STRONG FIELD BOOSTS FUNDS
RUNNERS of all ages and abilities headed to the Cottage Inn near Llandeilo on Friday for a brand new event.
The Cottage Inn Junior Mile and 5k distances raised money for Macmillan Cancer Support. The course took runners on a loop around the country lanes of the area.
The dry and sunny evening saw a total of 136 finish the 5k race, while 57 children got involved in the junior one-mile race with a number of parents and guardians running alongside.
All of the finishers collected their medals, while the first three boys and girls in the juniors as well as seniors took part in a presentation ceremony where trophies were handed out.
Clubs from Brecon AC, Carmarthen Harriers, TROTS, Port Talbot Harriers, Llanelli AC, Amman Valley Harriers, Neath Harriers and Sarn Helen were among the participants with a number of local children also involved.
There was a one-two finish for the Carmarthen club in the junior onemile event, with Macsen Toogood and Jake Lynock recording times of 5:16 and 5:28.
Taking third place behind them was Ysgol Bro Dinefwr’s Shaun Morgan in 6:06.
In the corresponding girls’ category, the Carmarthenshire clubs again dominated. Llanelli AAC’s Amy Tucker was fourth overall and as a result crossed as the first girl in 6:12, just ahead of training partners Martha Morgan (6:14) and Soffia-Mai Davies (6:19) from Carmarthen Harriers.
Esme Lynock (Carmarthen Harriers), Nel Davies (Maes y Gwendraeth), Dafydd Davies (Ysgol Llangynnwr) and Beatrice Morgan (Ysgol Llangadog) completed the top 10.
Following on was the 5k race and the title headed back to Brecon AC’s Phil Morris, who finished in 17:15 and took a 45-second win from Tom Sinton representing RTN (18:00).
Carmarthen’s Archi Morgan completed the course in 18:15 to take third with the TROTS duo of Kevin Griffiths (18:23) and Aled Jones-Davies (18:31) next home.
The women’s age-group awards saw Amman Valley Harriers’ Sioned Howells claim first place in 19.22, followed by Carmarthen Harriers’ Wendy Price (19.31) and Cerys Davies (23.43).
Event organiser Clara Davies said: “We were absolutely delighted with the turnout for the first Cottage Inn 5k and Junior Mile. There were nearly 200 runners between the two races and we raised more than £1,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support.
“The conditions were perfect and the fast times achieved reflected that. We were also thrilled that it was so well supported by people from the local community and beyond.
“Due to the success of the event as a whole, we will be staging the races again next year in the hope that it will attract as many people again for such a worthy cause.
“I would like to extend an extra thank you to all the volunteers who helped and ensured the evening ran smoothly.”