Don Hale Blog

*Some members of NWRRC at the Snowdonia half-marathon, (l-r) Stuart Culverhouse, Kelly Alford, Sion Thomas, David Jones and Steve Roberts. North Wales Road Runners celebrated a podium place and the odd PB at a very hilly Snowdonia half-marathon...and a great family success! Report by Don Hale. Some photos by Lesley Goodson. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com      www.welshmasters.co.uk   The Road Runners entered seven athletes in the gruelling Snowdonia half-marathon race on Sunday, which brought mixed emotions, an age category podium place, and even the odd PB, on a very hilly but picturesque course. This popular event again attracted a host of quality endurance and top road runners from across the UK, who opted to take on this extraordinary challenge, which recorded 659 finishers.  Well organised by  RunWales , the race was eventually won by local athlete  Steffan Sayer  (Menai Track & Field) in 1 hour 23 minutes and 26 seconds, and he finished nearly four minutes ahead of his riva

*Will Williams (*pictured above)  celebrated  another new course PB at Conwy. Will continued his purple patch of form at Conwy parkrun. Report by Don Hale.  https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co,uk North Wales Road Runner Will Williams continued his purple patch of form to claim another personal best (PB) time at Conwy parkrun last Saturday after claiming a hat-trick of other recent outstanding results on his travels. Will stormed home during the latter part of the event to secure a notable result as the 1st finisher overall and recorded a new course PB of 17 minutes and 59 seconds, to additionally win his MV50 age cat. In the end his rival and debutant  Aled Hughes  had to settle for 2nd place and finished just 21-seconds adrift of Will in 18.20, with fellow debutant  Jack Kelbrick  3rd, with a PB of 18.58. Anna Drinkwater  (Eryri Harriers) was the 1st female finisher and the winner of her SW25 cat in 20.09, with  Ella Grundy  (Colwyn Bay AC), the runner-up aga

*Karl Morris (*pictured above) made a brave effort to tackle a 100-mile race. North Wales endurance runner Karl Morris forced to quit Snowdonia 100-mile race when his trainer fell apart. Special report by Don Hale.  https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk   North Wales endurance athlete Karl Morris made a brave effort to tackle the Ultra-Trail Snowdonia 100-mile race last weekend but unfortunately, he was forced to quit after about 32-miles when one of his trainers started falling apart. The NWRRC member and talented Welsh Master athlete who began his tough challenge last Friday lunchtime confirmed, that the UTL 100-mile event is a very serious race, with 30,000ft of climbing and includes the majority of the major peaks of Northern Snowdonia.  At the start of the event, Karl said he was hopeful of completing this gruelling challenge but explained: “The odds are against me on this one, but I’ll give it a go. Anyone that knows me, knows that I don’t quit easily.

*Pictured above - GOG  Triathlon  'Super Vet' Alan Benn. GOG Triathlete and Welsh ‘Super Vet’ Alan Benn crowned his 80th birthday dash in style with a new cat win and cake at Conwy’s Coronation Day parkrun. Special report by Don Hale. www.welshmasterathletics.co.uk   Welsh Master veteran Alan Benn crowned his 80th birthday dash in style at Conwy’s Coronation Day parkrun last Saturday by winning his new MV80-84 age category with an excellent time of 27 minutes and 57 seconds. The popular  GOG Triathlon  member enjoyed his first ever run as a ‘Super Vet’ and finished in 131st place amidst 325 mixed ability runners over the challenging but picturesque 5k North Wales course.  This was Alan’s 28th parkrun at Conwy, and his fastest run dates back 5-years to May 2019 when he incredibly ran a PB of just 23.41, with an age grading of 75.19%, in 64th place, and won his MV75-79 age cat. This week’s event attracted a bumper assortment of some highly talented and mixed ability athletes for

