PONT-Y-PWL & District Runners is celebrating another excellent display at the final cross country race of the Gwent Leisure Centre League season, with the men’s team winning the league for the first time, with the women third behind the traditionally strong squads from Chepstow and Lliswerry, writes Katie Allen.

Showing a great turnout, despite the demands of training for London and other spring marathons, Pooler fielded A, B and C teams in both the men’s and women’s competitions, and there were strong performances throughout the squad which resulted in the men winning the A, B and C team competitions and the women’s A team coming third, with B and C teams second on the day.

There were also multiple series category winners - Matt Symes winning the M1734 age group with Sean Taylor in second; Dimitri Vorres winning the M5054 and Steve Davies the M5559 categories. Holly Janes-Thomas won the F1734 category in her debut cross country season, a fantastic result, and there were numerous top three finishes throughout all the categories.

Men’s captain Ray Morgan was delighted with the results, saying: “The men’s team had a fantastic day. Going into the last race of the series we were top of the table, but we knew we still had to have a good day to seal it and the boys delivered in style. Sean Taylor and Matt Symes were second and fourth overall (first and second in their category), Richard Johnson eight (second in his category), and in all we had 10 athletes in the top 25 including Steve Davies winning his age category. Once again we showed that for a still relatively new club we have a strong vein of quality running right through.”

Lou Summers, ladies captain, agreed, adding: “At the last XC of the season turnout from both our men and women showed how the club has grown in numbers and strength and how individual runners have grown so much both in confidence and ability. There was a fantastic team atmosphere in the warm up and racing at Rogerstone, and we would like to thank Lliswerry Runners for an excellent and friendly event and for putting on a junior race before the adult race which we hope will grow in popularity.

Pont-y-pwl also had a particularly great day at the weekly parkrun in Pontypool park rcently, clocking up no fewer than 15 personal bests, a great achievement. There were also excellent performances at the tough San Dom 20 mile race and the Cardiff 10k, showing how much the club has grown since it’s founding in 2011.

Pont-y-pwl Runners welcomes new members of all abilities. For more information visit www.pontypoolrunners.co.uk or find the club on Facebook.