Drama for NW athlete Rhian Roxburgh and Team GB in Sweden

Report by Don Hale

https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com

North Wales athlete Rhian Roxburgh and colleagues representing Team GB in Sweden last week during the gruelling ‘One Water Race,’ were forced to pull out of the competition along with eight other international teams, due to time delays and freezing conditions, which forced multiple medical evacuations – including two by helicopter!

Rhian, a popular and well-known local triathlete, coach and endurance athlete with GOG Triathlon, was selected by Team Great Britain to take on this extraordinary challenge for the first time ever, with fellow experienced athletes Gaz Roberts, Chris Goodfellow and support from Mike Alexander.

They were pitched against nine other rival teams from Australia, France, Canada, Sweden, plus other combined nations teams during a gruelling event scheduled to last for about 60-hours non-stop over 5 varied stages.

The One Water is called the ‘World’s Toughest Endurance Race’ for a good reason, and last week’s event proved one of the most dramatic on record.

It is a race like no other, including a gruelling 250-kilometer journey through the Stockholm Archipelago, combining running, swimming, and orienteering with no breaks for days on end.

Rhian was part of Team 4, and their final results indicate they completed about 109 kms with a 68% run and a 32% swim ratio over 29 hrs before being pulled from the race, along with others.

Immediately after leaving the race, Rhian explained: “Eight teams haven’t finished, including six teams that were stopped due to medical conditions. One member of team 10 had a wasp sting and was allergic so went into Anaphylactic shock and was taken to hospital by ambulance.

“Three others had to stop because of Adema and breathing difficulties, one stopped as their team member had a fever, and another one was cut short on time, like us, and one couldn’t finish because of GI issues.

“We were told to finish as we were much slower than the winners, but we had an amazing adventure, disappointed not to have got to the point where we were challenging ourselves finished with too much energy!”

Founder of this event, Thomas Ogander, later confirmed: “This was the most dramatic race we’ve ever staged. The cold, the intensity, and the many medical emergencies show just how brutal this challenge is.

“At the same time, we witnessed an epic battle between two of the world’s strongest teams.”

And the event organisers confirmed: “Only two out of ten teams crossed the finish line, as freezing conditions led to multiple medical evacuations. This race pushed human limits like never before – with scientists capturing real-time data on how the body endures extreme cold, exhaustion, and sleep deprivation.

“After 54 hours and 21 minutes, and 250 km of nonstop running, swimming, and navigating through the Stockholm archipelago, Team 6 Sweden/Australia claimed victory. It is their third win after previous triumphs in 2022 and 2024 – in what is already being called the most extreme edition in race history.

“Just under two hours later, Team 1 Australia reached the finish line. It was their fourth participation in One Water Race, and they have managed to reach the podium every single time – this time securing second place.”

Despite her dramatic adventure, on returning home Rhian said: “We made a mistake at the start to the first checkpoint. We made it there but couldn’t find the buoy, so, confidence was low, and we lost trust in our position, so, we went back and forth trying to find where we were on the map. Little did we know that we were only a 100m away from the buoy but just didn’t see it. Our mistake at the beginning cost us a few hours. We were moving slower than the other teams because we just didn’t have the orienteering skills which we needed so our map reading was slower than it should have been. We lost a lot of time and knew that the leaders were flying. There is an 8-hour rule, where if you are behind the leaders by that much come stage 4, then you will get pulled from the race.

“Sadly, we got pulled at 29 hrs. We’d covered 75km of running and many km of swimming. Much less than we’d have hoped, but it was an amazing event, and we all feel honoured to have been a part of it.”

The overall results: Team 6 Sweden/Australia won in 54 hr and 15mins, Team 1 Australia came second.

The other results read like a casualty list: Team 3 Swe DNF fever; Team 8 Swe DNF Adema; Team 7 USA DNF time; Team 2 USA/ France Adema; Team 10 Swe wasp sting – Anaphylactic shock – helicopter to hospital; Team 5 France/ Swe sickness/ GI issues, and couldn’t take on fuel; Team 4 GBR time; Team 9: Can/Aus Adema (helicopter) hospital, teams stopped due to medical. One member of team 10 had a wasp sting and was allergic, so went into anaphylactic shock was taken to hospital by ambulance.

