CDF Runner of the Year 2023

We were delighted to present Sarah Cooper with the much-coveted slate trophy this year! She has been with us for many years, and has been a model club runner with her infectious smile, never ending support, encouragement and commitment to the club all contributing to her as a well deserved winner. She’s run really well this year too, working hard to get some new PBs and racing all over Wales!

We had some fantastic nomination from our members, and we just had to share a selection of them here with you:

Charlotte Simpson

Charlotte is not the most vocal of contenders, nor is she the first person people think of when talking about races, but she is fiercely supportive and utterly welcoming. On top of that, her progress has been phenomenal, adding both speed and distance by the bucket. Over the last year of running with CDF, I have been lucky enough to run with Charlotte regularly and watch her make newcomers feel welcome, reducing their worries and woes, whilst simultaneously pushing her own limits and pushing out of her own comfort zone.

Chris Davies

In addition to improving many PBs, Chris has supported CDF at many events and sessions over the last year. Chris is the prime example of “if you’re not running, you’re supporting”.

Super consistent and has improved ridiculously in the last year!

Ffion Roberts

Is always getting involved, constantly supporting races if she’s not racing herself, welcoming and socialising with new members, shows great dedication to her own races too getting some good pbs this year!

Jon Anstee

Running his debut marathon in 3:39 on one leg after his physio told him “don’t even do long walks”, setting his fastest 10k during a castles leg and after popping into an off license for ciggerrettes and cans the night before and also doing his fastest 5k in an Asda car park in Caerphilly. He truly is an example to us all.

Kat Nguyen

She created a girls’ WhatsApp group chat for a group of us so that we could discuss upcoming events and races, and she is always the first to send links to races we might like. She is so supportive and is there cheering on at races that she’s not running herself. She’s become a CDF champion in the space of a year – she is so passionate about the club and is really friendly. Even if I haven’t been to club for a while and am nervous about my return, Kat will always be there with a welcoming smile. She’s become a great addition to the club and is such a genuine person who loves running and loves this club. She really deserves this recognition 🙂

Kat’s thrown herself at a wide range of events this year and a whole range of distances and shown really good improvement across the board. She’s also encouraging and welcoming to everyone at our sessions and races.

Liz Rees

Liz is the best cheerleader for everyone within the club. Whether you’re a super speedy quick runner, or a social runner who is just there to have a great time with friends, she is always there to support you and celebrate you. Liz is just such a good example for our club and makes everyone feel so welcome. I would love to see her win this award.

Michael Darke

Hugely encouraging at sessions and at races (sometimes overly so!) – has contributed to developing a culture of club members looking to push themselves to improve, without losing sight of the club’s ethos as a club that is accessible to runners of all abilities. Put in a lot of work (along with others) in arranging the club’s first appearance at the Welsh Castles Relay.

He is wholly supportive in actively helping others settle into the club rhythm – from both social and running perspectives. Michael helps members in identifying and then achieving their goals, he undertakes this by empathically engaging with novices and experienced runners alike underpinned by gently challenging pre-conceptions and addressing lack of self-confidence e.g. ‘having seen you over the last few weeks, I think you could go a bit faster, run a bit further…what do you think’ etc.
 
This support is presented in a relaxed manner which, I’d venture, is Michael’s natural style 24/7! This means his words of encouragement and challenge are expressed in simple, non-technical and non-confrontational language so creating an environment which is fun, aspirational, not boring and, beautifully, bespoke to the individual – this is quite a feat to have succeeded in creating.
 
Michael walks the talk in just being, naturally inclusive in how he engages with all irrespective of gender, sexuality, race, age and, very importantly, running ability. This authentic behaviour also seeps into the wider cohort encouraging all to unconsciously adopt similar language and behaviours – particularly in welcoming and embedding newer members into the club family.
 
Finally, Michael is never staid nor boring nor predictable, he is innovative and exciting and fun in leading and encouraging others on how to improve their fitness, their diet, their mental approach to running, their running styles. This results in Michael helping each and everyone of us in not only enjoying running but also in us looking forward to club socials, sessions and races – in all weathers and light!
 
All the above results in Michael in helping us being proud to be runners, proud in becoming better runners and proud in being members of CDF Runners.

The club would honestly not be the same without him. Incredibly approachable making anyone feel at ease when joining for the first time. He’s always encouraging people of all abilities, taking people under his wing, pacing people at races, giving advice, attending races to support, and he’s at all of the club sessions… The list goes on. Driving people around at Rack Raid and then taking the club to the castles relay which is huge! I also think the club instagram is a huge reason so many people join and a lot of time and effort must go into that, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen that mentioned by anyone. He’s also got to be one of the most improved runners in recent years, running a sub 3 marathon is such a big deal! I met Michael at a race and we chatted for a bit during it, and he spoke about CDF, if it wasn’t for that chat I don’t think I’d have joined. I was nervous about joining a club for the first time and at my first session he came straight over for a chat and the nervousness went straight away. Joining CDF has been pretty lifechanging for me and I owe a bit of that to him.

