Got something to say about another member? Or feel you’ve been left out? This is your chance to tell a story about someone in the club. Use this form to tell us all.
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If there’s a hard core among our women, Julie is certainly there. She may not share her husband’s devotion to the Bluebirds, but they are of one mind when it comes to running.
33 words
Also called Steven B Lewis, so as not to confuse him with the second Steve Lewis in the club. There are pictures showing the striking similarity of the two.
Steve is the secret power behind Richard Brewer’s attempts at 40 mile races.
Much as he cares for the club, and indeed, his wife Julie, and their children, we suspect that the real love of Steve’s life is Cardiff City FC.
71 words
A good bloke.
3 words submitted by Dave Weeden
There was an old soak called Dave Lloyd,
Who frequently failed to avoid
Being locked in The Gower,
He had no will power,
We recommend Herr Docktor Freud.
Dave has taken the ‘most glamorous single parent in the club’ crown from Carol Miller (because she got hitched and ceased to be eligible). It’s something to do with his eyes, according to the regiment of women drawn like helpless moths to his flame. He is best known among the rest of us as the one who can handle a Sunday 20 miler after a session which would have killed an ox. (As oxen don’t have a reputation for bibulousness, I may need a better metaphor.)
His sister Siân is a weather girl, though he won’t thank me for saying so. Dave now merits a page of his own.
142 words
Mal only joined recently, but already he seems to have been around forever. He’s already raised some ludicrous sum with his 2000 London Marathon effort, which secured him a trip to New York. Yet to break three hours over the classic distance, which given his rate of improvement at shorter distances, is a barrier set to fall spectacularly. Mal now works on land full time (previously half his training was on ships), so the personal bests should keep on coming.
CORRECTION: Mal did work on land full time, for about two months. He hated it. He broke three hours (by half a minute) in London 2001, and is very pleased. And there’s still room for improvement.
116 words
On his application form for this year’s Barry 40, Alan wrote that one of his aspirations is "being different". He certainly is.
Most runners don’t have the temerity to enter the Reebok Cross Country at Cardiff Castle, let alone dress for the occasion. However, if the idea is to attract the wit of race P.A. Bud Baldaro, Alan’s a winner every time.
Yes, Alan may present himself as an easy target for detractors. But no one was laughing at the 2003 edition of the Barry 40, when Alan showed his supporters what he was really made of. Not laughing, just cheering.
And what about his catering activities on the way to last year’s London Marathon, in order to raise funds for the Masters’ Cross Country in Cardiff?
Different? Certainly.
An unsung hero? Definitely.
Mick
When I tried the “Croups profile” for a while on Ace, Alan was one of the first. Here he is.
155 words
When I was six years old, I went to watch Keith in his first Glamorgan Schools Cross Country Championships at Pencoedtre Fields, Barry. He was 11. I was very proud of him and I went round all the spectators on the course and said "Do you know Keith? He’s MY brother". He finished 48th.
In the interim, he ran 1:55.4 for 800 metres, 2:27:21 for a marathon (London 1985), and won a silver medal in the British Masters 1500 metres in 1997.
Now 55, he’s still quicker than me, and I’m still proud of him cos he’ll always be my big brother!
By the way, Dad’s 93 and quite nippy on the zimmer!
113 words submitted by Mick McGeoch
Founder of the Barry 40, editor of Ace, and a considerable runner in his own right. If we named all Mick’s victories, prizes, and vests, we’d need a whole new site. Funnily enough, someone has gone some way to starting one at the London Ever Present Site.
Although too modest to admit it, probably the rock the club is built on.
Mick’s profile.
65 words
Carol’s partner Dave ran his first race in the Cardiff 10k this year. (Not counting slogging round the Merthyr Mawr Mini Dipper run with Ruby and Rowan.) Knowing Carol as we do, it was only a matter of time before his conversion. Carol laid on a post Merthyr Mawr beano in 1999, and it went down so well (she is a trained cook) that we all went back in 2000. It went down so well in fact, that I ensured that I wasn’t driving home.
Carol had the honour to be photographed next to Alan Mann, above.
97 words
Our regular fountain of wisdom, John Plain, has confessed to being baffled how anyone ‘with their legs tied together’ can run as fast as Paul. (Actually, I think the observation was originally Woody’s, but it was John Plain who said it in my hearing.) While he lacks the long striding grace of, say, Steve Ovett, Paul can be rated ‘A’ for energy efficiency. Anyone who can run themselves into the elite start qualification time for London must be doing something right.
Paul has claimed doing a 30 mile training run before a marathon.
After a few years claiming injury, Paul is returning to something like form, getting round the 2005 Cardiff Marathon in 3:10, a time which surprised even Paul.
121 words
Denis may not be the best person to sit next to on a Thursday night if youre about to tuck into some much needed industrial strength clubhouse food. A Professor of all things fatty, hell point out the likely premature death that will result and dont even think of ketchup... Having put you off your food, hell then swiftly polish off your egg and chips himself.
A much travelled and published man of science, Denis is one of those club members who knows that erudite is not a type of glue.
Infectiously enthusiastic and always on the look-out for a new challenge, he is a veteran on numerous sporting fronts with an action packed CV that includes a string of sub 3 marathons, an iron man, XC skiing and downhill, cycling with numerous 100k and 200k races under his belt, rowing and mountaineering.
Indeed, having climbed Mount McKinley in Alaska and preferring bumpy events such as the High Peaks Marathon, Questars Adventure race series and the KIMM/OMM to the short/flat stuff that placates others, it could be said that Denis is a runner with something of an altitude problem.
189 words submitted by Tim O’Sullivan
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© Dave Weeden 2000–10.
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