Crocodile 8 – Jo

News

 A warm and sunny afternoon saw 248 of us lining up for this year’s Crocodile 8.  There was a really good turnout of about 14 Croft men, fielding a strong team but we were lacking women (only me!).  I had not run the course before but apparently it was extended to 8.8 miles this year to avoid a farmer’s dispute.  With the heat, I found it harder than expected and wished I had longer legs (and more hill training!) for climbing up those deep steps in the woods.  However, despite the extra 0.8 mile, the unusually dry ground and lack of mud must surely have made this a faster course than normal.

A new course record was set by John Mansefield from Tewkesbury in 57:03 and the first woman in was Nikki Morgan, Chepstow Harriers in 1:08:19.  Wye Valley won the team event comfortably with 3 men in the first 7 finishers but Croft did well coming in third team (by my calculations) just behind Pontypool Runners with Andrew Davies in 10th (1:02:40) and first JM, Glyn Williams in 13th (1:04:53) and Dave George in 17th (1:05:30). 

I was 111th in 1:21:05 and amazingly 9th woman! (mainly due to the lack of fast females rather than any significant improvement in my running).

 Other Croft runners: positions/times

20 – Mick Ligema 1:06:16, first MV55. 

27 – NeilPowell 1:07:21

38 – RobLlewelyn 1:09:47

39 – Dave Rouse jnr 1:10:07

44 – MartinWilliams 1:11:19

64 – JonBriggs 1:14:47

65 – PaulPrice 1:14:53

70 – FrankLuscott  1:15:10

96 – TomDavies 1:18:34

132 – BrianDavies 1:24:18

204 – BenMarsh 1:37:17

 

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