Gareth's Press Report 6th April 2025

The end of the Borders Road-Running League season came too soon for Prestatyn Running Club as both the men and women were building up a strong head of steam. In the final fixture at Mold on Sunday the men finished first in Division 2, but it was just too late to grab a promotion place. They finished third over the season, the same as the women, who were second in the final race. With eight finishers in the first 100 it was the men’s best result for some time and augurs well for next season. Though some of them missed Sunday’s race six members finished in the top three in their age-groups on aggregate and others just missed out.

Sunday’s placings were:- 30 Jonah Armstrong 29.04, 38 Tony Wood 29.27, 43 Tom Carter 29.40, 53 Aled Hughes 29.56, 61 Dan Williams 30.41, 86 Oliver Birch-Jones 31.46, 89 Darren Blazier 31.55, 94 Andy Parry 32.05, 111 Rachel Shipley 33.08, 124 Alex Ryder 33.48, 132 Gareth Jones 34.03, 142 Marc Jones 34.31 (3rd M60), 143 Jamie Betts 34.31, 147 David Hudd 34.41, 168 Emma Collins 36.11 (1st L60), 204 Tony Benton 37.59, 208 Tom Coen 38.13, 228 Victoria Whitehead 39.38, 233 Meg Lewis 39.53, 244 Ally Reid 40.30, 257 Martin Cortvriend 41.50 (2nd M70), 280 Arwel Jones 43.20, 290 Sue Hughes 44.32 (1st L65), 299 Jo Lewis 45.59, 314 Grahame Shone 49.15, 321 Helena Cox 50.52.

Top 10 placings on aggregate were gained by Oliver Birch-Jones (8th U20), Darren Blazier (5th M50), Marc Jones (4th M60), Gordon Jones (1st M65), Grahame Shone (2nd M70), George Nixon (3rd M70), Gareth Hughes (1st M75), Mike Davis (2nd M75), Steve Hatfield (3rd M75), Rachel Shipley (6th SL), Emma Collins (1st L60), and Sue Hughes (5th L65).

It was a busy weekend in other ways for the club, too, with members involved in triathlons, ultra races and the popular Parkruns.

The toughest challenge was taken on by off-road captain Lee Bailey in the Lakes Traverse 100k race, which started on the west coast in St Bees and ended close to the M6 after crossing several hills and valleys in the Lake District. In superb conditions, Lee had a great run finishing in 15 hours 5 minutes to take 40th place overall among 205 starters and fifth place in the M45 class.

In September Ben Thomas will be competing in the Tenby Ironman Triathlon, and he, Darren Thompson and Nicki Triggs got the season underway in the Eirias Park Sprint Tri in Colwyn Bay. Despite having been ill during the week Ben put up a fine performance, finishing 12th in the M30 class in 1-13.56. Darren was 4th in the M50 category in 1-05.46 and Nicki was also pleased to take 6th L30 in 1-16.55.

The day before turning out in the Borders League Gareth Jones was one of two members in the Moel Wnion fell-race near Bethesda, a 4.7-mile race involving 1,775 feet of climb. It was the second race in the North Wales championship and Gareth finished 39th in 51.03, with Ann-Claire Jones 51st in 70.36.

The two of them were among five club members who travelled to Fron, near Caernarfon, last week for the Moel Tryfan race, the opener in this season’s Tuesday night series. Results:  41 Gareth Jones 23.33, 142 Mark Dakeyne 31.45, 144 Nem James 32.12, 145 Martin Cortvriend 32.23, 155 Ann-Claire Jones 33.32.

It was no surprise that Jonah , the new road captain, was once again the club’s first finisher in the Borders League as he has been in such good form. Last week he competed in the Deeside endurance open meeting, taking 36 seconds off his 5,000m time in 16.35.

Parkrun results:-

Nova: 8 Dafydd Montgomery 20.29, 9 Dave Ellis 21.28, 11 Lewis Pierce 21.48, 28 Judah Eastwell 23.22, 38 Reg Jonas 24.26, 49 Steve Weedman 25.41, 52 Zack Webster 25.49, 60 Dan Williams 26.09, 81 Nem James 27.10, 84 Martin Gill 27.16, 99 Cath Wood 28.39, 118 Mike Davis 30.04, 119 Nicki Triggs 30.05, 121 Martin Cortvriend 30.18, 161 George Williams 34.27, 208 Steve Hatfield 41.30.

Wepre: 84 Claudia Smith 34.22.

Northwich: 144 Sophie Johnson 28.42, 174 Mandy Cartwright 30.41.

Rothsay Park (Ambleside): 80 Mark Dakeyne 28.04.