Don Hale Blog

*Kelly Marie Alford and her partner Cai Roberts with their young son Noah ATHLETES ON THE RUN Kelly and Cai beat the heat in “Secret” half-marathon   Both Kelly-Marie Alford and her partner Cai successfully completed a virtual half-marathon event last Saturday as part of a special “Secret Half” challenge. This was an invite only event from Cardiff half-marathon organisers HOKA One-One. The invites were offered to the top twenty non-elite finishers from the 2019 race, plus the top performers from certain age categories. The pair, however, were unable to run together due to work commitments, so Cai ran his race from 12-noon, whilst Kelly completed her challenge in the evening after work.  Cai also had his child-minding duties to undertake, so he pushed their young son Noah on a tough course around the Great Orme, with the youngster strapped firmly into his buggy. He finished in 2 hours 46 minutes, and Kelly – without a buggy – ran home in 2.03.28. Afterwards, a relieved Kelly said: ‘I am

 *Kelly-Marie Alford and Cai Roberts in Heaton Park Deserved podium place for Kelly at Heaton Park half-marathon Report by Don Hale. North Wales athletes Kelly-Marie Alford and her partner Cai Roberts crossed the English border to Heaton Park in Manchester on Sunday to take part in a “live” half-marathon event where Kelly claimed a deserved age-related podium place. In a popular race that would still be prohibited in Wales due to current Covid-19 restrictions on running events, Kelly battled the weather and a series of challenging hill climbs to earn a silver medal position as 2nd in her F35 age category. The half-marathon was part of a welcome three-race programme, including both a 5k and 10k, and recording nearly 800 finishers in total  Despite a lack of endurance training and race fitness, both Kelly and Cai, who were representing NWRRC, ran well and enjoyed their first major race competition for over a year, with Kelly running home in 2 hours 8 minutes 39 seconds.  She was less tha

Report by Don Hale.  North Wales Road Runner Jonathan Kettle set a hot pace on a cold day but soon hit top gear on the famous Oulton Park motor racing circuit to claim his third win in the annual 16-miler race in the past three years to celebrate a unique hat-trick of prestigious victories. Jonathan Kettle completed a unique hat-trick of wins at Oulton Park Jonathan was one of three club runners who competed in a variety of rare ‘live’ races around the brand-new traffic-free course at Tarporley, last Sunday, which is also the famous home of the British Touring Car Championships, and the British Superbike Championships. Jonathan won this ‘Grand Prix’ running event in just 1 hr 37 mins 18 secs, and also dipped under the chequered flag to claim his M45 age category prize.  He also recorded several best chip times during laps of the race and  finishing two-minutes ahead of the 2nd placed runner.  Afterwards however, Jonathan modestly played down his remarkable achievement, saying: ‘It was