Gwent League Pembrey - Seniors Roundup

Our thanks to Elaina Gard for her write up on how the Senior teams got on at Pembrey

Women

Teams: Bristol & West AC A team first with 1035 points and extended their overall lead to 201 points over Westbury Harriers. Bristol & West AC B team eighth on the day and first B team with 887 points and extended their overall lead in the reserve division. Bristol & West AC C team were 50th and are now seventh overall in the reserve division. The V35 team were 18th and fifth overall and the V45 team 10th and 12th overall.

62 teams competed.

Individuals:

A team: 4th Katrina Entwistle 26.47, 8th Elaina Gard 27.11, 16th Catie O’Donoghue 28.24, 20th Hannah Dyer (3rd U23) 28.38, 22nd Maria Jones 28.51,

B team: 34th Sarah Everitt (1st V55) 29.52, 37th Marie Monaghan 29.05, 40th Tanya Chowdhury (V45) 30.29, 43rd Emma Jolliffe 30.32, 64th Billie Williams 31.46

C team: 107th Hayley Bennett 34.30

There were 220 finishers.

The Pembrey Park fixture is often difficult, being the most distant Gwent League venue for B&W despite it being a popular venue. Moreover the standard up front can be high with the west Wales teams turning out in force. However, eleven women braved a rather cold day and the sand dunes to take the team honours. Elaina Gard was well to the fore early on, but it was Katrina Entwistle, with her parents watching so no pressure, who led the A team home in 4th place. Kat ran on her own for most of the two-lap race with Elaina not far behind in terms of time, but just getting pipped in the finishing straight to finish 8th. Kat and Elaina now have the distinction of holding the first two places overall in women’s overall positions.

Catie O’Donoghue struggled earlier in the week with a chest infection, which with the chillier weather affected her breathing. She was therefore well pleased with her run finishing in 16th place. U23 Hannah Dyer was not far behind Kat and Elaina in the overall rankings (6th), and she produced another strong performance to finish 20th. That left Maria Jones, taking time off from hockey, to complete the A team in 22nd place, an excellent run for an 800m specialist. Sarah Everett led the B team home with another sterling performance. To give you an idea of her class, Sarah was first W55 by the astonishing margin of 1 min and 12 secs! Marie Monaghan was close behind in 37th place demonstrating what an asset she has become since joining B&W. Next up featured an ongoing personal dual between Emma Jolliffe, Tanya Chowdhury and Westbury team manager Tamsin Chick. Emma led the three of them for most of the race but Tamsin took this one. Tanya was 5th W45, another excellent performance, with Emma just three seconds behind, but with the bonus of finishing nine places higher than Blaise. Is there more to follow on this particular dual? That left another of Dave Taylor’s stable, Billie Williams in 64th place, one place higher than Blaise and nine higher than Cardiff, to complete the team. The C team’s sole representative was Hayley Bennett, who overcame an elusive leg injury to finish in 107th position in her first Gwent League of the season.

M65 Team first on the day and seventh overall.

Individuals

3 Dave Bedwell 29.39, 4 Peter Mountain 31.08

Men

Teams: Bristol & West A fifth on the day but retain their overall lead over Park Bryn Bach RC by 140 points. Bristol & West AC B second on the day but extended their overall lead of the B division to over 700 points. The V35 team was sixth but are in third place overall. The V45 team was third on the day but remains in first place overall. Despite no runners on the day, the Bristol & West C and D teams remain second and sixth overall in the Reserve division.

88 teams finished.

Individuals

A team: 8th Luke Burgess 31.22, 33rd Graham Breen 32.32, 42nd Aled Anderson 32.50, 55th Tom Halling 33.17, 92nd Sam Johnson 35.02

B team: 125th Anthony Hall (M40) 36.29, 133rd Jon Bennett 36.48, 148th Richard Noble (M50) 37.16, 159th Mark Taylor (M50) 37.36, 186th Tim White (M40) 38.49

There were 335 finishers.

With injuries and other events taking precedence, it was left to our rising young U23 Luke Burgess to lead the A team home. This was another solid performance from Luke against some redoubtable opposition. Graham Breen confessed before the start that Pembrey Park was his favourite course, and he demonstrated why finishing first M45 and 33rd overall. Aled Anderson seems to be getting a taste for cross-country running finding the more forgiving surface a respite from marathons on the roads. Having helped the men to team gold medals in the Avon Championships last weekend he improved 16 places from his Cardiff Gwent League to finish 42nd. Tom Halling was next up on a course gruelling for a 1500m specialist, with Sam Johnson who’d been struggling with a cold earlier in the week completing the team. He did query whether his early morning warm up at Eastville parkrun was such a good idea after the race! It was good to see Anthony Hall finishing some 50 places higher than the Cardiff Gwent leading the B team home. Jon Bennett, having looked after the family while Hayley ran, was next with another solid run while Richard Noble was 13th M50 and is another proving to be a real asset to the club. Mark Taylor was not far behind and was 15th M50, leaving M45 Tim White who was 46th M45 to complete the B team and also to complete the M45 team of Graham, Anthony, Richard, Mark, and Tim that finished third on the day.