Don Hale Blog

*Pictured above - Master Veteran David Gibson celebrates after winning a silver medal at the New York Marathon to complete a unique hat-trick of World Major Marathon Championship awards. Introduction by Don Hale.  donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025 Welsh Master David Gibson has completed winning a unique hat-trick of silver medals in three World Major Marathon events this year! This is an incredible achievement for this extraordinary Master Veteran, who competes for Wales Masters and his club Tri Hard Harriers, and has recently returned home following his latest success in the New York Marathon. www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk This is David's exclusive story: As a Welsh M70 Master, I competed in the 2025 Age Group World Marathon Championships at the recent 2025 New York Marathon and came away with the M70 category Silver Medal.  Tackling this race just six weeks after getting another M70 Silver Medal at the 2025 Berlin Marathon, and four weeks after a M70 win in the 2025 Cardi...

*NWRRC member Mal Preece (*above) pictured at the promotional finish area with his medal after running in the Berlin Marathon. Road Running duo beat the heat in the Berlin Marathon. *The North Wales dynamic duo of Mal Preece (*above left), and Lesley Goodson relax after competing in very hot conditions during the Berlin Marathon. Report by Don Hale. donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025   Two members of North Wales Road Runners ran in the world famous Berlin Marathon on Sunday in very hot temperatures, which seemed in stark contrast to the rather wet and windy weather in the UK over the weekend. Both  Mal Preece  and  Lesley Goodson  claimed they were glad to finish, but the pair still recorded some excellent times given the circumstances of competing in this prestigious event, and in those unexpected conditions, along with tens of thousands of global entrants. Mal finished in 3 hours 48 minutes and 25 seconds, and afterwards he explained: “This was marathon number 8 at...

*Runners and supporters of the 5K Your Way, Move Against  Cancer group. Nova parkrun celebrated its 200th event in style. Report by Don Hale. Photos courtesy of Malcolm. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk   The Nova parkrun at Prestatyn celebrated its 200th event last Saturday. Their first parkrun started on 7th December 2019 and since then, 8,000 participants have completed 30,141 parkruns covering a total distance of 150,705 km, including 4,783 new PB’s, and a total of 435 individuals have volunteered 3,645 times. *Pictured above and below - some of the generous volunteers at Nova and a selection of some of Malcolm's great  action photos. This edited report is courtesy of the Nova Run Director: Well done to the 280 people who joined us to walk, jog and run at the Nova this morning including 27 doing a parkrun for the very 1st time. We were also happy to welcome  Nova Prestatyn 5K Your Way, Move Against Cancer  who joined...

Kinmel Bay FC draw with the League leaders. NWCEFL 24/25 Premier Division 15 Mar 25 at St Asaph. CPD Y Glannau (2) v Kinmel Bay FC (2). Report and photos by Barry Griffiths. A cold sunny dry day on the excellent St Asaph Leisure Centre under referee Karl Berry, where Glannau opened the score from a Steven Kirk penalty in the 19th minute of play.  Bay captain Chris Jones scored the first of his two goals when assisted by Sean Sheridan who equalised the score in the 26th. Daniel Price assisted by Steven Kirk took Glannau into the lead just at the start of the 2nd half. Bay was awarded a penalty mid-way through the 2nd half which the Glannau keeper Bradley Wright saved, and so Bay was behind until the very last moment of injury time when Chris Jones scored his second with a blistering drive assisted by Tate Walker. *Y Glannau now lead the table with 50 points to KBFC 3rd place on 41. With Cerrigydrudion losing 2:1 to Pheonix the Cookson Cup final will be KBFC v Penmaenmawr. ...

*Barry Griffiths captions the action (*above) and below from the semi-final K BFC are Cookson Cup Finalists! Cookson Cup 24/25 Semi-Final @ Y Morfa. KBFC 3 v Llandudno junction FC (1).   Report and photos courtesy of Barry Griffiths. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com   KBFC train pre-match in Conwy Mind shirts whose vision is of a society where everyone experiencing mental health needs and emotional problems receive support, respect, and are accepted and included without fear of stigma and discrimination.  https://www.conwymind.org.uk/   With a team of three match officials at this semi-final, it was well played, much like the final last year between the same teams, but now the Bay’s win places the team into this season’s Cup Final. Junction opened the score in the 19th minute when David Maddock assisted by Mike Williams got the ball past excellent Bay keeper Alistair Macaulay.  It was not until 20 minutes later Daniel McIlvogue assisted by Ciaran Brady equalised...

Mike Prosser writes an historical novel about the Wigan Lass. Special feature: Introduction by Don Hale. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com Mike Prosser is a prolific writer with a very keen in interest in football, and especially for his beloved team Burnley FC. He has compiled several books about the club including Quiz Answers and Facts, plus another about Goalscoring Legends. His latest work,   The Wigan Lass , however, is a dramatic historical novel and seems set to be another popular topic, charting the twists and turns about a young girl growing up in poverty after WW2, with the author later gives adding a sporting mention following the eventual upturn of her fortunes, and the town of Wigan, linking rapid developments to the Rugby League and Football League Clubs.   ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  Mike Prosser is a plumber, heating engineer, author, and football statistician from Essex. He has supported  Burnley Football Club  since 1959.  The Wigan Lass. Born plai...

*Pictured above - Sarah and Ben Hudson after completing their run. Sarah and Ben Hudson completed the Trimpell 20-miler in their ultra season build up, and as preparation for the Boston  Marathon... Report by Don Hale. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com   Ultra distance veteran athletes Sarah Ferguson Hudson and her husband Ben continued with their amazing training exploits last Sunday morning by competing in the Trimpell 20-mile race. At the time of writing, the full results had not been confirmed, but this popular pair turned in some excellent performances once again, with Ben running home in 2 hrs 57 minutes, and Sarah in very close pursuit in 3 hrs and 3 seconds. After the race Sarah confirmed:  “The event was not chipped timed, and they have not put the results out yet, but yesterday’s lovely Trimpell 20 went all along the river/estuary at Lancaster. It was a great little race for Spring marathon training.  “Not quite the times we wanted but being at 11.00am,...

*Pictured above - the start of the combined races on Colwyn Bay promenade. Unique triple races and NW 10 mile champs results from Colwyn Bay... Report by Don Hale.  Photos courtesy of John Hatton. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com It was a glorious sunny day at Colwyn Bay last Sunday morning for a unique triple event organised by RunWales which included races over 5, 10, and 20 miles along the promenade, with the 10-miler also doubling up as the North Wales Regional Championship challenge event. Some 168 athletes competed in the 5-mile race with  Tomos Roberts  (Meirionnydd RC), winning in a chip time of 26.04, with  Jack Webb  (Rotherham), 2nd in 27.24, and  Alex Cowin  (Penny Lane Striders), 3rd in 28.13. The first female was  Charlene Jacobs-Conradie  (Meirionnydd RC), in 31.05, and  Alannah Birtwistle  (Macclesfield), was the runner-up in 37.08, whilst  Stephanie Humphries  (Widnes), finished 3rd in 38.10.  Three N...