donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2026

Bright, breezy and plenty of visitors at North Wales parkruns. Report by Don Hale.  Photos by Michael (Pat) Finnie, Garteth Southworth and others. coastandcountry.blog donhaleblog,blogspot.com/2026   There were plenty of visitors at the bright and breezy Llandrillo yn Rhos parkrun including - two out of the first three male finishers, and the third placed female athlete - all making their course debuts. Adam Jones  was the eventual first and fast finisher with an amazing new course PB of 15.42, but he seemed to run side by side for much of the event with visiting rivals  Daniel Kashi  (Sale Harriers) and  Gavin Thomas Stuart,  who later shared the same finishing times of 15.45.  *Gemma Moore  (Eryri Harriers) fresh from her midweek record-breaking success at the  Mish Mash 5k , was the first female finisher in 18.26 (10th overall), with  Ellen Baugh  (Denbigh Harriers) second in 22.08, and  Melissa Ward   Williams...

Warm, wild, and very windy for the Nova Coast half marathon... Report by Don Hale. coastandcountry.blog donhaleblog,blogspot.com/2026   It was warm, wild, and very windy on Sunday for the Nova Coast half-marathon with nearly 500 runners battling against a strong headwind on this challenging out and back promenade course from Prestatyn. James Yarwood  (Wrexham AAC) was the overall winner in a chip time of 1 hour 18 minutes and 18 seconds, but he was closely tracked by local soccer player  Aaron Dodwell  in 1.18.43, and  Matthew Baker  in 1.19.47.  The first female finisher was  Natasha Jones  (31st overall) in 1.32.56, with  Lisa Allsup  second in 1.36.02, and  Hayley Parkes (GOG Triathlon) in 1.39.07. Meanwhile , Cheryl Frost  (NWRRC) also celebrated another great result as the 4th female, and she won her F60 age cat in 1.43.56. *North Wales Road Runners  had eight members involved with  Will Evans  leading ...

*Great performances from Karl and Rachel Morris (*pictured above). Karl and Rachel Morris hit top gear  at the Oulton Park Metric Marathon... Report by Don Hale. donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2026 coastandcountry.blog   North Wales couple Karl and Rachel Morris competed in the Oulton Park Metric Marathon last Sunday and they both recorded some excellent finishing times around this iconic motor racing circuit. Karl, who represented NWRC, came 17th overall out of 58 finishers in a very good time of 2 hours 20 minutes and 18 seconds around six laps of the racetrack, and he was fourth in his M45 age category.  And Rachel also hit top gear and celebrated in style following an amazing new PB, which smashed her previous metric marathon results, mainly due to her intense marathon training. Rachel finished second in her W45 age cat in 3.10.30, and she was the 13th female, in 52nd place overall. After her race, Rachel confirmed:  “The TCS London Marathon is only eleven weeks t...

*Pictured above - Colwyn Bay AC runner Josh Mottram at the Conwy race. Runaway success at the Conwy Mountain Race Report by Don Hale. Photos courtesy of Sean Gavin. donhaleblog.blogsport.com/2025 The Conwy Mountain Race proved to be a runaway success once again and attracted a record entry of some 167 experienced fell and mountain athletes to this challenging course, which was the first fixture in this tough North Wales Series. The race over 5-miles with a climb of 1650ft, was eventually won by Gavin Roberts (Eryri Harriers) in 43 minutes and 33 seconds and he was the first M40 runner.  In second place was Chris McLean (Meirionnydd RC) and he was the first Male Open age cat winner in 44.39, with Rhys Jones (Hebog) third, and he was second in the same age cat as Chris in 45.20. The First Lady was Miranda Grant (Eryri Harriers) in 54.55 and she won her F40 cat, and the same club claimed the first three female finishing places, and they were all F40 age cat athletes, with Tess E...

  *Pictured above - prolific Northern Ireland  author  Eileen McCourt S pecial Coast and Country Author Spotlight Feature Welcome to a new author feature about  Eileen McCourt.   Report by Don Hale:  https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com   Eileen McCourt is a retired schoolteacher of English and History with a master’s degree in history from University College Dublin.  She is a prolific author, writer, and researcher, and she has now  completed  over 50 varied books which have all been published by the popular North Wales based company . Eileen lives in Northern Ireland, and her very first book ‘Living the Magic - Connecting the physical and spiritual worlds’ was published in 2014. It received much praise and numerous 5-star reviews.  Her books have also been featured by Amazon in America. This was the catalyst for her career as a spiritual author, with many books published to date. Her life is now devoted to healing and helping others a...

*Pictured above - Karen Butler from NWRRC crosses the finish line to win her F65 age cat at the Twin Piers race last Saturday. North Wales Regional 10k champs - Roll of honour – Twin Piers 10k - plus full NW results and race summary on links. A huge well done to all the age category winners from last week’s Twin Piers 10k Regional Championship race from Llandudno Pier to Colwyn Bay. Report by Don Hale. Photos by Michael Finnie and John Hatton. donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025   *Josh Mottram (*above left), who won the MU20 award, and (*left) Kevin Slattery with his M70 trophy at the Arthur Bebbington -Twin Piers 10k race. Male champions: U20M: Josh Mottram Colwyn Bay AC 39.59 Sen Men: Owen Roberts 31.59 M35: Ben Harding (Meirionnydd RC) 32.59. M40: Dean Thomas (Maldwyn) 35.45 M45: Graeme Tunstall (GOG Triathlon) 38.43 M50: Dafydd Gwynn (Eryri Harriers) 37.46 M55: Anthony Davies (Eryri Harriers) 41.49 M60: Paul Garstang (GOG Triathlon) 42.07 M65: Arwel Lewis (Eryri Harriers) 47.19 M70:...

*The successful NWRRC quartet of ladies pictured above at the Regional cross country championships at Bangor (l-r): Kay Hatton, Gwen  Charlton. Cheryl Frost and Karen Butler. NWRRC quartet amongst the medals at the cross-country champs at Bangor... Report by Don Hale. donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025   A quartet of ladies from North Wales Road Runners enjoyed some great performances at the NW Regional cross-country championships held at Treborth, Bangor last Saturday. Cheryl Frost  collected a prestigious gold medal after winning her W60 age cat whilst finishing 20th overall in 28 minutes and 38 seconds, and  Kay Hatton  was third in the same age category as Cheryl, and she won a bronze medal in 30.13. Karen Butler  was also on top form, and she won a silver medal after finishing second in her W65 cat, and she was 28th overall in 30.28, with  Gwen Charlton  performing well in 40th place, but she narrowly missed out on a medal in her W35 cat after fin...

*Will Evans (*above) made a successful debut at the Rhos parkrun Another attendance record smashed at Rhos despite Arctic conditions...plus other parkrun results. Report by Don Hale. Photos by Michael Finnie and others. donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025   The Llandrillo y Rhos parkrun set another amazing attendance record of 629 last Saturday despite a strong and bitter-cold Arctic headwind and a rather sandy 5k course. This popular new event attracted hundreds of visitors at the end of the festive holidays,  and it was also boosted by numerous runners travelling along the coast due to several early parkrun postponements, due to freezing conditions elsewhere with plenty of ice and snow, and Rhos also  recorded  an exceptional minus 8 degree wind chill via Strava! Visitor  Jacob Hiom  (Cuth’s RC) made a successful course debut at Rhos, finishing in only 17 minutes and 21 seconds, yet incredibly, he shared the exact same finishing time as  Simon Cole  (...