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Showing posts from January, 2023

Special fundraising page for hit and run victim Mark Davies – an internationally acclaimed ultra-distance mountain runner.

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Special fundraising page for hit and run victim Mark Davies – an internationally acclaimed ultra-distance mountain runner.   Report by Don Hale.   Mark Davies a long serving member of North Wales Road Running Club was the unfortunate victim of a hit and run accident close to his home at Llanrhos last Saturday night (28th January) and is currently fighting for his life at Stoke Mandeville Hospital after suffering life threatening injuries. The talented endurance athlete is an internationally acclaimed award winner who just a few weeks ago won a prestigious Special Achievement prize at the Sports Conwy Awards ceremony for his exceptional performances both overseas and in the UK for his ultra-mountain running exploits. Mark, however, is self-employed, and obviously at present, he is unable to work, so his friends, supporters, and clubmates at NWRRC, have just set-up a special GoFundMe page to help raise some money for his family. Mark (48) and his wife Leanne are both well-known around Ll

Road Runners back to their best as Conwy parkrun returns.

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*Stuart Culverhouse (*above) was the first NWRRC runner at Conwy. Road Runners back to their best as Conwy parkrun returns. Report by Don Hale. Photos by Steve Jeffery.   North Wales Road Runners celebrated with six podium places including four first place age category wins at Conwy parkrun last Saturday. Following the return to action after last week’s postponement due to heavy frost on the course, the Road Runners entered nine senior members and one junior amongst the 218 finishers, with the usual mix of quality club and social runners. It proved to be a very fast encounter, and at the time of writing the first-place finisher remained unknown as they probably forgot their essential barcode, so the credit went to  Andrew Bromley  (Prestatyn RC) in 2nd place with a great course PB of 17 minutes and 28 seconds, with club colleague  Alex Ryder  3rd with another well-deserved PB in 17.45. The first female runner was  Alison Campbell  (Sheffield University) in 18.32, with  Anna Drinkwater

Two top spots for the GOG's at North Wales cross country meeting at Eirias Park.

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*Dan Willings (*pictured above) was the first GOG member home. Ten GOG Triathlon members competed at the North Wales Cross-Country league meeting at Eirias Park, Colwyn Bay, last Saturday despite a very muddy and challenging course, where once again, veteran athlete Ann d’Alburquerque was the star of the team winning her veteran age category. It’s the first time since October 2010 that this senior league fixture has been staged at this venue, and the tough course certainly brought back many mixed memories for experienced athletes, and the event probably attracted a few more local club runners than expected due to the Conwy parkrun being cancelled just a few hours before due to a heavy frost. *Ann d'Alburquerque (*above) won her FV70 age cat at Eirias Park. Ann soon showed many of her rivals a clean pair of heels despite very challenging conditions and ran home an easy winner of her FV70 age cat in just 46 minutes and 12 seconds in 92nd place overall, and  Helen MacArthur  also cla

North Wales Cross-Country League meeting at Eirias Park, Colwyn Bay.

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GRAND PRIX EXPRESS:  “David Alun Williams”  NORTH WALES CROSS COUNTRY SENIOR LEAGUE.  Special report  courtesy  of Bernie Jones, the secretary/referee from the meeting at Eirias Park, Colwyn Bay on Saturday 21st  January 2023.  (*Bernie Jones is pictured below).     A big thank you to Russell Godwin, Crispin Backshall, and to all of the Colwyn Bay marshalls and volunteers who helped set up the course in difficult conditions, and put on a great penultimate  David Alun Williams  North Wales Senior Cross Country League for 2022/23.  Whilst the youngsters were back at Eirias Park last year, it was fantastic to see the senior league back in Eirias Park, and I have a few special memories of my own running on the fantastic course.  Yes, it may have been a slightly different course (and a bit longer than indicated on the course maps!!) but for those with good memories the senior league was last at Eirias Park on  10th October 2010,  but Eirias Park will always be a testing course regardless of

MURDER IN THE GRAVEYARD - Award winning BBC documentary

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Two podium places for the Road Runners at rare NW cross-country fixture...plus 3rd place cat win for Kelly at half-marathon.

