Training Camp in Newport on the Cardigan Bay, April 2009

Some of our youngsters took us over to the village of Newport on the Welsh Pembrokeshire Coast for a few days of training.  Here is the story of the trip, in their own words...

Some of the photos are 'illustrative' (i.e. not actually from the trip) - I think you will be able to work out which is which!  A full set of photos from the trip can be seen in an album on the Photos page.

It gives me great pleasure to write a small piece about this year’s running camp. Thinking about it now I can’t pick out a single bad thing about the trip, Apart from the youth hostel being infested by a giant tarantula. From start to finish I enjoyed it all, starting with a great game of footy on the beach where Neil showed us his true talent playing in goal, and then some great relaxing games in the evening. Other day time activities included looking around the lovely town, adrenaline pumping go-kart race, and one of the days us hard ones of the group even braced the ice cold sea for a swim. All the activities were incredibly fun.

 

At the youth hostel for dinner we were served delicious meals that would overflow the plate, just what was needed after running up a mountain. And for lunch it was more make your own with a great selection of sandwiches and a tasty slice of cake. The youth hostel itself was very nice with a sufficient amount of showers and loos and a great upstairs area where we played a great game of poker which ended with Tyrone winning! (for once) also the staff were ok.

The running was also amazing, completely different to running round Coombe Dingle 20 times, there’s nothing like running along the Welsh coast. And I would like to thank Pat and Neil for organizing this amazing trip, and I can’t wait for next year.

Forward

A Quiet Journey Over

The simple truth is a Westbury Harriers training camp is not complete without Neil Miller. The endless amount of time, effort and encouragement he puts into everything is second to none and his passion for running is unbelievable. As a lot of the group hadn’t met Neil before he certainly introduced himself with a presence on the Journey across the bridge. He firstly announced of his ‘mishap’ the last time driving a minibus to the Nationals in London a few years ago (crashing into the side of another car) which left us all looking forward to a safe week! Also a classic journey with Neil is not complete without his ‘medieval rock’. This consisted of a deafening 2 hours of prehistoric sounding music, which didn’t seem to be of the preference for the majority, although I personally relate to his unusual taste in music and quietly sung along!

 

Most mornings we would settle down to an hours revision/schoolwork. As I was doing some maths, I needed to know the value of ‘pi’ to a few decimal places. So I asked Neil if he knew and he explained that “he is a bit rusty nowadays” and “only knows it to 20 decimal places!!”

 

"Neil firstly announced his previous mishap"

Pats Lost Boot

On the day of our arrival, we went down to the beach for a run around, before our coastal training run. We had to cross a stream on the beach before we got to some good sand, and the sea!

 

The boys just waded across and that was that, However, Abi and I tried to decide where the best place was to cross, i.e. the shallower bit. We found a suitable place, and were halfway across when a boot came floating by. 'Hm.. how strange' we thought. 'That looks rather like Pat's boot'... 'How did it get there?'

 

We carried on crossing and a bit later joined the rest of the group on the beach. They were all laughing, and we found out that Pat had dropped her boot in the river, and we had just watched it float past!!!!!!

Coastal Run

After the beach, Pat said we could go and have a look around the shops. It was Becky, Poppy and me. I got presents for everyone and then saw Pat.

 

She was trying to find a pub to watch the Arsenal - Liverpool game. After that, we went back to the hostel and Pat said go and get your running stuff on. We're going for a coastal run.

 

We got our stuff ready and put it on, got in the minibus and went to a small beach which had two lanes for us to split up and go in groups. The olders went up the steep hill and we went down a path that was nice and flat. We got lost a little bit but then we got right on track.

 

We had to slow down a little bit because some of us got a little bit scared of the cliff we were running on, and didn't want to look down. A couple of times we had to walk like when we came to the steps they were really steep and big. There was also a couple of slopes that were pretty steep. We passed loads of horses and sheep. There was also a lot of flies but we ignored them.

