Special meeting at Aberdare track despite cancellation of WMAL T&F Championships.

By Don Hale


*Left to right – Iris Holder, Roger Garland, Mel Garland, Dorothy Fraser, and Pat Gallagher.

Special meeting at Aberdare track despite cancellation of WMAL T&F Championships...

Report from Roger Garland - Welsh Masters at Aberdare: A very special “meeting” took place at The Ron Jones Stadium in Aberdare last summer.


The Welsh Masters T&F Championships should have been held there on Saturday 29th July, but due to a shortage of officials/helpers the event was cancelled.

However, as Mel and I had already booked hotel accommodation near Aberdare, we decided to go along anyway, for a training session at the Aberdare track.

When we were joined by a few other people, we realised we had assembled a small group that comprised several of the most successful Welsh Masters female athletes of all time!

Collectively, these ladies have amassed over 200 (yes, over two hundred!) Welsh Masters, British Masters, European Masters and World Masters medals.

Roger Garland.
Don Hale is a former award winning investigative journalist and now a best-selling author who has created a very popular blog post linked to numerous social media sites. donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025.

Comments

Post a Comment

Your comments are welcomed

Most recent posts

Hot pace at Rhos after a frosty start for plenty of visitors.

By Don Hale
Image
*Some of the many hard working volunteers at the Llandrillo  yn Rhos parkrun Hot pace at Rhos after a frosty start for plenty of visitors. Report by Don Hale donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2026 coastandcountry.blog   It was bright and sunny following a heavy early morning frost at the Llandrillo yn Rhos parkrun last Saturday, which also commemorated International Women’s Day. And there was another bumper turn-out by club and local athletes, plus plenty of visitors, who this week enjoyed an almost sand-free 5k promenade course. Nicolas Seguin  was the first finisher from 386 entrants, with a new PB in 17.41, and his talented JW15-17 daughter  Tamsin Seguin  (Menai T&F) made it a family double as the first female finisher (16th overall), with an excellent run in 19.45.  Harry Driscoll   (Meirionnydd RC) was the second male finisher in 17.55, with visitor  John Myers  (Helsby RC) third on his debut in 17.58. For the ladies, with  Tamsin ...
Read more

Track champion Steve finished second at the Welsh Duathlon championships

By Don Hale
Image
*Steve Gardner (*above left) on the podium with Tim Parfitt and Steven Gee. Track champion Steve finished second at the Welsh Duathlon championships. donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2026 coastandcountry.blog International track champion Steve Gardner finished as the runner-up on the podium in the prestigious Welsh Sprint Duathlon Championships at Pembroke last Sunday. The NWRRC member, and GB track athlete, who was representing his second claim club GOG Triathlon, competed in a 5k run, a 21k cycle race, followed by a final 2.5k dash, and he finished second overall with an excellent combined time of 1 hour 12 minutes and 31 seconds. After his event, Steve confirmed:  “Just a note to let you know I competed for GOG Triathlon Club today, finishing in 2nd place; 1st place went to  Tim Parfitt  in a time 1 hour 12 mins and 31 seconds, and the 3rd spot went to  Steven Gee  in 1 hour 13 mins and 17 seconds.  “There was only 46 seconds between the three of us, so it was a...
Read more

Road Runners galloped home at the Chester 10k races

By Don Hale
Image
*Pictured above - Vicky Taylor with Mandy Owen and Kelly Alford at Chester. Road Runners galloped home at the Chester 10k races Report by Don Hale. donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2026 coastandcountry.blog Five North Wales Road Runners completed  amongst a very large field of some 7,315 entrants at the Chester 10k race last Sunday, and they all performed well and recorded some noteworthy finishing times. Veteran  Jon Evans  was in top form, and he finished strong in a good chip time of 47 minutes and 44 seconds, and he led the team home with  Molly Evans  next in 49.32.   *Jon Evans (*above left) with  master vet Rob Fryer. And it was good to see  Kelly Alford  back in action again, and she also enjoyed her run in 49.38; with master vet  Rob Fryer  continuing his purple patch in 54.59; and  Vicky Taylor  ran home in 77.12.  *And there were plaudits too for  Mandy Owen  who finished in 66.17.
Read more

Tough Pipe Dream race for Fell Runners

By Don Hale
Image
*Pictured above - a race marshal  directs Adam Lemalle and a pack of runners along this challenging fell run route. Tough Pipe Dream race for Fell Runners Report by Don Hale. Photos courtesy of Dougie  Graham. donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2026 coastandcountry.blog The tough Dolgarrog Pipe Dream Fell Race attracted some 165 finishers to their annual challenge last Saturday, which was part of the WFRA short championships, and won by Kieran Wynne-Cattanach (Eryri Harriers) following a great effort over this 6.8k course in just 33 minutes and 52 seconds. He was followed by  Gavin Roberts  (Calder Vale RR) in 34.10, and  Rhys Goodrick  (Vegan Runners) in 35.02.  And the first female finisher,  Bronwen Jenkinson  (29th overall) secured a unique double victory for  Eryri Harriers , with another fine performance in 41.06, whilst  Suzie Richards  claimed the runner-up spot in 42.57 (34th overall), with  Jessica Evans (36th overall), an...
Read more

So What's Wrong With Dreaming? Author Richard John Campbell MBE - Special Coast and Country book review/promotion.

