Don Hale Blog

*Bernie Jones (*second row, far left, with a cap), and many members of the successful Welsh Masters team at the Great Manchester international half-marathon race. Masters Half Marathon International England v Wales Great Manchester Half Marathon Sunday 26th May 2024.   Report and photos  courtesy  of the Welsh Masters team manager Bernie Jones. The second of this year’s Masters Road Internationals was held within the Great Manchester Run Half Marathon and a small team (once again compared to England’s huge team) turned up in Manchester City Centre and achieved the best results we have so far in any of the Master internationals that we have held in the past three years.  This time the Team competition was in 10 year age groups with Wales having teams of 6 from ages 35 through to 65+. Whilst Wales were never going to trouble England in the overall Team result, we did manage to get amongst the individual medals with some great runs.   Tom Roberts, Meirionnydd was again first home for Wale

*Back to their best - Martin and Carla Green (*above), performed well for the Welsh Masters team in the Great Manchester half-marathon last Sunday. Martin and Carla Green hit top form for the Welsh Masters team in the Great Manchester half-marathon. Report by Don Hale. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com   North Wales Road Runners Martin and Carla Green both celebrated excellent performances whilst representing Wales at the Masters half-marathon international race versus England last Sunday, incorporated within the prestigious Great Manchester event, which along with the 10k race attracted over 30,000 runners. The talented couple, who have only recently returned to major competition action following a period of ill health, both recorded incredible results, and they each finished in 1st place for Wales in their respective age categories. Martin crossed the line in 65.50 and finished 4th overall in his M45-49 cat, but he was the 1st Welsh runner home in that particular category, whilst Carl

*Will Williams (*above), was the first NWRRC member back at Conwy. Depleted numbers at Conwy parkrun with many local athletes on their travels...plus other parkrun results. Report by Don Hale. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk   Due to the Bank Holiday weekend, the numbers of North Wales Road Runners entered at Conwy parkrun were somewhat depleted last Saturday, with many members opting to go on their travels to compete as visitors, at a variety of other parkruns around the UK. The results however still remained impressive despite a hot day, and mixed weather over the preceding days, which all contributed towards the usual array of challenges over this picturesque out-and-back 5k course, from the  RSPB Nature Reserve. There were just seven NWRRC entrants amongst the near 300-finishers, with  Will Williams  winning his VM50 age cat following an impressive run in 18 minutes and 22 seconds in 4th place overall, with  Steve Mason  also on good form in 9th pla

*A great victory for NWRRC member Llyr ApGeraint-Roberts at the Southport Sprint Duathlon. He is  pictured above and below, together with his medal and race number.    Llyr ApGeraint-Roberts wins the Southport Sprint Duathlon. Report by Don Hale. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk   North Wales Road Runner Llyr ApGeraint-Roberts was the proud winner of the Southport Sprint Duathlon event last Sunday with a determined display following his success at two 5k runs and a tough 20k bike ride. This overall victory and his veteran age cat win came as something of a shock to the experienced GB and Welsh International athlete, as he only confirmed his attendance at the last minute after suffering from an illness all week.  In his first 5k race run he admitted he “wasn’t feeling it,” but persevered, and eventually finished strong in 19 mins 33 secs. He then battled for honours in the 20k plus bike ride, and said he finally caught the race leader after about 4k.  His