Penlan sports fields were the scene of a fantastic end to the Gwent Cross Country League season on Sunday, March 2. Host club Brecon AC couldn’t have been happier with the warm weather and the way that the event ran smoothly. With a huge turnout of helpers and athletes this was truly a whole club occasion and showcased how well the club is growing and becoming more active. Over 60 clubs from across South Wales and South West England took part and went away happy.

The U11 girls kicked off proceedings with a 1400m relative sprint that the leaders finished in 5 and a half minutes. The Brecon girls were largely new to this league and were not expected to challenge at the front against girls who had been running all winter. However it was great to see them all working hard and showing great potential for future seasons. Nell Edmonds led home with 45th ahead of Eirwen Jones (54th), Olivia Pietrus (55th), Ffion Price 57th, Ginny Goodrich 75th and Menna Higgins 78th. The girls team score placed them 25th out of 48.

The U11 boys were generally slightly quicker over the same course with some very strong lads at the front. Brecon’s team of placed 29th out 50 teams with Lucas Pugh in 16th and Alex Burgess in 22nd featuring prominently. With good backing from Owain Thorne in 53rd, Fraser White in 74th and a very young Hugo Matthews in 77th there is the making of a good squad here.

Relatively recent recruit Alex Sherrard ran her 4th post Xmas race but her first Gwent League and led the U13 team home with a very good 20th place. Jess White came in at 63rd and Cassidy Jones 65th in what has been a small team all winter unfortunately. It was a similar situation in the U13 boys race. Alfie Mills had another good run placing 25th and Hari Bevan had a solid performance (47th) after some mid race problems in the Welsh Championship a month ago but they were the only two boys taking part.

U15 Gracie Jackson would have been even more lonely as the only Brecon AC runner. However Gracie had one of her better runs as she slowly worked her way back from a steady start and came in at 42nd.

In the combined U17/20 womens race U17 Emily Peltor showed the benefit of regular training and competition coming in 10th while Mari Pritchard (20th) is also getting stronger as she uses these races as preparation for shorter distances in the summer. Similarly, in the U17/20 mens race U20 Toby Bennett finished 4th in his age group yesterday and 4th overall for the season. While just outside the medals Toby can be very pleased with his season.

U17 Alex Peltor has also had a pleasing season and yesterdays 15th place put him in and around a bunch of the better Welsh runners taking part in this league.

There had been a huge surge in interest among the social running senior women in the week before this event with many saying that they were willing to try cross country for the first time since school days. Add to that Natalie Taylor rejoining after a 12 year hiatus and things were looking good. But…would they turn up…would it happen. The answer was a resounding yes as 17 seniors toed the line, quite possibly a Brecon AC record.

Ultra runner Natalie ran strongly throughout and was first home in 57th. Club Chair Annabel Harford finished next in 75th and in doing so scored enough points to secure 2nd overall in the F55 category. This was well deserved for someone who has led much of the clubs revival during the last year. Only slightly behind in 78th Cara Perfrement had one of her best results and it was good to see another of the ‘ultra’s’ Laurie Stephens coming through well in 91st. Another F55 and long time member Bridget Woodward was 115th followed by former junior member and still relatively young F35 Larissa Griffiths in 124th.

Former junior, now coaching the juniors F40 Carys Ricketts was 146th with another F40 Stacy Jones close behind in 149. This was becoming a relative procession of Brecon blue vests with F60 Alison Nicholls at 157 in her return to club action after a long break. F55 Bev Tucker was 165th and then came the Hyrox girls Sinead Griffiths at 167 and Rose Williams at 168 both having excellent debuts. Even more remarkable was that Sinead had apparently been successful in a Hyrox event just the day before.

Former Couch to 5K graduate Kelly Thomas belied any pre race nerves and finished well in 174th just ahead of another former junior and now club coach to the juniors, F40 Amy McMillan who was 178th. Another newcomer from the social running group Sarah Jane Hughes was concerned about coming last but was a long way from that in 180th. Remarkable F65 Jane McLennan came in at 187th and ever reliable Kathryn Powell was 196th.

With almost 220 finishers this was a whole series of great performances. To cap it all the womens team avoided relegation from Division 1 despite having been without two of their best runners for the latter half of the season.

The final race saw 273 senior men surge away from the starters gun. Due to the extremely limited amount of land available this was unusually a 4 lap race and even then only 7.7km which is short for these fixtures.

The going was generally firm enough to run fast but frequent switchbacks, the use of the bank and two or three boggy patches per lap meant that it was not quite as easy as some expected. Brychan Price-Davies made his first Gwent League appearance of the winter and despite his customary fast start followed by a readjustment he hung on well to finish 34th.

Team leader M35 Mike Holloway had another strong run in 42nd and the remarkable Austin Davies showed that he is almost back to his ‘flying farmer’ levels of fitness with 60th place and the first M60 finisher by well over a minute. In 90th M40 Manny Trailor displayed remarkable powers of recovery having raced well in the Elan Valley 20 miles only 24 hours before! Another old stager and long time member M60 Peter Sowerby was well up the field in 136th ahead of youngster Evan Price Davies in 176th gradually building his fitness again while still adjusting to the demands of working life! There was something of a gap then before the ‘we were better once’ pair of M60s Derek Osborne and Mark Roberts came in 241st and 245th respectively.

On the day Brecon AC won division 2 showing what is possible. However, due to the team not always being this strong they have to be happy with 7th out of 12 for the season.

Huge thanks go to the catering team who helped raise funds for the club as well as providing a service. Likewise the car parking team and the course marshals who brought parkrun levels of encouragement to the event and finally those who helped build and dismantle the course. Many had multiple roles! Bring on 2025/26!