Paul Adams:
I hope this message finds you well and that you’ve had a great year of running so far. It’s hard to believe how quickly 2025 has passed!
It is my great pleasure to share with you the final standings for the 2025 East Wales Clubs Road Race Championship (EWCRRC). This year, we adopted a new format with five races spanning the middle of the year, hosted across all four corners of our region. I’m delighted to report that this change was met with increased engagement from our clubs – a fantastic result.
A few highlights from this year’s championship:
- A phenomenal performance from Eric Apperley (Builth & District RC), who was the first finisher in four out of the five races. He was narrowly pipped to a clean sweep, finishing second to Dan Bodman at the challenging Sorbrook Tough 10K.
- We saw incredible engagement from clubs in the north of the region, particularly from Brecon AC and Builth & District.
- It was also brilliant to see younger and smaller clubs making a bigger impact, with Crickhowell, Ystrad, and Hengoed all having a strong presence.
A huge congratulations to our 2025 overall champions, Griffithstown Harriers, who also topped the podium in the Female championship. Pont-y-Pwl and District Runners took the honours in the Male championship, while Lliswerry Runners put in a characteristically strong performance across all three competitions.
My particular congratulations go to Griffithstown Harriers, who clearly made the EWCRRC a key focus this year.
Award Presentation
All being well, I look forward to presenting the championship shields at the GLCL XC fixture in Monmouth this January.
The Future of the EWCRRC
With my three-year time as coordinator now complete, 2025 marks my final year in this role. A few clubs have already enquired about the 2026 format; however, at this stage, there is no one confirmed to take on the coordination.
This leads me to a request: Please ask within your clubs if anyone would be willing to take the championship forward.
It would be a great shame to see the EWCRRC fade away. While I understand everyone is busy (my primary reason for stepping down), this championship has steadily grown in popularity and is a wonderful way to unite our region in friendly competition. Its unique format gives every club, regardless of size, a real chance to shine.
The role is not arduous, requiring roughly 10-12 hours of work throughout the year to collate results, before arranging for the shields to be collected, engraved, and presented.
I am more than happy to have a conversation with any interested parties to explain how it all works. Please don’t hesitate to drop me a line.
Finally, thank you for your tremendous support over the last three years. It has been a pleasure, and I sincerely hope to see the EWCRRC continue to blossom in the future.
Best wishes,
Paul
Caerleon RC
