Brecon AC Athletes sprinted over the finish line of another long cross country season with two consecutive weekend fixtures. The first was the final round of the Gwent Cross Country League at Blaise Castle, Bristol and there was both individual and team success on display at both ends of the age spectrum.

Pride of place went again to young Ruby Herdman in the U11 girls race right at the start of the day. Ruby stormed off again and was only beaten by two of the other 91 runners as they overhauled her in the second half of the race. Ruby took third place overall in the league which was an excellent achievement. In another big turnout for the club Emily Peltor had another good run in 16th, Charlotte Lewis was 39th, Pippa Harris 43rd, Bronwen Roberts 56, Freya Roberts 65, Amelie Murphy 73rd and Rosie Evans 84th. The team finished joint fourth on the day and fifth overall (out of 53) for the season. All of the girls can be proud of their efforts over the season.

The three U11 boys did well with Alex Peltor in 54th leading the AC team in ahead of Will Herdman in 75th and Frankie Bell in 87th. No medals this year but hopefully the start of successful running careers.

The full U13 girls quartet were back in the fold and in good voice as Ava Nicholl (48), Freya Platt (49), Anna Peltor (60) and Martha Eacock (62) not just performed commendably but also went on to shout and chant encouragement to later races as part of their unofficial cheerleader roles. No end of season medals but good experience and individual improvement for all.

A season that before the first fixture promised so much for the U13 boys delivered little in terms of team success although some individuals showed considerable improvement across the winter. Ninth out of 43 teams is respectable but with no runners able to get to the first fixture and limited turnouts for the next four fixtures this could have been so much better. On the day Owen Price-Davies continued his recent good spell with 25th out of 71 finishers while debutant Iolo Pierce at the bottom of the age group was 58th and sprint hurdler Dan Ricketts was 61st. Well done lads!

In the middle of the programme the senior ladies set out on their 6.5K 2 lap race. With the team now out of promotion contention due to small numbers in the third and fourth fixtures there was perhaps little to run for but that didn’t seem to cross the minds of those present. With Donna Morris racing elsewhere it was left to U23 Meg Tucker (49th) to lead the team in with another improved performance. Meg was followed home by her mother F50 Bev in 183rd and F45 Kathryn Powell in 206th. Despite being an incomplete team the ladies scored enough points to place eighth out of the 12 teams in division 2 and this means fifth overall – a good result after relegation battles in recent years.

Only one of the four or 5 U15 boy cross country runners was present but this was understandable given that only Isaac Pierce had competed in all of the previous four fixtures. Isaac again showed great patience and determination in what is his ‘experience’ year at the bottom of the age group and he cantered home in 39th out of 49 with a well paced performance.

Tiegan Ward took the second Brecon AC award for the season as she finished the league season strongly with seventh in the combined U17/20 race (fourth U17) giving her fourth overall U17 for 2018/19. Glesni Powell, more notably a gymnast, turned out to support Tiegan and improve her own fitness and was placed 24th U17.

Sam Clayton was the sole U17 Man and he had one of his better races for the season as he ran a little more steadily than usual and came home in 29th out of 47 showing the benefit of restraint at the start.

The final race was full of interest because the senior mens team had such a good performance in the previous fixture that it looked possible that the guys could pull off a ‘great escape’ and avoid relegation from the top division. However, this time out there was no Brychan Price-Davies (top finisher at Pontypool) or Phil Morris (also a regular scorer). Realistically any of four clubs could finish in 11th place and join Cardiff University Harriers in division 2 next year. With a turnout of 9 Brecon nine we are at least hopeful.

It is remarkable but perhaps not surprising that it was 54 year old Austin Davies who was first home for the Blue Army in 32nd place (of 316 finishers) just ahead of relative youngster Mike Holloway in 36th who was unfortunately once again just outside the top 10% that would qualify him for a Gwent League performance T-shirt. A genuine youngster, 17 year old Evan Price-Davies, was in a new highest position at 47th and then there was a bit of a gap to Gareth Lawrence at 80th and M55 Peter Sowerby who completed the A team scoring in 119th. M50 Charlie Northey was next home in 172nd ahead of another M50 Tim Hindle making a rare appearance and finishing 182nd. Age and position were obviously closely related at this end of the field because the last two finishers were M55 Mark Roberts in 223rd and M55 Derek Osborne in 262nd. In the huddle of the tent afterwards there was talk of Swansea having a small team but San Domenico being out in force…..

