Don Hale Blog

*Pictured above - Sharon Hutchings (*second from the left) with her Welsh team colleagues. Competing in Masters athletics by an extraordinary Welsh field athlete Sharon Hutchings... Special  report by WMAL webmaster Juliet Sidney with Sharon Hutchings. donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025 www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk I have been competing abroad since 2022 at the European Indoor champs, Braga. Restarting after having my left knee replaced in 2021 due to osteoarthritis.  During this time of recovery, I had a lot of thinking time, and I’d always regretted giving up athletics aged 25 as good shot putter, discus thrower whose pb’s were 12.24m and 33.50m with a highest British ranking of 6 for shot put aged 16. I started collecting all my old newspaper cuttings, British ranking books, memories and reminiscing about how much I enjoyed throwing in those days. During this time a good friend Ann Thatcher who was my friend and colleague at Newbury AC years ago mentioned masters athletics th...

Welsh Master and photographer Roger Garland captures some of the action from the recent Inter-Area Indoor championships at Lee Valley...                       

*Pictured above - NWRRC track star and record holder Steve Gardner. Steve Gardner competed in the British Masters Indoor 3000m champs at Sheffield. Report by Don Hale.  https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk North Wales Road Runner Steve Gardner took to the track again last week and this time he travelled across the Pennines to compete for the Welsh Masters in the British Masters Indoor championships held in Sheffield. Despite an excellent performance, the record breaking veteran Welsh athlete was slightly down on his best time for this distance, and faced some stern competition.   After the event, Steve  confirmed: “I competed in the British Masters Indoor Championships last Sunday. It was a very strong MV60 age category held over two races. I finished 2nd in the B race in a time of 10.43 which meant I was 10th overall taking into consideration the times of both races. I was 5-seconds slower than my PB but pleased with my performance on th...

*Pictured above - Sandy Johnston in action from last year's event at Eirias Park **NEW FROM RUNWALES:  Colwyn Bay 5 miler/10 miler/20 miler.  9th March 2025, 10am. **Route update: from  RunWales:   Due to the continued sea defence works in Rhyl which will not be completed until 2026, this event has been moved to Colwyn Bay, we have also added a 20 miler to the mix, the race date is 9th March 2025. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com MORE INFORMATION.    Colwyn Bay 5 miler, 10 miler & 20 miler:   https://www.runwales.com/e/colwyn-bay-5-miler-10-miler-and-20-miler-8641 9th March 2025, 10am. All races start at the Athletics track in Colwyn  B ay, from here they head along to the promenade and head East along the coastline where all races have their turning points for you to retrace your steps back to the athletics track. All race routes are mainly very flat with just a couple of short hills. You could use the 20 miler to test your pace on this flati...

                                                   E n g l an d   Ma s t e r s   At h let i c s   As s oc i at i o n   I n t e r - Ar e a Ind oo r s T r ac k a n d F iel d C h a l l en g e 20 2 5  L ee Valley Athletics Cen tre,  Edmonton N9 0AR   Sunday, 16th February 2025.   Provisional TIME T ABLE: O nly the following spikes are allowed on the indoor track, Omnilite Ceramic Pyramid or Christmas Tree 5 or 7 mm; Steel Christmas Tree 6mm, Steel RT Compression 6m m .   Tr ack timetable: 10:00:       60m hurdles   M35 M50 M60. 10:30:       60m   hu r d le s. W35   ( W40 h eig h t s) W50/W60.  11:00:     1500m   W35 W50 W60 W70. 11:40:   1500m M35 M50 M60 M70. 1...