Don Hale Blog

Special Coast and Country book review:  * Run in conjunction with:  donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025 About the Author: Mac McKechnie, and his fascinating Garden of Words books... Mac McKechnie (*pictured above) is a Yorkshireman who lives in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Now aged 75, he has the welcome luxury of time to return fully to his lifelong love of writing. Mac is an active Christian and serves as Pastor of his local church in Barnsley.  Mac's writing reflects a deep interest in human character, moral choice, and the quiet resilience that surfaces in times of crisis. He has written several books across a range of genres, with science fiction and Westerns among his favourites, alongside more reflective and character-led work inspired by everyday life.   *Check out Mac McKechnie's Garden of Words series of fascinating books from Coast and Country online:   https://www.amazon.co.uk/shop/perryscope21/list/1KF7IALOO18JR?ref_=cm_sw_r_tw_ud_aip_sf_list_spv_ons_mixed_...

*Pictured above and lower - runners at the start of the Nick Beer 10k race as they depart Llandudno promenade ( *Photos by Don Hale ). The tough Nick Beer 10k race proved a great success once more with good numbers and a fast pace... Report by Don Hale. donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025 The annual Nick Beer 10k race proved a hit once more with a massive 967 athletes completing a tough course from outside Venue Cymru and around the Great Orme before returning to Llandudno’s spectacular promenade, where spectators gave each entrant a warm welcome on a rather cool and breezy day. Visiting athlete  Hamish Morton  (Cambridge & Coleridge AC) was the first finisher overall in just 34 minutes and 55 seconds, and he was the 1st MSen, but he was one of four elite runners who ran away from the main pack and they all dipped under the magic 36-minute mark.  *Menai T&F athlete Steffan Sayer (*above) finished second in the Nick Beer 10k. Steffan Sayer  (Menai T&F) was the r...

*Pictured above - the start of the Llandrillo yn Rhos parkrun last Saturday. Valentine’s Day entrants beat the frost at Rhos and shared their love of running. Report by Don Hale. Photos by Michael Finnie and Bill Scriven. donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025   Heavy overnight frost morning forced the cancellation of five parkruns throughout North Wales last Saturday morning, but the surviving  Valentine’s Day events proved a love of running, and especially at Llandrillo yn Rhos, where yet another bumper attendance created a tremendous atmosphere. Despite a rather sandy and challenging 5k promenade course, this event is proving to be a magnet each week for visiting runners – and particularly for elite club athletes - with debutants again accounting for seven out of the first ten finishers. Talented visiting athlete  Paul Jones  (Shrewsbury AC) was the first finisher at Rhos on his course debut in just 16 minutes and 50 seconds, but local footballer  Aaron Dodwell  ...

*North Wales runner Gwen Charlton (*above) is shown with her boys at a recent and popular Penrhyn Castle charity Dark Run. Supertemps boss Sarah Elwood pledges new Dark Run charity support for  Tŷ Gobaith... Report by Don Hale donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025   Race organiser John Hatton (*pictured right), who promotes the popular DARK RUNS at Conwy, and at Penrhyn Castle - which have raised many thousands of pounds for local children’s cancer charities - has just confirmed that Supertemps have made  Tŷ Gobaith   Children’s Hospice their ‘Charity of the Year’ for 2026. He explained that keen runner with GOG Triathlon and well-known local businesswoman  Sarah Elwood , the managing director at Supertemps, who has sponsored these events for the past two years, has now agreed to provide further financial support once more.  John also outlined his latest fundraising plans stating:  “This year we are making  Penrhyn  a very big event and we are hoping...

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...

*Pictured above - the Lee Valley indoor track. Joe Horner confirms a near full WMAL team for the  Inter-Regional Championships at Lee Valley... Report by Don Hale. donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025 Following an appeal on this blog last week from Rod Davies at Welsh Masters Athletics Ltd, Joe Horner and his colleague Adrian have agreed to try and put a team together asap for the forthcoming T&F events. *This was my previous blog with the appeal details:  Don Hale Blog: UPDATE: Temporary team managers appointed for Wels... https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2026/02/update-temporary-team-managers.html?spref=tw This week Joe Horner confirmed the latest updates and news relating to the forthcoming Inter-Regional championships at Lee Valley. Hi everyone, As you may have heard from Rod Davies at WMAL, the 2026 inter-regional is at Lee Valley on 14th March and Adrian and I have agreed to stand in for Brett in getting a team together. We're now in the happy position of having an almost...