Gold medals and podium places for a quartet of Road Runners at Abergele.

*Richard Eccles (*pictured above) enjoyed a good run and finished 9th in addition to winning his age cat at the Abergele 5k race.

Gold medals and podium places for a quartet of Road Runners at Abergele.

Report by Don Hale. Photos by Steve Jeffery.

https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com

www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk

Over two-hundred club and social runners competed in the Abergele 5k and 10k races on the town’s promenade last Sunday morning, where a quartet of Road Runners celebrated podium places and won two gold medals!

NWRRC entered two athletes in both the 5k, and 10 events, and they all recorded unexpected podium places, with two welcome age category victories and impressive gold medals for Richard Eccles and Don Hale in the 5k, and two third-placed finishes in their respective age cats for Steve Roberts and Mike Hayton in the latter 10k event.

   

*Richard Eccles (*above left) with Don Hale.

The races were run concurrently over a relatively flat and fast course with all participants welcoming bright sunshine after a week of problematic weather.

Richard Eccles enjoyed a great performance finishing in 9th place overall out of 88 entrants in the 5k with an excellent chip time of just 18 minutes and 36 seconds to win his MV55 age cat, and master veteran Don Hale recorded another promising result after injury to finish 33rd, and he also won his MV70 cat with a course PB of 25.05, his best time for about two years!

Steve Roberts ran well and finished 25th out of 136 entrants in the 10k, and he was 3rd in his MV55 age cat in 44.26, whilst another master vet, Mike Hayton, deservedly claimed the 3rd spot in his MV70 age cat in 59th place in 58.40. 

*Steve Roberts (*above left) with Mike Hayton.

One of Wrexham AAC’s elite runners, Connor Rogers, told Paul Brooks, the North Wales Regional team manager, just before the start of the first race, that he intended to win both distance events, starting with the 5k, and that is exactly what he did!

Following a dazzling display, Connor won the 5k in a fast chip time of 15.53, and the 10k in 34.07, to win gold medals in each race. His club colleague James Yarwood, however, pushed him hard all the way in the first race, but eventually had to settle for 2nd place, after finishing only 26-seconds adrift in 16.19. Tom Carter (Prestwich RC) took the 3rd spot overall in 16.42.

Helen Taylor (Telford AC) was the 1st female finisher in the 5k in 18.46, with Tegan Walsh (Wrexham AAC) 2nd in 23.10, and Donna Jones 3rd in 23.56.

In the 10k race with Connor Rogers, claiming 1st place overall, Nicholas Roux finished 2nd in 37.16, whilst Louise Whittingham (Wilmslow RC) finished 3rd overall, and she was also the 1st female finisher in 38.02. Meanwhile, Amanda Armstrong (Prestwich RC) finished as the 2nd female athlete in 41.47, and Michelle Gelder was 3rd in 48.56. 

*Praise was given to the race directors Chris and Tracey Yorke at RunWales, and to all the volunteers and marshals for a very enjoyable and well-organised event.

*These are the provisional results for the Abergele 5k: https://www.runwales.com/files/user_uploaded/results/535/5K%20Overall%20Results.pdf

*These are the provisional results for the Abergele 10k:

https://www.runwales.com/files/user_uploaded/results/535/10K%20Overall%20Results%20(2).pdf