October saw the annual exodus of members to Palma – although the trip is not a Porthcawl Runners event, 75 Club members and supporters travelled to Majorca for the Palma 9k/Half-Marathon/Marathon.
Race Day itself started with a very early alarm call ready for the 6am coach into Palma before the road closures.
The races started outside the spectacular Cathedral – the Basilica de Santa Maria. All the races started at sunrise but, by the time runners approached the finish line, the sun was shining and the temperature was 25 degrees!
There were some amazing individual performances with PBs from Rhys Mumford in the marathon and Jason Edmunds in the Half Marathon. The biggest achievement however, was Porthcawl Runners being the largest team in the event – our little Welsh town had more runners taking part than any other team – 57 in total!
A well-earned celebration took place in the ever-welcoming Hogan’s Bar and they are already looking forward to our return in 2025.
The rest of the race weekend saw the ‘Palmalympics’ – entrants were split into 4 teams which competed over a series of events over 4 days. The games were launched with Friday night’s Welsh themed Opening Ceremony. There were participation points for all who dressed up and extra points for Jeff Thomas for the best costume. Needless to say there were a few funny looks when we were seen walking around the town that evening!
At 8am on Saturday morning, just as the sun was rising, the “Palma Nova Not Parkrun” took place along the seafront promenade. With Sunday being Race Day, the rest of Saturday was spent resting and, for many, playing Crazy Golf, another Palmalympics event.
Monday was the final day of events at the local beach. At first we were quite inconspicuous but when our competitive nature kicked in we were soon very noticeable. This led to quite a crowd of locals and holiday makers gathering to watch and cheer on the participants of each event.
The first beach event was swimming. This consisted of 2 events – a gruelling 400m sea swim and a less strenuous but very competitive swim/wade relay race! The winning team was Mike King’s ‘King of Queens’.
Then on to the volley ball – a good effort by all teams with bonus points up for grabs for wearing something linked to beach volleyball – these points went to Team Poco Loco as they all played with face masks of David Hasselhoff! The King of Queens won the tournament and scooped top points.
Boules came next – it was expected to be more sedate but was actually one of the loudest events! After trials taking place on Saturday the best players from each team played against each other. There were bonus points for ‘best Mexican wave’ and Team Poco Loco dressed in something French. The best Boules team however was Rhys’ Renegades who claimed top points.
The final event was the Beer Mile. Three different races – the 4 x 400m individual, the 2 x 400m two runner relay and the 1 x 400m 4 runner relay. Plus, as is customary (and compulsory), the event saw all runners drink a small can of lager at the start of every 400m run!
Thank you to the organisers, team captains and event coordinators for a memorable weekend.
The entire trip highlighted the camaraderie and mutual respect amongst our Club – we now look forward to Palma 2025!
