North Wales team manager presents his match report from the Telford 10k race.

TELFORD 10K - exclusive match report courtesy of NW road race team manager Paul Brooks from NWRAC.

So, the final opportunity for the North Wales road running athletes to represent the Region was on 11th December, at the Telford 10km. This race is advertised as England’s fastest and has a justifiable reputation for not only having a fast, traffic-free course but a field of exceptionally quick athletes. 
However, a mixture of injuries and unavailability (including four withdrawals in the week before the race) meant two men, Andy Bromley and Nick Brook, were co-opted into the men’s team literally hours before the start.
The day was cold, with temperatures hovering around zero and just below, but the course had been gritted both the day before and in places on the morning of the race, so was declared safe to go ahead.
However, it started to snow during wave one and turned into a heavy downfall as the morning progressed, gradually stopping towards the end of wave three. To illustrate the quality of the entry, the men’s overall winner was Alexander Lepretre of Highgate Harriers in 28.53, while the women’s title went to Samantha Harrison (Notts A.C.) in 31:10.

*North Wales athletes Luke Northall (*above left) and Martin Green.

Men’s Race

Our first NW finisher was Ryan Davis (Wrexham) in 30:50. Ryan has been in superb form this year, but it was a pleasant surprise to see him not only run a new PB, but record a time that elevates him into #8th= on the NWRAC all-time list and #7th on the senior men’s rankings. Luke Northall (Wrexham) was next in, finishing in 33:19, some ten-seconds faster than his time here last year, a good performance.
Martin Green (NWRRC) recorded 34:32; he has been concentrating on longer distances this year – including a 2:31:19 marathon at Wrexham and a second placing at the Anglesey half marathon in 72:10 – and this was only his second 10km in 2022 and one he worked hard to achieve. Andy Bromley (Wallasey) ran his second-fastest time of the year in 34:29 and debutant Nic Brook (Eryri) ran 35:09, just one second outside his PB.

*North Wales athletes Andrew Bromley (*above left) and Nick Brook, and pictured (*below left) Amie Smith (Bagnall), with Rachel Shipley.

Women’s Race

The women’s race saw a strong team from the North, including debutant Martha Owen (Deeside), who all finished inside 41 minutes. It was Martha who led the team home in a new p.b. of 37:31, in what was only her second-ever 10km and hopefully just the first of many appearances in the team. 
Next in was Jennifer (“pocket rocket”) Rambaldi (Buckley); she ran a PB. here last year in 39:47 and set a huge new best again here in 38:31. 
This moves her into the all-time F35 NWRAC rankings at #8th. Not far behind was Gemma Moore (Eryri) in 38:39, who, despite having Covid a week earlier, was another setting a new PB here and a time which ranks her in the all-time NWRAC F35 list at #9th. 
Tracy Rogers (Buckley) was a little disappointed with her 39:11, but this was still a good performance. Amie Smith (Bagnall) had serious problems with a stitch with caused her to slow down to a mere trot at the halfway point, but she battled on to finish in 39:50. Our final finisher was Rachel Shipley (Abergele), who also struggled with the conditions and finished in 40:01.

*Some members of the talented North Wales team (*above) with the photo taken by NW team manager Paul Brooks (l-r), Martha Owen, Jennifer Rambaldi, Andrew Bromley, Tracy Rogers, Ryan Davis, Rachel Shipley, Martin Green, Amie Bagnall, Nic Brook, and Gemma Moore.

*Many of the other action photos were taken by Alun Vaughan.