By Don Hale
Image
So What's Wrong With Dreaming?   Special Coast and Country book review:  Run in conjunction with: donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2026 *This is a direct link to Amazon books:   https://amzn.to/40LHDn7 Featuring author Richard John Campbell MBE, and his latest book - So What's Wrong with Dreaming? Born into a family struggling, like so many, from the after-effects of the Second World War; where the home was poor and shared by seven people, all packed into a small Victorian semi. With a father who had been in the Navy but having left our family home, permanently a month before I was born, I was ill-prepared for my future schooldays; days which were mostly very stressful, and at times traumatic.  A time when I, mostly, felt insecure at best and totally humiliated at worst; though, surprisingly, some good did come out of it. Once I had finished with school, I became determined to avoid the future expectations of my family and take every opportunity to, hopefully, build a life t...
Read more

Road Runners won several surprise championship medals in Anglesey races.

By Don Hale
Image
*Pictured above - Welsh championship half-marathon medal winners Kay Hatton and Cheryl Frost from NWRRC. Road Runners won several surprise championship medals in Anglesey races... Report by Don Hale. donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2026   It was wild, wet, and windy for over 1,000 athletes at the Anglesey 10k and half marathon events on St David’s Day, last Sunday morning, with the majority of entrants tackling the longer race distance over a challenging new course. In the 10k event which attracted 249 runners, this race was won by  Llyr Williams  in a very good time of 35 minutes and 10 seconds, and he was just 14-seconds ahead of rival  Shaun Hughes  in 35.24, and  Jack Hughes  in 35.40.     *Above left - Stuart and Joe  Culverhouse, with Gethin Wyn Jones, and Mike Hayton. *North Wales Road Runners  collected a number of prestigious age category honours and podium places.  Young Joe Culverhouse  led the team home in 29th place ...
Read more

Update on Llandrillo yn Rhos parkrun...Works on the promenade. Good to go ahead!

By Don Hale
Image
*Pictured above - the start of a previous parkrun at Rhos on Sea. UPDATE ON LLANDRILLO YN RHOS PARKRUN. Works on the promenade. Good to go ahead!  * Special report by event co-director Richard Peevor. (See below for details: donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2026 www.facebook.com/Ypromenadparkrunllandrilloynrhos After a stressful 24 hours for our event team and after Sharon and I, our two event directors have done a course inspection tonight we feel that we can go ahead safely on Saturday. For a period of approximately eight weeks two areas of the promenade that will have semi permanent kiosks built on them have been cordened off with metal fencing. They are essentially at each end of the Cayley embankment, one near the slipway approximately 400 m from the start and the second approximately 1000m from the start. Both areas are also obviously on the return leg of the parkrun course. The second area (as you can see in the first picture below), near the Rydal boat park should not cause any pro...
Read more

The BMAF Council is calling an EGM on Wednesday 4 March 2026 at 7pm.

By Don Hale
Image
The BMAF Council is calling an EGM on Wednesday 4 March 2026 at 7pm. The meeting will be held by Zoom The motion for the meeting will be It is noted that the BMAF executive committee has a large number of vacancies and with just three members is not quorate.  In light of this, the BMAF Council will take on the responsibility of finding and appointing additional people to serve as officers on the BMAF Executive until the next AGM to ensure that the Business of the BMAF can continue. Background At the Annual General Meeting in November 2025, the meeting decided that it was not ready to endorse the winding up of the Federation and the transfer of its activities into a limited company.  Because of this too few people were willing to stand for election to the Executive Committee.  The BMAF Executive Committee currently has two elected members Walter Hill and Glen Reddington plus Jon Clarke representing England Masters.  The committee is not quorate.  The BMAF Council...
Read more

Welsh Masters Athletics - Results and photos from the EMAA Inter-area indoor event Lee Valley.

By Don Hale
Image
*The Welsh Masters Athletics relay team -  Ian Broadhurst, Andy Weetman, Michael David Smith and Brett Davis. *Andy Rushbrook and Peter Hawney after their shot put comp etition. Welsh Masters Athletics - Results and photos from the EMAA Inter-area indoor event Lee Valley... https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk Thanks to some members of Welsh Masters Athletics, I have included some photos and reports from last weekend's English Masters Athletic Association (EMAA) competition at the Lee Valley indoor stadium. This event included the Inter-area challenge championships. My thanks to Brett Davis and members of Newport Harriers for the contents. The results can be viewed on the following links.  https://www.thepowerof10.info/results/results.aspx?meetingid=673430 https://bmaf.opentrack.run/en-gb/x/2025/GBR/emaa-inter-area-indoors/event/ Brett Davis, a top international competitor, and a director of Welsh Masters Athletics said: "The results are still provi...
Read more

North Wales parkruns battered by Storm Amy but Ruthin survived! And news from Gareth and Kath Down Under!

By Don Hale
Image
  *Pictured above - Father and son - Stuart and Joe Culverhouse at Ruthin. North Wales parkruns battered by Storm Amy but Ruthin survived! And news from Gareth and Kath Down Under. Special report by Don Hale. donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025   Storm Amy forced the postponement of numerous parkruns throughout the UK last Saturday with North Wales events in particular badly affected by course flooding, heavy rain and gale force winds. Regular events at Newborough Forest, Nant y Pandy, Wepre, Penrhyn Castle, Conwy, Llangollen, Prestatyn, and Wrexham’s  Park in the Past parkruns  were all affected, with the Ruthin Memorial parkrun one of the few survivors. The Ruthin event on the Memorial Playing Fields, attracted 146 hardy runners including 74 visitors, with many travelling from far afield after searching hard to find a live parkrun, and despite the challenging conditions, ten people still recorded some very worthy personal best (PB) times. At the time of writing the name ...
Read more