Don Hale Blog

*Pictured above - Dougie Graham battled injury and he is now ready for action. Dougie builds back his fitness for Happy Faces charity bid at the London Marathon... Special report by Don Hale. donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025   Popular runner and charity fundraiser Dougie Graham has faced a problematic time battling with injuries over this past year, but he has been steadily building back his fitness in readiness for another attempt to run the London Marathon for a worthy cause in 2026. His heroic efforts were unfortunately curtailed earlier this year when he collected a niggling injury that sidelined him for many months, yet this didn’t stop him from volunteering and marshalling at many local parkruns and other events. Now a member of  Dalzell Runners ,  North Wales Road Runners , and still a member of Black Cloak Runners, Dougie is making a slow but steady comeback attempt, and he has been using a treadmill at times to ease his pain, before completing a few test events, inc...

  *Pictured above - friendly volunteers at the Penrhyn Castle parkrun (l-r): Cheryl Frost, John Hatton and Carla Green Tail end visitors boosted the numbers at North Wales parkruns...plus other results... Report by Don Hale donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025   At the tail end of the holiday season, and with the weather still reasonable, most North Wales parkruns still recorded bumper attendances boosted by a host of visiting athletes. At the  Newborough Forest parkrun , seven out of the first ten finishers were all visitors from varied parts of the country, and they also recorded some excellent times.  The same applied to nearby  Nant y Pandy , with six out of the first ten finishers making their course debuts, and many other events also reported increased number from travelling runners. It was good to note that a promising young athlete in  Josh Mottram  (Colwyn Bay AC), celebrated his 100th parkrun last Saturday at  Conwy  by finishing 3rd overa...

  *Penrhyn course marshall Dougie Graham (*above) at the Penrhyn Castle parkrun. Hot and breezy for runners in a variety of weekend events. Report by Don Hale. Penrhyn photos by Michael Finnie. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com   It was another hot and breezy weekend for athletes last weekend with a wide variety of events to consider including several local parkruns, an international Shrewsbury 5k, and both Manchester and Chester half marathons, to name but a few. The various local parkruns continue to thrive with many hundreds of local runners tackling courses across North Wales, with many boosted by ‘Conwy on Tour,’ members each week. *Penrhyn Castle parkrun  enjoyed a good turn out of some 359 entrants, with visitor  Mark Hobbs  (Micky Morris Racing Team),  celebrating as the first man home in a very close finish on his course debut in 17 minutes and 55 seconds, and bizarrely, he shared the exact same time over the line as  Malachy Bromham , with tee...

*Pictured above (l-r): Pete Brocklehurst, Jon Hayward, Dougie Graham and Dylan Williams, outside the Happy Faces charity store at Rhos on Sea.   NW Running quartet prepares for the London Marathon and Happy Faces children’s charity appeal…   Special sporting feature: Introduction by Don Hale. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com   This is another special community-based story within a new series of unique features looking at the life, careers, hopes and ambitions, of many talented and dedicated athletes, sports people, and fundraisers within North Wales.   This particular feature highlights the dedicated training and fundraising activities of four popular North Wales athletes who are currently preparing to run the iconic  London Marathon  next month, whilst hoping to raise thousands of pounds for  Happy Faces,  a local charity based in Rhos, that raises funds to support sick, disabled and disadvantaged children in North Wales.  The four charity r...