ATHLETICS
JOE Beech (Ogmore Valley Wheelers and Brackla Harriers) set a new record last Sunday in winning the third Porthcawl Triathlon, writes Tony Poole.
He clocked 2hrs 01mins 03secs for a 1500m open swim at Coney Beach; a 40k bike ride from Rest Bay around the Porthcawl countryside, and a 10k run along the Wales Coastal Path.
The previous best came from inaugural 2016 winner Dave Murray with 2:03:08 while a year ago Nathan Ford won it in 2:05:25.
Last Sunday, 125 competitors faced the starter with Mike Birchmore (Great Helston) runnerup in 2:03:18 from Adam Newton (unattached) 2:06:41, Richard Dando (Pencoed Tri Club) 2:07:07 and Dale Astins (Pembrokeshire Tri Club) 2:12:44.
Dando possesses a fine record in the event having finished fourth in 2015, and was runner-up last year.
Top female finisher was 24th-placed Emily Roper (Newbury Swimming Club) in a time of 2:25:13.
Other local Triathletes recorded good times (all Pencoed Tri Club unless stated): Simon Osborne 2:20:39, Chris Adams 2:34:19, Stephen Summers 2:39:21, Karen Hopkin (Porthcawl Open Water Swimmers) 2:41:44, Katherine Isles 2:44:18, Dave Howland 2:46:56 and Andrea Garrington 3:08:35.
The day before in the seaside town, Mark Emery (Bridgend) won the 219th staging of the Porthcawl Parkrun 5k.
After Rowan Hobbs (Brackla Harriers) won four races on the trot to set up a Porthcawl event record, it was the turn of Emery to step up to the plate and clock a winning time of 17mins 49secs.
The weekly race from Porthcawl seafront to Rest Bay and back was on this occasion was conducted under threatening skies.
But the rain held off and Emery was pushed all the way by Bridgend colleague and nine-time winner Richard Dando, who crossed the finishing line in 17:54.
Third home was Christopher Jeynes of the Brackla Harriers club, who completed the course in 18:33.
On this occasion, fourwinner-on-the-trot Hobbs had to be satisfied with fourth place in a time of 18:53.
The other top-10 places were occupied by Dave Bennett (Porthcawl Runners) 19:11, first-timer Luke Barham (unattached) 19:39, Will Edwards (Porthcawl Runners) 19:55, Steve Hogan (Cornelly Striders) 20:01, Rex Ezard pb 20:06 and Adrian Phillips (both unattached) 20:19.
Top female was Deborah Goule (Porthcawl Runners), who finished 28th overall in a time of 21:16.
Second female to finish was Clare Hughes (Bridgend), who was 29th having clocked 21:17.
And third female home was unattached runner Olivia Norris, who was 47th overall in 23:32.
Best Age Group scores came from Peter Turner 22nd in 21:02, Keith Powell 18th in 20:53 and Libby Lavis 72nd with 24:07.
Last Sunday, Junior Parkrun 2k returned in Newbridge Fields after an absence of a week due to the Race for Life, and victory went to firsttime competitor Mathis Amerein.
His winning time was 7mins 42secs with Jack O’Brien (Bridgend) second to finish in 8:29.
Third place and top female was Megan Foley (Bridgend) in a personal best 8:32, and there was also a pb of 8:39 from fourth-placed Henry Davies.
The other top-10 places went to Adam Davies (Bridgend) pb 8:46, Alex Powell 8:53, Mia Allen (Bridgend) 8:59, Tomas Clarke 9:02, Taylor Greig pb 9:05 and Joshua Morgan (Bridgend) 9:12.
The sub-10 minute barrier was also smashed by 14 other youngsters – Rory Griffiths 9:21, Jude Jenkins 9:25, Dan May pb 9:26, Euan Jenkins 9:27, Niamh O’Brien (Bridgend) 9:29, Tyler Thomas pb 9:29, Finlay Griffiths pb 9:32, Abigail Morgan 9:32, Ethan Wyatt 9:39, Katie Blower pb 9:54, Mia Amerein 9:55, Scott Jones 9:57, Nate Greig 9:57 and Dan Perriman 9:59.
There were another 20 personal bests from the 99 runners, and they came from: William Howe, Benjamin Lewis, Elin Dickson, Fraser Higginson, Josie Powell, Eloise Neenan, Kieran Thomas, Ollie Phillips, Charlotte Jones, Jenny Payne, Luca Nicholas (Cornelly Striders), Niall Nolan (Cwm Ogwr), Gwendolen Adams, Owen Nottage, Bethany Hancock (Pencoed Panthers), Gruff Hogan (Cornelly Striders), Stanley Jones, Alex Rhys Harding, Nevaeh Greig and Alfie Harding.
Meanwhile, the 100th Welsh Championships were staged last Saturday at Cardiff International Sports Campus.
Besides Welsh honours being on offer, athletes were also chasing Commonwealth Games qualifying standard ahead of the Gold Coast event next year.
Dewi Griffiths had already got two standard times, and the Swansea Harriers member won the 5k event in 13mins 50.35secs.
And in second place came Bridgend runner James Hunt (Cardiff AAC), who clocked a superb time of 14:54.25.
However, local runner Nia Clatworthy (Cardiff AAC) went one better at U15 level in the Girls 1500m, striking gold via a time of 4mins 53.55secs.
There was also a silver medal for the Bridgend U13 girls in the 4 x 100m relay on the back of strong running from Aimee Childs, Eleni Jones, Jersey Jones and Mali Morse.
The Bridgend youngsters clocked 56.06 secs to finish just behind Cardiff Archers, who hit the bull’s eye with 54.81.
Bridgend Boys U13s won heat two of the 4 x 100m relay in 53.45secs courtesy of Ewan Bailey, Tomos Broad, Morgan Hubbarde and Mabon Rhys.
They will return for the final at a Welsh international on July 12, as will Bridgend U15 Girls who came third in heat one in a time of 53.24secs.
The team members were Hannah Dixon, Ella Hubbarde, Molly Ridge and Amber Williams.
Also last weekend, The Welsh Castles Relay (organised by Les Croupiers Running Club) was also staged.
Bridgend entered a team, embracing a relay race from Caernarfon Castle down to its Cardiff counterpart.
On day one last Saturday, the Bridgend runners in sequence 1 – 10 that took the team to their Saturday night stop-off in Newtown were Nick Stocker, Gareth Hardman, John Dixon, Tony P Hill, Gina Hardman, Huw Griffiths, Elliot Cole, Evatt Cummings, Alan Kerr and Pete Williams.
On Sunday, the baton was handed over at various times to John Morgan, Jon Thiel, Jamie Clode, Mark Emery, Gemma Roche-Clode, Georgie Dando and Gregory Newhams.
And Stephen Jenkins brought them home to Cardiff Castle.
Finally, it’s less than two months before Pencoed Tri Club stage another of their Tuska events.
On August 6, competitors will again face a 750m swim; a bike ride of 22k topped off with a 5k run.
Further details are available on the Pencoed Tri Club website: www. pencoedtri.club