Nynke Kupier

A massively hard working individual who not only puts a lot back into the club with run leadership and the occasional ad hoc physio but manages to inspires others with her record breaking results and commitment to the club!

Phillip Bowen

He has really jumped into the CDF sessions with such enthusiam, as well as bringing loads of positive energy all the time! Great to see him getting involved in more races in club colours as well. A real asset to CDF 🙂

Has been fully committed to the club since joined. Always helping out, congregating people together when we need and being pleasant to old and new people alike on social media as well as at sessions. Now signing up to be a LIRF and already leading a session when we didn’t turn up. Really embedded himself into club.

In the relatively short space of time Philip has run with us, he has immersed himself into the club. He is a friendly face that always says hello and cheers for every single person at any given session. He’s there at most session and has quickly become a ‘regular’ runner with us.

Roddy Stark

Always been supportive to whoever he speaks to.
Easy to approach and a great person to chat on a Monday/Sunday club run.

Ruth Roberts + Dewi Hill + Liz Rees

Hopefully a joint nomination is allowed! Ruth and Liz have of course been at CDF for ages but they have been particularly supportive to me over the past 12 months. They’ve helped me feel like a proper runner even thought I’m slow and always at the back. They have supported and encouraged me to try longer distances and enter my first ever races. Liz does things like driving me and Ruth to Barry so we could do a long training run back to Cardiff. And without Ruth getting me round Cardiff Half I’m not sure I would have finished. Since Dewi joined us last year he has completely got into the spirit of the club and has inspired and supported me to do new things like trail running and think about doing an ultra!

All of them make an effort to get involved with the club and chat to and support other members. For me they embody the CDF spirit – supportive, encouraging and lovely people!

Also a Highly Commended to Michael Darke. His Insta posts are great – always appreciating and celebrating people’s efforts, whatever the level of their running.

2023 Chair Report

1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023
Stewart Harding

I feel like in any annual review it’s very easy to say “wow, what a year!” but looking back and condensing everything into a few hundred words really does highlight so many fantastic achievements. It’s a little odd to look back so far, but hopefully we’ll bring our AGM dates back towards spring in the coming years so it all makes a little more sense! We’ll get into some of that year’s race highlights at the end.

This has been a great year for the comeback, and we’ve seen participation rise in people attending our sessions, 473 to be exact(ish), and lots of runners increasing their distances, improving their PBs and throwing themselves into new experiences.

A large group of runners posing for a photo after a session in the park on a sunny day.

Of course distance and speed are not the only ways to measure improvement, and we always try to emphasise that they are not our main measures of success. What has been really striking this year is the increase in supporters turning up to races to cheer on their clubmates. Some making long journeys, even on weekday evenings, to help and shout for their fellow runners has been incredible to see and we look forward to this continuing. All of us know what a great boost it is to hear “C’mon CDF!” at just the right time, especially when it’s unexpected. 

This is one of the reasons we introduced our ‘club races’, which many other clubs would use as a championship where the best runner at these events over the year would be the winner. We decided to take this in a different direction and create a list of races that we not only wanted to encourage runners to race, but also as a focus point for supporters to organise and turn up en masse. In short, this is a list of ten races where you are guaranteed to see a friendly face. We included a mixture of big ‘headline’ races as well as some other smaller events to diversify distances and race types to act as a stepping stone for those who want to try things like trails, fells, and cross-country.

10 happy tired runners arm in arm in matching race finisher t-shirts after a race.

To come back to comebacks, we also saw the welcome return of our Couch to 5k sessions in collaboration with our friends at Run Grangetown. We saw 10 to 20 runners every week, supported by dozens of CDF volunteer pacers, who went on to graduate at Grangemoor parkrun in March 2023.

