NWRRC pair win podium places at Anglesey Half Marathon

All race reports and results by Don Hale

Veteran athletes Kay Hatton and Mark Mason were the outstanding stars of the NWRRC team at the Anglesey Half Marathon race on Sunday with both members winning prestigious podium places.

These included an age category win for Kay and a second place for Mark.

The Road Runners entered a strong team of 10 athletes, and they all competed well against a strong entry of nearly 700 club rivals.

Mark Jessett was the first club man home in 8th place overall in 1.18.11, with Rory Middleton 29th in 1.25.38 and Iwan Evans 46th in 1.29.18.

Stuart Culverhouse maintained his recent good form in 53rd place in 1.31.02 and Kay Hatton enjoyed another outstanding run to win her new VW60 age cat in 1.45.37 in 174th place, and the 25th female runner.

Nicola Wylie was another top runner on form, and she finished 262nd in 1.52.14, with veteran Kevin Higgins claiming 300th place in 1.55.18, and Helen Hannam amidst her marathon training just dipped under the two-hour mark in 1.59.20 in 367th.

Master veteran Mark Mason probably surprised himself with a great run in 409th place, and he finished 2nd in his MV70 age cat in 2.03.09, with Gwennan Charlton 559th in 2.19.56.

*The half-marathon race was won by Ifan Dafydd (Eryri Harriers) in 1.11.41, with Simon Cole (GOG Triathlon) 2nd in 1.11.45 and Daniel Soltys (Team Bath) 3rd in 1.12.12.

The Ladies race was won by Alison Campbell 23rd overall in 1.22.18, with Tinka Vinks 2nd in 1.26.10 and Gwenno Llewelyn 3rd in 1.32.01.

Canaway runner-up at Anglesey 10k, Mike Hayton tops masters age cat

North Wales Road Runner Alastair Canaway continued his purple patch of form to claim 2nd place in the Anglesey 10k race last Sunday.

The talented newcomer, who has picked up a few podium places of late, also finished 2nd in his M-Open age cat with another positive run in 35.31.

Jamie Tharme was another man hitting the headlines of late with some exciting results, and he finished well in 17th place, and 2nd in his MV45 age cat in 42.04.

And it was good to see Adam Lemalle back in action again after injury in 52nd place overall in 47.29, with Gethin Wyn Jones 70th in 50.55, whilst master veteran Mike Hayton had a superb run and finished in 181st place, and won his MV70 cat, in 1.00.13.

*The race was won by Lloyd Williams (Cybi Striders) in 33.59, with Alastair Canaway 2nd in 35.31, and James Coleman (Eryri Harriers) 3rd in 35.34.
*This is the link to the revised Anglesey results: https://my.raceresult.com/233930/results

Green impresses at Rhayader

Martin Green finished 3rd in the challenging Rhayader Round the Lakes 30k race last weekend.

After the event Martin confirmed: “The best I could manage today was 3rd place in 1.48.44 behind two quality athletes, so I can’t complain at all, and I couldn’t have gone any quicker, so all in all a good day at the office and well worth the five-hour round trip. The only downside was missing my partner in crime who will be back fighting fit very soon.”

Josh Keogh second at Oulton Park

Josh Keogh hit the tarmac running and finished second at the Oulton Park 20-mile race last Sunday, which was staged over many laps on the famous yet undulating race-track course.

The NWRRC all-rounder made a brave effort for glory under the chequered flag but eventually had to settle for the 2nd spot in this gruelling event, that was part of the Oulton Park Grand Prix series of races. Josh also finished 2nd in his respective age cat in 1.58.14.

Kelly Alford ran well to finish 72nd overall and 5th in her VW35 age cat in 3.06.43. Kelly also celebrated a great new PB and knocked 10 minutes off her previous time.

Club colleague Mandy Owen, meanwhile, ran in the optional 16-mile lapped race but unfortunately faced a real drama and an injury during her race and eventually finished 73rd overall, and 6th in her VW45 cat in 3.02.25.

Mandy later explained: “Truly awful. My hamstring started hurting after the first 9-miles, so I just plodded, walked, and crawled the last 7-miles!”

Depleted Road Runners team claim podium hat-trick at Conwy Parkrun

Report by Don Hale

North Wales Road Runners were down in numbers again at Conwy Parkrun last Saturday due to numerous competing fixtures, but still managed to snatch three podium places including two age category victories, and one second place finish.

Steve Forsyth returned from his recent travels to claim 2nd place overall in this challenging 5k event and won his MV40 cat in 17 minutes and 58 seconds.

Yet despite his best-efforts he was still unable to catch runaway athlete Jacob Watson who finished just five-seconds ahead of Steve on his course debut in 17.53, with fellow NWRRC newcomer Robert Evans 3rd overall and 2nd in the same cat as Forsyth with a PB of 18.37.

The Ladies event was equally competitive with former NWRRC athlete Gemma Moore, now with Eryri Harriers, finishing as the 1st female athlete in 19.37, with clubmate Anna Drinkwater 2nd in 20.38, and exciting local junior runner Ella Grundy (Colwyn Bay) 3rd in 22.00.

NWRRC only entered seven members and one junior this week with many also taking it easy in readiness for their Sunday races.

Steve Forsyth and Robert Evans led the team home, and Steve Mason finished 57th in 25.15, with Gethin Wyn Jones 75th in 26.10.

Veteran Len Jackson enjoyed a good return finishing 93rd overall in 27.30, with Dave Spofforth and son Ben finishing together again in 96th and 97th places in 27.47, with Ben winning his JM10 age cat. And John O’Shea also ran well in 108th place in 28.17.

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

Other race results

*Dolgarrog: Ben and Sarah Hudson tackled the tough Pipe Dream fell race at Dolgarrog last Saturday and were very pleased with their results over a demanding 6.8k course.
Sarah confirmed: “A great morning running the slightly crazy Pipe Dream fell race. I only fell flat on my face once, and thankfully all my ankles are still fully functional for marathon training. It was tough run but great fun! Ben ran 47.24, and I did 59.10, on our watches.”
*Durham: Promising young club athlete Troy Kettle made his debut at the Durham Parkrun last weekend and finished 29th overall in 20.57.