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*Some members of the NWRRC team at Eirias Park (l-r) Gwennan Charlton, Tessa Bushnell, Mike Hayton, Kay Hatton, Helen Hannam and Nicola Wylie. Two podium places for the Road Runners at rare NW cross-country fixture...plus 3rd place cat win for Kelly at Heaton Park half-marathon. Report by Don Hale. Most photos by Steve Jeffery. The Road Runners claimed two excellent podium places at the North Wales cross-country league meeting at Eirias Park, Colwyn Bay, last Saturday, despite a very muddy and challenging course. It’s the first time since October 2010 that this senior league fixture has been staged at this venue, and the tough course certainly brought back many mixed memories for experienced athletes. The event probably attracted a few more local club runners than expected due to Conwy parkrun being cancelled due to heavy frost just a few hours before. NWRRC entered eleven members and  Josh Keogh  was the pick of the team in the Senior Men’s race, finishing 5th overall out of 122 quali

Simon Cole leads the field and the GOGs home at Conwy parkrun's soggy birthday dash.

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Simon Cole leads the field and the GOGs home at Conwy parkrun's soggy birthday dash. Report by Don Hale.    Talented athlete Simon Cole was the first GOG Triathlon member - and the first male runner home - at last Saturday’s Conwy parkrun despite some atrocious conditions underfoot and a dark drizzly morning. He led a large contingent of club and social runners back along a waterlogged 5k course with seventeen GOG’s also helping the parkrun to celebrate its 8th anniversary. The club later recorded six podium places including three age category victories. Simon also won his MV40 age cat in 18 minutes and 23 seconds and finished some 25 seconds ahead of his 4th placed club rival  Alun Brown  who was 2nd in the same age cat in 18.48.  Graeme Tunstall  was 22nd in 22.29, with  Andy Jones  26th in 22.35. Lizzie Irvine  was the first GOG female runner finishing 33rd overall, the 2nd female runner, and she was 1st in her VW35 cat in 23.41; whilst  Merf Jones  also finished well in 47th pl

Glittering trophy night for North Wales Road Runners.

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*Pictured above - the NWRRC prize winners at last Saturday's awards night. Glittering trophy night for North Wales Road Runners. Report by Don Hale. Group photo by Ian Turner.   There was a large turn-out of club members, officials, and guests at the North Wales Road Running Club’s presentation evening, held last Saturday night, at the North Wales Golf Club in Llandudno. This was the first time in a several years that the club has been able to celebrate such a glittering occasion due to pandemic restrictions, and this time many newcomers, and much improved club athletes, became the recipients of numerous impressive awards. The evening included a special dinner at the 19th Hole restaurant followed by the presentation and a disco. The awards were handed out by the hard-working NWRRC club chairman Kevin Slattery, with praise also given to Martin Green, who was the results and points co-ordinator, in addition to many club officials, and fellow members, who had all helped to make this e

Pat Finnie wins silver sprint medal at the North Wales Indoor championships at Deeside.

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Pat Finnie wins silver sprint medal at the North Wales Indoor championships at Deeside... Report by Don Hale.   NWRRC member Pat Finnie won a deserved silver medal last Sunday at the North Wales Indoor Track and Field championships held at the Deeside Leisure Centre.  Pat also claimed a great new PB of just 11.02 seconds for his 60m dash, finished 2nd overall and he also won his age MV65 age category. The race was won by MV60 athlete  Martin Weetman  (Menai T&F) in 8.56, with MV75 master veteran  Robin  Frost  3rd in 15.60.  This improved Pat’s time from 11.35 seconds at Sport City last year. After the race a jubilant Pat admitted: “I wasn’t going to go because I had a slight hamstring strain from my last day of training day on Thursday, but I thought I would have a complete rest until Sunday and hope for the best. “I did a gentle warm up and a few stretches before the race. The race went really smooth and my leg did pull, but I just ignored it and concentrated on getting over the

Anniversary parkrun success at Conwy despite tough weather conditions.

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  *Steve Mason led the NWRRC team home at the Conwy parkrun. Anniversary parkrun success at Conwy despite tough weather conditions and challenging course... Report by Don Hale. Photos by Steve Jeffery.   There was a tremendous turn-out of some 200 mixed ability entrants at the Conwy parkrun last Saturday morning, and they all helped to celebrate their 8th anniversary, despite very wet and blustery conditions. Many runners additionally wore unique themed costumes for this special birthday event but later probably wished they had also taken their wellies to help cope with this challenging and puddle-filled 5k course. GOG Triathlete  Simon Cole  was the first runner home overall, and won his MV40 age cat in just 18 minutes and 23 seconds, with  Aled Hughes  2nd, and just twelve seconds behind Simon in 18.35. NWRRC’s  Carla Green  was the 1st female runner and the VW50 cat winner in 22.33, with  Lizzie Irvine  (GOG Triathlon) 2nd in 23.41, and  Katie Cotton (Long Eaton) 3rd in 23.54.  *Ste