Road Runners battled the course and weather at Snowdonia Marathon...plus other race news and results.

*Runners on the road during the Snowdonia Marathon (l-r) Kelly Alford, Cai Roberts, Mandy Owen and Vicky Taylor.

Road Runners battled the course and weather at Snowdonia Marathon....plus other race results & news.

Report by Don Hale.

 

Ten members of North Wales Road Running Club completed the gruelling Snowdonia Marathon last Saturday despite battling a very tough course and some extremely challenging weather conditions that included driving rain and gusty winds, with two other runners forced to drop through injuries and sheer exhaustion.

Ben Hudson was the first club man home and he finished in 263rd place in 3.53.35, and John Dalzell, also had an excellent run in 3 hours 56 minutes and 21 seconds. He was closely followed by Karl Morris in 303rd place in 3.57.56, and this was Karl's 7th running of this event. And colleague Sarah Ferguson Hudson, another top endurance and ultra-distance athlete was the 46th female finisher, and 326th overall, in 4.00.31. Stuart Culverhouse finished in 408th place in 4.08.37, with Charlotte-Rose Wilton-Jones the 107th female, in 573rd place overall in 4.24.32.

*Ben and Sarah Hudson (*above) enjoyed good runs last weekend.

*Hannah Griffith (*above left) and her sister Siwan Kalatzi enjoy a cuppa, and (*below), cheers as Kelly, Mandy and Vicky stop for some welcome refreshments.

Hannah Griffith ran around the course with her sister Siwan Kalatzi and the pair finished strongly together with Hannah being the 354th female and 1,302nd overall in 5.37.01, with Siwan recording 5.36.58, and she finished just one place ahead.

Cai Roberts ran with his partner Kelly Alford and club colleague Vicky Taylor, with all seemingly enjoying their runs which apparently included some welcome light refreshment enroute. Cai finished in 1,326th place in 5.38.25, with Kelly and Vicky sharing the same time and consecutive places.

*Charlotte-Rose Wilton-Jones dodging the showers.

Afterwards, although everyone praised the support and marshalling, the race attracted some mixed comments and reaction from the NWRRC participants.

Comments from the NWRRC runners: - John Dalzell said he was going well until the latter stages when he started to cramp-up from the very wet conditions just after the 23-mile marker and admitted he was exhausted and just glad to finish.

Sarah Ferguson Hudson confirmed: “I would be lying if I didn’t say there is a little part of me that is gutted that I couldn’t quite get under 4 hours – but I had nothing more - but mostly there is a huge part of me that is over the Moon with that time on that course! To be honest I can’t quite believe it! Trouble is now you know I’m definitely going to have to do it again!”

And Stuart Culverhouse seemed disappointed with his efforts, saying: “A really poor run today! I was going well until about mile-18 and was just glad to finish! My 3rd time of running this race and my worst time! Time for a rest!”

*NWRRC members pictured (*above) at the finish of the race (l-r) Cai Roberts, Kelly Alford, Hannah Griffith, Siwan Kalatzi and Vicky Taylor.

*Charlotte-Rose Wilton Jones explained: “That was a tough one! Snowdonia Marathon completed but my legs are killing me. A fantastic event, and glad I did it!” 

Hannah Griffith ran with her sister Siwan Kalatzi and said: “The race included the most stunning scenery, and the marshals were fantastic. We had support from our cycling hubbies Steffan Andrew Griffith and Manolis Kalatzi, and lots of laughter and chat with some lovely runners we must along the way which made the mile fly by. 

“We even had a proper cup of tea in proper China cups at mike 24! And we had an emotional finish outside the house where we grew up, and we must give a great shout out to Stephen Edwards, and everyone involved in organising a truly brilliant event.”

Unfortunately, Jamie Tharme and Mandy Owen both had to drop out of the race. 

Jamie later said: “I had a really bad back coming into this, and I wasn’t even sure I’d be starting, so just said I would see how I got on. I’m shocked to have reached 27k but just couldn’t go any further.”

Mandy added: “This was my first ever DNF. I pulled out at mile 18. I felt sick and all the stopping and starting made my legs stop working, so a minibus took us back to the start and gave us some mini bars, so that cheered me up a bit.”

*The Marathon was won by Daniel Kashi (Sale Harriers) in 2.39.52, with 2nd Rhodri Owen in 2.40.46, and 3rd place went to Michael Taylor (St Neots Riverside Runners) in 2.41.02. The Ladies race was won by Caroline Brock (Steel City Striders) in 3.13.51, with Clare Patterson 2nd in 3.19.16, and Llinos Jones (Swansea Harriers) 3rd in 3.21.52. The race had 1,658 finishers.

 *This is the link to the provisional results at the Snowdonia marathon Eryri 2022:

https://www.tdleventservices.co.uk/event-results/events?event=3838

*North Wales call up for Kay Hatton (*above left)and Richard Eccles.

*Monmouth: NWRRC veterans’ Kay Hatton and Richard Eccles have both been selected to represent North Wales at the Welsh Inter-Regions cross-country challenge in Monmouth on 19th November. The duo will form part of a large contingent of junior and senior athletes selected on merit. This is the link to the complete list to other selected runners: http://www.northwalesxc.com/.../Selection-Letter-Welsh...

*Steve Forsyth (*above left) with Williams.

*Bridgnorth: Steve Forsyth and Will Williams took part in the very hilly Bridgnorth 10k race last Sunday and both athletes won their respective age categories. Steve finished in 5th place overall and won his MV40-49 age cat in 36.23, and Will also won his MV50-59 age cat in 17th place in 39.55, and said he was pleased with a much-improved performance from the previous week at Knutsford.