Emotional morning as Conwy Parkrunners paid tribute to John Dalzell

Report by Don Hale. Photos by Steve Jeffery
https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com

It was a rather sad and emotional parkrun at Conwy last Saturday morning as participants, club colleagues, officials, volunteers and friends, paid tribute to North Wales Road Runner John Dalzell, who sadly died earlier in the week.

This shock news had been the main topic of conversation for a few days as people in the running community came to terms with this devastating realisation.

John, a popular family man and a successful ultra-distance veteran athlete, was a regular supporter of parkrun, particularly at Conwy, where he made 60 appearances amidst a total of 101 parkruns, and it was only a couple of weeks since he celebrated a personal best time (PB) on this 5k course of just 19 minutes and 31 seconds.

He took part in numerous ultra-distance and endurance run challenges and he even smashed records in Scotland during a 50-mile-plus Highland Fling race.

John also took part in numerous road and trail races and always provided generous encouragement to fellow athletes and club members.

NWRRC club official and Conwy Parkrun MC, John Hatton said: “I knew John quite well. It was very difficult making the announcement at parkrun. I just said regular parkrun participant John Dalzell had sadly passed away this week at the age of 48. Then I asked for 30-seconds applause in his memory.”

John Dalzell will be sadly missed, and it was perhaps fitting that Conwy parkrunners were the first to acknowledge his contribution to local sport, and to justifiably commemorate his short life.

Bumper attendance

This week’s results recorded another bumper attendance of some 260 entrants at Conwy including 91 debutants, numerous visitors, and several top club runners, with 10 PB’s highlighted among the results, and incredibly, the first five athletes ran home in under 20 minutes.

The event also saw an amazing eight quality junior runners in the JM11-14 age category including three debutants with talented youngster Sam Jones (Serpentine RC), making the long journey from London to take the overall runners-up spot with a remarkable time of just 19 minutes and 15 seconds – and he was just four seconds behind the 1st placed finisher, veteran Barry Maksymczuk, MV45, who ran a new PB of 19.11. and teenager Lewis Hall, SM18-19, was 3rd overall with another PB of 19.34.

For the ladies, visitor Caroline Brock (Steel City Striders) was the 1st female finisher, in 4th place overall, and she ran a PB on her debut of 19.37, with junior Ella Grundy (Colwyn Bay AC) the 2nd female, and the winner of her JW15-17 cat in 30th place, in 22.38, whilst veteran Lizzie Irvine (GOG Triathlon) took the 3rd spot in 23.01 in 39th place.

North Wales Road Runners had 11 members involved and Stuart Culverhouse led the team home in 8th place, and also won his MV50 age cat in 20.40, with Steve Bozier 13th in 21.10.

Will Evans finished in 15th place in 21.18 and he was 2nd in his MV40 cat, and Josh Keogh was also 2nd in his SM30 cat finishing 32nd in 22.40, with Richard Scamans 55th in 24.04.

Carla Green had another positive run in 57th place, and she won her VW50 cat in 24.05, whilst Rob Fryer was back to his best and he finished 113th and claimed the 2nd spot in his MV65 cat in 26.40.

Youngster Joe Culverhouse was 136th in 28.14, and Mark Mason returned to parkrun in 149th place and 3rd MV70 in 29.16. Meanwhile, newcomer Nia Lister finished in 153rd place in 29.24, and Gwennan Charlton was 203rd in 33.54.
*Praise was given to the Conwy run director and to all the volunteers and marshals. This is the link to the latest results:
https://www.parkrun.org.uk/conwy/results/latestresults/

Five gold medals for Road Runners at Caernarfon 10k Regional Championships

Report by Don Hale. Most photos by Steve Jeffery
https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com

It was bright and breezy last Sunday for just over 200 runners at the Caernarfon 10k race, which also included the North Wales Regional Championships, where NWRRC won five gold medals.

The conditions allowed for a fast encounter with many runners recording personal best (PBs), or much improved chip times, with the event eventually won by Scott Nixon (Wrexham AAC) in 33 minutes 31 seconds, with Gavin Stuart (Cybi Striders) 2nd in 33.53, and James Yarwood (Wrexham AAC) 3rd in 34.05.

The first female athlete was Alison Campbell in 36.43, and she was followed by Amie Smith (Cheshire Dragons) in 38.47, with 3rd place, Anna Drinkwater (Eryri Harriers) finishing in 39.48.

North Wales Road Runners entered 15 members and won 11 prestigious medals in the Regional Championships, (*see below), with Jonathan Kettle being the pick of the team in 4th place overall, and the winner of his MV45-49 age cat in a chip time of 34.59.

Richard Eccles was another man in top-form, 23rd in 39.07, and he was 2nd in the main race within his MV55 age cat.

Iwan Evans ran well in 27th place and 2nd MV45 in 40.06, with Jamie Tharme 43rd overall in 43.15, and he recorded his second fastest 10k. Sarah Ferguson Hudson was the 11th female finisher, and she too celebrated her second fastest time, and finished 2nd FV45 in 44.54.

Steve Roberts finished in 64th place overall in 45.35, and Kay Hatton won her FV60 age cat as the 16th female athlete in 47.23, with colleague Cheryl Frost taking the top spot in her FV55 cat in 47.55, and she finished just one place behind Kay. Hannah Griffith was another athlete delighted with her second fastest 10k time and she enjoyed a steady run as the 34th female in 52.03, with Kevin Higgins 99th, and 3rd in his MV60 age cat in 53.11.

Meanwhile, Cai Roberts ran home in 114th place in 57.19, and veteran Len Jackson was back in action in 116th place in 57.44, whilst Kelly Marie Alford admitted to struggling after a difficult week but did well to finish as the 51st female in 58.15. Master veteran Mike Hayton enjoyed a steady run in 120th place in 1.00.03, and veteran Rob Fryer was 124th in 1.01.23.

Regional championship results: Five gold medals for NWRRC

North Wales Road Runners won 11 medals in the NW Regional Championships including five gold, one silver and five bronze.
The Gold medal winners were: – (Men) Jonathan Kettle MV45, and Richard Eccles MV55, whilst Kay Hatton FV60, Cheryl Frost FV55, and Sarah Ferguson Hudson FV45, additionally won gold medals for the Ladies.

Iwan Evans MV45 won a silver medal; and the bronze medals were won by Jamie Tharme MV45, veteran Kevin Higgins MV60, and master veteran Mike Hayton MV70, with Hannah Griffith and Kelly Marie Alford both winning deserved bronze medals for the Ladies team.

*This is a link to the provisional results from the Caernarfon 10k on 20/8/23:
https://www.runwales.com/files/user_uploaded/results/535/10k%20Overall%20Results%20(1).pdf

Other results

*Ellesmere Port: Will Williams won his MV50 age cat at the Ellesmere Port RC 5k race at Capenhurst last Wednesday night with another stunning performance and he finished in 51st place out of 429 entrants in 17.32. Will’s NWRRC colleague Richard Eccles competed in the same race and he enjoyed a good run in 18.20, and 5th in his MV55 cat.
*Bognor Regis: Steve Poupart travelled to the Bognor Regis Parkrun last Saturday and claimed a new 5k PB of 22.13 finishing in 27th place overall.
*Oswestry: Steve Mason made his debut at the Henley Wood parkrun near Oswestry to celebrate an important parkrun milestone and he was also the 1st finisher overall, and winner of his MV45 age cat in 20.32. After his run Steve said: “This was my 150th parkrun and this was a muddy, twisty, and cross-country type course.”