On Wednesday we hosted the Caerleon 5 Miler, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of our club. This was the first open race held in Caerleon in 20 years, and the first since the advent of Caerleon RC.
It was a bit warm (ok, very!) but the sight of nearly 250 runners congregating in the amphitheatre beforehand, before individually returning for a victory lap was fantastic.
The whole event far exceeded anyone’s wildest dreams and the sense of community not only in Caerleon but from our friends in the wider running family was incredible.
On the night Neale Denton from CDF runners was first home in an outstanding time of 28:22, whilst Nettie Dumayne from Lliswerry Runners, was first lady in 30:09.
There are so many people that we would like to thank, so please bear with us.
Firstly, our sponsors who helped make this happen – AR Digital, Hathways Estate Agents, Candour Talent and PSR Controls. Your support of this event was invaluable.
AR Digital have written a great piece from a sponsor’s perspective, which is worth a read at:
We are hugely grateful for the support of Ye Olde Bull Inn also. They provided pre-race facilities, additional prizes for our runners and put on our post-event celebration which went on well after the sun had finally gone down. Providing that core location for the event was perfect. Thank you.
We would also like to thank CADW, St John Ambulance and Newport City Council for allowing us to realise our event.
Next is our army of volunteers. This event has been a long time in the offing and our volunteers have been involved in everything in the lead up to the race, during the race and afterwards. Without our volunteers it would never have got off the ground. There were so many critical roles that were undertaken, far too long a list to put here. We would like to thank every single one of you who helped, in whatever capacity.
A huge thank you must go to Rob Gale, our amazing photographer on the night. A tiny fraction of the highlights is on this post. Rob is a very talented guy and has produced some wonderful memory pictures for everyone who ran. If you haven’t had chance to look yet, then please go to:
If you use any photographs on social media, or publicly, then please credit Rob.
Last but not least, a huge thank you to our runners. There were 25 different running groups represented on the night and the range of club colours and smiles as well was a sight to behold. It was a tough night for running but you were all magnificent and didn’t trouble any of the medics.
So thank you – everyone. We’ve been asked dozens of times since, “you’re doing it again – yes?”
Watch this space…