When the results were published 48 hours later Swansea had in fact had a small turnout and the many times Welsh Champions get relegated. Brecon’s Blue Army finished seventh on the day and just sneaked ahead of San Domenico to place ninth overall. What was all the fuss about? Roll on next year! To add some icing to the cake Peter Sowerby will pick up a trophy for third M55 overall leading his small team to 1st on the day and second overall. Mike Holloway was 11th overall for the entire league and when the master runners are taken out he was the 4th senior overall and may well qualify for another trophy. Gareth Lawrence was 35th out of 175 who scored enough points to be listed.

Loughborough Sunshine

After the rain and relentless mud of last years UK Inter County Championships at Loughborough this year was a relative stroll in the park with just a couple of showers and a course that was generally soft but not sloppy. 10 members of Brecon AC wore the purple of East Wales and experienced the occasion of what is now undoubtedly the highest standard match in the UK. It is a small triumph to even be at the fixture but a performance where you stay within the race and don’t get tailed off is a further triumph and if you can beat a significant number of the UK’s best then you’ve had a good day.

Early on it was the U20 men who had first use of the course and with a relatively small field of just 185 the damage was minimal. Brychan Price-Davies tried a new race tactic of starting quite slowly and working his way back through the field. This had the desired effect as Brychan’s 80th place finish was better than recent years and leaves him with a positive feeling as he completes his season. Evan Price-Davies ran a more consistently paced race and finished 127th. Brychan was approximately three minutes down on the winning time of 29.26 with Evan a further two minutes back. The leaders though were not just the best in the UK but were vying for an automatic place in the GB team at the World Champs later this month.

The U13 boys featured two Brecon Blues. Arthur Bell had experienced the mud pile of last year so was pleased to be able to run freely from the start this time out. After a fast start Arthur settled in well and unlike one or two recent races he finished strongly and was very pleased with 120th place (out of 300 finishers). Tristan Cumberland was making his debut at this level and was perhaps a little overawed by the masses of runners but his 221st place was a good result and he was only 45 secs down on Arthur showing how densely packed the race is.

Freya Platt also made her debut here and again was a little overawed but recovered from a weak start and was running steadily throughout finishing 298th out of 307. Freya will be back stronger in future!

Another who will be aiming to come back stronger will be Isaac Pierce who struggled to cope with the intensely fast start and first mile. Isaac didn’t follow the example of some and drop out but seemed to lose a little concentration towards the end. Isaac may feel a little unsure about his 310th out of 313 but he will still be in this age group next year and will be bigger and stronger!

Tiegan Ward ran 90% of a good race in the U17 girls 5K. A start that was possibly a little too fast put her in the top 40, a position which she almost held for half of the race. A bad patch in the second half of the race caused a number of girls to stream past before a spirited finish gave her a finish position of 141 out of 263. Glesni Powell deserves great credit for accepting the invite to help make up an East team. Despite struggling with the pace at the back end of the race Glesni completed the course and ensured that ‘East’ had a scoring five.

In the equivalent male race Sam Clayton made his usual fast start although at this level that was just enough to be in the top 100 after about half a mile. As expected Sam slipped back gradually but his 247th out of 283 was actually one of his better races of the winter even if it seems to be a long way down the field.

Finally to the seniors! Donna Morris had her first experience of Loughborough and was pleased with her 214th out of 263 as she was still within the masses and not tailed off. Donna was also 3rd of the 5 East scorers. Mike Holloway was first of the Brecon senior men home in 256 (out of 293) closely followed by Phil Morris in 273rd. All 3 seniors will benefit from the experience of running at a greater speed than local races and can aim for future improvements here.