PRESS REPORT 12th JANUARY 2026

Three individual golds, one individual bronze and one team silver was Prestatyn Running Club’s haul of medals from the North Wales cross-country championships at Bangor on Saturday.

Considering the weather over the previous week the conditions were better than expected, but, as usual, the mud made the course challenging enough.

In the senior men’s event there was a race-within-a-race as Danny Williams, Jonah Armstrong and captain Gareth Jones battled it out, eventually finishing in that order just seconds apart.

Ahead of them, Steve Skates won the M45 class, while Marc Jones wasn’t far behind them and took bronze in the over-60s. The masters’ team finished an excellent second.

Helen Ashworth, the club’s first finisher in the ladies’ and M65 race, narrowly missed out on a medal but Sue Hughes was again in great form, taking bronze in the highly competitive L65 class. The club’s other gold went to Gareth Hughes, who won the M75 category just weeks before moving up to the M80 category.

The results were:- Ladies: 18 Helen Ashworth 28.19, 30 Ally Reid 30.46, 36 Sue Hughes 32.42 (2nd L65), 42 Cara Jones 36.01, 44 Emma Birchall 42.37, 46 Clare Manley 46.00, 48 Julie Evans 52.29. Senior team: 6th. Masters “A” 7th, “B” 9th.

M65: 10 Martin Cortvriend 30.07, 17 Mark Dakeyne 32.38, 18 Gareth Hughes 34.25 (1st M75), 20 George Nixon 37.30. Team: 4th.

Seniors and masters: 9 Steve Skates 33.22 (1st M45), 32 Danny Williams 38.05, 33 Jonah Armstrong 38.18, 34 Gareth Jones 38.24, 43 Marc Jones 43.45 (1st M60). Masters’ team: 2nd.

Club entries were down for the championships while elsewhere a total of 32 members participated in Parkruns, including two who also ran in Bangor later in the day. Six personal bests were recorded.

She may not have set a pb but in the Greenfield Valley event Debbie Jones had good reason to be pleased with her performance as she was a volunteer pacemaker for the 30-minute runners, and crossed the finishing line in exactly that time.

Nova Parkrun: 4 Alex Ryder 18.51, 5 Dafydd Montgomery 19.39, 10 Evan Lewis 20.05 (pb), 11 Lewis Pierce 20.33, 12 Jamie Betts 20.38, 15 Lisa Lines 21.50 (1st female), 16 Ben Thomas 21.54, 19 Judah Eastwell 22.05 (pb), 19 Dave Ellis 22.32, 22 Eve Manifold 22.52, 33 Steve Weedman 23.58, 36 Paul Sanders 24.24, 37 Beth English 24.25 (pb), 43 Reg Jonas 25.27, 62 Phil Howarth 28.06, 64 Ann Claire Jones 28.23, 67 Jo Lewis 28.48, 75 Claire Manifold 29.29 (pb), 78 Cathy Wood 29.41, 92 Andrew Scott 30.39, 114 Debbie Weedman 32.01, 119 Mike Davis 32.29, 120 Nicki Triggs 32.29, 121 Emma Birchall 32.20, 183 Julie Evans 44.46, 188 Suzanne Evans 45.58.

Llandrillo-yn-Rhos: 12 David Hudd 20.17, 72 Paul Robson 23.33.

Greenfield Valley: 19 Debbie Jones 30.00.

Park in the Past (Hope): 45 Andrew Carter 26.44 (pb).

Chester: 34 Nem James 23.05 (pb).

Palacerigg (Lanark): 37 Oliver Birch-Jones 23.04.