Medals galore for NWRRC athletes in ten-mile championships

The North Wales virtual 10-mile championships attracted a star-studded field with 95 quality entrants battling hard for prestigious medals.

North Wales Road Runners had 13 competing and collected a total of eight medals, including two gold, four silver, and two bronze in the various age categories, with Jonathan Kettle being the pick of the team once more, finishing 5th overall, and winning gold in his M45 age cat.

Held again under strict pandemic restrictions, and run individually on their own patch, athletes had to choose their moment to run amidst a wet and windswept period.

The 10-mile race was eventually won by Luke Northall from Wrexham in 56.07, but NWRRC had two runners in the top-ten and three in the top twenty, with their team of eight men and five women competing for honours.

Jonathan Kettle ran exceptionally well and maintained his current form to finish in 58 mins 19 seconds for a well-deserved gold medal. Another gold medal winner was Richard Eccles, who finished in a highly-credible 10th overall, and was also 1st M50 cat in 61.12.

Stuart Culverhouse narrowly missed out on a prize in 19th spot in 69.51, finishing 4th in his M45 age cat; whilst Steve Roberts collected a silver medal, finishing in 21st place in 76.00 for 2nd M55 cat. James Jones finished 23rd in 79.18, and in the master veteran M65 section, Kevin Slattery just missed out on a gold medal by just 3 seconds, but was happy to claim silver, finishing 25th and was 2nd M65 cat in 79.32.

Colleague Don Hale finished in 27th place in 87.59 for 3rd M65 cat, and collected a bronze medal. And another worthy bronze medal winner was Len Jackson in 31st position, as the 3rd M60 cat in 98.18.

For the ladies, they too were extremely successful, and put in some amazing performances, deservedly winning two silver medals, with two other team members narrowly missing out in 4th places.

Kay Hatton continued her purple patch to finish 9th female and 2nd F45 cat in 80.09, and the other silver medal went to the hard-working Kelly Alford as 21st female as 2nd F35 athlete in 104.42. Hannah Griffith ran well as 4th F45 cat in 89.29, along with her running partner Helen Hannam, and Cheryl Frost was just pipped for a medal as 4th F55 runner in 95.54.

*The next major events on the virtual running calendar include the remainder of the Welsh Athletics Winter series of short events, with the two-mile race being staged from 5-8th March; and the Welsh Athletics three-mile race from 12-15th March.

All WA club runners must register pre-enter, and agree to abide by current Covid-19 rules.

Full details on the Welsh Athletics website: https://www.welshathletics.org