Glittering trophy night for North Wales Road Runners
Report by Don Hale. Group photo by Ian Turner
There was a large turn-out of club members, officials and guests at the North Wales Road Running Club’s presentation evening, held at the North Wales Golf Club in Llandudno.
This was the first time in a several years that the club has been able to celebrate such a glittering occasion due to pandemic restrictions, and this time many newcomers, and much improved club athletes, became the recipients of numerous impressive awards.
The evening included a special dinner at the 19th Hole restaurant followed by the presentation and a disco.
The awards were handed out by the hard-working NWRRC club chairman Kevin Slattery, with praise also given to Martin Green, who was the results and points co-ordinator, in addition to many club officials and fellow members, who had all helped to make this event such a success.
The awards included special trophies for many varied events during 2022. This is the overall results summary:
*Club Handicap race winner – Male: Iwan Evans; Female: Nicola Wylie.
*Male results: Group C: 3rd place: Cai Roberts; Runner-up; Len Jackson; Winner: Kevin Higgins. *Group B: 3rd: Ben Hudson; Runner-up: Jamie Tharme; Winner: Stuart Culverhouse. *Group A: 3rd: Jonathan Kettle; Runner-up: Iwan Evans; Winner: Martin Green.
*Female: Group B: 3rd: Helen Hannam; Runner-up: Kelly Alford; Winner: Nicola Wylie. *Group A: 3rd: Cheryl Frost; Runner-up: Kay Hatton; Winner: Carla Green.
*The Rob Fryer Award: For the Best Female Parkrun: Carla Green. *The Rob Fryer Award: For the Best Male Parkrun: Martin Green.
*The Lake Vyrnwy (Nick Beer) award: 1st NWRRC member: John Dalzell. *Male veteran over 60: Runner-up: Rob Fryer; Winner: Kevin Higgins. *Male veteran 40-60: Runner-up: Stuart Culverhouse; Winner: Martin Green. *Lady veteran: Runner of the Year: Runner-up: Kay Hatton: Winner: Carla Green.
*The Dave Gardner Award for the best overall points total: Male Winner: Stuart Culverhouse (155pts): and female winner: Carla Green (120pts):
*Male Runner of the Year: Runner-up: Mark Davies; Winner: Martin Green. *Female Runner of the Year: Runner-up: Kelly Alford; Winner: Carla Green.
*Most Improved Male Runner of the Year: Stuart Culverhouse: *Most Improved Female Runner of the Year: Kelly Alford: *Nick Beer Award: For Services to the club throughout the year: John Hatton.
Pat wins silver sprint medal at North Wales Indoor Championships
Report by Don Hale
NWRRC member Pat Finnie won a deserved silver medal last Sunday at the North Wales Indoor Track and Field Championships held at the Deeside Leisure Centre.
Pat also claimed a great new PB of just 11.02 seconds for his 60m dash, finished 2nd overall and he also won his age MV65 age category.
The race was won by MV60 athlete Martin Weetman (Menai T&F) in 8.56, with MV75 master veteran Robin Frost 3rd in 15.60.
This improved Pat’s time from 11.35 seconds at Sport City last year. After the race a jubilant Pat admitted: “I wasn’t going to go because I had a slight hamstring strain from my last day of training day on Thursday, but I thought I would have a complete rest until Sunday and hope for the best.
“I did a gentle warm up and a few stretches before the race. The race went really smooth and my leg did pull, but I just ignored it and concentrated on getting over the line. I enjoyed the atmosphere with the crowd so close, who were very enthusiastic.”
Anniversary parkrun success at Conwy despite tough weather conditions
Report by Don Hale. Photos by Steve Jeffery
There was a tremendous turn-out of some 200 mixed ability entrants at the Conwy Parkrun last Saturday morning who all helped to celebrate their 8th anniversary, despite very wet and blustery conditions.
Many runners additionally wore unique themed costumes for this special birthday event but later probably wished they had also taken their wellies to help cope with this challenging and puddle-filled 5k course.
GOG Triathlete Simon Cole was the first runner home overall, and won his MV40 age cat in just 18 minutes and 23 seconds, with Aled Hughes 2nd in 18.35.
NWRRC’s Carla Green was the 1st female runner and the VW50 cat winner in 22.33, with Lizzie Irvine (GOG Triathlon) 2nd in 23.41 and Katie Cotton (Long Eaton) 3rd in 23.54.
The Road Runners entered 11 members and claimed seven podium places including five age cat winners.
Steve Mason led the team home finishing in 5th place overall, and he also won his MV45 cat in a superb time of 19.12, with Steve Bozier returning to parkrun for the first time in about a year and seemed pleased with 9th place despite the tough conditions in 21.16, and 3rd in his MV45 cat.
John Dalzell had a good run to finish in 10th place in 21.43, with youngster Harry Driscoll winning his new SM20 age cat in 22.18 in 18th place, and he was closely followed by the speedy Carla Green, who also was the 1st female runner and winner of her VW50 age cat in 25th place overall in 22.33.
Ben and Sarah Hudson returned as a duo to parkrun and splashed their way round with Ben 29th in 23.05, and Sarah 41st, and the winner of her VW40 age cat in 24.16, whilst veteran Rob Fryer won his MV65 age cat again, and he also celebrated his 150th parkrun, finishing 69th overall in 26.27.
Master vet Mike Hayton ran well in 100th place, and he was 2nd in his MV70 cat in 28.39, with Vicky Taylor 117th in 30.16, and Rachel Morris 124th in 31.02.
*This is the link to the provisional results from the Conwy parkrun. And praise was given to this week’s race director, and to all the volunteers and marshals:
https://www.parkrun.org.uk/conwy/results/latestresults/
*Other results: Stuart Culverhouse claimed a new course PB of 20.34 at the Milton Keynes Parkrun last Saturday finishing in 11th place overall and 2nd in his MV50 age cat.
Afterwards, Stuart confirmed: “Nice to take part in the ‘Milk and Beans’ parkrun, and to run on my old home course, which I have not run since 2015. It was very windy around the lake.”