Don Hale Blog

CONWY PARKRUNNERS ON THEIR TRAVELS AT PENRHYN CASTLE... Photographer and Welsh Master Michael (Pat) Finney was on hand to produce a photo special at the Penrhyn Castle parkrun last Saturday. Pictured above (*The start of the parkrun), and (*below), a large contingent of Conwy parkrunners went. on tour to Penrhyn. *Pictured (*above and below), some great action shots from Penrhyn parkrun.          *This is the link to the full report about the Penrhyn Castle parkrun on 15/3/25. Don Hale Blog: Conwy parkrunners on tour at the Penrhyn Castle ..... https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025/03/conwy-parkrunners-on-tour-at-penrhyn.html?spref=tw

*Pictured above - Oleksandr Kadkalo competing in a trail race. EXCLUSIVE: How a Ukrainian veteran athlete Oleksandr Kadkalo copes with life and work in war-torn Kyiv. Ukrainian athlete Oleksandr Kadkalo runs the gauntlet every day in war-torn Kyiv…this is the true story of how a keen veteran runner and businessman copes with everyday life and constant threats from Russia.   Exclusive report by Don Hale. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com   Whilst writing various posts for my blog, I occasionally come across some quite remarkable people, who both read my blog, and share my love of running. This week, I have spoken with veteran athlete Oleksandr Kadkalo, who lives and works in war-torn Kyiv in Ukraine, who reveals the facts about coping with everyday life. He is the founder and co-owner of a 25-year-old business that deals with energy saving and supplies equipment for heating and water supplies.  We are both members of  Strava , a running, cycling and sports website, pro...

  Welsh Masters and UK Masters Open Track & Field Competition...8th June 2025... Attention all Welsh Masters Athletics members and all UK Masters for the next major masters track and field events. Introduction by Don Hale. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co,uk   The Masters Open will be held for the third consecutive year on Sunday the 8th of June at the Yate Outdoor Sports Complex, BS37 7LB.   DATE & TIME 08/06/2025, 10:00   REGISTRATION DEADLINE 30/05/2025, 23:59 VENUE NAME Yate Outdoor Sports Centre ADDRESS Broad Lane (Behind Brimsham Green School) CITY & COUNTRY BS37 7LB   Yate, United Kingdom ORGANISER Yate & District Athletic Club   All athletes must be 35 or over on the day of competition and entries will be on a first come, first served basis. Any entries from athletes aged under 35 will be rejected and we look forward to welcoming you when the time comes.    Para athletes are welcome to enter thi...

*Pictured above - Action from the Inter-Area champs at Corby. Inter-Area Outdoors Track and Field 2024   SEPTEMBER 7TH 2024 .  OUTDOOR ,   TRACK AND FIELD https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk The 2024 Inter-Area Outdoors Track and Field Challenge was held on Saturday 7th Sept 2024 at the Rockingham Triangle Athletics Stadium, Jimmy Kane Way, Rockingham Road, Corby, NN17 2FB. The results have been published on OpenTrack and are linked available from the   Track and Field page . The  Competition Rules  and the  CBPs  for the 2024 competition were also published and available on the  T&F page . *Please click on this link below for full details and results from the Corby event: https://englandmasters.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/emaa-inter-area-outdoors-all-results-pdf-4b2c.pdf PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF JOE HORNER.  

  *Pictured above - John  Dalzell  - who tragically lost his life this week. Emotional morning as Conwy parkrunners paid tribute to North Wales Road Runner John Dalzell. Report by Don Hale. Photos by Steve Jeffery. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk   It was a rather sad and emotional parkrun at Conwy last Saturday morning as participants, club colleagues, officials, volunteers, and friends, paid tribute to North Wales Road Runner John Dalzell, (48), who sadly died earlier in the week. This shock news had been the main topic of conversation for a few days as people in the running community came to terms with this devastating realisation.  John, a popular family man and a successful ultra-distance veteran athlete, was a regular supporter of parkrun, particularly at Conwy, where he made sixty appearances amidst a total of one-hundred and one other parkruns, including some at Walsall Aboretum, where he used to live, and it was only a c...

*Sir Michael Parkinson (*above) with Don Hale OBE at an awards ceremony in London. My awards night with Sir Michael Parkinson at a star-studded presentation event in London. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com It was sad to hear of the loss of Sir Michael Parkinson this week. I was fortunate to have met Sir Michael, some time ago, and he was a keen follower of my former justice campaign. He presented me with a top award when I was Journalist of the Year for the first time in about 2001. I was on the top table with him at an awards do, we chatted about lots of things and afterwards, he presented my wife Kath with the table flowers. It was a great star-studded evening at some rather posh place in London. RIP Parky!

*Pictured above - Mark Davies from NWRRC and Welsh Masters Athletics, received life threatening injuries after being hit by a drunken, hit and run female driver in January. The Daily Post have just reported on the initial court case (17/8/23) involving hit and run victim Mark Davies, a Welsh Masters Athlete, and a popular North Wales Road Runner. Mark was also an award-winning mountain racing champion, who suffered life threatening injuries due to the actions of a drunk driver. This report is presented courtesy of the newspaper:  My previous blog articles contain further information: *Blog post 27/3/23: Don Hale Blog: Positive news about award winning mountain racer M...  https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/positive-news-about-award-winning.html?spref=tw   *Blog post 6/2/23: Don Hale Blog: Mountain runner Mark Davies continues his battle f...  https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2023/02/mark-continues-his-battle-for-life-at.html?spref=tw   *Blog...