Something that has been creeping up on us and we’re almost getting used to is the fact that our runners now sometimes win races and finish on podiums! This is not something we really expected and in the past our very best runners have moved onto larger clubs to help them fulfil their potential. Now we work very hard to maintain our core values of inclusion and accessibility whilst also making sure we are able to cater for an ability range that seems to keep stretching. This can be a tricky balance to maintain and we always welcome feedback on how we’re doing in that respect. Let’s get into some of those club achievements:

  • We more than doubled the number of cross-country runners, including loads of first timers. Both the men’s and women’s teams massively increased their haul of points and improved their league positions. Push for promotion next season, anyone?
  • Not only did we have five runners selected to run for South Wales at the Welsh Inter-regional cross-country championships, Nynke Kuiper went on to represent South Wales at the UK equivalent! We know there are plenty more runners who are capable of making this step up next season too.
  • CDF Runners became Welsh Champions! Specifically, the men’s short trail team champions with a great performance over sand dunes and through a river at the Rabbit Run 2022.
  • We also won the men’s and women’s team prizes at the Scenic 7 at Cwmcarn.
  • The Cosmeston Relay was BACK in 2022 and we hit the buffet hard to continue our unstoppable reign as snack champions. In the race itself, our senior men finished 3rd, senior women 4th, and the all-comer women’s teams picked up 1st, 2nd, and 4th!
  • And whilst there are too many individual wins and podiums, a quick shout for the special moment when Ben and Cassie Jones won the men’s and women’s races at the inaugural Machen Mountain Trail Marathon!
Stewart soaking wet and covered in mud in a slight squat, arms aloft flexing pathetic runners arms, and grinning a victorious but pained grimace. He's standing next to a small deer statue which is wearing a finishers medal for some reason. The background is Chepstow racecourse.

Finally, this is the end of my term as Chair of CDF Runners. One of the changes we made last year was to introduce a two-year limit for the Chair to make sure we get rotation and better representation in the committee. I am delighted to hand over the club in its current state, and I’m really excited to see us continue to develop as a relatively young club making a big impact in South Wales.

Of course I’ll still be involved with the club, leading sessions, nagging people to do weird races over odd distances, and insisting hills and mud are much more fun than you think. I want to say thank you to the committee for putting up with my random messages in the middle of their work day asking them to do things for me, and I look forward to supporting whoever succeeds me in whatever way I can.

C’mon CDF!

Spotlight on: George Watkins

George sitting on a rocky outcrop looking over to his gorgeous white collie who is admiring the views.

How long have you been running? I did a Santa Run around Liverpool when I was about 9 and have been sucked into this madness ever since.  

Do you have a favourite race? Cardiff Half. Ever since I was at university, I’ve loved the hungover students being baffled about what’s going on around them.

Do you have a favourite distance to run? Surprisingly, it used to be cross country! Now, the shorter the (much, much better). Usually 400m or less. I’ll settle for a 5K. Don’t ask about the state I tend to be in after races.

What’s your greatest achievement? Breaking 1:30 at the Cardiff Half last year for the first time. It felt like a huge mental block that had been so frustrating to get past.  

TW: discussion of mental health.

Running has been a strange experience for me. It’s been both the bane of my life and the thing that’s kept me going through some of the most difficult parts. I remember picking it up at school not long after my mum did her fifth London Marathon and loving the chaos of cross country. I used to compete all around the South West, before moving across to track.

We didn’t have a proper track at my school, but we did have white paint in a loop on a very lumpy field in the middle of Dorset. I was often the only one interested, so I used to run with my coach standing at one end with a stopwatch. I qualified for county 800m, and after a brief stint taking it seriously, I realised I wasn’t as quick as I had hoped. I decided rugby looked fun. For a few years I ended up playing as a winger with a 12 second 100m time with absolutely no ball skills. After utter carnage and a lot of frustration from my teammates, I took a break, only running with my dog (an all-white border collie called Will) when I could.

The break from sport coincided with a difficult journey with my mental health that’s led me to doing what I do today, working for Mind, the mental health charity. One evening I remember having what I later realised was a panic attack. I ran out the house and started running around the field next door, where we would walk our dog. My mum came with me and we jogged until I felt the anxiety subside. I dropped out of school and remember running being the furthest thing from my mind until I came to Cardiff for university in 2015.

I started jogging, and was amazed how much I had missed it. On a whim in 2016 I signed up for the Cardiff Half Marathon, and despite being terrified, managed to run it in around 1:45, which I was over the moon with. This became a yearly habit that was never serious, including this wonderful photo that looks like a Renaissance painting.

But after a particularly difficult time of it with my head, I took a break again. It’s difficult to talk about, but I had a brief period of feeling suicidal. I managed to get help and used that energy to run for Cardiff University’s mental health research services and Samaritans, also signing up to support the National Centre for Mental Health. I felt like I’d found a purpose. And running was the obvious thing to help me get better.

George smiling as he approaches the finish line of a race in a sunny park.

And then, after graduating in 2018, in 2019 I started coming to the odd CDF session. We would do the same 7K loop to the top of the park and round, and every week I remember pushing myself even more. 2019 saw the year of my PBs, where I managed to get to 3:00 for 1K, 18:15 for 5K, 39:50 for 10K and 1:36 for a Half. By the end of the year I had a knee injury from wearing the soles of my shoes down to paper thin for the Half. That’s how much I’d been loving it.

