Massive Christmas Day attendances at Rhos and Nova parkruns

Report by Don Hale. Photos at Rhos by Danielle Peevor, Dougie Graham and others

donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025

It was another fantastic event and a new attendance record at the Llandrillo yn Rhos Parkrun, held for the first time on Christmas Day, with over 600 finishers on a bitterly cold but bright morning, and it was similar at the Nova Parkrun with over 300 entrants.

Elite athletes, and club members from near and far, together with local runners and walkers – and many in festive attire – created a warm and friendly atmosphere despite the freezing temperatures.

Adam Jones was the first finisher overall in a very fast PB time of just 16 minutes and 2 seconds, and he was just one second down on the course record set the previous week by Connor Rogers (Wrexham AAC).

Emily Hanlon (GOG Triathlon) smashed her own and the female event record for the second week in succession, with another dazzling display finishing in second place overall, and a new PB 17 minutes and
13 seconds, to win her SW20 age cat. Third finisher was visitor Julian Ayres (Tri smart) on his debut in 17.43.

Event stats show six out of the first 10 finishers were newcomers, and the same applied to the female finishers. Second female was Gemma Moore (Eryri Harriers) with a new course PB in 18.28, and young F15-17 visitor Tamsin Seguin (Menai T&F) was third on debut in 19.20.

Llandrillo yn Rhos Parkrun director Richard Peevors was delighted by the festive turn-out and proud of his RD team and volunteers. He said: “Wow! What a morning! Well done to our volunteers! It far exceeded our expectation (and tokens). We had paper tokens to 800 so we didn’t run out.

“We did however have a fairly big discrepancy between finish times given out 625-628 to finish tokens given out 580. That could mean funnel duckers or duplicate times. Thanks to the people posting their details I’ve been able to move the gaps into the field to get people to as close to their times as possible.

“The order of finishers are correct. Your token numbers will differ from the finish result number, but the time will be closer. Please remember this is a free fun run!”

Local athletic and social clubs were well represented at Rhos, with NWRRC entering 12 members, GOG Triathlon fielding 20 and 12 Porth Eirias Runners, to name but a few.

North Wales Runners included: Stuart Culverhouse 26th and 3rd VM50 PB 19.41; James Jones 27th on debut in 19.44; Joe Culverhouse 31st and 1st JM15-17 in 19.54; Karl Morris 89th, PB 22.31; Richard Scamans 141st in 24.11; master vet Rob Fryer 223rd and 2nd VM70 with PB 26.09; fellow master vet Don Hale 280th in 27.26; Alan Davies 298th and PB 27.48; super vet Mike Hayton 386th and 1dt VM75 in 29.46; three course debutants: Helen Hannam 391st in 29.56; Vicky Taylor 396th in 30.04; with Nia Lister tail-walking in 597th place oin 46.15.

All members of the Culverhouse family competed, with young Sophia claiming a new course PB in 193rd place and 2nd JW15-17 in 25.34, mum Lucy ran well in 453rd place in 32.36, to add to Stuart and Joe’s
excellent performances.

Emily Hanlon was first GOG finisher in third overall and first female in new course record and course PB in
17.13; with Andy Jones 9th overall on debut in 18.46 as the second club finisher, Steven Owen third and 37th overall in 20.21. Michelle Farrell 119th in 23.38, and her husband John made his course debut despite injury, placings 146th in 24.13. Female super vet Liz Evans won her VW75 age cat on her course debut at Rhos in 192nd place in 24.48.

Other local runners of note included: 11th Morgan Kendall (Meirionnydd RC) on his course debut in 18.57; Josh Mottram (Colwyn Bay) 50th and 1st SM18 age cat in 20.58; 51st Nic Brook (Eryri Harriers) PB in 20.59; In 53rd and 54th places were son and father Freddie and Chris Spillane (Colwyn Bay) both PBs – Freddie 21.02 and Chris 21.07; Jasper McQueen (Porth Eirias Runners) 70th in 22.02; Laura McKenzie (Betws Runaways) 78thPB in 22.17; Darren Dentith 98th in 22.49; Arwel Lewis (Eryri Harriers) 102nd CD in 23.07; Tony Parvin 122nd and 2nd VM65 in 23.40; Peter Johnson 179th PB 25.16; Charlotte Ward (Porth Eirias Runners) 211th PB in 25.58; Bethan Wyn Jones (341st place in 28.38) and Amanda Durber (one place and one second behind) ran well together on their CDs. Course first-timer Rachel Morris was 526th in 35.40.
This is a link to the provisional results from the Christmas Day Llandrillo yn Rhos parkrun:
https://www.parkrun.org.uk/ypromenadllandrilloynrhos/results/latestresults/

PRESTATYN

Aaron Dodwell won the Nova Parkrun at Prestatyn on Christmas Day with a very good time of 18.16, but it became a close contest with visiting rival Ewan Edmonson just one second and one place adrift, whilst another debutant in teenager Thomas Watkiss took the third spot in 19.18.

Visitor Laura Trigg was first female in (37th) place overall), with her sister Bethan Trigg second (40th) with a new course PB in 23.41, and Harriet Drury third (45th) on CD in 23.59.

Host club, Prestatyn RC, had 27 members involved and first club man home was Alex Ryder in 6th place in
19.57, with Jonathan Puleston-Jones a close 7th in 20.10, and teenager Oliver Birch-Jones 11th in 20.52.

Jenna Bagnall was first club female and fourth overall (46th), in 24.02, whilst Eve Manifold was second (52nd) in 24.19 and Lisa Lines 3rd (90th) in 27.10.

Oer local runners of note: 28th Simon Nixon (Denbigh Harriers) 1st VM65 age cat with a fast 22.04; Christine Wyn Jones (Deeside) was 96th and 1st VW65 in 27.29 and Darren Griss (NWRRC) took 113th in 28.09; with Daniel Huws 293rd as a tail walker in 48.05. There were 306 finishers at Nova.

CHELTENHAM

North Wales Road Running couple Ben and Sarah Hudson made their debuts in the Christmas Day parkrun at Pittville Park, Cheltenham, amongst nearly 1,000 entrants. Ben finished in 119th place
in 22.04, with Sarah 233rd and 4th VW45 in 24.29.

AUSTRALIA

Gareth and Kath Southworth continued their travels in Australia with another fine display at the Christmas Day event at Surfers Paradise parkrun at Hota – the home of the arts – on Australia’s Gold Coast.

Gareth, representing Cybi Striders, finished a highly creditable 24th overall in 24.45, and was 2nd VM60, whilst Kath enjoyed her run in 133rd place in 49.27.