Success for North Wales athletes in Manchester Half Marathon

https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com

North Wales trio Martin Green, Will Evans and his daughter Molly travelled to Manchester last Sunday to compete in the city’s popular half-marathon race along with about 24,000 other athletes, and recorded some excellent PB times!

Martin, who now has dual club registration with Meirionnydd RC, finished well as the 75th male athlete overall in 1 hr 13 mins and 4 seconds and won his VM50 age category.

After the event he confirmed: “I went flat out for a championship time, and I was on track till around 6/7 miles then dropped off the pace unfortunately, but no complaints, enjoyed the block, took the race on but unfortunately not quite good enough on the day.”

Will Evans was also pleased with his excellent result and knocked over three-minutes from his previous best time, running home in 1.26.29, as the 64th male, with Molly narrowly claiming a deserved sub-two-hour PB time of 1.59.49.

Will later said: “A fantastic day for it, with both Molly and I smashing our PBs.”

Other results

*Leeds: Harry Driscoll celebrated after recording a good time of 37.01 at the Leeds Abbey Dash 10k race on Sunday finishing in 297th place overall, out of nearly 6,000 athletes.
*Ruthin: Mark Jessett and Carla Green travelled to the Ruthin Memorial Parkrun last Saturday and both claimed outstanding success. Mark finished 1st overall and won his VM35 age cat on his course debut in 18.02, whilst Carla was the 1st female finisher (9th overall), and 1st VW50 in 20.27.

Conwy’s Fundraising Dark Run on 26th October for Hope House Children’s Hospices…Please register as soon as possible…

Introduction by Don Hale
 
The Conwy Dark Run is all set to go ahead once again on Saturday 26th October from 6pm at the RSPB Nature Reserve at Conwy.

This exciting event will help to raise thousands of pounds for Hope House Children’s Hospices.

MC John Hatton will promote the fun, excitement and incredible atmosphere at Conwy, and he will also be in demand as the MC for a similar Dark Run event at Penrhyn Castle.

Entrants will have the option to run or walk either the full 5k parkrun course, or the 2.5k reduced version, and everyone will be encouraged to wear fancy dress or Halloween themed costumes.

Event organisers for Conwy confirmed: –

“It’s time to glow crazy for Hope House Children’s Hospices and have fun in the dark! Run, jog or walk, join with friends, take your family or do it solo the choice is yours!

“We can’t wait to light up Conwy and see everyone waving their glow sticks in aid of local families. The warm-up-will start at 6.10pm, and at 6.30pm sharp the starter hooter goes crazy!

“Complete the Dark Run amidst music, cheering spectators and finish your 5k Dark Run for your extra special goody bag (2.5k for tired legs).

“There is no dress code but if you fancy going all neon or Halloween, we always love the colourful scenes our Dark Run crowds create. Please sign up asap, and you will ensure that we can continue to be there for every family who needs us. Thank you to Capalona for acting as our medal sponsors.”

What you need to know: • Registration is £10 per adult and £5 per child* (under 16 years). *Every child entrant must be accompanied by a participating, paying adult. Up to 3 accompanying children per adult entry • Everyone must bring a head torch * No dogs are permitted on site • We ask every Dark Runner to raise as much as they can to help us to provide expert care for local children with life threatening conditions. Eventbrite fees will be applied at checkout.

Entry details and tickets are available via this link:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/…/conwy-dark-run-2024…

Stuart Culverhouse led Road Runners home at Conwy Parkrun

Report by Don Hale
https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com

It was another bumper turn-out at Conwy Parkrun last Saturday on a bright, sunny, but crisp morning, with the usual array of visiting club and social runners.
Stuart Culverhouse led home a team of 15 North Wales Road Runners finishing 8th overall and he won his VM50 age cat in 20 minutes and 20 seconds. He was followed by Steve Roberts who also won his new VM60-64 age cat, as he celebrated his 60th birthday on the day in 26th place in 22.29.

Jamie Tharme looked back to his old-self again with a solid run finishing 39th in 23.33, and master vet Sandy Johnson seemed to make a speedy recovery from last week’s Chester Marathon, finishing well in 58th place and 1st VM70 in 24.30, but he was just two-seconds ahead of James Singleton in 24.32, who claimed 3rd SM25.

Veteran Tony Gibson also performed well after battling Covid in recent weeks and was 84th in 25.56.

Master vet Barrie Wells was 2nd VM70 in 95th place in 26.16, and Steve Mason took it steady, finishing 114th in 27.10.

Another master vet, Don Hale, was 3rd VM70 in 118th place, with a better performance this week in 27.21, whilst partially sighted athlete Daniel Owens was ably guided by club colleague Richard Scamans.

Daniel finished 125th overall in 27.50, with Richard just one place behind but shared the same time.

Veteran John O’Shea took 158th place in 29.51, and Nia Lister ran the 5k course with clubmate Daniel Hennell, with Nia 166th in 30.15, and Daniel one place and one-second adrift. And it was good to note the steady improvement of Mark Davies following his accident, as he completed his third parkrun in succession in 236th place in 36.24.

*The 1st finisher overall at the Conwy Parkrun was Cai Curtis-Roberts who also won his SM18 age cat with a new course PB in 17.10, with Aled Hughes (GOG Triathlon) 2nd in 18.05, and 1st VM35 cat, and Grant Little took third position and won his VM40 cat in 18.27.
*For the ladies, Emily Hanlon finished 5th overall, but was 1st female finisher in 19.05, and won her SW20 cat, with course debutant Agata Szczepaniuk (Vegan Runners) the 2nd female, (19th), in 21.55, and 1st VW35 age cat, whilst Claire Kelly claimed the 3rd female spot (34th) and 1st VW40 age cat in 23.14. *There were 299 finishers overall.

*Praise was given to the run director and to all the volunteers and marshals. This is the link to the provisional parkrun results:
https://www.parkrun.org.uk/conwy/results/latestresults/