After a stint away playing tennis and running elsewhere (traitor), I decided to come back to CDF, after coming back to our training sessions. I had forgotten about the sense of community and how wonderful and welcoming everyone is. After coming to the Monday and Wednesday sessions, I knew it just made sense to come back. A particular shout out to Liz, Rich and of course Michael, who have been so supportive throughout.

This last year has certainly been the happiest of my running life. My PBs are coming back gradually, and I’m feeling stronger and stronger. Sadly, I lost my childhood dog I used to train with last year, so coming back to CDF felt like the perfect time for me. For the Manchester Marathon this year (my first crack at it), I drew a small tattoo of two dog ears on my wrist for a bit of added motivation. It certainly helped when I was overtaken in the rain as we plodded through Altrincham by a guy juggling the whole way round.

Running’s been a strange experience, but it’s also something I don’t think I could live without.

Spotlight on: Steph Ferry

How long have you been running? 10 years
Do you have a favourite race? Too many to choose from but Richard Burton 10k will always have a place in my heart.
Do you have a favourite distance to run? 10k (short enough to run fast, long enough to make it a challenge to hold on)
What’s your greatest achievement? Running four marathons when I never thought I’d do one! And of course, running the London Marathon this year thanks to the CDF club place.


I don’t have an inspirational story. I’m one of those awful people who enjoyed PE at school. But enjoy doesn’t necessarily mean “good at” and that’s what my running journey has taught me. In fact, running has taught me more about life than anything else:

You’re capable of more than you think

I joined CDF (then Nike+ Cardiff) nine years ago to building up to a 10k race. Five months later I’d run my first marathon. I would never have done that without the push from the club. I’ve learned that any distance is achievable, it’s just how you approach it. For me that’s 60% vaguely sensible training, 40% grit.

I’ve now run four marathons; Manchester, Liverpool, Paris and London this year (thanks to the CDF club place which was an amazing experience). For me, mental strength has been the biggest lesson – your mind needs as much training as your legs and that’s transferred over to many other areas of my life.

I’ve always had a “give it a go, see what happens” mentality, which coupled with the confidence the first few years of running built for me, has led me to try different things. I competed in the 2017 UK Civil Service Track and Field National Championships in the women’s 100m and 200m (and won gold in both!). I took up strength training not long after my first marathon, which I love, and I’m ever so slightly smug about being in triple figures for my squat and deadlift.

I’ll never run the fastest times, but I can say I’ve run four marathons, 11 half marathons and a whole load of 5ks, 10ks and random distances in-between. Every one of those races has given me something to be proud of whether it’s a personal best or a personal worst. It’s shown me that I can do things that are hard and not give up.

People are brilliant

What got me hooked on running and being part of the club were the people and the community. I’ve met the most interesting people through running that I’d never get to meet in my day-to-day life.

Spending hours on a Sunday morning in marathon training, running with people you may have never met before, hearing all about their lives and their goals, is the biggest inspiration and motivation I could ask for.

Being surrounded by such kind, motivated and positive people has helped with my own mindset. The biggest benefit to me of being part of CDF is I know they will always be there when I need them, even if that’s just for a jog and a moan about life.

Paying it forward is the biggest reward

The part of my running journey that means the most to me is being part of building CDF into what it is today. When we stood in the Nike store all those years ago and heard “sorry, we’re closing the store – no more running club”, a group of us looked at each other and immediately said “we’re keeping this going”.

It took hours of pub meetings and each doing our bit to get the club affiliated and it shows what a group of passionate and determined people can do. We each got our Welsh/UK Athletics Run Leader licenses to be able to run the sessions and CDF as you know it now was born.

I “retired” from the committee about two years ago and I’m so proud of how the club has progressed in that time. I’m still involved in leading some sessions (mainly on a Sunday) and I’ve loved playing a small role in a few first-time marathon runners training over the last few months.

Overall, the most important part about running to me is what it teaches you about yourself. What it teaches you about the good in people. What it teaches you about the mental strength you have – even if it’s been hidden away – that your mind and body can do whatever you want them to do. I’ve made friends for life and I’ll be eternally grateful for the difference running has made to who I am.

Spotlight on: Berni McCarthy

How long have you been running?

I can’t quite remember when I started running but it was about 20 years ago. I ran at night with my cap pulled down over my face so I didn’t have to see anyone. I’m still a bit self conscious about my running and I still wear a cap. 

Favourite race

This is easy – the VOGUM with Pegasus Ultra Running from Porthcawl to Penarth along the Wales Coast Path.

Favourite distance

See above – 40 miles ?

