Report by Don Hale

Eighteen North Wales Road Runners took part in the Conwy parkrun last Saturday amidst a good mix of club and social entrants, and recorded five age category wins on a bright, sunny, but cool and blustery morning.

Martin Green continued his superb form, and he was the outstanding and runaway first parkrun finisher with a fast time of just 18 minutes and eight seconds, to win his VM45 age cat.

Harry Driscoll was also on fire again, and he claimed 3rd place, and won his SM20 cat in 19.38, whilst Carla Green made it a hat-trick of early placing age cat victories, finishing 9th, and the 2nd female athlete in 20.35, to additionally win her VW50 age cat.

Adam Lemalle was 16th in 21.26, and 2nd in his VM40 cat, with James Singleton 31st, and he was also 2nd in his SM25 cat in 22.59. Jamie Tharme was back to his best in 34th place in 23.05, with Richard Scamans 45th in 23.43, and Phil Moss was 66th and 2nd in his VM60 cat in 25.07.

Hannah Griffith impressed again, and now seems to have become a welcome regular at Conwy, this week finishing 73rd in 25.34, and 2nd in her VW50 cat.

Gethin Wyn Jones also ran well in 88th place in 26.05, and master vet Barrie Wells won his VM70 cat, and he was just three-seconds behind Gethin in 89th place, with Carol Moss also winning her VM55 cat in 105th place in 26.42.

Additional master vets, Rob Fryer and Don Hale, ensured a clean sweep in the VM70 section, with Rob 2nd cat in 106th place in 26.43, whilst Don celebrated his 200th parkrun during his comeback from injury and claimed the 3rd cat spot in 26.54, and knocked about two-minutes off last week’s time.

Elizabeth Driscoll was another milestone runner, who completed her 100th parkrun, with a fine display in 117th place in 27.18, and she was 2nd in her VW55 cat. And veteran Len Jackson was on form again after his recent midweek races, and he finished 145th in 29.10, with fellow vet John O’Shea 149th in 29.20. And it was good to see Steve Mason and his dog Coco working the course as tail markers again in in 52.22. *There were 268 finishers.

*The first three finishers were: Martin Green (NWRRC), in 18.08, with Belinda Brennan (Bramhall Runners), 2nd overall (and the 1st female), with a new PB in 19.18, and Harry Driscoll (NWRRC), was 3rd in 19.38.

The 2nd and 3rd female athletes included, Carla Green (NWRRC), in 20.35, and Jamie Lee 3rd in 21.17.

*Praise was given to the run director Gwyn Williams, and to all the volunteers and marshalls.

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

Other parkrun results

*Gloucester: Regular travellers Ben and Sarah Ferguson performed well again on their debuts at Gloucester last Saturday, where Ben finished 20th in 22.29, and 2nd in his VM45 cat, whilst Sarah was 26th, the 3rd female finisher, and 2nd in her VW45 age cat.

Sarah later said: “Amazing! Tried out the Gloucester City parkrun near my sister’s house. 3rd lady for me. Not quite the time I wanted as it’s a pretty flat and fast course, but I will take that!”

*Prestatyn: Stuart Culverhouse finished 8th at the Nova parkrun at Prestatyn and he won his VM50 age cat in 20.36.

*Penrhyn: Nia Lister made her debut at the Penrhyn Castle parkrun and enjoyed her outing in 94th place in 29.30.

Other results

*Stoke: Helen Hannam completed her second Race 4 Life charity 5k run within a few days for Cancer Research last week. Her first run was at Rhyl last Sunday, where she finished as the 6th female in a time of 26.56, and then she travelled to Stoke to meet up with her family for another similar and popular charity event.

Helen later said: “Race 4 Life, part 2 in the Stoke 5k event. I walked around the beautiful Trentham Lake with Mum and Izzy in just under an hour. An amazing atmosphere, support, and marshalls. Nice to chill-out and chat for a change without running around.

“Thanks to Emma Dewit for the big hug, I really needed that to get me through the last emotional mile. Thanks too, to my chauffeur and photographer extraordinaire Lee too. Well done to everyone who smashed it today.”