Don Hale Blog

Will Williams tackled the gruelling cross country course at Dolgellau. Mud, wind, and rain at a very muddy cross-country race at Dolgellau... Report by Don Hale. Photos by Lesley Goodson. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk   Three Road Runners braved the strong blustery winds, rain, and heavy mud at Dolgellau this weekend during the latest fixture within the Grand Prix Express, North Wales XC league. Will Williams  ran well in the  Senior Men’s race  and finished well in 38th place overall amongst 125 starters, and he was 3rd in his MV50 age cat in 36 minutes and 19 seconds. Will later said: “ I really love cross-country. Always a great atmosphere.” The race was won by  Matthew Collins  (Oswestry Olympians) in 30.11 and he won his SM age cat.  Janos Vranek (Aberystwyth University) was 2nd in 30.22, with  Rhodri Owen  (Meirionnydd) 3rd in 31.11.  Emyr Davies  competed in the over 65’s race and won his M80 age cat in 29.25, finishing 15th overall, with  Roge

*The winning North Wales Regional female team (*above) at Newtown, and (*below) the NW men's team (*below), who combined with the ladies won the overall team prize. Road Running quartet amongst winning North Wales Cross-Country team at Inter-Regional championships. Report by Don Hale. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk   Four North Wales Road Runners swapped their trainers for spikes and competed in the combined Welsh Inter-Regional cross-country championships held at Dolerw Park, Newtown, last Saturday. The quartet, which included Cheryl Frost, Kay Hatton, Will Williams , and Steve Gardner, were all eventually part of the overall winning team that finished ahead of rivals West Wales, East Wales, and South Wales, to take the deserved plaudits. North Wales ladies won the female team prize with 121-points, whilst the male team finished 3rd, yet the overall points tally confirmed that North Wales were the outright team victors of this prestigious challen

*The NWRRC ladies team at Bangor (*l-r) Cheryl Frost, Gwennan Charlton and Kay Hatton. Back to the mud and hills for the first cross-country fixture of the season at Treborth, Bangor. Report by Don Hale. Photos by Steve Jeffery and Lesley Goodson. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk   Five members of North Wales Road Runners entered the first North Wales Cross-Country League fixture of the season, well-organised by hosts Eryri Harriers at Treborth, near Bangor, last Saturday, and staged over a rather muddy, hilly, and challenging series of varied courses. With different distance routes offered in respect of ages, and male and female races, ranging from juniors to masters, the general feedback was most encouraging with many runners welcoming a positive return to some sort of normality following an enforced period of uncertainty. NWRRC members ran in either the senior women’s race, or the senior men’s event, over approximate distances of 3.5-miles, or 5.5-mil

NORTH WALES CROSS COUNTRY LEAGUE 2023-24 SEASON. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk UPDATE:  NORTH WALES CROSS COUNTRY LEAGUE Unfortunately due to issues beyond our control (bookings at Eirias Park) we have had to re-schedule the second North Wales Cross Country League fixture to Saturday 21st October. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. The revised fixture list is as follows: Saturday 14th October – Treborth Track, Bangor  Saturday 21st October – Eirias Park, Colwyn Bay  Saturday 25th November – Shrewsbury (venue to be confirmed) Saturday 20th January – Dolgellau  Saturday 10th February – Marches School, Oswestry. *Starting times:  Junior races at 10-30am. Women/65+men at 1-00pm; men 2-00pm. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING The 39th Annual General Meeting of the " David Alun Williams " North Wales Cross Country League, in association with  Grand Prix Express  took place at  Ysgol Clywedog Leisure Centre , Ruthin Road, Wrexham, on Friday 5th May. An

GRAND PRIX EXPRESS:  “David Alun Williams”  NORTH WALES CROSS COUNTRY SENIOR LEAGUE.  Special report  courtesy  of Bernie Jones, the secretary/referee from the meeting at Eirias Park, Colwyn Bay on Saturday 21st  January 2023.  (*Bernie Jones is pictured below).     A big thank you to Russell Godwin, Crispin Backshall, and to all of the Colwyn Bay marshalls and volunteers who helped set up the course in difficult conditions, and put on a great penultimate  David Alun Williams  North Wales Senior Cross Country League for 2022/23.  Whilst the youngsters were back at Eirias Park last year, it was fantastic to see the senior league back in Eirias Park, and I have a few special memories of my own running on the fantastic course.  Yes, it may have been a slightly different course (and a bit longer than indicated on the course maps!!) but for those with good memories the senior league was last at Eirias Park on  10th October 2010,  but Eirias Park will always be a testing course regardless of

 *The NWRRC men's team pictured at Wrexham (l-r) Iwan Evans, Josh Keogh, Will Williams, Martin Green, Steve Gardner and Stuart Culverhouse. Martin Green struck gold at North Wales cross country champs, and NWRRC won four top medals.  Report by Don Hale. Photos by Steve Jeffery.   Ten Road Runners took part in the North Wales cross country championships at Wrexham last Saturday where the combined male and female teams won four impressive medals including one gold, two silver, and one bronze, but just missed out on a few other awards with four close fourth place finishers. Josh Keogh  was the first club man home in the  Senior/Master Men’s race , finishing 5th overall out of 69 quality entrants, and despite recording an excellent time of 31.01, he just failed to collect a medal in 4th place in his SM cat.  Martin Green,  however, was in top form and won a gold medal in his MV45 age cat in 10th place overall in 32.00. His win also marked another unique family double with his wife  Car

*The NWRRC team (*above) at Whitford. Fast and furious cross country fixture at Whitford. Report by Don Hale. Photos by Steve Jeffery. Four members from NWRRC took part in the latest North Wales cross-country fixture at Whitford last Saturday.   Martin Green  was the first club man home in this fast and furious senior men's encounter, and he finished in 22nd place in 28.51.  Stuart Culverhouse  was 84th in 33.31, with  John Dalzell  101st in 34.39, and  Michael (Pat) Finnie  ran home in 43.18. *Martin Green (*above left) with Stuart Culverhouse, and (*below) John Dalzell (left) with Pat Finnie, who were all pictured, at the North Wales cross-country fixture at Whitford last Saturday. Photos by Steve Jeffery. *Draft Results are now available on the North Wales website via the following link:  https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx... OTHER RACE RESULTS: *Wilmslow Festive 10k:  Two NWRRC athletes competed at the Wilmslow 10k race last Sunday and both recorded new PBs with  Wil

*Martin Green (*above) had a good run in the cross country race Five Road Runners tackled Bangor cross country race. Report by Don Hale. Photographs by Steve Jeffery and Kay Hatton.   Five Road Runners swapped their trainers for spikes at the first cross-country fixture of the season at Treborth, near Bangor last Saturday in the North Wales League. Martin Green  used the race as a warm-up for the  Chester Metric Marathon  the following day and ran steadily around the course to finish 9th overall and 2nd in his MV45 age cat in 32.42 in the Senior Men’s race.  Stuart Culverhouse  (*pictured above) was the only other male member involved in this event and he finished 81st in 39.19 and 11th in his MV55 cat. The event attracted 142 runners. *Pictured above (l-r) Kay Hatton, Gwennan  Charlton and Tessa Bushnell at the first North Wales cross country league meeting at Treborth last Saturday. Kay Hatton  led a team of three female club members home in the Senior Women’s race finishing 62nd ove