Greatest achievement

Probably 6 ultras in 6 months last year. Just staying uninjured that long is an achievement. It didn’t go entirely to plan and I had to find a second ultra in October in order to complete it but I managed it. My final ultra was a looped race called the Richard Jefferies backyard ultra in Swindon (Google it, it’s small, fun and quirky).

I started slowly and built up to a Race for Life 5k. I remember the first time that I ran for 30 minutes without stopping, what a rush!

5k became 10k and then half marathons, but after getting up to half marathon distance in 2009/2010, I took a hiatus from running.

I started back at Cardiff parkrun in 2016 and finally reached my 100th on my 6th anniversary last October. All of these different milestones are meaningful to me. I love parkrun as well as ultras – it’s all running and it’s all about the community.

2017 saw me taking on long distance walking and my first major! I walked a marathon distance along the Thames path but within days I was thinking “How much further can I go?” (And I’m still asking the same question). The following year, I went for a 100km walk and in order to train for that, I walked my first ultradistance – the VOGUM with Rhys (Jenkins) and Pegasus Ultra Running.

The following year I progressed to running ultras and haven’t looked back since. And of course when I say running ultras, I mean running a bit, walking a bit, sitting down for a chat and a cup of tea at the checkpoints – all the hallmarks of an ultramarathon.

During lockdown, it was difficult to stay focussed without events to look forward to and just to keep going. So I googled running challenges and came up with doing an accumulator, running the number of kilometres as the date. I started on July 1st running 1km, easy right? But it definitely gets harder and by the end of the month, I was pretty exhausted. It helped massively to have something to focus on. It also taught me loads about being organised which has stood me in good stead for ultrarunning since.

Obviously I needed to try something else new with no events on the horizon. The next challenge was the 4x4x48 – 4 miles every 4 hours for 48 hours and I got on with my first 4 miler at 4pm on Friday evening. The midnight and 4am runs were done on my very quiet city street with no issues or problems and I finished on the Downs in Bristol on Sunday afternoon, feeling that mixture of elation and exhaustion that running often leaves me with.

Last year, I decided to see how many ultras I could complete from April to October and 6 seemed like the right number! Things went awry right from the start. I had COVID in February which threw my training into complete disarray and I toed the line at the South CANUM in April not knowing if I could finish it… I did! The HOWUM went well but the VOGUM was a nightmare and I had to pull out at mile 23. Half an ultra wasn’t going to cut it so I had to make another plan. But first the matter of the North CANUM and 54 miles. Next was the Loopathon in Roath park on the hottest day of the year. I was up and running by 6am in order to avoid as much of the heat as possible and I managed 30 miles through the course of the day. 30 miles along the Ridgeway in the RIDUM was next, leaving me with an ultradistance to run at the Richard Jefferies. What a glorious day that was – family, friends, weather, food. You could say a perfect ultra

So what’s next? A crazy thought entered my head last year. My sister has been talking about it for a while but I had resisted. But I finally got the bug and couldn’t stop thinking about it either.

This June, we will attempt our furthest distance ever. We will run from Newport to Brecon to Cardiff Bay non stop – 100 miles. Lots of preparation happening now and all my fingers are crossed.

But when I think about what I love the most about all of this crazy running, it’s the community, my pegasus family, my club and all of the wonderful, nutty people that I’ve met along the way. And my favorite thing about running is definitely convincing people that ultra marathons are not beyond their ability.

Well, if I can do it…

Runner of the Month February 2023: George Walker

  • How long have you been running? Since the late 1800s
  • Favourite race: Richard Burton 10k (for the beer and Welsh cakes mainly!)
  • Favourite distance: Half Marathon (long enough to need a good lie down afterwards but not so far as to have less than a 50/50 chance of getting up again!)
  • Greatest Achievement: Coming first in age at the Worcester 10k this year and actually winning a prize! (it also allows me to add the suffix “prize winning athlete” to this year’s Christmas card signature!)

“…so much better than the old days when the only topic of conversation on performance enhancement centred on Deep Heat application (spray-on vs rub-on) and which colour bin bag was best to wear on the start line.”

I first began running after I graduated from university and I shared a flat with a running and health obsessed, ‘clean living’ vegetarian, whose day job was selling cigarettes for Imperial Tobacco(?!). I guess his influence must have rubbed off on me (although not the vegetarian bit – I can still devour my own bodyweight in bacon sandwiches on a good day) and I just decided one day to get out and get fit.

Endless circuits of Roath Park after work became the norm. I then entered a few races, usually 10ks, chasing down the sub-40 minute goal. In those days of course there were no smart watches to keep track of your progress and I distinctly remember finishing a run, only to get into the car and drive the route to work out how far I’d gone and what my pace was.

