North Wales Road Runner Elizabeth tackles the Cascais Ironman race in style!

The experienced North Wales Road Runner, who has a responsible role at RAF Valley on Anglesey, tackled three gruelling challenges, which included a difficult 1.2-mile swim, a 56-mile bike ride, and a 13.1-mile run, and all carried out in hot conditions.

Elizabeth eventually completed the event in six hours, 33 minutes and 36 seconds, and finished in 1,619th place overall, and she was the 262nd female and claimed 14th place in her F55 age cat.

This proved to be an incredible performance by this popular endurance athlete ,who first set her heart on completing this race whilst on secondment last year in the Falklands, where she also took part with repeated success in several other sporting challenges during her stay.

Following her return, Elizabeth has since spent the past four months training extremely hard for this ultimate Ironman race.

When she first arrived in Portugal this week, she explained: “At the end of last year when I had just gone to the Falklands for six months, some friends from the Tri club decided to enter the Cascais Ironman 70.3.

“Not wanting to miss out when I returned, I decided to enter too, not really thinking how much training was needed, how it would completely take over my life, and how much it would push me outside my comfort zone.”

And although slightly concerned about tackling something so huge, she added: “However, here we are, all ready to race tomorrow, it’s a bit on the warm side but a challenge that I am now looking forward to!”

In the end everything turned out just fine, and despite a slight niggling injury, Elizabeth successfully completed all her events in style, and shortly after crossing the welcome finish line, she confirmed: “Oh my! What a day! I am over the moon. Can’t believe my swim and bike time.

“The run was so hard. It was very hot, and my Achilles hurt all the way round, but I kept running all the way. What a day, I’m buzzing.”

Afterwards, the talented all-rounder then took a little time out to evaluate her amazing achievement before admitting: “What an amazing experience. I absolutely loved it! I finished in six hours and 33 minutes.

“I was a little apprehensive about getting in the water with 2,000 others, as I am not the strongest swimmer, but I needn’t have feared, the water was lovely, quite calm, so nothing to worry about, and I had a good swim and really enjoyed it.

“The bike course was great, a few cheeky hills but nothing that we hadn’t trained on, but the run was so hard, very hot, and my Achilles niggle decided to rear its ugly head again, so I was in pain the whole way round.

“I managed to keep running all the way so happy. But what a challenge - now what to do next?”

Elsewhere, Road Runners Steve Forsyth and Jamie Tharme travelled to the Amsterdamse Bos parkrun in Holland last weekend as a warm-up for the Amsterdam half-marathon the following day.

In a massive field of nearly 500 starters, Steve had an incredible run to finish in sixth place in 17.39 and he also won his MV40 age cat.

Jamie celebrated a massive new PB time of 21.06 to knock about a minute off his previous best parkrun time, to run home in 30th place and he was fourth in his MV45 age cat.

As for the Amsterdam half-marathon itself, Steve Forsyth and Jamie Tharme said they both struggled, yet still recorded some decent times, with Steve finishing in one hour and 28 minutes, and Jamie in 1.43.

Will Williams ran in the Knutsford 10k dash last Sunday (October 16) and ran well, but said he was disappointed to finish in 134th place in 38.50, and he was ninth in his MV50 age cat.

Kelly Alford and Cai Roberts ran together in the hilly Oswestry 10k last Sunday, with Kelly finishing in 210th place overall and the 33rd female athlete.

Cai was just one place behind with both sharing the exact same time of 52.18. The race attracted nearly 600 runners.

Splashdown for young athletes at Conwy parkrun

Colwyn Bay youngster Alfie Shiland showed his more experienced senior rivals a clean pair of heels despite the mud at the Conwy parkrun last Saturday, as he splashed around the puddle-filled 5k course to claim another notable victory.

The talented JM11-14 athlete recorded an excellent time of 18 minutes and 20 seconds to finish 25 seconds ahead of his nearest challenger, Sam Davies, who, despite recording a new PB of 18.45, was still unable to catch Alfie.

Paul Jones finished third in 19.36, and there were 176 finishers.

Carla Green was the first female finisher, in eighth place overall.

She also won her VW50 age cat in 20.15, with a couple of other promising juniors claiming the next places, including Olivia Jones who was the second female in 22.28.

Olivia also won her JW15.17 cat, with Colwyn Bay rival Ella Grundy finishing as the third female athlete in 22.41 and second in the same age cat as Olivia.

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Road running duo fly the flag at Conwy parkrun

North Wales Road Runners tackle a variety of top races in busy weekend

North Wales Road Runners entered nine seniors and one junior member and claimed six podium places including two age category wins.

Following Carla’s superb performance, Stuart Culverhouse was the next club runner back in ninth place overall, and he was third in his MV50 cat in 20.50.

Adam Lemalle celebrated a new PB, finishing in 19th place in 22.23, Gethin Wyn Jones was back in form to claim the 38th spot in 23.32, and Steve Roberts finished third in his MV55 cat in 47th place in 24.12.

Veteran Rob Fryer continued to impress with another good run in 58th place to win his MV65 age cat in 25.39, and master vet Mike Hayton claimed second in his MV70 cat in 96th place overall in 28.32.

Dave Spofforth and his son Ben ran and finished together, with Ben in 101st place in 28.54 to claim third place in his JM10 age cat.

Rachel Morris, on her return from holiday, finished in 142nd place overall in 33.20.

Generous praise was also given to the race director and to all the marshals and volunteers.

This is the link to the provisional results from Conwy: www.parkrun.org.uk/conwy/results/latestresults.