Hundreds of runners beat storm at Abergele races

Report by Don Hale

https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com

Hundreds of runners tried to beat the weather at the Abergele 5k and 10k races last Sunday morning as the prelude to Storm Ashley battering North Wales with heavy rain and gale force winds.

Fortunately, the worst of these conditions didn’t prevail until later in the day, but entrants for the earlier 5k faced driving rain and gusty winds, whilst 10k entrants more than an hour later still had some strong winds to contend with, but welcomed a brief spell of bright sunshine.

The elements, though, failed to dampen the spirit of 19 Road Runners who bravely took part in either one or both events.

Fifteen NWRRC members ran in the 5k race and claimed five age category victories and several podium places, including some fast times, and four ran in the later 10k.

Will Williams led the team home in 12th place in 19 mins and 9 seconds, and won his M50 age cat, whilst Carla Green was the 1st female finisher, and 1st F50, with a great performance in 20.36.

Veteran athlete Kevin Slattery was 1st M65-69 section after finishing 24th in 21.05.

Ben Hudson took 25th place in 21.09, and Steve Roberts was 27th, and won his new M60 cat in 21.19.

Cheryl Frost notched 2nd F55 in 22.50 as the 8th female, and Daniel Hennell was 37th in 23.03.

Sarah Ferguson Hudson clocked 23.15 as 9th female and 2nd F45, and Kay Hatton celebrated another sparkling F60 cat win in 23.59 as the 13th female.

Mal Preece was 51st and 3rd M60 in 25.24, Helen Hannam was 23rd female in 26.33, and Gwennan Charlton claimed 27th female place and 3rd F35 cat with a new PB in 27.42.

Meanwhile, master vet Rob Fryer recorded an excellent weekend double after winning his parkrun VM70 age cat with further success in the 5k, where he won his section in 63rd place overall in 28.07.

And it was great to welcome Mark Davies back to a race as he continues to recover from serious injuries.

Mark finished 72nd in 33.25 to also claim a second PB of the weekend, whilst Rachel Morris was 54th female in 35.50.

*In the later 10k race, a quartet of NWRRC members enjoyed slightly better conditions to record some good finishing times. Stuart Culverhouse was 27th in 41.59, with Karl Morris 48th in 45.54.

Helen Hannam finished 41st female – and completed a unique double race day – in 56.08, whilst master veteran Mike Hayton was 2nd M70 in 59.38. *Praise was given to the race organisers RunWales, Chris and Tracy Yorke and to all the volunteers and marshalls in such a challenging day.

Road Running quartet competed in the cross-country race at Wrexham

Four Road Runners swopped their trainers for spikes last Saturday afternoon for the second fixture of the season in the NW Cross-Country League at Ysgol Morgan Llwyd, Wrexham.

Cheryl Frost and Kay Hatton enjoyed unusually bright and warm sunshine as they competed in the senior women’s race, whilst Iwan Evans ran in the senior men’s, and Michael Finnie the male over-65.

In addition, Martin Green, represented new first claim club Meirionnydd RC, and was 22nd in the senior men’s race and won his MV50 age cat in 31.37.

Cheryl finished 72nd overall out of 178 entrants, and was 3rd FV55 in 28.41, with Kay 92nd and 7th FV60 cat in 29.49. Iwan was 94th in his longer distance race in 37.29, and Michael finished 37th in his veteran event in 32.20.

After the race Martin Green confirmed: “Second cross-country fixture at Wrexham on a glorious winter’s day, ran surprisingly well considering I’ve been tired all week. Great as always to catch up with all my running buddies. Hopefully they will build some strength over the winter before the marathon block starts.”

Road Runners brave waterlogged conditions at Conwy Parkrun

Report by Don Hale.

There were just a handful of Road Runners at the Conwy Parkrun last Saturday morning due to a clash of other fixtures as 240 brave social and club athletes welcomed bright and sunny weather as they tackled the waterlogged 5k riverside course from the RSPB Nature Reserve.

And the highlight of the day was NWRRC athlete Mark Davies continuing to build back fitness following a devastating accident, with a great new course PB of 34.50, knocking well over a minute from his previous fastest.

Stuart Culverhouse dashed through the numerous puddles following the previous night’s downpour, to finish 10th overall in 20 mins 17 seconds and he won his VM50 age cat.

In addition, Richard Scamans continued his rapid improvement to record a good time of 22.33 in 30th place, whilst veteran Tony Gibson enjoyed another excellent performance, finishing 77th in 26.16 and 3rd VM65.

Gwennan Charlton was 117th with a new course PB in 28.10, and master vet Rob Fryer won his VM70 in 129th place in 29.05. Hannah Griffith finished 138th in 29.29, and partially-sighted runner Daniel Owens was 253rd in 45.46.

*The first finisher at Conwy Parkrun was VM35 Aled Hughes (GOG Triathlon) in 17.49, with VM40 Ian Mayhew, (Helsby RC) 2nd on his course debut in 17.54, and in 3rd place was another debutant SM30 Nathan James, (Chester RR) in 18.39.
*The 1st female was SW20 Emily Hanlon (5th overall), in 19.14, whilst in 2nd place was SW25 Lisa Allsup, (53rd), in 24.36, with SM30 Rebecca Elliott 3rd (66th) in 25.31.

*Plaudits were given to the run director and to all the volunteers and marshalls, and this is a link to the provisional results: https://www.parkrun.org.uk/conwy/results/latestresults/

Other race results

Greenfield: Mark Jessett was the 1st finisher at the Greenfield Valley Parkun at Holywell last Saturday on his course debut in 18.55, and he also won his age cat.
Rickmansworth: Harry Driscoll finished 5th overall on his course debut at the Rickmansworth Aquadrome parkrun and won his SM20 age cat in 18.33.
Charlotte Rose Wilton-Jones ran with her friends Alison May and Hope Carter at the gruelling Tough Mudder 6k plus challenge last Saturday in 50.28.
Penrhyn: Gwennan Charlton and her children took part in the Penrhyn Castle Dark Run on Saturday night.