 

All of us met at the check point and there was a little lake, so we all rolled up our trouser legs and relaxed our muscles in cold water. After that we jogged back to our youth hostel and had our own free time again.

 

Most of us prepared ourselves for some fun games up in the lounge, and a couple of us prepared tea with Emma. That night the boys had to do the washing up, so the girls went to the lounge. Floren and Dan went with Pat and Emma to go and find a pub for the football game. They couldn't find a pub which did it, so they came back.

 

After playing in the lounge we all had to go to our dorms and get ready for bed and then go to sleep and wait for a brand new day.

Ice Bathing Our Legs

After the coastal run on our first day in Newport we took advantage of the icy river on the beach to soak our hard-working leg muscles. A few of us were reluctant to move into the freezing water, but eventually agreed and everyone pulled off their trainers and socks and waded in thigh deep. Our actions were regarded with much amusement by the locals, who pointed our way and obviously wondered what these strange runners were doing! (They were sat in the comfort of the sailing club, beer in hand!) After 5-10 minutes and several near-slips (most of which by Pat!) we waded out of the river. The cool water helped to invigorate our muscles, taking away lactic acid build up and renewing the supply of oxygen, a much needed restoration for the following training to come!

Freddie and the Spider

Whilst the boys washed up that night (or should I say as the boys washed up and Tye spectated) little did anyone know that somewhere, in the corner of the room, a spider was spinning its web, preparing to shock any innocent victims who might have been snoozing at breakfast the following morning. One of the members of our group had become known as being fairly dopey after leaving many of his belongings scattered everywhere for various people to find, and also had been frequently caught napping on the minibus, so it was no surprise to the group that on this day Freddie was practically asleep in his cereal bowl. Out of the corner of his eye he must have caught a glimpse of a spider crawling down the wall onto the floor, and in a flash he was running across the kitchen refusing to be anywhere near it. Being a hard rugby player who seemed unafraid of most things it shocked us all that he could be so scared of such a trivial thing, but after the boys had had much trouble waking him up that morning (after perhaps a few midnight manoeuvres the night before) we thought maybe that a spider should be used more frequently in order to awaken Freddie.

 

 

 

Sweet dreams, Freddie

Efforts on the Beach

For our session on Wednesday, we did repetitions of 45 seconds with 30 seconds recovery - on the beach! We marked out a course on the hard sand near the sea to run around. Running on sand, and the gusty wind both made it more challenging, so afterwards, we were all knackered from the session, but running on a beach was a good change from the track or grass.

 

 

The Boys Do The Washing Up

I would just like to say that I thought that the washing up was absolutely amazing it was a main part of the trip.  My role in the washing up was to keep control and make sure no one stepped out of line and get those plates sparkling.  I formed an elite well trained unit of washer uppers even though some people thought I did nothing I would like to say it was the hardest job of all keeping them in line.  Also I would like to award Felix best scrubber as he could actually see his own reflection on the plates unlike Dan he forgotten to scrub the back of the plates.  As well as Ali when it came to drying you could say he made them wetter as he was shaking with frustration.  But when it came to Freddy I thought I would never see any one sleep whilst standing up.  Finally there was Laurence I had never seen such a professional at washing up some say he has washed up for England but no one knows where he gets these hidden talents from.  And I can't say any thing on the girls as we don't think they done any at all especially Neil and Pat they just sat and watching and sniggering at our professional abilities.  And feel free to thank the professionals at washing up for a job well done.  I would like to thank Neil and Pat for letting me come on the trip.

 

by Zebra (don't mind me I'm just a zebra)

The Arsenal Trek

It was Wednesday the 15th of April and Arsenal were host to Villarreal in the Champions League quarterfinals, a 7:45pm kick-off. It had been a busy day consisting, no less, of a run before breakfast, a swim in the sea, a trip to Cardigan and a speed session on the beach at Poppit Sands. All that was left to complete this great day was to watch a stunning game of football, courtesy of The Arsenal.

