Massive Christmas Day attendances at Rhos and Nova parkruns.

*Festive parkrunners at Rhos await the start of the Christmas Day event.

Massive Christmas Day attendances at Rhos and Nova parkruns...donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025

Report by Don Hale. Photos at Rhos by Danielle Peevor, Dougie Graham and others.

 

It was another fantastic event and a new attendance record at the Llandrillo yn Rhos parkrun, held for the first time on Christmas Day, with over 600 finishers on a bitterly cold but bright morning, and it was similar at the Nova parkrun with over 300 entrants!

Elite athletes, and club members from near and far, together with local runners and walkers – and many in festive attire – created a warm and friendly atmosphere despite the freezing temperatures.

Adam Jones was the first finisher overall in a very fast PB time of just 16 minutes and 2 seconds, and he was just one second down on the course record set the previous week by Connor Rogers (Wrexham AAC). 

 
 

 

Emily Hanlon however (GOG Triathlon), smashed her own and the female event record for the second week in succession, with another dazzling display finishing in second place overall, and a new PB time of 17 minutes and 13 seconds, to win her SW20 age cat. The third finisher was visitor Julian Ayres (Tri-Smart) on his debut in 17.43.

The event stats show that six out of the first ten finishers were newcomers, and the same applied to the female finishers. The second female was Gemma Moore (Eryri Harriers) with a new course PB in 18.28, and young F15-17 visitor Tamsin Seguin (Menai T&F) took the third spot on her debut in 19.20.

 

*Above left (rear) - Peter Johnson and friends, and (*above right), NWRRC members Helen Hannam and Nia Lister at the Rhos parkrun banner.

Llandrillo yn Rhos parkrun director Richard Peevors was delighted by the festive turn-out and proud of his RD team and volunteers and afterwards he confirmed: “Wow! What a morning! Well done to our volunteers! It far exceeded our expectation (and tokens). We had paper tokens to 800 so we didn’t run out. 

“We did however have a fairly big discrepancy between finish times given out 625-628 to finish tokens given out 580. That could mean funnel duckers or duplicate times. Thanks to the people posting their details I’ve been able to move the gaps into the field to get people to as close to their times as possible.

“The order of finishers are correct. Your token numbers will differ from the finish result number, but the time will be closer! Please remember this is a free fun run!”

Local clubs well represented.

 

Local athletic and social clubs were well represented at the Rhos parkrun, with NWRRC entering 12 members, GOG Triathlon 20 members, and 12 Porth Eirias Runners, to name but a few.

*North Wales Runners included: Stuart Culverhouse 26th and 3rd VM50 with a PB in 19.41; James Jones 27th on his debut in 19.44; Joe Culverhouse 31st, and he won his JM15-17 cat in 19.54; Karl Morris 89th, with a new PB in 22.31; Richard Scamans 141st in 24.11; master vet Rob Fryer 223rd and second VM70 with a new PB in 26.09; fellow master vet Don Hale 280th in 27.26; Alan Davies 298th and a new PB in 27.48; super vet Mike Hayton was 386th, and he won his VM75 cat in 29.46; Helen Hannam was 391st on her course debut in 29.56; and it was good to welcome Vicky Taylor back for her course debut in 396th place in 30.04; with Nia Lister tail walking in 597th place on her course debut in 46.15. 

Family members at Rhos.

*And it was also pleasing to see all members of the Culverhouse family back at Rhos, with young Sophia claiming a new course PB in 193rd place and finishing second in her JW15-17 age cat in 25.34, whilst her mum Lucy ran well in 453rd place in 32.36, to add to Stuart and Joe’s excellent performances for NWRRC as previously mentioned above.

*Pictured above left - the Culverhouse family (l-r): Joe, Stuart, Sophia and Lucy; and (*above right) Bethan Wyn Roberts and Amanda Durber.

