North Wales club runners enjoyed their windy ‘naked’ festive handicap run and annual prizegiving..

By Don Hale


*Pictured above - the 'naked' athletes from North Wales Road Runners who took part in their festive handicap run last Sunday from Llandudno prom. 

North Wales club runners enjoyed their windy ‘naked’ festive handicap run and annual prizegiving..


Report by Don Hale Photos by John Hatton.

donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025

 

Fifteen members from North Wales Road Running Club braved gale force winds and an extremely challenging 4.5-mile plus course to complete their festive handicap race on Sunday.


The event started and finished by Llandudno Pier and travelled along the promenade before climbing up by the side of the Little Orme to the town’s ‘Welcome’ sign, then following an equally undulating route back home.


This was not a first past-the-post race as such, with the handicap results based on the initial estimates from competing athletes on their predicted times for this race, against the actual finishing times.


It also had the added restriction of being a ‘Naked Run,’ so no one was allowed to retain their watches, and with the exact comparison times only revealed several hours later at the club’s festive lunch and annual prize giving ceremony a few hours later at the Mulberry.


*Club champion Will Evans is shown (*right) with his trophies.


The results highlighted the precise finishing times first against the predicted times, and the first finisher overall was Will Evans 36.35, with Karl Morris second 37.31/38.42, and Steve Roberts third in 38.00/38.00. Others included:Steve Bozier 38.06/38.44, Adam Lemalle 38.27/42.58, Daniel Hennell 38.55/43.30, Cheryl Frost 39.12/39.20, Kay Hatton 39.35/39.00, Kevin Slattery 42.44/37.77, Rob Fryer 42,58/45.00, Gwennan Charlton 43.18/46.32, Don Hale47.10/49.20, Helen Hannam 47.12/44.44, Mike Hayton 51.24/49.25, and Dougie Graham 51.30/52.00


*Final handicap results: 1st Steve Roberts, who quite incredibly predicted the exact same times of 38 minutes dead! In second place was Cheryl Frost who was just 8-seconds out on her times, and in third place was Dougie Graham who was just 30-seconds out on his timings.


Praise was given to the race organisers Elizabeth Driscoll, Carla Green, and John Hatton, and to the festive lunch organisers John Hatton and Kay Hatton, plus the sponsors.


*At the later presentation event, Will Evans, the first finisher at the earlier club handicap race, who was also the winner of the main Group A Division, later said. “I’ve only gone and won something, the NWRRC club championship Div A. I may as well shout about it…as it probably won’t happen again!”


*The trophy winners at the North Wales Road Runners annual festive prize giving ceremony are pictured above at the Mulberry last weekend.


 




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.

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