Don Hale Blog

*Rachel Morris (*above) with her medal at the Great North Run. New course PB for Rachel Morris at the Great North Run. Report by Don Hale.  https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk   Road Runner Rachel Morris claimed a great new course PB by more than two-minutes at the Great North Run last Sunday, with an excellent run, despite the heat!  After her run, which she completed in 2 hours 32 minutes, she was later able to celebrate her time and performance at this spectacular event with her parents Brian and Hilda, who also took part in the race, and power-walked the route from Newcastle to South Shields in an amazing time of just 3 hours and 42 minutes. Rachel later confirmed : “It was a great race, but it took us an hour to get through the starting line. GNR officials however, put on extra water stations, and they also put crates of water all around the waiting areas in the waves. “There were 60,000 runners and it’s now the World’s biggest half marathon. It was so

A round up of the results and action from GOG Triathletes at the Ironman Wales challenge. Report and photos courtesy of GOG Triathlon. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk What can we say ? What an event ! What a day! The support was just out of this world, not just the public, but all the Welsh Triathlon Club's cheering each other on regardless of which club you belonged to. Certainly will be a day many will never forget.  And of course, we all became an "Ironman". As this was also the Welsh Triathlon Long Course Championship, there were bragging rights to be had too. And our amazing club athletes did not disappoint either with Steve Allport putting in the performance of the day, taking the win in his age group Claire Parsley did a fantastic performance too taking third in her age group With all the celebrations going on, we must say just how gutted we were to hear that Steph Conway suffered a major mechanical whilst out on the bike forcin

*Some of the NWRRC team members at the Nova parkrun at Prestatyn, (l-r), Mike Hayton, Rob Fryer, Mark Mason, Rachel Morris, Sion Thomas, Gwennan Charlton, Stuart and Joe Culverhouse, and Jonathan Kettle. Victory for Jonathan Kettle at the Nova parkrun at Prestatyn during club championships. Report by Don Hale. Photos by Steve Jeffery. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk   Jonathan Kettle led a team of ten North Wales Road Runners home at the Nova parkrun at Prestatyn last Saturday, with a superb victory as part of their club championships. Making his debut on this flat and fast course, Jonathan won his MV45 age cat and finished in 1st place overall with an excellent time of 17 minutes and 48 seconds. He was followed by visiting MV35 athlete  Ian Higgins  (Telford Harriers) with a new PB of 18.19, and SM30 runner  Jamie Betts  (Prestatyn RC) in 18.52. The event attracted 162 runners with seven athletes all dipping under 20-minutes. Jonathan Kettle (*above) w

*Jonathan Kettle (*above) won a NW Regional 10k gold medal. Five gold medals for the Road Runners at Caernarfon 10k during the Regional Championships. Report by Don Hale. Most photos by Steve Jeffery. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk   It was bright and breezy last Sunday for just over two-hundred runners at the Caernarfon 10k race, which also included the North Wales Regional Championships, where NWRRC collected five prestigious gold medals. The conditions allowed for a fast encounter with many runners recording personal best (PB) or much improved chip times, with the event eventually won by  Scott Nixon  (Wrexham AAC) in 33 minutes 31 seconds, with  Gavin Stuart  (Cybi Striders) 2nd in 33.53, and  James Yarwood  (Wrexham AAC) 3rd in 34.05. The first female athlete was  Alison Campbell  in 36.43, and she was followed by  Amie Smith  (Cheshire Dragons) in 38.47, with 3rd place,  Anna Drinkwater  (Eryri Harriers) finishing well in 39.48. North Wales Road

Invitation for Welsh Masters Athletes to compete in the Swindon Harriers Autumn Open Meeting on 10th September... Report by Don Hale.  https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk   Swindon Harriers have just offered an invitation to Welsh Masters Athletics members to take part in their Autumn Open Meeting on Sunday 10th September beginning from 10am. The event on the County Ground Athletics Track offers a varied programme of activities for mixed and multiple age entrants with several throwing and other field events on offer including hammer, discus and shot put. Track events also include the 100m, 400m and 1500m races. I have added the contact details on my blog post, but all the event information is contained via this link below. And please note that although the event is on 10th September, the deadline for registrations is on Sunday 4th September (10am). *Check out the full list of events offered by Swindon Harriers: https://meets.rosterathletics.com/public/compe

*NWRRC veteran athlete Stuart Culverhouse (*above) at Conwy Full marks to two top students at Conwy parkrun dash. Report by Don Hale. Photos by Steve Jeffery. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk   Two talented students competed for honours at Conwy parkrun last Saturday with Bryn Woodall (Colwyn Bay AC) eventually outsprinting his rival Harri Jackson (Manchester Metro University AC) to claim the first place with an incredible time of just 15 minutes and 54 seconds. Bryn , who is on leave from his studies in America, narrowly failed to match his record on this picturesque but challenging 5k course, but still finished over a minute clear to additionally win his SM20-24 age category.  *American student Bryn Woodall (*above) was the first man back home at the Conwy parkrun last weekend. Harri  was 2nd in the same age cat as Bryn in 17.11, with veteran  Bryn Carrington  claiming the 3rd spot, and winning his MV40 cat in 17.33. There were 229 finishers. For the l

                                             ENGLAND MASTERS ATHLETICS INTER-AREA TRACK AND FIELD CHALLENGE   PINGLES ATHLETICS TRACK, AVENUE ROAD, NUNEATON CV11 4LX   SUNDAY 6th AUGUST 2023. TEAM NEWS.  

Welsh Athletics Masters team call-up for Martin Green (*above) and Kay Hatton at the Mid-Cheshire 5k International at Kingsley. Report by Don Hale.   https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk   North Wales Road Runners Martin Green and Kay Hatton have been selected to represent Welsh Athletics Masters in the forthcoming Wales Masters versus England meeting in the Mid-Cheshire 5k International at Kingsley on Friday 25th August. On receiving his confirmation letter this week, Martin said: “Thanks as always for the opportunity at Welsh Athletics Masters. Really looking forward to this after a hefty block, specifically for 5k (for the first time ever). Hopefully do the team proud, thanks to the new coach  @russell_runner who has gradually changed me from an aging plodder to an aspiring speedster, now just for Running Cheshire to sort the weather out.” changed me from an aging plodder to an aspiring speedster, now just for Running Cheshire to sort the weather out.” K