*Emily Hanlon was the first GOG finisher in third place overall and the first female, who also set a new event course record, and a course PB in 17.13; with Andy Jones 9th overall on his debut in 18.46 as the second club finisher, whilst Steven Owen took third place and he was 37th overall in 20.21. Michelle Farrell finished well in 119th place in 23.38, and her husband John made his course debut despite injury in 146th place in 24.13. *Praise too for female super vet Liz Evans who won her VW75 age cat with another great performance on her course debut at Rhos in 192nd place in 24.48.

 

*Some other local runners of note included: 11th Morgan Kendall (Meirionnydd RC) on his course debut in 18.57; Josh Mottram (Colwyn Bay) 50th, and he won his SM18 age cat in 20.58; 51st Nic Brook (Eryri Harriers) with a new PB in 20.59; In 53rd and 54th places were son and father Freddie and Chris Spillane (Colwyn Bay) and they both set new PBs, with Freddie running home in 21.02, and Chris in 21.07; Jasper McQueen (Porth Eirias Runners) 70th in 22.02; Laura McKenzie (Betws Runaways) 78th with a new PB in 22.17; Darren Dentith 98th in 22.49; Arwel Lewis(Eryri Harriers)102nd on his course debut in 23.07; Tony Parvin 122nd and 2nd VM65 in 23.40; Peter Johnson 179th with a new PB in 25.16; Charlotte Ward (Porth Eirias Runners) 211th with a new PB in 25.58; And Bethan Wyn Jones and Amanda Durber ran well together on their course debuts, with Bethan finishing in 341st place in 28.38, and Amanda just one place and one second behind; whilst another debutant in Rachel Morris enjoyed her run in 526th place in 35.40.

*This is a link to the provisional results from the Christmas Day Llandrillo yn Rhos parkrun:

https://www.parkrun.org.uk/ypromenadllandrilloynrhos/results/latestresults/

 

*Reports from the Nova parkrun at Prestatyn: 

Aaron Dodwell was the first finisher at the Nova parkrun at Prestatyn on Christmas Day with a very good time of 18.16, but it became a close contest with visiting rival Ewan Edmonson finishing just one second and one place adrift, whilst another debutant in teenager Thomas Watkiss took the third spot in 19.18. 

*Visitor Laura Trigg was the first female finisher at Nova in (37th) place overall), with her sister Bethan Trigg second (40th) with a new course PB in 23.41, and Harriet Drury was third (45th) on her debut in 23.59. 

*The host club, Prestatyn RC, were very well represented with 27 members involved and the first club man home was Alex Ryder in 6th place in 19.57, with Jonathan Puleston-Jones a close 7th in 20.10, and teenager Oliver Birch-Jones 11th in 20.52. *Jenna Bagnall was the first club female finisher, and the 4th female overall (46th), in 24.02, whilst Eve Manifold was second (52nd) in 24.19, and Lisa Lines 3rd (90th) in 27.10. 

*Some other local runners of note at Prestatyn included: 28th Simon Nixon (Denbigh Harriers), who also won his VM65 age cat with a fast time of 22.04; Christine Wyn Jones (Deeside) was 96th, and she won her VW65 age cat in 27.29; and Darren Griss (NWRRC) finished113th in 28.09; with Daniel Huws 293rd as a tail walker in 48.05*There were 306 finishers at Nova.

 

*Cheltenham: North Wales Road Running couple Ben and Sarah Hudson made their debuts took in the Christmas Day parkrun at Pittville Park, Cheltenham, amongst nearly 1,000 entrants. Ben finished in 119th place in 22.04, with Sarah 233rd and 4th in her VW45 age cat in 24.29.

*Gareth and Kath Southworth pictured above at one of their Australian events.

*Australia: Gareth and Kath Southworth continued their travels in Australia with another fine display at the Christmas Day event at Surfers Paradise parkrun at Hota – the home of the arts – on Australia’s Gold Coast. Gareth, who was representing (Cybi Striders) finished a highly creditable 24th overall in 24.45, and he was second in his VM60 age cat, whilst Kath enjoyed her run in 133rd place in 49.27.