Don Hale Blog

*Gareth Southworth  and his wife Kath inside the stadium in Melbourne. North Wales athlete and parkrunner Gareth went ‘Down Under’ to compete in the Melbourne half-marathon...plus parkrun results round up... Report by Don Hale. donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025   Popular North Wales athlete and parkrunner Gareth Southworth continued his running exploits in Australia over the weekend by competing in the Melbourne half-marathon on Sunday. Gareth, who was representing   Cybi Striders , is enjoying a break ‘Down-Under’ with his wife Kath and enjoyed a good run in 1 hour 43 minutes and 56 minutes, and he was 15th in his VM60-64 age cat (1773rd) overall amongst over 12,154 finishers. This event was part of the  Melbourne Marathon Festival  and after his run, Gareth commented: “It was an unreal experience to finish inside the iconic MCG Stadium.” This latest result followed his performance the day before in the  Parkville parkrun  in Princes Park, Melbourne, wher...

  *Pictured above - Father and son - Stuart and Joe Culverhouse at Ruthin. North Wales parkruns battered by Storm Amy but Ruthin survived! And news from Gareth and Kath Down Under. Special report by Don Hale. donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025   Storm Amy forced the postponement of numerous parkruns throughout the UK last Saturday with North Wales events in particular badly affected by course flooding, heavy rain and gale force winds. Regular events at Newborough Forest, Nant y Pandy, Wepre, Penrhyn Castle, Conwy, Llangollen, Prestatyn, and Wrexham’s  Park in the Past parkruns  were all affected, with the Ruthin Memorial parkrun one of the few survivors. The Ruthin event on the Memorial Playing Fields, attracted 146 hardy runners including 74 visitors, with many travelling from far afield after searching hard to find a live parkrun, and despite the challenging conditions, ten people still recorded some very worthy personal best (PB) times. At the time of writing the name ...