Kinmel Bay’s surprise home defeat to Glan Conwy finally ends nine match unbeaten run... Special midweek match report and photos by Barry Griffiths.   Kinmel Bay FC (2) v Glan Conwy (3) at Cae Ffwt Stadium; 10th May 23.    Well, what a match, the Bay well beaten by a team at the bottom of the table and a team Kinmel Bay defeated 10 to 0 just a month ago; but recent history defines a closer competition with the teams a 1-1 draw in March 2022 and 2-5 win to Glan Conwy in Sept 2021, so each to our own analysis of that. The impact of this game in terms of table place is that Glan Conwy remain at 16th while Bay slips a position to 6th adding to pressure on the last match of the season against Prestatyn Sport on Saturday afternoon KO 2.30 at Y Morfa. Just goes to show the overall high standard of team fitness and skill in the division with just 7 points separating the mid 7 teams. Each club at Cae Ffwt had 5 subs on the bench but some of Bay’s frequent players were not present.   There were a

*Pictured above - Nuneaton Running Track. Inter Area Challenge 2023:  Representing Welsh Masters at Track & Field at Nuneaton on 6th August. News update from Brett Davis.  Would you like the opportunity to represent Welsh Masters’ at Track and Field?  The next inter-area event is outdoors and is on 6th August in Nuneaton. We are really keen to field the strongest Welsh Masters’ team that we can, and we know that we have a lot of talent around here. We did brilliantly during the indoor event in February, and it is time to build on that success. To do that, we need to have the largest pool from which to select.  Selection will be made over the next few weeks and will be based on recent results on power of 10 (2021, 2022, 2023). We would like to get the provisional women’s team out at the end of June so that people can make travel arrangements.  The provisional men’s team will be ready by mid-July. For those events where there are no current performances on power of 10 then we will be

Ninth win on the trot for Kinmel Bay FC. Report and photos by Barry Griffiths. Kinmel Bay FC (3) v Mochdre Sports FC (0) @ Y Morfa 6 May 2023. This result the 9th consecutive win for KBFC sees the team move to 5th in this league table and is a sound endorsement for the strategy and commitment being followed by players, coaches, and management. With no goal scoring, just fast and tough competition for possession through the first half, it was not until the 55th minute that Tate Walker assisted by Connor Morris nudged the ball past the fallen Mochdre keeper Nicholas Bould.  Twenty minutes later Bay’s Olly Gray quickly tackled the ball round Mochdre players for Connor Morris to strike the Bays second goal. The Bays third came close the final whistle when Connor Morris assisted by Anthony Jones passed the ball past an again fallen Mochdre keeper. Bay players gave everything in the match and with strong subs on the bench mangers Leon Field and Andy Thomas took the opportunity to bring these

*Richard Eccles (*pictured above) ran  well at Market Drayton and he has celebrated another call-up for Wales. North Wales Road Runners on their travels...other race results and round-up: *Market Drayton: Richard Eccles  enjoyed another positive run at the Market Drayton 10k last Sunday finishing in 32nd place overall in 38.31, and he also won his MV55 age cat. And Richard has also confirmed his worthy selection for the Wales team v England in the half-marathon international fixture within the Chester half-marathon race on 21st May. *Will Williams (*above) with another PB at the Alderley Edge 10k *Alderley Edge: Will Williams  seems to go faster with every race, and fresh from his dual 5k successes from last week, Will set a new 10k course PB at Alderley Edge on Sunday, finishing 44th overall out of 1,399 runners in a fast chip time of 36.51, and he was also 2nd in his MV50 age cat. After the event, he was obviously delighted with his result and confirmed: “I was chuffed to get under 3

  *Martin Green (*pictured right) at Conwy's parkrun. Bumper attendance and cake at Conwy’s Coronation Day parkrun...plus other race results... Report by Don Hale. Most photos by Steve Jeffery. There was a bumper mix of some highly talented and mixed ability athletes at the Coronation Day parkrun at Conwy last Saturday, which this week was again staged in very humid conditions and attracted many entrants dressed in colourful Royal tribute costumes, with cake made available at the finish.  North Wales Road Runners  entered sixteen members and had two of their top runners in the first three finishers in addition to claiming eight podium places and three age cat winners. Visitor  Adam Jones  was the 1st male runner home in just 16 minutes and 36 seconds, and he finished over a minute ahead of his nearest rival to easily win his SM25 age cat. The 1st female finisher was VW35 cat winner  Hayley Turner  (GOG Triathlon), 30th overall in 22.24, with  Ella Grundy (Colwyn Bay AC), the 2nd fe