Nine podium places and seven age category wins at Ruthin Parkrun for North Wales Road Runners

Report by Don Hale

North Wales Road Runners took nine members to the Ruthin Parkrun last Saturday morning to complete in another 5k club championship event as a replacement for a recently cancelled race and celebrated with unprecedented success!

The team performed well again with all nine runners claiming podium places and seven also won their respective age categories.

Many additionally recorded all-time PBs, as they made their debuts at this relatively new venue staged at the Memorial Playing Fields.

In another very fast-paced encounter Martin Green was the first male runner home, and his wife Carla Green finished as the first female runner, both additionally celebrating new parkrun all time PB’s.

Martin ran in his 100th parkrun event and knocked a couple of seconds off his PB to finish 1st overall in 16 minutes and 55 seconds, and he also won his MV45 age cat, with Glyn Rees 2nd with a PB 19.13.

Fellow NWRRC member Stuart Culverhouse knocked 33-seconds off his previous best time to finish 3rd overall, and he was 1st MV50 cat finishing just six seconds adrift of Glyn in 19.19.

Martin later confirmed: “There were lots of 180 degree turns (three laps) and all of us ran quickly and some even ran all-time PBs by a fair margin. It’s pancake flat and a perfect surface.”

Carla Green led the ladies home in 4th place overall with a 25-second parkrun improvement to easily win her VW50 age cat in 19.29.

Youngster Daisy Jones finished as the 2nd female runner with a superb PB of 21.19, and also claimed 1st place in her JW11-14 age cat, with local athlete Victoria Owens (Denbigh Harriers) also recording a new PB, finishing as the 3rd female runner and 1st in her VW35 age cat in 21.45. The event attracted 79 finishers.

Cheryl Frost continued with her purple patch to claim 15th place overall and 4th female athlete in 21.49 – another all-time PB – to win her VW55 age cat, with Kay Hatton hot on her heels as the 5th female and in 17th overall in 22.06. She came 2nd in the same age cat as Cheryl for another similar all-time PB.

Nicola Wylie repeated her impressive and consistent form to finish 21st overall, the 7th female, and she was also 2nd VW50 in 23.18. And veteran runner Rob Fryer ran well again and collected a bonus MV65 age cat win, finishing 24th in 23.54.

Helen Hannam also turned in another positive run as 38th overall and 11th female, whilst also winning her VW45 in 26.26, and master veteran Mike Hayton celebrated another worthy PB, and he too won his MV70 in 27.16.

*This is the provisional results list from Ruthin:
https://www.parkrun.org.uk/ruthinmemorialplayingfields/results/latestresults/

Road Running duo fly the flag at Conwy Parkrun

Report by Don Hale

Due to the latest 5k club championship event being held at Ruthin last weekend only two NWRRC members remained to proudly fly the flag at the Conwy Parkrun.

Both athletes ran well and won their age categories among another popular entry of 176 varied entrants.

Despite very wet conditions underfoot with another puddle-filled and muddy course, Road Runner Will Williams continued his recent good form to finish in 4th place overall and 1st MV50 in 18.55.

And master veteran athlete Don Hale celebrated a surprise return to the Conwy Parkrun following serious injury, which has kept him out of action since July, by winning his MV70 age cat in 75th place overall in 27.15. Due to this long delay, this was Don’s first event in this new age cat.

Afterwards Don admitted: “It’s a been a long hard recovery battle and although I am still well short of fitness, it was great to be back running again. Parkrun is so important for both mental and physical well-being and sometimes we take this for granted when long term injury or illness occurs.”

Local sports shop promoter Tom Carter from Abergele was the first man back at Conwy, and he also recorded a new PB in a cat and mouse dash with Simon Cole (GOG Triathlon Club).

Tom won his MV40 age cat in 16.57, with Simon 2nd overall and 2nd MV40 in 17.08, and Osian Griffiths finished 3rd and 1st SM30 in 18.29. The 1st female athlete was Elisha Price who also won her SW30 age cat in 22.54.

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

Hat-trick for Don at Welsh Masters’ final rankings for 2022

Welsh Masters Athletics have just confirmed their final rankings list for indoor and outdoor track events throughout 2022 with North Wales Road Runner and master veteran athlete Don Hale featuring in three different distance categories, including one national record!

Don competed in his M65-69 age cat at the top end of this scale at two different indoor venues and later celebrated with three gold medals, three PBs, and three prestigious top rankings at the time, including a new national record at an unusual but very challenging distance.

He ran in the three-lap 600m indoor track race for the first time ever at Sport City in Manchester on March 5th and won his M65 cat whilst recording a new national record time of 2 minutes 11.38 seconds.

Don later competed in the 200m event at that same venue on that same day and again topped his age ranking at the time with a result of 36.55 seconds.

During the season however, his ranking gradually dropped from 1st to 3rd, but it’s understood that his rivals Roderick Davies (Lee Valley) and Chris Norton (Aberdare) recorded their impressive times on an outdoor track.

Don’s other top ranking was achieved on the indoor track at the Deeside Leisure Centre on February 20th when he won the 60m race with a new PB in a time of 11.15 seconds.

At the time he collected the No 1 top ranking place, but again over the course of the season, his position later dropped down to 2nd place overall following a great performance by rival David Marginson (Lee Valley).

Sherwood Pines, Newark

Gwennan Charlton (pictured above) enjoyed a steady trot through the woods at the Sherwood Pines Parkrun near Newark last Saturday and finished as the 34th female runner, in 120th place overall, and in 4th spot in her VW35 age cat in 31.13. The event included 207 finishers.

Morecambe

Kelly Marie Alford and her partner Cai Roberts (pictured above) ran together in the Morecambe 10k race on Sunday, and for Kelly in particular, the conditions on Sunday included a strong blustery wind and near freezing conditions, which were in stark contrast to her London Marathon experience from the previous week when she said she was “boiling” in her special TV theme costume.

After the race, Kelly admitted: “My time was 50 minutes and 31 seconds, and just short of my PB. The strong winds were against us out and back which didn’t help. It felt strange when you have the wind against you, and then when you turn around, it’s still against you, you can’t win.”