Don Hale Blog

*Steve Gardner (*above left), with his dad Dave. Gold medals for father and son Dave and Steve Gardner at the Indoor Championships. Report by Don Hale https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com   Road Runner and super-vet Dave Gardner struck gold at the North Wales Indoor Championships at Coleg Cambria, Deeside, last Sunday by winning his M85 age category in the shot-put competition. Dave also improved on his previous PB and winning performance from last year when he competed in the M80 cat with a superb throw of 7.26m, which is also expected to be a national record. He later obtained a deserved podium place and collected a prestigious gold medal for his sterling efforts. Meanwhile, Dave’s son  Steve Gardner , also collected a gold medal in the Welsh Masters Indoor Championships at Cardiff on Sunday in his 800m track event with an excellent winning time of 2 minutes 20.89 seconds. *Gold medal winners Dave Gardner (*above left), with Steve Gardner.

*Steve Gardner (*above), finished well at Conwy and won his age cat. Good turn-out at Conwy parkrun for the last event of year...plus other results. Report by Don Hale. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com   There was a good turn-out of over three-hundred mixed ability entrants at Conwy parkrun last Saturday morning for the final event of 2024, with many club and social athletes travelling from far afield. Thankfully, the weather was near perfect, which was in stark contrast to the previous week, and it remained a good festive atmosphere as runners looked forward to the New Year celebrations. North Wales Road Runners  entered thirteen members and recorded four age category victories and two new course PBs. Gold medal winning track athlete  Steve Gardner , fresh from his success in the Welsh Masters indoor 3000m championships, made a rare parkrun appearance and led the team home in 8th place overall with a new PB of 19 minutes and 11 seconds, to win his VM60 cat. Steve was clo...

*Pictured above - North Wales Road Runner Steve Gardner with his M60 gold medal at the Cardiff Indoor Arena. Gold medal winners at the Welsh Masters 3000m championships at Cardiff...plus January indoor updates. Report by Don Hale. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk Brett Davis, a director of WMAL has just confirmed the gold medal winners and results from the various 3000m championship races for both male and female athletes from last Sunday at the Cardiff Indoor Stadium. North Wales Road Runner  Steve Gardner  made the long journey south once again to record an excellent time in his veteran M60 age category in a time of 10 minutes and 37 seconds to claim a new PB. After his event Steve, who deservedly struck gold, later said : “ I competed at the 3000m champs in Cardiff yesterday, and I was very pleased with my performance in a time of 10.37, which was a new pb for me, 25 seconds faster than my previous outdoor time set earlier in the year.  ...

*Pictured above - some members of the North Wales regional team. Three Road Runners ran well in the Inter-regional cross-country champs at Newtown. Report by Don Hale. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk   Three North Wales Road Runners competed well in the Inter-regional cross-country championships at Dolerw Park, Newtown, last Saturday, and each recorded some excellent times, with one member even winning a prestigious team medal. Cheryl Frost, Kay Hatton  and  Steve Gardner  were selected to represent the  North Wales regional team  in the Senior Women and Senior Men’s Masters races, following some promising results in recent NW Cross-country league meetings.     *Steve Gardner (*above left), with Cheryl Frost and Kay Hatton. And at the weekend   Cheryl  formed part of a successful five-women squad that packed well and clinched the 3rd team spot in the Senior Women and Master Women’s race, finishing 105th o...

*Pictured above - Harry Driscoll led the NWRRC team. Harry Driscoll led the Road Runners home at Conwy parkrun...plus other parkrun results. Report by Don Hale. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk   It was another bumper turn-out at Conwy parkrun last Saturday as a host of visitors enjoyed the mild conditions and the picturesque 5k riverside course at the RSPB Nature Reserve. Harry Driscoll  led home a team of just nine  North Wales Road Runners  due to members recovering from illness, injuries, or from last week’s Marathon Eryri.   Harry finished 12th overall out of 366 entrants, and he was 2nd in his SM20 age cat in 20 minutes and 16 seconds.  Sion Thomas  was 78th in 24.30, and  Richard Scamans  finished in 82nd place in 24.37.  *Sion Thomas (*above left), with Richard Scamans. Steve Bozier  had an easy recovery run in 27.33 in 151st place, and  Gwen Charlton  was 163rd and she claimed a new...

*Pictured above - Steve Gardner back from the track at Conwy parkrun. Perfect conditions as many club athletes returned to Conwy parkrun...plus other results. Report by Don Hale. Most photos by Bill Scrivens. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk   The weather was almost perfect last Saturday morning as nearly 300 mixed ability club and social runners took part in the Conwy parkrun, with many athletes returning to this event following injury, illness, or other important races. Veteran track athlete  Steve Gardner  from North Wales Road Runners turned his hand to the parkrun this week after setting records in recent national and international overseas championship events, and he led home a team of fourteen club colleagues to finish in 5th place overall in 19 minutes and 31 seconds, and he also won his VW60 age cat. *Stuart Culverhouse (*above left), with his son Joe, and Steve Bozier. James Jones  continues to impress with a new course PB of...

*Three Bexley AC athletes (*pictured above), at Corby, from left to right, Graham Holder, Andy Rushbrook, and Peter Hawley. Some interesting results for Welsh Masters athletes at the Inter-Area T&F championships at Corby.... Brett Davis reports on the success of WMAL athletes.   Three athletes from Bexley AC represented Welsh Masters Athletics at the Inter-Area track and field championships at Corby last weekend in the throwing events. This included M50  Graham Holder,  shot, discus, and hammer, M60  Andy Rushbrook , shot and high jump, and M70  Peter Hawley  shot. The men came 6th out of 9 teams with wins from  Graham Holder  for the hammer,  Glyn Price  for the pole vault and the M60, 4 x 100m relay team ( Rod Davies ,  Brett Davis ,  Ian Broadhurst , and  Paul Williams ). The women came an amazing 2nd out of 9 teams with wins from  Kath Morgan  W35 high jump,  Mel Garland  W60 high jump, 100m and...

*The Welsh Masters team pictured (*above) at the Mid Cheshire Summer 5k race (Photo courtesy of team manager Bernie Jones). Four Road Runners wore the red vest of Wales in the Mid Cheshire 5k International race...plus other results. Report by Don Hale. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk   Four North Wales Road Runners represented their club and country last Friday night at the Mid Cheshire Summer 5k race, with another three club members also competing as worthy individuals. In a star-spangled event, which attracted almost 1,000 top club and elite athletes over this fast and flat course, the quality of the entries from all around the UK, was confirmed by the first forty-six runners all dipping under 15-minutes.  Martin Green, Jonathan Kettle, Steve Gardner, and Karen   Butler  were amongst a Welsh party of 51 top runners who proudly wore the red vest of Wales against a strong England team, with some other athletes wearing the prominent ...