More than a thousand runners join Mic Morris Torfaen 10k

The road race, which took participants on a downhill run from Blaenavon into Pontypool, is held every year to support the Mic Morris Memorial Sporting Trust Fund.

The fund was set up to raise money for Torfaen’s talented young sports people in memory of Mic Morris, a police officer and British international middle distance runner from Pontypool who died aged just 24 during a training run in 1983.

Race winner Craig Williams, from Cwmcarn, said he has been training for about two years and that he takes part in races regularly.

The 19-year-old, who is a member of the Micky Morris racing team, wasn’t sure about what his time was.

He said: “I like the adrenaline I feel when I run.

“I also enjoy setting myself goals - you can always try to do better.

“I have had a few good races this year.”

Mr Williams said he runs six or seven times a week.

Rachel Eales, from Penarth, was the first female athlete over the finish line, with a personal best in 37 minutes and 33 seconds.

The 31-year-old, who is part of Penarth and Dinas runners, said she hadn’t done a 10km for “quite a while”.

She said: “I saw about the run in our Facebook page and I thought it sounded fun.

“I like being part of a club and meeting new people. I like the social side of it.

“I also like having a beer afterwards.”

Mrs Eales said she runs six time a week, some days only for about a mile.

“It helps me after work, especially if it has been a stressful day,” she continued. “I have been running for about five or six years.”

Event organiser Ben Jeffries said that 1200 people had registered for the race, but wasn’t sure how many had actually taken part.

“But it will definitely be more than 1000,” he added. “This is our eighth year, we had 56 runners in our first year.”

Mr Jeffries said the he thinks people like the speed of the race and the fact it is a nice finishing place.

“It is a well organised event and it is well supported by the community,” he said. “We have people coming from all over the UK.

“I would like to thank everybody for coming and making it a bigger success every year.”