The Rat Race. Happy New Year!

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1 The Rat Race January IN THIS ISSUE: Chairman s message Meet the PR & Newsletter team Roundup of social events List of presentation night winners The Interview: Steve Hooper Club races and upcoming races The Last Lap Happy New Year! We re starting this year with a new-look newsletter and we hope you ll enjoy reading it. Please take the opportunity to contribute; it s about us as a club so it s important that you get involved. Well done to everyone who took part in races over the festive period, I know that lots of our members ran at Glynneath 5, Old Father Time and Nos Galan, to name a few. It s a great way to blow away the cobwebs after a day in front of the TV! Special mentions go to Liz May and Brenda Evans who were selected for the regional cross country championships in Brecon in December. Liz was also first lady in the Nos Galan fun run with a time of 22:06. Congratulations Liz, a great way to end 2017! The New Year is a time when we all make promises to do something differently. Whatever you ve decided to do the club is here to support you and help you achieve your running goals. Happy running everyone! Carl 1 Membership renewals due This year all members will have to fill out a new membership form as there is an additional section about use of personal information. We have to collect this information to comply with new legislation. Please complete and return your form, with payment, to Fional Campbell by the end of January. Payments can be made by bank transfer, again contact Fiona for details. Marshals needed for Reverse 10 race on 4 February We need as many club members as possible to marshal the Reverse 10 race this year as we have sold out all 30 places. You ll be needed between 8am - 1pm. Please see the post on the Members only facebook page or let Sarah Boothby know your availability to marshal.

2 So who s running this show? Meet Pinney and Pugh - the club s PR and Newsletter team. We re hoping to produce the newsletter every two months, so we need your contributions. To help members get to know each other we re going to be asking you to contribute to a section called The Interview. It s straightforward enough; we want to know what makes you tick when it comes to running and will ask you a few questions about your running. We also want to include race reports, so if you ve got something exciting coming up let us know. If you re running your first race, your 100th parkrun, your first triathlon, we d love to hear from you. We re happy to approach people, but if you d like to contribute please let me or Hayley know. You can get in touch with either of us on facebook messenger or come and speak to us at a club session. At the end of every edition of the newsletter we ll include a collage of photos from recent events. If you ve got a photo you d like us to include please send it to us. We want to know what you ve been up to and to see the evidence. We particularly like photos of Roadents on top of mountains in the rain, so get sharing! 2 Please make sure you keep checking our website and facebook pages for the most up to date information on what s going on. We d love to hear your feedback on the newsletter and if there s anything else that you d like us to include.

3 The Social Scene The Roadents Christmas party was a great success, and our thanks go to Darren for organising a fabulous night. It was great to have the opportunity to dress up and so nice to see each other out of hi-vis and trainers! Ceri-Anne is our social secretary this year, so if you ve got any ideas for days/nights out I m sure she d love to hear from you. 3

4 Club presentation night 2017 Thank you to all members who attended the club s presentation night on 20 January and congratulations to all winners, who are listed below. Road race Ladies Road race Men's Top racers in the handicap Division C Division A Winner Brenda Evans Winner Paul Graham Caroline Best Runner up Mair Johnson Runner up Samuel Jody Steve Hooper Richards 3rd Sarah Boothby 3rd Laurence Pole Graham Bingham Road race Ladies Off-road Championships - Outstanding performance Division B Ladies' Winner Bretti Paxton Winner Louise Phillips Fiona Davies, 100 Miler Runner up Ceri Haddock Runner up Julia Herbert Sam Ryall winning winning leg in Castles Relay 3rd Caroline Best 3rd Liz May / Fiona Davies Road race Ladies Division A Off-road Championships - Men's 30 year membership award Winner Sian Khalil Winner Justin Phillips Steve Hooper Runner up Kristie Runner up Phil Williams O'Connell/Bethan Ford 3rd Liz May 3rd - Keith James Most improved runner Ladies Bethan Ford Road race Men's Handicap league Division B Winner Sam Howell Jones Winner Jim Murray Runner up Liz May Runner up Jim Murray Runner up Krisitan Walters 3rd Gwyn Johnson 3rd Caroline Best Men Sam Howell Jones 4th Steve Hooper Runner up Mike Gwynne 5th Samuel Jody Richards Runners' runner award Brenda Evans 4

5 Club presentation photos 5

6 The interview - Steve Hooper Steve Hooper recently received an award for his 30 year membership of the Pontypridd Roadents. We asked him for some of his thoughts on the club over the years. Steve, what are the changes that you ve noticed in the club over the last 30 years? It has been a great club to be a member of and lots of good friends have come and gone. At first it was a small competitive club, with bare bones at times, but it s gone from strength to strength and it is now in the best place it has ever been. I m so pleased to be part of it, there have been so many good times. Do you have a favourite running memory? What s your most favourite and least favourite race? My first London in 1989 on a Roadents trip was great, but the 1990 Roadent trip to Paris was special. My favorite race is the London marathon and my least favorite is any race with lots of hills and poor marshals. What s the best running tip you ve ever been given? I ve been given lots of running tips over the years but some of my favourites are while you re on the sofa your competitor is out training! The bottom line is to just do it and run. Is there anything that you would like to say about your time at the club? I feel really proud to have been part of this club over the years. There have been plenty of good times with awards and PBs, and also plenty of downsides with injuries! After joining in May 1987 just to get 50p off a race entry fee, I`m still having a go! 6

7 Club kit Handy stuff to know Darren Bishop is our kit man, and has usually got a stash of club vests and buffs with him at club nights, but please check with him about the availability of vest sizes. We also have a couple of online suppliers who supply other Roadents branded items such as hoodies, leggings, t-shirts and all sorts of other goodies. The links are below: Ruggerbug pontypridd-roadents/ CMS teamwear pontypridd-roadents-cc Upcoming races Llanelli Half Marathon February Porthkerry 5 mile May Rhyader 30k March Caerphilly 10k May Newport Half Marathon March SSAFA Race 1 May San Domenico 20 mile March race Merthyr Half March Marathon Newport Marathon April Pentyrch Hill Race April Great Welsh Half April Marathon Great Welsh Marathon April Rose Inn Race 1 May Membership officer - Fiona Campbell for members: roadentsnews@gmail.com website address: 7

8 The last lap As we mentioned earlier, this is our collage of Roadent s photos to finish off the newsletter. 8