Gareth's Press Report - 24th May 2026

The prospect of competing in one of the country’s fastest races may be off-putting for some, but eight members of Prestatyn Running Club were  pleased they made the trip to last week’s Mid-Cheshire 5k.

With 300 runners finishing inside 17 minutes the quality is obvious and it rubbed off on the Prestatyn contingent, all of whom had good reason to be delighted with their performances.

They included Ryan Bateman, who was making his competitive debut for the club.

The placings were: 148 Tom Carter 15.47, 384 Alex Ryder 17.11, 418 Oliver Birch-Jones 17.20, 592 Ben Lewis 18.28, 740 Marc Jones 19.53, 750 Ryan Bateman 20.50, 792 Paul Sanders 20.33, 820 Zack Webster 21.13.

Supervet Martin Cortvriend doubled up at the weekend, following up an outing in the Nova Parkrun on Saturday by winning the M70 class in Sunday’s Mynydd Myfyr fell-race at Trefonen, near Oswestry. The 4-mile race involves 150 metres of climbing, and Martin clocked 36.34.

Missing from last week’s results from the Chester Half-Marathon was the name of recent recruit Nick Chadwick, who finished in 1-39.41.

Northern Ireland, Northumberland, Nottingham and the Lake District were among the Parkrun venues visited by members on Saturday, when conditions were conducive for fast times.

In the Nova run Evan Lewis recorded his second top-3 placing, setting a new pb of 18.55.

Other results were: 18 Lewis Pierce 21.31, 19 Alex Ryder 21.31, 22 Ed Shirt 21.47, 29 Jusah Eastwell 22.03, 33 Marc Jones 22.26, 47 Martin Cortvriend 24.05, 67 Owen Gibson 25.18, 68 Paul Sanders 25.18, 69 Gareth Bailey 25.24 (pb), 72 Stephen Langley 25.38, 74 Reg Jonas 25.53, 96 Jack Lally 27.11, 140 Jo Lewis 29.14, 166 Claire Manifold 30.51, 226 Mike Davis 34.40, 269 Roger Harrison-Jones 38.01, 287 Steve Hatfield 40.02.

Other Parkrun results:- Llandrillo yn Rhos: 512 Julie Evans 46.13 (walking).

Greenfield Valley: 2 Steve Skates 18.27, 14 Jenna Bagnall 23.32, 31 Sue Hughes 27.58, 73 Clare Manley 41.05.

Park in the Past: 51 Andrew Carter 25.59.

Ruthin: 39 Glenda Roberts 27.18.

Derry City: 8 Jonathon Puleston-Jones 19.43.

Fell Foot (Windermere): 99 Neil Davidson 25.18.

Sherwood Pines: 259 Claudia Smith 32.18.

Pont y Bala: 41 Andy Thomas 25.03.

Druridge Bay (Morpeth): 3 Jonah Armstrong 18.48 (pb).