Martin Green beats Storm Malik to claim victory at Conwy Parkrun

Report by Don Hale. Photos by Steve Jeffery

Storm Malik provided an extra element of strong gale force winds to Conwy Parkrun’s already challenging 5k course last Saturday.

This reduced many hopes of obtaining personal best times for 176 brave souls.

Facing powerful head and side winds and with the tide racing in on the RSPB estuary, the runners were forced to battle unusually buffeting conditions as they completed this picturesque “out and back” course, which probably cut all finishing times by at least a minute.

North Wales Road Runners entered 11 athletes and claimed nine age category podium placings.

Martin Green, who returned to parkrun, defeated Storm Malik, and easily won the event despite including his run as part of his tough ongoing training schedule.

He finished well in 19 minutes 4 seconds to win his MV45-49 section and was one of four club members who each won their respective age cats.

Harry Driscoll enjoyed another fine performance in 4th place and won his SM20-24 cat in 19.34, with Steve Mason 9th and continuing his consistent form to claim 2nd spot in the same age cat as Martin in 20.32.

Dave Spofforth ran on his own this week and celebrated by finishing in 17th place and 2nd MV40-44 in 21.52, and Ben Hudson returned to parkrun, claiming 3rd spot in his MV40-44 cat in 24th place overall in 22.28.

Richard Scamans was another parkrun returnee in 30th place in 22.59, and Gethin Wyn Jones finished in 36th place, and was 3rd MV35-39 in 23.41.

Endurance runner Sarah Hudson was 46th overall and 3rd in her VW40-44 cat in 24.28, and Carla Green ran as part of her gradual recovery from injury and finished 67th in 25.38 but won her VW50-54.

And master vet Don Hale was just seven seconds behind Carla and won his M65-69 cat in 69th place in 25.45, whilst Rachel Morris added to her marathon miles by finishing 122nd in 32.00.

*Another long absentee from parkrun was Zoe Roberts, who enjoyed her first outing for about two years despite the conditions and finished 144th overall in 36.27.

*This is the link to the provisional Conwy parkrun results:
https://www.parkrun.org.uk/conwy/results/latestresults/

Tourists on the run

* Stuart Culverhouse and his son Joe travelled down the road to the windy Wepre Parkrun on Saturday where the youngster celebrated victory in his JM11-14 age cat, finishing 17th in 25.41. Running together the pair shared the same time, with Stuart 2nd in his VM50-55 cat. Afterwards he said: “It was a tough one, very hilly and muddy but good fun.”
*John Dalzell went a little further to compete in the Walsall Arboretum Parkrun where he just missed out on a new course PB by a mere three seconds but ran well to finish 7th overall in 19.06, and he won his VM45-49 age cat.

PBs for Cai and Kelly at hilly Heaton Park Half Marathon

Cai Roberts and his partner Kelly-Marie Alford (pictured above)tackled the challenging Heaton Park Half Marathon in North Manchester last Sunday and despite the cold weather and a hilly course, both athletes ran well and recorded personal best times. The pair both ran and finished together in 2.03.25 in 243rd and 244th places respectively, with Kelly 4th in her VW35-39 age cat, 52nd female runner, and she also knocked five-minutes off her PB on this course.