Don Hale Blog

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

TELFORD 10K - exclusive match report courtesy of NW road race team manager Paul Brooks from NWRAC. So, the final opportunity for the North Wales road running athletes to represent the Region was on 11th December, at the Telford 10km. This race is advertised as England’s fastest and has a justifiable reputation for not only having a fast, traffic-free course but a field of exceptionally quick athletes.  However, a mixture of injuries and unavailability (including four withdrawals in the week before the race) meant two men, Andy Bromley and Nick Brook , were co-opted into the men’s team literally hours before the start. The day was cold, with temperatures hovering around zero and just below, but the course had been gritted both the day before and in places on the morning of the race, so was declared safe to go ahead. However, it started to snow during wave one and turned into a heavy downfall as the morning progressed, gradually stopping towards the end of wave three. To illustrate the

  TOP NORTH WALES RANKINGS AFTER TELFORD 10K. Special report by Paul Brooks (*Pictured below).   Congratulations to  Tom Wood  (Eryri/Oxford Uni), who is now ranked #6 in the NWRAC all-time 10km lists and #5 in the senior men's lists for his 30:12 at the Telford 10km last weekend. He also has a 14:40 5km which ranks him #7 in the all-time list and #5= in the senor men's lists.  Here's the top 10 all-time 10km NWRAC men's list up to and including yesterday: 1 Charlie Hulson Liverpool Telford 2018 00:29:12 SM 2  Andrew Davies  Stockport Valencia 2022 00:29:39 M40  3  Rob Samuel  Eryri Chepstow 2021 00:29:46 M35  4 Ian Pierce Tipton Cardiff 1999 00:29:50 SM  5  David Mountford  Deeside Manchester 2012 00:30:03 SM  6  Tom Wood  Eryri Telford 2022 00:30:12 SM  7  Russell Bentley  Black' & B Derby 2012 00:30:14 SM  8 Iolo Hughes Meir'dd Telford 2015 00:30:36 JM  9=  Ryan Davis  Wrexham Telford 2022 00:30:50 SM  9=  Alun Vaughan  Eryri Manchester 2005 00:30:50 SM h

*Amie Bagnall (*above) who is about to cross a  snowy finish line at Telford, and (*below), some members of the North Wales team at the Telford 10k. North Wales athletes beat the snow and ice to record many new PBs at Telford 10k . Introduction by Don Hale.   My thanks to the North Wales Road Race team manager, Paul Brooks, who was out with his team in freezing temperatures for a couple of hours last Sunday at Telford. This is his personal report. Well done to Paul, to all the athletes, and especially to all the volunteers and supporters involved with this race in snowy and very icy conditions. Special report and photos by team manager Paul Brooks (*pictured above). *Rachel Shipley (*above) and pictured at the start area. These were our times from the Telford 10km:   Ryan Davis  (Wrexham) recorded 30:50 with a huge new PB. This ranks him at no 8 in the all-time NWRAC list and 9th in the senior men's list.  Luke Northall  (Wrexham) 33:19, 10 seconds faster than last year here.  Mart

*Course PB for Mark Jessett at New Year’s Day parkrun in Kent. Report by Don Hale. Some photos by Steve Jeffery.   Mark Jessett was up bright and early on New Year’s Day to take part in the Bexley parkrun at Sidcup in Kent and was rewarded with a great new course PB of 18 minutes 26 seconds. The NWRRC athlete was 3rd overall out of 271 finishers, and he also won his MV35-39 age category. Mark also recorded his third PB out of his last four outings at this parkrun and knocked eleven seconds of his previous performance in Kent. The event was won by James Macdonald (Cambridge Harriers) and 1st MV40 cat in a fast time of 17.10, with Alexander Barber, SM25-29, 2nd overall in 18.00, with Mark  Jessett 3rd. *Mark Jessett in action at a previous Conwy  Parkrun. Tour De Llyn Llydaw race. Well known local athletes   Nic Brook   and his partner   Gemma Brown   competed together in the Tour De Llyn Llydaw fell race on New Year’s Day. The experienced endurance runners completed a tough 5-mile cours

*Troy Kettle ( above) and pictured  crossing  the line at the Meerbrook 15k race won the North Wales “Best Young Athlete of the Year" award. Report by Don Hale.   NWRRC runner Troy Kettle has won the “Best Young Athlete” of the year award following a superb performance for the North Wales County team in the Inter-Counties match at Meerbrook. Student Troy made his debut in the 15km race and excelled in the famous orange and green strip and knocked five minutes off his previous time at the open race in Staffordshire in 2019, this time finishing 27th overall in 69 minutes 49 seconds, and helping his team secure the runners-up spot. *The overall competition winners for the Men were Shropshire with 20 pts, with  North Wales  2nd with 29 points, Staffordshire 3rd with 36 pts, Cheshire 4th with 74 pts, and Derbyshire 5th with 84 pts. This included:  2. Ryan Davis 52:44; 3. Scott Nixon 52:47; 8. Joel Gomes 54:27; 16. Phil Pumford 57:35; 24. Jez Brown 62:04; and 27.  Troy Kettle 69:49. *Fo