Don Hale Blog

*Pictured above left - Josie Davies with Mandy Owen in Manchester. Some Happy Faces at the Manchester half-marathon. Report by Don Hale. donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025 North Wales runners Josie Davies and Mandy Owen  took part in the  Manchester half-marathon  on Sunday.  For Josie in particular, it was an emotional event after losing her husband Gethin earlier this year, and this challenge was part of her prolific fundraising plan for the Happy Faces Cancer Charity, Josie confirmed:   “The biggest thank you to Mandy and Charlie Owen  for today, 1 for taking us, and 2 for Charlie “Daddy Day Care” services for looking after the boys for me to take part in the race.  “Quite a stressful time getting ready to run, and the organisation was far from the best race I’ve taken part in, and the finish wasn’t much better, but the actual run I really enjoyed. “It was my first half-marathon since the Cardiff Half last October, and I did pretty much the same tim...

*Pictured above left - Josie Davies with her daughter Nikki in London. Josie's prolific fundraising activities for the Happy Faces Children's Charity... Special report and introduction by Don Hale. donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025   Josie Davies is a keen and very popular social runner, who is also a prolific charity fundraiser for the Happy Faces Children’s Charity which supports sick, disabled and disadvantaged children across North Wales. This incredible and locally based organisation first began in 2003, and they have since raised over £1M and provided twelve specially adapted school minibuses for over 5,000 children, in addition to specialist equipment for more than 700 children in North Wales. Josie has taken part in various marathons and numerous demanding events over the years for this particular organisation, and her happy and smiling face can often be seen running up and down Llandudno prom, or around the local area, whilst training hard for her next venture.  And despi...

*NWRRC athlete Gwen Charlton (*above right), heads towards the finish line at the London Marathon. Some personal stories by North Wales athletes in the London and Manchester Marathons... Special Marathon’s sporting feature: Introduction by Don Hale. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com   This is a brief sporting spotlight featuring a number of the many North Wales based athletes who took part in last weekend’s London or Manchester Marathons, with a few even overcoming personal tragedies in order to compete, and most also raising some much-needed funds for local charities. It would be impossible of course, to mention everyone who took part, but this article will at least give a voice to some key individuals who have made a determined effort with hard training throughout the winter to ensure they were ready to start and finish one of the most gruelling races ever, over 26.2 miles.  This is a summary of their personal challenges: Fast time at London for Martin Green. Martin Green, ...

Llandudno prom Santa Dash success as hundreds of people enjoyed a 5k charity run and children's race... Report by Don Hale. Photos by Steve Jeffery. Hundreds of runners, children, and dogs took part in the children's fun run and the 5k Santa Dash along Llandudno promenade last Saturday morning which also raised plenty of funds for local charities. Starting on North Shore by the pier, entrants journeyed down the pier before dashing down towards the paddling pool and the RNLI base before returning to the finish. As this event was not listed as a competitive race, the organisers confirmed that although there was an electronic timer at the finish, there were no chip times recorded. *Rob Fryer from NWRRC (*above) at the finish of the Llandudno Santa Run and (*below) Josie Davies with her young dasher who sprinted around the course.

Josie Davies receives a certificate and medal for her ultra-fundraising skin cancer charity run Report by Don Hale.   Ultra-runner Josie Davies this week received her deserved “Certificate of Appreciation” for completing 100.7 miles, and successfully fundraising for melanoma and skin cancer charities. Josie Davies (pictured above) and her certificate and medal (below) Last month, I covered part of her endurance challenge for such a deserving cause and appreciated her efforts to both raise awareness and much needed funds. At the end of her final run, she was very relieved to finish and confirmed: ‘That’s it all done. Over 100 miles completed in May for Melanoma Focus and SKCIN Charities. Thank you to everybody whose sponsored me so far. ‘I am forever grateful as we really need to make people more aware of the devastation of this horrible disease which can just creep up on you when you least expect it. Also PLEASE protect your kids out there and not just in the be...

Josie runs over 100 miles for cancer skin charities Report by Don Hale. Endurance runner Josie Davies has just completed a gruelling 100.7 miles fundraising challenge for melanoma and skin cancer charities. North Wales based runner Josie has braved a variety of mixed weather over the past month or so during her runs but remained determined to raise as much money as possible for a cause very close to her heart. She was relieved however, to finally finish the job, and later confirmed: ‘That’s it all done. Over 100 miles completed in May for   Melanoma Focus   and   SKCIN  Charities to raise the awareness of melanoma and skin cancer. Thank you to everybody whose sponsored me so far. ‘I am forever grateful as we really need to make people more aware of the devastation of this horrible disease which can just creep up on you when you least expect it. Also PLEASE protect your kids out there and not just in the beautiful weather like today and cover them up. ‘And just today ...

North Wales endurance athlete Josie Davies will begin her 100-mile charity challenge this weekend to help raise funds and awareness of skin cancer. Today (Friday) she confirmed why she has embarked on her latest gruelling task:  She explained: 'As Captain Tom said when he sent a simple message of hope “Tomorrow will be a good day” and it will be. As tomorrow starts my 100 miles in May challenge for Melanoma Focus and  SKCIN  charities to raise awareness of this cruel disease which has decided to rudely upset my family on a personal scale and I’m passionate to try and do as much as I can to prevent this from happening to anybody else.  'Good luck to all the other people who are also taking on this challenge and know to well how this cruelly effects so many people, go and smash it and make everybody aware of the importance of regularly checking your skin for any changes to moles, blemishes etc and keep covering up and not just in the beautiful weather.  'If anybod...