Young athletes star at North Wales parkruns

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

There were some fast times and several top three finishes for young male and female athletes at various parkruns across North Wales last Saturday morning.

With the fine weather and dry conditions continuing for the past few weeks, it was the turn of several promising youngsters to show their more experienced rivals a clean pair of heels.

William Delamere was perhaps pick of the bunch, where the JM15-17 athlete was the first runner home at the Newborough Forest parkrun in just 17 minutes and 31 seconds, and sister Lucy Delamere also ran well as the third female in the same event, with the JW11-14 athlete recording another good time of 21.55.

Fred Reese was another fine junior athlete on the Old Railway Trail at Llangollen, where he too was first finisher with another excellent time of 17.58 on his course debut, and Deri Hockley (Eryri Harriers), made it a hat-trick of first finishers, when he ran home at the Penrhyn Castle parkrun with a new course PB of 18.04.

Meanwhile, JW10 athlete Sienna Jones made her debut at the same venue as Fred, and she too finished well as the second female in 22.11, whilst JM15-17 athlete, Ciaran Roberts finished as the second male finisher at the Ruthin parkun in 20.46.

Gdansk, Dunstable Downs and Bridport

Some local athletes on their travels this week included identical twins Karen and Amanda Durber, who made their debuts at the Park Ronalda Reagana parkrun in Gdansk, Poland, and completed the course together in 103rd/104th places in 28.57.

Father and son Stuart and Joe Culverhouse (NWRRC) made their debuts at Dunstable Downs parkrun with both athletes winning their respective age cats. Stuart finished 4th overall in 20.33 and won his VM50 cat, and Joe was 15th and top JM11-14 in 22.43. 

Mike Hayton (NWRRC) meanwhile, ran at the St Mary’s parkrun at Bridport in Dorset, and finished 150th on his course debut and 3rd VM75.

Prestatyn

There was a good turnout of 320 mixed ability athletes at the Nova parkrun, where visitor Scott Harrington (Otley AC), was first finisher on debut in 16.34, with Tom Carter (Prestatyn RC) second despite a great new PB in 16.58, and Matthew Baker was third with another new PB in 17.14. 

A very close-run event for the ladies saw just three seconds separating the first three finishers with Eve Manifold (Prestatyn RC) finally taking the honours in 21.39 (27th overall), visitor Katy Wallymahmed (March Lane Harriers) second on her debut in 21.41 (28th) and Jade Philips clocked 22.42 in third.

Penrhyn Castle

Young JM15-17 athlete Deri Hockley claimed a new course PB at the Penrhyn Castle parkrun in 18.04, with Andrew Douce second in 18.52, and Lawrence Hopey finished third with a new PB in 19.32.

Visitor Hazelle Webster-Costella (Jarrow & Hebburn AC) was first female finisher (19th overall), on her course debut at Penrhyn in 21.43, with Carla Green (NWRRC) in hot pursuit, and a narrow second (21st) in 21.48, whilst Ellie Evans (Cybi Striders) took the third spot (29th), in 22.35. Nia Lister from NWRRC was 115th in 27.31, and there were 267 finishers.

Newborough

JM15-17 athlete William Delamare recorded a fast 17.31 at the Newborough Forest parkrun, ahead of Adam Roberts (Parc Bryn Bach RC), second despite a new PB of 18.22, and he was only ten seconds ahead of Andy Woodhead, in third place in 18.32.

First female was Trang Nguyen (Blackheath & Bromley Harriers), with a new course PB of 21.10 (17th overall), with visitor Rachel Bailey (Bolton Utd Harriers) second on her course debut (21st) in 21.50, and JW11-14 junior Lucy Delamere was third (23rd) in 21.55. There were 311 finishers.