Life was pretty good for a while and my running got better; I managed to get my 10k time down to 37:30 and then, Catastrophe No. 1: – my running flat mate moved to Australia, and I got married! Nevertheless, I managed to keep up the training and was lucky enough to team up with an old university friend who moved back to South Wales. He was just getting into some new-fangled sport where you swim, run and cycle in the same race (imagine!) and was happy to become my running buddy. We’d meet up once a week for a long run would always end up trying to out-distance/out-pace each other as a measure of who had trained the most in the week before.

All was ticking along nicely until, Catastrophe No. 2; he moved to America and the children arrived! (there’s a pattern developing here…). Unfortunately, looking after young children and the increasing demands of career meant that free time became scarce, and without the motivation of having someone to run with, I struggled to keep up the training. Eventually I just got out of the habit and my running petered out altogether.

Fast forward 20-odd years to a bright October Sunday morning when I walked down to Roath Park to support CDF member Nina Lindholm, running in her first Cardiff Half Marathon. As I stood at the top of the lake watching all of the runners go by, I was transported back to earlier times and thought ‘I need to do that again’. So, I dusted off my old running shoes, dug out a T-shirt and off I went. Of course, my head thought I could just pick up where I had left off, but my legs were having none of it. In the first few months I did nothing but injure myself, trying to run too fast and too far and getting nowhere, and I almost gave up again, before I really got started.

However, I persevered and entered the Cardiff 10k in 2018 and, after three weeks ‘intensive’ training, I managed to hobble around in 61 minutes. Result – I was back! Not long after that Nina was kind enough to allow me to tag along to CDF and the rest, as they say, is pastry.

For me, joining the club has been transformational and I enjoy running now far more than I ever did when I was younger, and there’s so much more to talk about; smart watches, Parkrun, Strava, GPS, technical fabrics, gels, chip timing, carbon plate cheat shoes, age grading (my particular favourite), podcasts, energy drinks, the list is endless, and so much better than the old days when the only topic of conversation on performance enhancement centred on Deep Heat application (spray-on vs rub-on) and which colour bin bag was best to wear on the start line.

Whilst I’m not sure I’ll ever beat my all-time 10k PB, I have managed to knock quite a bit of my half-marathon PB, completed my first full marathon and superbly mastered the art of falling over on trail runs (Barbed Wire 1 – 0 George). All thanks to being part of CDF.

What do I hate most about running? – well that’s difficult, there’s so much to choose from. Probably the ‘old man hobble’ across the bedroom floor every morning because my feet have mummified overnight.

What do I love most about running – that’s easy, it’s being part of running community again and all of the friends I have made at CDF.

Cardiff Cross Challenge Run Report

By Sam Blaxland

If there’s something I’ve learnt from a year of attending CDF sessions, it’s that this club doesn’t do things by halves. Whether it’s Cosmeston Relays, parkruns, Pride events, or travelling all over the country to watch and cheer on club-mates, CDF is surely cementing its reputation as a big and conspicuously noisy gang of runners and friends. Of course, all rules have their exceptions!

And so it was last weekend, on a very autumnal Saturday, when a grand total of four CDF members – me, Debbie, Stewart and Trevor – turned up for the Gwent League Cardiff Cross Challenge at Llandaff Fields! 

Sam, Debbie and Stewart standing in their running gear and trail shoes
Sam, Debbie and Stewart pre-race

In all fairness, I had only decided to go on a whim, because it’s a stone’s throw from my house, and I wasn’t injured after Cardiff Half. I wasn’t particularly relishing the idea of running nearly 10k as part of an event that I worried might bring back memories of unpleasant school PE lessons. 

Indeed, on arrival, the feeling of being a slightly disorientated school-boy was overwhelming, with a lot of people milling around looking like they knew what they were doing, when I didn’t know where to go, what to say, or how to organise myself. I was handed an envelope (“what’s this for?”) at the registration tent and, having thought I’d already paid, was told to hand over four quid (“I don’t carry cash!”). I didn’t quite understand that, in normal circumstances with a big club team, all the finisher chips are put into one envelope so that the results can be collated.

The central path of the park flanked by club tents, gazebos and runners
The tent and gazebo game is on a whole different level

Naturally, all of this became clear very quickly, but it’s a reminder that new people at new events sometimes have no idea what is going on and can feel a bit intimidated as a result. A friendly or welcoming face, and a polite explanation, goes a long way – an attitude that CDF excel at I should add!

