PLENTY of North Wales Road Runners Club (NWRRC) members ran a range of races last weekend during one of the busiest times of the year, which involved several fixture clashes and some bumper entries.

NWRRC members travelled to compete in marathons in London and Chester, together with the Chester Metric race, the Cardiff half-marathon, the season’s first cross country at Bangor, and the Conwy parkrun.

The most popular event for NWRRC club runners was the Chester Metric Marathon race, with six members competing on this unusual and challenging distance.

Martin Green and his wife Carla were the star runners yet again, with Martin claiming a fourth place finish overall at the Metric Marathon.

He also won his MV45 age cat amongst a quality field of nearly 1,000 experienced athletes.

Martin’s impressive time of one hour, 34 minutes and 39 seconds was just 12 seconds adrift of his third-placed rival.

Carla took all the plaudits this week following her tremendous display in this same Metric Marathon event.

She also won her FV50 age cat with another determined effort as the third female finisher and in 30th place overall in 1.53.02.

She was delighted to climb upon the podium and break her two-hour target.

Iwan Evans also ran well to finish in 43rd place overall in 1.58.15, and Nicola Wylie, despite a few injury niggles, continued with her fine form in 369th place and the 97th female runner in 2.36.46.

Helen Hannam turned in another gritty performance to finish in 456th place and the 150th female in 2.45.13.

Mandy Owen seemed slightly disappointed with her result in 588th place in 2,59.27, adding: “My slowest Metric so far.

“I just wanted to get the miles in the old legs and to collect my triple medal for the Chester 10k and half-marathon.”

Meanwhile, Steve Bozier and Kelly Alford joined more than 40,000 runners at the London Marathon yesterday (October 2).

Steve recorded an excellent time of three hours and 31 minutes, but admitted to a few problems enroute.

He explained: “I massively dropped the pace after halfway because I thought I was out of time to get a good for age time again, and to save it for the Snowdon Marathon in four-weeks’ time.

“But that last half was still really hard and painful. I still got my second-fastest marathon, but with the right training, I can do much better!”

Kelly ran in her special bright yellow charity costume but later admitted that she had picked up a bug and unfortunately couldn’t shake it off.

She said: “It was also a mega hot-day, and I was in my costume, so I was melting, and I was struggling from mile nine.”

Despite her problems, Kelly bravely battled on and finished her run in a very respectable time of four hours and 48 minutes.

Elsewhere, Jamie Tharme took part in the Chester Marathon on Sunday and was pleased with his time of 3.42.40 to finish in 772nd place amongst more than 3,000 starters.

Cheryl Frost celebrated with another superb PB and a great run at the Cardiff half-marathon, but was slightly annoyed by the delay in starting with 12,896 runners called forward in waves, which provided some confusing gun times.

Despite this handicap, Cheryl still claimed a very good chip time of 1.42.04 in 199th place.

Afterwards she confirmed: “We started in waves, so it was at least ten-minutes difference, hence the awful gun time. I was quite happy in the end though with my PB.”

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Five Road Runners tackle Bangor cross country race

A total of five Road Runners swapped their trainers for spikes at the first cross-country fixture of the season at Treborth, near Bangor last Saturday in the North Wales League.

Martin Green used the race as a warm-up for the Chester Metric Marathon the following day and ran steadily around the course to finish ninth overall and second in his MV45 age cat in 32.42 in the senior men’s race.

Stuart Culverhouse was the only other male member involved in this event and he finished 81st in 39.19 and 11th in his MV55 cat.

The event attracted 142 runners.

Kay Hatton led a team of three female club members home in the senior women’s race, finishing 62nd overall and sixth in her FW55 cat in 31.56.

Tessa Bushnell enjoyed a good run in 91st place and ninth in her FW35 cat in 37.13, whilst Gwennan Charlton was 95th in 39.03 and 10th in her FW35 cat.

This race welcomed 109 runners.

Road Runners take the plaudits at blustery Conwy parkrun

Due to several fixture clashes, only six North Wales Road Runners took part in the Saturday morning parkrun at Conwy.

But they still recorded three age category wins and Steve Mason was the first male runner back home amidst 181 starters.

Steve maintained his recent good form to claim a notable victory, and he also won his MV45 age cat in 18 minutes and 59 seconds despite the blustery conditions and a puddle-filled course.

Former NWRRC athlete Chris Yorke took the second spot overall, and he too won his VM50 age cat in 19.21, with Lewis Jones finishing in third place and first VM35 cat in 19.53.

The first female runner was junior athlete Sophia Voice, who also won her JM11-14 age cat in 11th place overall in 21.33.

Jamie Tharme was the next Road Runner back, and he finished in 13th place in 21.51, with Carla Green 22nd overall and the second female athlete, but she won her VW50 age cat in 22.45.

And Stuart Culverhouse enjoyed a steady run to finish in 34th place in 23.50, with veteran Rob Fryer finishing 60th overall and second in his MV65 cat in 25.57.

In addition, master veteran Dave Gardner made a surprise but very welcome parkrun appearance for the first time in about three years and recorded a time of 50.11 to win his MV80-85 age cat.

Provisional results from Conwy parkrun: www.parkrun.org.uk/conwy/results/latestresults.