Over the Christmas and New Year period we had seen the numbers drop off slightly, then we had our Record field last week for our 100th Edition, so what would be in store for Cardiff parkrun 101? It was dry morning and the sun was trying to break through, there was no real wind to speak of, but it was a touch on the cold side, there were one or two patches of frost and the odd dusting of snow, but we took precautions at the turn around point on put down some salt, but once again this didn’t seem to have too much of an outcome on our performances today, we had 166 finishers, among them we had 22 PB’s recorded, and 22 first timers today.
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Since Cardiff parkrun started back in February 2008, we've had 1696 runners from 131 different clubs record a total of 2043 PB's, this gives us a total of 8027 runs completed adding up to a total distance covered of 40135 Kms.
In the Men’s event, it was Ed Takata (Cardiff AAC) that led the way as they approached the 1 Km marker, Ed had a lead over 2nd place Nick Dukes (Les Croupiers), who in turn had an advantage over Stephen Morris (Wrexham AAC) and Frank Handy (New Forest Runners), there was then a dotted string that followed with Gethin Holland (Aberystwyth AC), followed by Rory Heslop (Unattached), then youngster Matthew Grantham (Unattached), next to show was the group of 6 ~ Robert Wigginton (Unattached), Rob Sage (Les Croupiers), Huw Davies (Unattached), Glyn Sansom (San Domenico), leading lady Sylvie Lloyd (Unattached) and Richard Self (Les Croupiers).They then made their way around the playing fields and past the Millennium Bridge to the turn around and then retraced their steps, as they neared the end of the playing fields and approached the Blackweir Bridge it was still Ed that was clear up front, and Nick was still isolated in 2nd. Behind there was a close battle for 3rd between Stephen, Rory and Frank, there was then a gap back to Gethin who had an advantage over Rob. Next to show was Richard closely followed by Sylvie, with Robert and Matthew giving chase. In the final Km there was no change for the leading 2, as Ed recorded his 25th Win in 67 Cardiff parkrun appearances, Nick held on for a steady 2nd, while Rory moved through to take the final podium spot in a New PB, closely followed by Stephen, Frank had lost ground but held on to 5th as 5 broke the 18:00 barrier. Probably the performance that caught the eye of everyone this morning was that of youngster Matthew who recorded a top 10 finish and ran a PB by 46 secs with a time that places him 4th on the JM14 All time list.
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1st
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Ed Takata
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Cardiff AAC
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16:40
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2nd
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Nick Dukes
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Les Croupiers
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17:08
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3rd
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Rory Heslop
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Unattached
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17:43
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New PB
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4th
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Stephen Morris
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Wrexham AAC
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17:47
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5th
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Frank Handy
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New Forest Runners
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17:57
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6th
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Gethin Holland
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Aberystwyth AC
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18:07
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7th
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Rob Sage
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Les Croupiers
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18:30
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8th
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Richard Self
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Les Croupiers
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18:37
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9th
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Matthew Grantham
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Unattached
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18:48
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New PB
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10th
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Robert Wigginton
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Unattached
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18:49
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New PB
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11th
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Sylvie Lloyd (SW)
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Unattached
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18:50
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In the Ladies event, Sylvie Lloyd (Unattached) was planning to make an attack on her PB with the help of some even pacing from one of the male runners. From the start Sylvie stuck to her intentions and got into the mix with a group of 5 men, behind Libby O’Duffy (Les Croupiers) was trying to keep Sylvie in her sights and take advantage of the pace being set. Maria Zubizarreta (Les Croupiers) was the next to pass, could she close in on her PB set last week? There was then a string of ladies as they were interspersed with their male counterparts, Julia Warner (Cardiff Tri), Aileen Lyons (Unattached), Ladies points’ leader Steph Davies (Pontypridd Roadents), then Jane Lewis (Unattached). Claire Beatty was being closely tracked by Marcia Migay (both Les Croupiers) with Rachel Banfied (Unattached) next to pass. With the next 3Km completed it left the final Km to be negotiated, Sylvie was still managing to shadow her pacer, while Libby was still maintaining sight of our leader, with Club mate Maria still holding 3rd. There was no change behind as Julia and Aileen passed in 4th and 5th respectively, Marcia was moving through the field and had now taken up 6th place and was closing in on Aileen. There was no change at the finish, Sylvie couldn’t quite hang on for her time but still recorded her 6th Win in 7 runs, Libby made good use of the situation and recorded a PB by 7 secs in taking 2nd place, Maria was just outside her time of last week but recorded a podium position once again.
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1st
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Sylvie Lloyd
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Unattached
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18:50
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2nd
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Libby O’Duffy
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Les Croupiers
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19:12
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New PB
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3rd
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Maria Zubizarreta
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Les Croupiers
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19:42
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4th
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Julia Warner
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Cardiff Triathletes
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20:57
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5th
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Aileen Lyons
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Unattached
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21:24
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6th
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Marcia Migay
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Les Croupiers
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21:34
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7th
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Jane Lewis
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Unattached
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22:13
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8th
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Jenny Topalian
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Les Croupiers
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22:35
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9th
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Steph Davies
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Pontypridd Roadents
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22:41
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10th
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Rachel Banfield
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Unattached
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22:55
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In the Age Grade performances top spot this week went to Sandy Johnston (Les Croupiers) {VM60-64} with 81.94%. There was another 80%+ performances this week from Libby O’Duffy (Les Croupiers) {VW40-44} with 80.38%;
This week we had 1 Age Group Record
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Libby O’Duffy
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WV40-44
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19:12
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80.38%
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Les Croupiers RC
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The biggest improvement on the day went to Julia Abbott (Unattached) 127 secs. There were several others who improved by over 1 minute: Luke Lesauteur (Unattached) 117 secs; and Ceri Davies (Unattached) 78 secs.
Young & Old ~ our youngest competitors today were Matthew Grantham (Unattached), Julia Abbott (Unattached) in the Jnr 14 Age Group. While at the other end of the spectrum we had Errol Alexis (Les Croupiers) in the VM70-74 category.
In the point’s competition we are now using the new system that allows you to collect the top score of 100 pts on a maximum of 3 occasions for Volunteering. That means in the Ladies Competition Steph Davies (Pontypridd Roadents) has a 173 pts lead over Eirian Arwyn (Les Croupiers). While in the Men’s top spot is held by Glyn Sansom (San Domenico) who leads by 818 pts over Phil Bristow (San Domenico).
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Men
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Ladies
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Glyn Sansom (San Domenico)
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4066 pts
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Stephanie Davies (Pontypridd Roadents)
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2974 pts
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Phil Bristow (San Domenico)
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3248
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Eirian Arwyn (Les Croupiers)
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2801
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Ed Takata (Cardiff AAC)
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3061
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Jen Salter (Les Croupiers)
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2272
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Dom Shields (San Domenico)
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2955
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Not forgetting all those who gave up their time this morning to help make today’s run possible ~ Derek WILLIAMS; John GRIFFIN; Jeff ASTON; Karen PHILLIPS; John O’SHEA; Andrew M SEDGMOND; David PROUD; Matt TOWNSEND; Eirian ARWYN; Alan BLADEN; Wendy OWEN; Phil BRISTOW; Ron MORRIS; Steve PATERSON; Stephen OWEN and Phil COOK
A big thank you to everyone who has supported us here at Cardiff parkrun and helped us develop and grow, we look forward to seeing you again in the future. Please remember to tell your friends and family about our event.
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Don’t forget – every Saturday 9.00am on the Taff Trail alongside Tesco Extra – Western Avenue.
Why not join us for Coffee after in the Coffee Shop at Tesco.
See you next week.
Phil