Anyway, the course: if anyone knows Cardiff parkrun’s ‘alternative to the alternative’ route, then this broadly follows that. It traces the perimeter of Llandaff fields, but to make up some extra distance, it cuts into the centre of the fields with a few hairpins and twists. There’s a short but sharp hill near the beginning, which inevitably leads to a downhill section, but the rest is pretty flat. There was even a log to jump over. I really enjoyed the course, and found the winding and the turns (and the log jump) fun; it was disorientating enough to take my mind off the fact that, for the senior men at least, you had to do three laps of all of this.  

There were plenty of Senior Women running, including our very own Debbie, who put in a sterling performance having already done the parkrun that morning. What a hero! Once the male under 20s had finished it was the turn of Stewart, Trevor and I to give it a go. 

 

By the time we started, a couple of sections had turned into that infamous no-man’s-land bog that can sometimes be associated with cross country. That’s actually an exaggeration, but it certainly was properly muddy and difficult to pick up any pace over. Thankfully, most sections were completely manageable, and nothing a pair of trail shoes couldn’t handle. 

The field was competitive and I spent a lot of the first lap fighting for space, but once it opened out a bit – and once the bulk of runners had surged ahead – it all got a lot easier. At parkrun and various races, I’m not used to being in the bottom third, but that’s a testament to how good the standard was here. I finished 366 out of, perhaps, 550 runners, and just avoided being lapped by the winner. Some of the front-runners were truly amazing.  

Thanks are also due to Mike who was on hand to provide support and good-natured coaching. As I was about to begin my second lap, someone I knew shouted a word of encouragement. I waved a quick thanks for this, and immediately heard, from Mike in the distance, ‘Stop smiling Sam! You’re not trying hard enough if you’re smiling!!’. Naturally, this only made me smile more! 

For a run I entered on a whim, I was elated after finishing. This was a varied course, with a good atmosphere that offered something different to do on a Saturday afternoon. 

Sam approaching the end of a lap with a big grin on his face
“Stop smiling! You’re having too much fun!”

So, a word of encouragement for all CDFers thinking about taking part in up-coming cross country runs this season, or this same event next year: definitely do it.

The standard is very high at the top end, but the ability range is broad. It’s also cheap as chips – and the effort justifies chips, or a pint if you’re like me. It might be a bit confusing when you first arrive, but most events are regardless, and anyway, some of us now know how it works! For fans of the fluffy four-legged-friends there was also a range of lovely dogs to spot and say hi to in the crowds.

If you haven’t done cross country since school (like me), then that very particular smell of freshly churned up earth will certainly prove nostalgic. And even though it’s hard work, I firmly believe that the concentration required to pick your way through muddy tracks makes the time fly by. 

And in future events we need to be there in numbers large enough to make our presence felt – and so that the announcers start saying our club name correctly…


Cross Country is open to CDF members, with fixtures on the following dates:

  • 9 November 2019 – Pembrey Country Park, Llanelli
  • 7 December 2019 – Blaise Castle, Bristol
  • 8 February 2020 – Chepstow Racecourse
  • 1 March 2020 – Singleton Park, Swansea

Please check out the events in the Affiliated Members Facebook group, or email hello@cdfrunners.co.uk to find out more.

?️‍? Cardiff Running Pride ?️‍?

We had such a fabulous time at the Pride Cymru Parade in 2018, that we want to do it again, and this time we want YOU there too.

Whether you identify as LGBT+ or someone who just appreciates the importance of showing support to your friends and fellow club members who are, we’d love to get everyone together to march at Pride Cymru 2019. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a CDF Runner, unaffiliated, a social runner or a member of any other Cardiff club, 

We know that sport is a huge factor in improving health and well-being, but also that joining a club can be a big step for many people. Running clubs can be intimidating, so let’s all come together to show how inclusive and welcoming we are!

Can we get a member of every running club and group in Cardiff? That’s up to you…

Marching under a Runners of Cardiff banner will be an opportunity to wear your club colours, wave your flags and banners, and proactively show that you encourage LGBT+ runners, and will never tolerate homophobia, biphobia or transphobia.

Everyone taking part will be asked for a £2 donation to Pride Cymru.

The parade is on the morning of 24th August 2019. The time and route is yet to be confirmed but don’t worry, you’ll have time to do parkrun! #parkrunfresh

If you’re a member of another club and want to join the march, please email hello@cdfrunners.co.uk for more details, or if you’re a CDF Runner, keep an eye out on Facebook.

3 Years of CDF Runners

Happy Birthday CDF Runners!

‘CDF Runners’ is three years old today, or at least the name ‘CDF Runners’ is. The eagle eyed amongst you will have spotted the ‘Estd. 2010’ on our logo that hints at life pre-CDF.

