record time of 52mins 43secs.
Bridgend came 21st and Brackla Harriers 31st out of 66 competing teams with the event again spread over 20 stages and embracing two days of competition.
Once more Newtown was utilised as an overnight stop-off on Saturday evening.
The overall Bridgend time for the race from Caernarfon Castle to its counterpart in the Welsh capital was 23hrs 48mins 02secs while Brackla clocked 24:42:06.
Sale Harriers were the winners with 20:07:28 from Salford Harriers 20:38:21, Team Bath 21:0052, event organisers Les Croupiers 21:02:37, Pontypool Roadents 21:21:45 and Neath Harriers 21:37:11.
Full Bridgend and Brackla Harriers results (Bridgend competitors first): DAY ONE Stage 1 Caernarfon – Penygroes (9.1 miles): Nick Stocker 1:11:59 (41st), Melanie Williams 1:07:18 (25th).
Stage 2 Penygroes – Criccieth Castle (10.7 miles): Gareth Hardman 1:14:44 (23rd), Emily Buckwell 1:20:36 (44th).
Stage 3 Criccieth Castle – Maentwrog (12.3 miles): John Dixon 1:17:48 (12th), David Moore 1:18:45 (16th).
Stage 4 Maentwrog – Harlech Castle (9.5 miles): Anthony Phillips 1:08:54 (33rd), Andrea Starritt 1:12:52 (46th).
Stage 5 Harlech Castle – Barmouth (9.6miles): Gina Hardman 1:11:23 (31st), Charlotte Johns (1:12:04 (35th).
Stage 6 Barmouth – Dolgellau (10.7 miles): Huw Griffiths 1:18:14 (40th), Mark Francis 1:21:49 (51st).
Stage 7 Dolgellau – Dinas Mawddwy (9.5 miles): Elliot Cole 1:00:29 (11th), Sean Lewis 1:02:52 (16th).
Stage 8 Dinas Mawddwy – Foel (10.8 miles): Evatt Cummings 1:18:28 (36th), Matthew Bunce 1:25:24 (50th).
Stage 9 Foel – Llanfair Caerein (8.5 miles): Peter Williams 53:21 (13th), Sophie Charles 1:04:19 (47th).
Stage 10 Llanfair Caerein – Newtown (13.1 miles): Peter Williams: 30:54 (35th), Rowan Hobbs 1:26:58 (28th). DAY TWO: Stage 11 Newtown – Llanbardarn Fynydd (12.3 miles): Kristofer Powell 1:32:09 (48th), Paul Speyer 1:23:13 (26th).
Stage 12 Llanbardarn Fynydd – Cross Gates (11.2 miles): John Morgan 1:17:44 (34th), Mary Beech 1:27:22 (54th).
Stage 13 Cross Gates – Builth Wells (10.6 miles): Jon Thiel 1:15:05 (33rd), Richard Beech 1:16:21 (36th).
Stage 14: Builth Wells – Drovers Arms (10.8 miles): Mark Emery1:09:22 (8th), Ian Ogilvie 1:18:42 (40th).
Stage 15 Epynt Visitor Centre – Brecon (12.8 miles): Huw Griffiths 1:22:27 (19th), Ian Cuthbert 1:35:28 (50th).
Stage 16 Brecon – Brecon Reservoir (8.8 miles): Jonny Hayes 1:08:17 (17th), Rhys Francis 56:27 (10th).
Stage 17 Brecon Reservoir – Cyfarthfa Castle (9.2 miles): Gemma RocheClarke 58:24 (14th), Lottie Vaughan 1:15:42 (57th).
Stage 18 Rhyd-y-car Centre – Abercynon (9.1 miles): Georgie Dando 1:00:37 (24th), Rowland Matthews 1:10:00 (47th).
Stage 19: Abercynon – Nantgarw (7.7 miles): Greg Newhams 52:43, Joe Beech 40:01 (1st) – record time for this leg.
Stage 20: Caerphilly Castle – Cardiff Castle (10.1 miles): Stephen Jenkins 1:05:04 (28th), Colin McQueen 1:05:53 (33rd).
Last Saturday, Tim Iveson (Builth & District Running Club) won the 220th staging of the Porthcawl 5k Parkrun.
He made it two wins from as many starts with a personal best time of 16mins 50secs that was superior to 17:29 when taking the event back in April.
Richard Dando (Bridgend) was second home in 17:40, and members of the Port Talbot Harriers club then occupied the next three places – all with personal bests.
Third-placed Gareth Poston clocked 17:59; Andrew Poston got 18:00 and Nino Gatti 18:06.
The other top-10 finishers were Philip Welch (Bridgend) pb 18:41, four-time recent winner Rowan Hobbs (Brackla Harriers) 18:46, Dave Bennett (Porthcawl Runners) 18:47, Alan Kerr (Bridgend) pb 18:57 and Paul Speyer (Brackla Harriers) 19:04.
Other sub-20 minute times came from Liam Osborne (Bridgend) 19:05, Marc Williams (Crap Tri) pb 19:14, Phil Thomas (Rhondda Triathlon Club) pb 19:18, Will Edwards (Porthcawl Runners) 19:19, Dave Moore (Brackla Harriers) 19:22, first-timer Doryn David (unattached) 19:24, Steve Hogan (Cornelly Striders) 19:33, Luke Wyatt (unattached) 19:39, Dave Murray (Bridgend) 19:45 and top female finisher Georgie Dando (Bridgend) pb 19:48.
Second female home was Lisa Griffin (Ponty-Pwl Runners) pb 20:17 while third place went to 51st-placed finisher Clare Hughes (Bridgend) 21:33.
Last Sunday, five young Bridgend runners occupied the top placings at the end of the 92nd Bridgend Junior 2k Parkrun in Newbridge Fields.
A personal best from Joshua Morgan saw him cross the finishing line in 8mins 19secs to take the main plaudits.
However, runner-up Adam Davis registered a third successive personal time, setting the bar now on 8:27.
Top female and thirdplaced Mia Allen clocked 8:44 ahead of three other girls – Anna-Rose Merchant 8:54, Ffion Howe 8:57 and Abigail Morgan 9:08.
Seventh-placed Tyler Thomas also got a personal best, he completed the course in 9:12, with Mia Bilal clocking 9:14, Dan May pb 9:18 and Charlie Paget 9:49.
Sub-10 minute times also came from Jessica Crawley (Bridgend) 9:51, Tomas Clarke 9:53, Daniel Perriman 9:56 and Vincent Borg 9:57.
Eight other personal best times were recorded on the day, and they went against the names of Lucas Nevens, George Evans (Cwm Ogwr Running Club), Rebekah Hopkin, Elen Davies, Rosie Paget, Lili Whitcombe, Alex Rhys Harding and Iestyn Hawksley.
Finally, the third of this season’s Bridgend Running League events is being staged a week tonight (Wednesday) in Porthcawl (7pm).
With the Cwm Ogwr and Merthyr Mawr events ticked off the fixture-list, application forms are now available for the second Porthcawl Runners event, costing £5.