Don Hale Blog

Elizabeth Driscoll (*pictured above) tackled the Cascais Ironman race in style. Report by Don Hale.   It proved to be a happy landing for RAF Air Traffic Controller Elizabeth Driscoll as she successfully navigated her way around the tough Cascais Ironman 70.3-mile course in Portugal last weekend. The experienced North Wales Road Runner who in everyday life has a very responsible role at RAF Valley on Anglesey, tackled three gruelling challenges, which included a difficult 1.2-mile swim, a 56-mile bike ride, and a 13.1-mile run, and all carried out in very hot conditions. *Elizabeth Driscoll (*pictured above) on the finish line after her race. Elizabeth eventually completed the event in 6 hours 33 minutes and 36 seconds and finished in 1,619th place overall, and she was the 262nd female and claimed 14th place in her F55 age cat. This proved to be an incredible performance by this popular endurance athlete who first set her heart on completing this race whilst on secondment last...

*Elizabeth Driscoll (*above) finished as the 1st Lady in the Cape Pembroke half marathon to complete a unique sporting double at different Falklands Islands events. Report by Don Hale. Photos by Elizabeth Driscoll.   North Wales Road runner Elizabeth Driscoll celebrated a magnificent sporting achievement last week by winning the 1st Lady title in two very different activities on the Falkland Islands. The popular all-round athlete, who later collected a cash prize and a bottle of champagne for her efforts, first completed a “Dri-Tri,” event, which involved a 3k row, 15k watt bike, and a 5k treadmill, in one hour and three minutes.  And then on Sunday, Elizabeth ran in the Cape Pembroke half marathon race completed the challenging course in just one hour 48 minutes to win the 1st Lady finisher title again, and to confirm a unique double.  These latest prestigious awards add to her recent hat-trick of successes in Falkland Islands parkruns,’ where she also finished as t...

*Steve Mason (Above) enjoyed another good run at Conwy despite the conditions Wild, wet, and windy at popular Conwy Parkrun...and success for Charlie Owen. Report by Don Hale. Photos by Steve Jeffery.   It was another wild, wet, and very windy day at Conwy parkrun last Saturday morning at the RSPB site, yet this popular event still attracted over two hundred determined runners. Martin Green  was the first man home again over this puddled-filled course and knocked eighteen seconds off his winning time from last week, but he was made to work hard throughout his run by promising local junior athlete Alfie Shiland, who eventually finished just seven seconds adrift. North Wales Road Runners  had twelve members in action and recorded nine age cat podium results including five outright victories, two second, and three third places. Martin Green  additionally won his MV45-49 age cat in a fast time of 18 minutes 48 seconds, whilst  Steve Mason  also enjoyed ano...

Road Runner Elizabeth Driscoll was 1st lady at Falkland Islands parkrun. Report by Don Hale. Photos by Elizabeth Driscoll.   NWRRC athlete Elizabeth Driscoll competed in her first parkrun of the year, this time many thousands of miles away from her home patch in Conwy, when she took part in the rather bleak and windswept Falkland Islands event last Saturday. The experienced runner, who is also an Air Traffic Control officer at RAF Valley on Anglesey, is currently on secondment overseas, and finished 5th overall in the 5k event from a field of twenty-one other runners and she was the 1st female finisher.  Afterwards, Elizabeth said: ‘Not wishing to make any of you jealous but I have done my first parkrun of the year at the most southerly in the world! Cape Pembroke Lighthouse Parkrun, Stanley, on the Falkland Islands. ‘Not the quickest course, very rough ground, and extremely windy (+40 mph) but I came 5th overall, 1st lady in 27.04 (there were only twenty-one runners, but you ...