We’ve had so many new members and developments recently, perhaps it’s time for a history lesson? Well, gather around and i’ll tell you a tale…

Long before ‘CDF Runners’ was a twinkle in the eye of a Nike marketing executive (we’ll get to that later) ‘Nike+ Run Club Cardiff’ was established in 2010 by the Nike shop in St David’s 2.

There were Nike Run Clubs in cities all around the world, and various members have visited them in places such as Lisbon, Athens and Miami!

Nike staff member and Decathlete Fran Baker founded the club and coached the group for many years. In fact, the club has been lucky to have a number of extremely talented coaches including Welsh 1,500m Champion Ieuan Thomas, Irish 400m Hurdler Emma Peters, Team GB Triathlete Jon Harrhy and Malta’s top 100m and 200m runner Charlotte Wingfield.

Nike+ Run Club Cardiff – February 2011

Despite their elite status and training, it was these Nike staff who gave us our ethos of being super inclusive, supportive and noisy whilst encouraging runners to push themselves.

We’ve also retained the basic structure of running on Mondays and Wednesdays, though Mondays used to be women-only. This changed in mid-2012 and both sessions became mixed with the Monday ‘Recovery Run’ and Wednesday speed sessions we still do today.

The group was relatively small for a few years, without much mass involvement in races and parkrun until 2014 when the club entered it’s first team race, the Cosmeston Relays. 5 teams of 3 entered in brightly coloured Nike t-shirts and a questionable Power Rangers team naming convention.

Cosmeston Relay – July 2014

Cosmeston has become a rock solid fixture for the club ever since, peaking at 22 teams in 2018!

Cosmeston Relay – July 2018

Numbers had started to pick up in 2014, and by 2015 the club had grown significantly. There was more and more interest in races, and we started to become much more organised in terms of travelling together and supporting each other. When a large number were talked into entering the 2015 Manchester Marathon, the Sunday long runs were established. Many runners did their first ever marathon that year, having signed up within weeks of their first session!

It seemed Nike+ Run Club Cardiff was on an unstoppable rise, but in early 2016 we were told that Nike had had a change of policy and the clubs in Cardiff, Liverpool and Glasgow would have new names and branding separate from each other. We were told we would still have the backing of Nike, along with the free coaching and hosting but only the London shop would have the Nike+ Run Club name from now on.

Three new names were conjured up by Nike and were given to us to vote on. To be honest most of us we were a little underwhelmed by the choices, but ‘CDF Runners’ was chosen over ‘CF10 Runners’ and ‘Cardiff Run Crew’ and we learned to love it in time, and now couldn’t imagine being anything else. One of our runners designed the new logo, which coordinated with the new Dockside Runners in Liverpool and GLA Run Club in Glasgow.

The first big event for our new name was the Cardiff World Half Marathon Championships, and we gathered together a good number of CDF Runners along with representatives form our ‘sister’ clubs from Liverpool and Glasgow.

Cardiff World Half Marathon Championship – March 2016

It was at this time we created a website and twitter account, and they’ve been a huge success in expressing our personality and attracting new runners.

It didn’t come as a huge surprise when just over a year later we were told the Nike shop would be shut down and the club would have to relocate or close down. Faced with this choice, we did what we always do when we have decisions to make, we went to Wetherspoons.

After a session, more than 30 people packed around a few tables and held a meeting to decide what we do next. There was a unanimous decision to continue as a club and to take on the coaching and all the background admin ourselves. A group of volunteers were chosen to take over from the Nike staff to moderate the Facebook group, which was where most of what we did was planned and discussed.

The word that Nike was closing had spread fast, and we quickly received an offer from Moti in Queen’s Arcade, which ticked all of our boxes. After our final run with Nike, we transitioned smoothly to Moti in June 2017 without missing a session.

First Moti session – June 2017

At this time we discussed but resisted the idea of affiliation to Welsh Athletics, as we wanted to keep everything simple and most importantly free. We continued in this way for a little over a year before it was suggested again, but this time with the caveat that we could maintain free training sessions for everyone and offer membership for those that wanted it.

The club remains at it’s core a social running group, but has grown to become so much more besides.

We’ve run Couch to 5k and helped brand new runners take their first steps, which is one of the most rewarding things we’ve done. We’ve inspired people to run their first 5ks, 10ks, half marathons, marathons, and ultras. We’ve taught people to swim and cycle and taken part in aquathlons, duathlons and triathlons. We’ve travelled together around Europe to race and holiday together. We’ve taken part in Pride Cymru with our special Pride logos which are now a permanent option for anyone buying a new t-shirt. We’ve helped raise over £3,500 for homelessness charity The Wallich. We’ve helped to create new and lasting friendships. We’ve become more than a running club.

Thank you all for being part of the journey, and perhaps you now know a little more about who we are and where we come from!