All Hale the Don – veteran sprinter retains 60m title at North Wales Indoor Championships

Master veteran runner Don Hale claimed a great new PB time of 11.15 seconds and retained his regional championships title with a gold medal performance in the Masters 60m dash held at the North Wales Indoor Athletics Centre at Coleg Cambria, Deeside, last Sunday afternoon.

North Wales Road Runner Don, now 69, previously won the M65-69 age cat race in 2020, and said he was pleased to retain his sprint title after two years of pandemic restrictions.

This victory moved his age ranking from Welsh No 2 to No 1 – at least for a few weeks.

Conwy parkrunners’ battled atrocious weather conditions

Report by Don Hale. Photos by Steve Jeffery

Conwy Parkrun attracted 146 determined finishers last Saturday morning despite athletes having to battle with atrocious weather conditions.

It was certainly not a day for any fair-weather runners with the course near waterlogged, and coupled with wind, rain, sleet, and bitterly cold temperatures.

This half-term fixture however, welcomed tourist runners from as far afield as Taunton, Newcastle, Bromsgrove, Chester, and Abingdon, with just 22 seconds separating the top three finishers, and six men dipping under the 20-minute marker.

Jonathan Tyler (Betsi Runaways) claimed 1st place in 18 minutes 11 seconds and was 1st in his MV35-39 age category.

James Smith (Menai Track and Field) was 2nd overall and 1st in his SM18-19 cat in 18.29, with Pete Vale (Bromsgrove & Redditch) just four-seconds behind in 3rd spot and 1st in his MV45-49 cat in 18.33. The first lady was Anna Mackenzie (Eryri Harriers), and 1st SW25-29 cat in 20.17.

North Wales Road Runners had only three members available this week due to a clash of various race events, but Mark Jessett kept the flag flying with a tremendous effort to clinch 4th place overall, and 2nd in his MV35-39 cat in 18.56.

And intrepid mother and daughter duo Rachel and Mia Morris turned in another gritty performance with Mia finishing 92nd overall, 25th female, and 3rd in her JW15-17 age cat in 30.04, with Rachel coming home in 111th place overall, 36th female, and 5th in her VW40-44 cat in 33.01.

Plaudits were given to race director Gwyn Williams and to all the brave volunteers. And after the event, Gwyn said: “Well that was thoroughly horrible! Freezing cold, wet, and wintery, but well done to everyone who took part. Not sure if you were brave or bonkers!

“A heartfelt thanks to all the volunteers today in what were truly grim conditions. A Herculean effort to see the job through. That was a really tough one, thank you guys. I had no idea the weather would deteriorate so quickly with Conwy Mountain blanketed in snow.”

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