SA4 Community Magazine
We have a great relationship with the organisers of Swansea 10k and half marathon where we as a club supply marshals as well as pace setters. In the case of our club we have the ability to offer people of any ability to train with us as we have eight different divisions and offer structured training sessions where our qualified coaches deliver sessions at different venues on a weekly (Winter sessions are on Swansea University Track for 16 wks offering safety in the dark months) basis every Wednesday. Each session is emailed out explaining what the content of each session will be. It always involves a warm up and cool down and usually we are split into two groups for abilities which also helps with the congestion at any session. Currently we have about 140 members and also hold club races (qty 10 one a month Feb to Oct) were members go into their respective divisions and battle through the year to get promoted to the next level. Although this is only as competitive as each individual member wants to make it as we encourage everyone just to make whatever gains they desire. In regards to Swansea 10k we get great feedback from runners who we help during the race in achieving their goals and this in turn helps us gain new members into our club. A big hand needs to go to our pace runners Ashley Pasco, Christopher Simons, Ian Bamford, Dewi West and Steve Burton who all achieved the exact times required. Currently we offer membership for £30 a year where £17.50 go’s towards your welsh athletics registration. It’s £3 a session from there and the first session is free. So everyone has nothing to lose to try it out. Through the year we enter certain races like Welsh Castles Relay where we run from North to South Wales over twenty stages over two days in June. This is an amazing club event which all running clubs in our area enter. This weekend we were part of the Welsh road relay championships where clubs can enter a team of 4 men and women to race. These usually are for our faster runners and events like these help all runners see what is achievable with the right amount of training and commitment. Well done to Dean Webster, Ashley Pasco, Gareth Parry and Lee Morris who performed for 3m’s in this event race. Sunday seen us host the First West Glamorgan cross country event of the season. Every club in the area Hosts one but we are up first down Cwm Ivy National Trust where the race takes place through the forest to Whitford point light house and back. It’s a 4.5 mile multi terrain race and this year we had 345 runners. It is the culmination of a load of work behind the scene’s by experience and awesome club members. A big shout to Paul and Linda Rees, Gwen Smith and Elfed Joseph, all our Marshals and Saint John’s ambulance for making the event a success. It’s important to mention that we hold a cake sale for charity after the event and in this year’s case it was for Welsh air ambulance. The main reason for this was we sadly lost one of our key club members Mr Geoff White suddenly to a Heart attack whilst out cycling with club members last April and Dafen air ambulance team were first on scene to help Geoff but couldn’t save him. Geoff’s legacy live on though as part of our efforts in one of our memorial runs for Geoff helped us raise £600 which we used to buy our own Defibrillator. We have had 30 members trained up in using it and it was in place for our use on Sunday. A proud moment for us all! We have a lot of members over 50 so we take great solace in having the use of this where ever we train. We currently also lend it every Saturday to Swansea Park Run as café 360 has currently closed. This keeps our runners and runners in the Swansea community in a safer place. Also we have setup with the support of run Wales a couch to 5k session every Sunday morning in Penllegaer Forrest to get beginners into an active way of life. This is supported by club members who also started out in the same way and a big thanks must go to Paul Harris leading this team of club members to achieve everyone’s personal goal!