Don Hale Blog

*Pictured above - North Wales Road Runners (l-r), Steve Gardner, Michael (Pat) Finnie, and Don Hale at the Indoor Open 60m event last Saturday. Top performances by NW Road Running quartet at the Christmas Indoor Open event... Report by Don Hale. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk   Four veteran Road Runners competed in the North Wales Christmas Indoor Open Challenge event staged at Coleg Cambria, at Connah's Quay, last Saturday afternoon, and they all claimed new PB’s, podium places, and probable new records in their respective age categories. This was an extra meeting on the Track & Field race calendar that attracted a few hundred of the best junior to master athletes in the region who competed in a wide variety of events in an indoor arena. Steve Gardner, Michael (Pat) Finnie,  and  Don Hale  from NWRRC all ran in the 60m heats, whilst Steve’s father  Dave Gardner  took part in the shot-put competition and won his super-master M80 age cat with an

Pat Finnie wins silver sprint medal at the North Wales Indoor championships at Deeside... Report by Don Hale.   NWRRC member Pat Finnie won a deserved silver medal last Sunday at the North Wales Indoor Track and Field championships held at the Deeside Leisure Centre.  Pat also claimed a great new PB of just 11.02 seconds for his 60m dash, finished 2nd overall and he also won his age MV65 age category. The race was won by MV60 athlete  Martin Weetman  (Menai T&F) in 8.56, with MV75 master veteran  Robin  Frost  3rd in 15.60.  This improved Pat’s time from 11.35 seconds at Sport City last year. After the race a jubilant Pat admitted: “I wasn’t going to go because I had a slight hamstring strain from my last day of training day on Thursday, but I thought I would have a complete rest until Sunday and hope for the best. “I did a gentle warm up and a few stretches before the race. The race went really smooth and my leg did pull, but I just ignored it and concentrated on getting over the

*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

Road Runners struck Welsh Gold at Sportcity indoor championships in Manchester. *The dynamic NWRRC duo Don Hale (left) with Pat Finnie at Sportcity. Veteran runners Pat Finnie and Don Hale swapped the great outdoors for the magnificent indoors last Saturday and struck gold at Sportcity during the North Wales Regional Championships. The two NWRRC athletes ran for the very first time on the superb and steeply banked indoor track in Manchester, which is often used for World, International, or for other national running finals. The meeting on Saturday had to be re-arranged due to fixture clashes yet it still attracted a host of top elite performers backed by a large vocal and enthusiastic support group from across the UK. In addition to recording massive PBs, both Welsh runners also collected prestigious gold medals for winning their respective age categories and time trials in the 200m and 600m track races, which has now propelled them into the top Welsh rankings over these distances. And

*The NWRRC team on tour at Newborough Forest, Anglesey, (*pictured l-r), Harry Driscoll, John Hatton, Mike Hayton, Carla  Green  and Liz Driscoll. North Wales athletes on the run as tourists. Report by Don Hale. Most photographs by Steve Jeffery.   The start of the half-term break saw many North Wales athletes travelling far afield this week to sample a variety of races at Liverpool, Leeds, Bangor, Newborough, and Newent Park in the Forest of Dean. Five NWRRC members ran in the Newborough Forest parkrun on Anglesey last Saturday, and a further twenty tackled the muddy and windswept Conwy parkrun, with two more at Newent Park. Carla Green  celebrated her performance along the challenging trails at Newborough by claiming the 1st lady spot, an age category victory, and a parkrun PB, finishing 11th overall from 141 entrants in 20 minutes 24 seconds. *Carla Green (*above) was the 1st Lady at Newborough and claimed a new PB, and (*below) Harry Driscoll continues to improve with a positive pe