After a two year absence, there was once again a flurry of activity in Drefach on the first Monday in May as the Cledlyn Valley Fun Races attracted runners of all ages to support Dyffryn Cledlyn Primary School. Follwing his 7th place finish in the Teifi 10 mile race in Lampeter a week before, Mark Horsman from Pontypridd won the senior race in 28 minutes 59 seconds. The course starts on a back road near Drefach and climbs Rhiw Siôn before making its way back out onto the main road from Llanwnnen to finish at the School gates. The first woman was Clare Patterson (32:48) from Griffithstown near Pontypool.
Sarn Helen Club won the team prize, with 31 of the 62 competitors. Dylan Lewis (29:26) was second and Simon Hall (30:54) 3rd . Other members of the winning team were George Eadon ( 31:15) 5th and Michael Davies (31:31) 6th (and 1st in the over 50s class) .
Close on their heels were three other Sarn Helen runners: Irfon Thomas Carwyn Davies and Steffan Thomas. Sarn Helen runners were also the 2nd and 3rd men over 50 - Glyn Price (33:31) and Arwyn Davies (33:55 ) . Awards also came to the Sarn Helen women with Lou Summers (34:02 and the over 45 winner) and Dee Jolly ( 34:37 ) second and 3rd to cross the line. Race organiser Eleri Rivers claimed second prize for the women over 45 with another club member, Delyth Crimes 3rd.
The four youth races are an important part of the event and the younger members of Sarn Helen prominent here as well. In the secondary school race for under 16s Henry Rivers (9:52) finished 3rd with Sioned Kersey (10:51) finishing as the second girl.
In the Year 5 & 6 race Eva Davies (4:26) came second and Ben Hall (4:37) was the 5th boy. The Year 3 & 4 race saw Eva Davies (4:15) finish as first girl and second overall with Elin Onwy (4:31) second and narrowly splitting Jacob Burton (4:35) and Jeston Allan (4:35) for 4th and 5th place amongst the boys.
The foundation phase race was a battle for the schools teams, with Leighton Davies (2:04) and Oliver Readwin (2:08) finishing first and third for Ysgol Carreg Hirfaen and Tomos Humphreys (2:07) for Ysgol Talgarreg in second place. The girls' awards went to Manon Gruffudd (2:11) and Anna Evans (2:17) from Ysgol Dyffryn Cledlyn and Efa Allan (2:23) from Ysgol Bro Pedr.
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