W/E 15.03.25 - Beast of the Blacks, Ryston Race 6, High Lodge HM, Podium 5k, Colchester HM & Barcelona Marathon

First up on our weekly review, we catch up on an event from the week before;

**Beast of the Blacks**

Hosted in the Black mountains region of 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿Wales🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 - The Beast of the Blacks website labels the event; ‘a great challenge amongst some spectacular, harsh but stimulating trails within the Majestic Black Mountains of Wales.’ The event hosts three separate races – 10m, 20m & 40m. Within the 20m event Josh Castlo-Hall finished in a time of 3hr 6min & 44sec to finish 4th overall & 3rd Male home🏆🥉. 🙌🏻

Continuing on our Cross country start and the completion of the XC series;

**Ryston XC Race 6**

The last race of the Cross Country GP series hosted by Ryston Runners AC was the 6.5k distance – first home for WAC was Adrian Hall (28:05) finishing 3rd🥉 M60. Adrian was followed home by Tracie Draeger (33:19), Graham Walsh (34:48), Jo Rayner (41:37), and Marina Murdoch (45:38). 🙌🏻

Congratulations to our overall winners in the GP series who were; Juliette Watkinson 1st🥇 F40-44, Tracie Draegar 2nd🥈 F60-64 & Adrian Hall 2nd🥈 M60-64 🙌🏻

Elsewhere off road;

**High Lodge Half Marathon (Spring)**

The route that traverses through the heart of Thetford forest was attended by Michelle Sadler – Michelle completed the course in at time of 2hr 16min & 52sec – well done Michelle! 🙌🏻

From trail to fast and flat;

**Podium 5k**

Charlie Stringer was in London for the fast Podium 5k event, smashing out a ⚡️lightening quick time⚡️ of 16:30 – Well done Charlie! 🙌🏻

Now for the slightly longer races;

**Colchester Half Marathon**

2 WAC runners made their way to Essex - starting and finishing at the JobServe Community Stadium - the route took the runners past some of Colchester's iconic landmarks – although Mr Powles didn’t agree - David Powles (PB🎖) was first home with a new 🚨PB🚨 time of 88:22 – thoroughly enjoying himself as he crossed the line. Elsewhere Holly Reader also romped home in a time of 2hr 07min 41sec. Well done you two! 🙌🏻

For the longest distance on this week’s review and the furthest away from home;

**Barcelona Marathon**

A WAC trio of Adam Baker, Mark Armstrong & Jon Shoots made their way to 🇪🇸Catalonia🇪🇸 for the Zurich Marató Barcelona; Adam (2:49:23) returning home first before the 🚨PB pairing🚨 of Mark Armstrong (PB🎖- 3:13:45) & Jon Shooter (PB🎖- 3:28:32)! Amazing work you three and massive congratulations after months of hardwork and effort! 🙌🏻

#TeamWAC💜🤍💜🤍