Don Hale Blog

     *Top veteran sprinter Juliet Sidney (*above left) with colleagues at Derby. Hot, sunny and medal success, plus PBs for WMAL members at the BMAF track and field championships. Report by Don Hale. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk   It was very hot and sunny for a host of Welsh Masters Athletes at the British Masters Athletics track and field championships held at the Moorways Stadium, at Derby, last weekend, with many competitors winning gold medals and recording some great new PBs. One of the top female veteran sprinters  Juliet Sidney , from WMAL, won two gold medals and set a new 200m PB beating her previous performance from several years ago. And North Wales athletes  Steve Gardner , and his master vet father  Dave Gardner  hit top form again, like many others, and just a week after their amazing exploits at Yate for the WMAL champs, with both recording some amazing new PBs. Juliet Sidney confirmed today:  “What a weekend at the British Masters Ch

*Pictured above - some members of the NWRRC team at Holyhead (l-r) front row, Cheryl Frost, Carla Green, Gwen Charlton and Kay Hatton, and (*back row), Jonathan Kettle, Adam Lemalle, Rachel Morris, Rob Fryer, Iwan Evans and Steve  Roberts. The Road Runners won seven NW Regional Championship medals at the Holyhead 5-mile race. Report by Don Hale. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk   The Road Runners won seven prestigious North Wales Regional medals at the Holyhead Breakwater 5-mile race on Sunday, including four age category gold medals, and three third-placed bronze medals, in addition to celebrating three podium places in the main race. Jonathan Kettle  led NWRRC members home in hot conditions after finishing in 9th place overall with a chip time of 28 minutes and 58 seconds to win his MV50-59 age cat. He was followed by  Iwan Evans  26th in 32.07, and  Benjamin Brummitt  30th in 32.54.   *Jonathan Kettle (*above left), with Carla Green, Cheryl Frost and

*Pictured above - some of the successful Newport Harriers team at Yate. Records smashed at Welsh Masters Athletics Track & Field Championships at Avon/Yate.  Chris Pruski, the records coordinator from Welsh Masters Athletics has confirmed that eleven new records were set at the recent WMAL Track & Field Championships at Yate on 21st July. Introduction by Don Hale. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk   *Ian Bowles  returned to WMAL after recovering from illness to set 3 records - M80 Hammer, Discus and Shot. *Iris Holder  set 2 records – W80 100m and Triple Jump *Dorothy Fraser  set a new W85 100m record at Yate and we discovered she also broke the 200m record at Derby at the BMAF Champs last September. *Dave Cundy  M75 bettered the 1500 and 5000m records at Yate but in March he was in Hobart Australia, where he had set better times, so well-done Dave, we caught up with you! *Mark Wyndham-Jones  set a record in the M70 Hammer. Louise Kirby establishe

*Pictured above - Alastair Canaway was the first finisher at Conwy parkrun. Visiting athletes from far afield boosted the numbers at Conwy parkrun...plus other results. Report by Don Hale. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk   Local athletes, together with a bumper turn-out of visitors from around the UK, and even from the Netherlands, and Australia, boosted the numbers to 355 entrants at the RSPB Nature Reserve last Saturday morning for the 410th Conwy parkrun. North Wales Road   Runner  Alistair Canaway  made a rare parkrun appearance, and he was the 1st athlete back overall on this unusually dry and bumpy 5k course. He stormed ahead from the start and celebrated an excellent result with a new PB in 17 minutes and 39 seconds and he won his VM35 age cat. He also led home a team of twelve club runners. Other NWRRC members included  Steve Roberts  in 24th place in 22.02, and he was 2nd in his VM55 cat, and  Jamie Tharme  ran well despite his recent injury, a

Over 250 runners Raced the Highland Train over a fast 5k downhill course from Dinas to Caernarfon... Report by Don Hale. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk *Pictured (l-r): Mandy Preece (Porth Eirias Runners) with Mal Preece (NWRRC), and (*right) Hannah Griffith, Gwen Charlton and Vicky Taylor, all shown at the Race the Train event at Caernarfon.   A pleasant 5k dash on a humid summer evening proved just the ticket for over 250 mixed ability athletes last Wednesday night as they opted to Race the Train from Dinas railway station back to the terminus at Caernarfon. This was the 24th annual event featuring this exciting race which involved taking a train load of runners and their supporters out from Caernarfon station to the first stop at Dinas on the 7.30pm special express, with entrants then disembarking in readiness for a quick run back to town in a determined effort to beat the mighty Highland loco and train back! This is always a very popular race, and

*Pictured above - Steve  Gardner (*left) with his father Dave at Yate. Father and son Steve and Dave Gardner struck gold at the WMAL track & field champs at Yate... Report by Don Hale. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk Father and son athletes Steve and Dave Gardner struck gold at the Welsh Masters track & field championships at Yate last weekend, with Dave winning a gold medal in the 1500m race, whilst his dad Dave, proudly won two gold medals in the shot put and javelin events. Steve Gardner had a superb run in the 1500m track race recording a new PB time of 5 minutes and 9 seconds, to take the gold medal in his MV60 age cat, and beating his previous winning time from last year of 5.13. And to add to his success,  he has received notification this week from Bernie Jones , the Welsh Masters team manager, that he has been selected to represent Wales in the mid Cheshire 5k on 23rd August.  Meanwhile Dave Gardner has probably smashed two Welsh Mast

*Pictured above - super vet Sandy Johnston set a new record. Super vet Sandy Johnston set a new record at the Helena Tipping 10k at Wrexham. Report by Don Hale https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk   *Pictured above - some of the NWRRC team at the Helena Tipping 10k race. It was a good turn-out at the Helena Tipping 10k race at Wrexham last Sunday with fifteen North Wales Road Runners in action, and they claimed four prestigious podium places Super veteran  Sandy Johnston  was perhaps the pick of the pack this week after winning his MV75 age cat with another outstanding display and a remarkable chip time of just 46 minutes and 18 seconds, finishing in 226th place out of nearly 700 entrants.  And Sandy’s time also set a new North Wales Regional record, taking 14-seconds off Emyr Davies’ previous best of 46.32, set in Caernarfon in 2019. Young  Harry Driscoll  actually led the team home in 78th place in 37.32, with  Carla Green  next in 142nd spot overall in 40

*Pictured above - Mountain runner Charlotte Rose Wilton Jones. Podium place for Charlotte at the International Snowdon Mountain Race...and Kevin gallops around Aintree 10k. Report by Don Hale. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk   North Wales Road Runner Charlotte Rose Wilton Jones competed in the gruelling Castell Howell International Mountain Race last Saturday, which included a challenging route up and down Mt Snowdon. *Charlotte is shown above and with her medal. This popular event attracted a host of experienced and highly talented mountain runners from around the UK and Europe for one of the top sporting events on the Welsh calendar, which this year celebrated its 49th year. Charlotte was one of nearly five-hundred finishers, and she performed extremely well despite the inclement weather, and completed her arduous 10-mile circuit of this famous Welsh  mountain in just 1 hour 47 mins and 45 seconds and claimed a prestigious podium place after finishing