 

Earlier on we'd heard that one of the local pubs regularly showed live games. So after dinner a group of us walked round only to find that the nearest pub with Sky Sports was 7 miles away, in "the next town along" called Fishguard! This was devastating news. Furthermore, whilst walking back the last bus to Fishguard passed us by, taking with it our moment of hope. By the time we'd reached the youth hostel any hope that remained was completely demolished, as on the table there stood an empty bottle of wine. Neil's driving was already an issue... so in desperation Dan and I rang several taxis, but each quoted us £30 or more! So, dejectedly we sat in the minibus and tuned into the only football we could find - the Manchester United game! I was in a state of depression. But during this pitiful state, Pat and Emma emerged and were heading straight for the car, we couldn't believe it! The match! They were taking us to Fishguard! There was only space for two in the back and as the rest of the boys were distracted by a game of monopoly, Dan and I took them.

 

Pat and Emma waited whilst we entered the first pub, Noooooo! Behind the door was an array of Manchester United shirts! They told us of a nearby pub that also had Sky, but there again we found The Scum! Another 5 pubs later, reality had caught up with us and we resigned ourselves to going home. Back in the minibus we tuned in again to catch the final score, 3-0 to the Gooooooners! Ahhhhhhh! We were headed for the Champions League semi-final for only the second time ever, where we would face no other than... the scum of Manchester United.

 

Thank you Emma and Pat for taking us to Fishguard, we are very grateful and although we ultimately failed in finding the match, it was fun visiting Fishguard and it's many pubs. Besides Arsenal won in the end so that's all that matters!

 

Pat checking the contents

Fell Run

 

We started Thursday with a late morning run up the large mountain just outside the town in which we were staying. After a few wrong turnings on the paths leading up to the mountain we eventually made it on to the correct footpath. The ascent up was steep and certainly not easy going but once we reached the peak it was clear that the hard work getting up paid off with the spectacular views of the surrounding area. From the peak we ran on along the hills until we reached the minibus. We had a quick stop and then carried on along more fields and rough footpaths. We arrived at t he minibus again for a second and final time with Neil and a few others a few minutes behind after Neil having to take a compass bearing to make sure himself and the others didn’t get hopelessly lost. This run was certainly the best session of the trip and is a run that is certainly going to be hard to better.

On the penultimate day of the trip we embarked on a fell run across the Preseli hills, which were a 10-minute run from our youth hostel.  This was an ideal opportunity for Neil to show off his navigational skills, equipping each group with a compass, detailed map and various other bits of safety equipment.  As soon as we started to run up the ‘steeper’ hills, Neil was struggling to keep with Pat and the girls group.  It was then that he decided a compass reading / rest was necessary, as he needed to check if they were on the main path that was almost impossible to get lost on!

 

 

(I hope Neil appreciates this very appropriate photo)

Go Karting Fun  

 

I really enjoyed the other activities that we did while we weren't training, such as playing football on the beach or buying things in the nearby town. However my personal favourite was the Go Karting that several of us did. I was quite nervous as it was my first time ever doing and I was afraid I was going to crash. But once I got onto the track, I put my fears behind me and just concentrated on having a good time. The go karts were great fun and I'm sure everyone who did it enjoyed it greatly. Neil took it really seriously and was very good, easily managing to lap the quickest time round the track. I on the other hand was not so great and in the end I finished with the slowest lap times. I didn't really mind though as at the end of the day I had a lot of fun and that was all that mattered. I really enjoyed the training camp and hope to go on other ones in the future.

Girls Cooking

 

Poppy’s mum, Emma, cooked us breakfast lunch and dinner for all three days so we thought that it was only fair we gave her a night off. So on Thursday night we cooked fajitas. Emma went out and got us the ingredients but that evening while the boys were playing football on the beach, all the girls cooked dinner. They turned out great and were quickly polished off by twelve hungry runners!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cooking done, the girls relax while waiting for the boys to return