Road Runners back to best as Conwy Parkrun returns

Report by Don Hale. Photos by Steve Jeffery

North Wales Road Runners celebrated with six podium places including four first place age category wins at Conwy Parkrun last Saturday in near perfect conditions.

Following the return to action after last week’s postponement due to heavy frost on the course, the Road Runners entered nine senior members and one junior among the 218 finishers, with the usual mix of quality club and social runners.

It proved to be a very fast encounter, and at the time of writing the first-place finisher remained unknown as they probably forgot their essential barcode, so the credit went to Andrew Bromley (Prestatyn RC) in 2nd place with a great course PB of 17 minutes and 28 seconds, with club colleague Alex Ryder 3rd with another well-deserved PB in 17.45.

The first female runner was Alison Campbell (Sheffield University) in 18.32, with Anna Drinkwater (Eryri Harriers) 2nd in 18.51, and clubmate Gemma Moore 3rd, despite a great new PB in 19.28.

Stuart Culverhouse led the NWRRC team home in 14th place overall and he finished 2nd in his MV50 age cat in 19.59, whilst Martin Green continued his marathon training with a jog around in 27th place, and he too was 2nd in his MV45 cat in 21.22.

Jamie Tharme finished 35th in 22.10, and Tony Price Jones made a rare parkrun appearance in 40th place in 22.44, and veteran Rob Fryer continued his superb form of late to win his MV65 age cat, finishing in 57th place in 24.20.

Rob’s fine performance also inspired three other club runners to additionally win their respective age cats, including Karen Butler in 73rd place overall, and the winner of her VW60 cat in 25.49, and master veteran Mark Mason, who claimed the top spot in his MV70 cat in 27.21.

Dave Spofforth ran with his young son Ben again, and the youngster kept up the momentum of popular age cat wins on the day with a superb run in 104th place in 27.56 to finish 1st in his JM10 cat.

Rachel Morris was another runner preparing hard for a future marathon, and she ran well despite her heavy training schedule to finish 145th in 30.52.

*Praise was later given to the race director, and to all the volunteers and marshals, who made this event such a success. This is the link to the provisional results:
https://www.parkrun.org.uk/conwy/results/latestresults/

Other Results

Newborough Forest

Steve Mason hit top form at the Newborough parkrun on Ynys Mon last Saturday to finish as the first runner back, and the winner of his MV45 age cat with a great new course PB in 19.09.

Fountains Abbey

Sarah Hudson claimed a new course PB at the Fountains Abbey parkrun with a tremendous performance to finish in 62nd place and the 7th female athlete in 22.00.

Lake District

John Dalzell finished 2nd in the Lake District fell-foot race last Saturday despite several navigational problems. He explained: “I was up and down, and off-road, with four about turns. I went the wrong way on the first lap when in the lead but please with 2nd place.”

Lytham

Newcomer Mal Preece had mixed feelings about his trip to Lytham for the 10-miler on Sunday and ran well for the first five until a strong headwind quickly upset his plans.

Afterwards he confirmed: “I was 41st overall and second in my age cat. I was on for a massive PB at 5 miles, just 33 mins, but the wind on the final five back soon put paid to that. My finishing time was 72.34. A great flat course and I would’ve been looking at 66 mins and a 4 min PB.”