Gareth's Press Report - 5th October 2025

The past two weeks has seen members of Prestatyn Running Club return to League action -  and what a return it has been.

A hugely successful outing in the first fixture of the Borders Road-Running League in Tattenhall was followed by the opening of the David Alun Williams North Wales Cross-Country League, hosted by the club in co-operation with Denbigh Harriers on a new course at Llannerch Hall, St Asaph.

The venue proved a tremendous success, with competitors from all clubs, while finding it a tough challenge, describing it as “a good, old-style course”.

It was a brilliant day all-round for the club, not only for its successful staging of the races, but because of the strong turnout in the men’s and women’s races.

In Tattenhall a record  41 club members lined up, including nine debutants, and it paid dividends as the men finished second to a strong Deeside AAC squad in Division 2 and the women topped the Division.

The placings were: 29 Tony Wood 34.47, 32 Tom Carter 34.59, 44 Aled Hughes 35.40, 61 Dan Williams 36.32, 73 Alex Ryder 37.00, 79 Darren Blazier 37.21, 82 Oliver Birch-Jones 37.27, 95 Dafydd Montgomery 37.53, 108 Matty Smith 38.32, 130 Dean Longley 39.32, 150 Chris Snow 40.10, 177 Marc Jones 41.34, 179 Ed Shirt 41.38, 196 Kieran Williams 42.15, 198 Lewis Pierce 42.20, 206 Darrell Jones 40.32, 210 Tom Coen 42.42, 219 Ella Jennings 43.24, 227 Dan Liddle 43.54, 241 Eve Manifold 44.29, 248 Ben Thomas 44.50, 266 Paul Sanders 45.32, 268 Zack Webster 45.36, 269 Canyon Wilson 45.36, 271 Emma Collins 45.37 (2nd L60), 276 Judah Eastwell 45.47, 287 Erin Thomas 46.39, 295 Tony Benton 47.15, 271 Helen Ashworth 47.33, 304 Patrick Haberland 47.52, 305 Chris Bennett 47.57, 338 Martin Cortvriend 50.06 (1st M70), 371 Ally Reid 52.35, 373 Philip Howarth 52.45 (2nd M70), 375 Tilly Jones 53.01, 388 Laura Rich 54.52, 396 Sue Hughes 55.22 (1st L65), 416 Nicki Triggs 57.57, 437 Grahame Shone 62.50 (1st M75), 440 Casey Blake 64.26, 446 Claire Manifold 71.45.

It was almost a repeat at Llannerch, with the men coming third and women first in their respective divisions, and the male veterans also third, the club’s best set of results in years.

The men’s squad had a huge boost with the return to the club of Steve Skates, who was the team’s first finisher. He received good support from the whole squad, while Lisa Lines continued her return to form in leading the ladies home.

The placings were:- Men: 9 Steve Skates 31.07 (1st M45), 11 Tom Carter 31.31 (1st M40), 51 Gareth Jones 34.59, 56 Oliver Birch-Jones 35.25, 63 Dan Williams 36.14, 78 Ben Garnett 37.06, 86 Matty Smith 37.51, 96 Lee Bailey 39.13, 144 Nem James 49.45.

Ladies: 17 Lisa Lines 29.15, 44 Helen Ashworth 32.42, 59 Meg Lewis 33.53, 84 Rachel Jackson 36.27, 102 Sue Hughes 39.21m 114 Cath Wood 41.29, 115 Liz Martin 41.56, 118 Cara Jones 42.28, 127 Emma Birchall 45.56, 131 Clare Manley 52.47, 134 Julie Evans 56.02.

Men over 65: 14 Neil Davidson 33.46, 18 Martin Cortvriend 34.50, 19 Reg Jonas 35.00, 26 Arwel Jones 37.04, 28 Mark Dakeyne 37.52, 37 George Nixon 42.36, 42 Steve Hatfield 53.46 (3rd M75), 43 Roger HHarrison-Jones 62.00 (1st M85).

Several members made their marathon debuts in the MBNA Chester Marathon Sunday, one of them being Oliver Birch-Jones who had run at Llannerch the previous day.

Their results were: 436 Dafydd Montgomery 3-10.35, 817 Oliver Birch-Jones 3-26.05, 927 Lewis Pierce 3-27.24, 978 George Williams 3-29.49, 1297 Marc Jones 39.42, 1393 Eve Manifold 3-41.27, 1424 Canyon Wilson 3-38.56. 3754 Debbie Jones 4-43.11, 3856 Owen Gibson 4-46.11.

In the accompanying Metric Marathon Darrell Jones was third in the M60 class, clocking 2-01.27 in 73rd place overall. Zack Webster was 302nd in 2-23.47 and Tilly Jones 437th in 2-33.01.

Another who did the “double” at the weekend was off-road captain Gareth Jones. After his effort at Llannerch he travelled to the Basingstoke 10 and not only won his age-group in 13th place overall but set a new pb of 39.11.

Hills, mud and a river crossing were among the challenges which faced Claudia Smith in the Dovedale Dash, a 4.5-mile event in Derbyshire, which she described as “good fun”. She finished in 61 minutes.

David Hudd is hoping for better weather next weekend when he competes in the 50-mile Lakes Ultra. He had hoped to get some distance training on Sunday after entering the Bangor Half-Marathon but debris on the course due to Storm Amy led to its cancellation. Instead he ran the 10k, finishing 49th in 42.49.

With so much else to occupy them only two members were in Parkrun action on Saturday. Ed Shirt finished 29th in 24.06 at Kingsway (Gloucester), while Dave Ellis, later on car-park duty at Llannerch, was 7th in the Greenfield Valley run, clocking 21.27.