Jubilee Plunge

HARRISON WINS IN TIGHT FINISH

Bowland's Sam Harrison won the 3-mile Jubilee Plunge race from the summit of Moel Arthur to Llangynhafal, but it was a close finish with just 10 seconds separating the first four finishers.

 As expected, the recent rain made  conditions underfoot very tricky and several runners took a tumble in the mud.

 Results: 1 S Harrison (Bowland) 11.22, 2 T Roo (Mercia) 11.27, 3 C Atherton (Ambleside) 11.28, 4 A Livesey (ua) 11.32, 5 S Skates (Prestatyn) 11.40. M40: J Brown (Buckley) 11.52. M50: S Toogood (Buckley) 12.45. M60: A Duncan (Bowland) 14.35. U23: J Edwards (Buckley) 13.13. Ladies: 1 L Beetlestone (Eryri) 14.50, 2 E Collins (Denbigh, L50) 15.19. U23: K Tansley (ua) 16.25. L40: V Whitehead (Denbigh) 15.23.

Wrexham Club races

MILLS GRINDS OUT A WIN

James Mills was made to work hard  by Daniel Weston for his win in Wrexham AAC's annual Christmas charity 4-mile race, while two of the club's promising teenagers had their own battle for third place.

 Results: 1 J Mills  21.33, 2 D Weston 21.47, 3 Christian Smith (U17) 22.29, 4 Matthew Pleavin (U17) 22.54, 5 David Czanowski 23.52, 6 SM Sussex (u20) 23.53. M40: David Ford 27.37. M45: David Millington 26.39. M50: Peter Sussex  28.44. M55: Bernie Jones 24.10. M65: Phil Walker 31.32. M70: Arthur Egan 32.49. M75: Peter Norman 54.56. M80: Brian Forster 44.16. Handicap winner: Gareth Chaloner 26.46. First track athlete: Brian Collins 49.56. First field athlete: Neil Edwards 49.56.
 Ladies: 1 Alison Whitelaw 31.36, 2 Angie Meredith 37.19, 3 Lynda Rowlands 37.19, 4 Nicola Chaloner 39.46, 5 Nicola Chaloner 39.46. L50: Alexis Baty 42.49 (handicap winner).

 U15 1,600m track race: 1 Luke Sussex (U15 and handicap winner) 5.08, 2 Sophie Paxton (U15 and handicap winner. New Record) 5.23, 3 Yasmine Baker (U15) 5.40 4, Gwyneth Parry (U15) 5.48, 5 James Evans (U13) 5.49, 6 Ioan Oldfield (U11) 5.54. U9B: Mannie Thomas 7.23. U11G: Grace Meredith 7.01. U13G: Hannah Warwick 6.57.

Davies gets GB vest

DAVIES GETS GB CALL-UP

Welshpool's Andrew Davies has earned a GB call-up for the international cross-country match against the USA and a select European squad at Edinburgh on January 9.

 The Stockport athlete, trained by Steve Vernon, has been included on  the strength of his coming 20th in last week's European  championships in Hyeres. The squad is led by double Olympic and World champion Mo Farah and includes fellow Welshman Dewi Griffiths (Swansea).

N Staffs CC League (4)

BUILTH CHAMPS HIT STAFFS ATTENDANCE

Several North Wales youngsters had to forgo the chance of picking up awards in the North Staffs Cross-Country League by opting to run for North Wales in Builth instead of the final fixture at Uttoxeter.

 Colwyn Bay's senior men finished sixth in Division 2 on the day, their placings being: 43 Stephen Eardley 36.25, 59 Matthew Blackweel (Deeside) 37.08, 101 Russ Godwin 38.47, 105 Richard Watson 38.57, 130 Mark Jones 40.08, 149 Jared Debert 41.00, 196 Chris Williams 43.50, 261 Mike H Edwards (Wrexham) 65.16.
 Senior ladies: 87 Vicky Ronald 36.06.

Welsh i/c XC

YOUNGSTERS CONQUER THE MUD

As expected after the recent rain and floods, conditions for the Welsh inter-regional cross-country championships  at Llanelwedd were testing, to say the least, but they gave the current batch of talented North Wales athletes a chance to  shine.

 After coming second last year in the U13s' race Mia Roberts (Deeside) moved up an age-group and took gold, while her sister Neisha, despite being very young in the class, finished sixth in the U13s' class.

 The consistently impressive Cari Hughes (Menai) took gold in the U17's category to add to her previous wins at U13 and U15 level.  Her winning margin was a massive 1m 42 secs.

 In recent years North Wales boys have dominated the U13 and U15 category and this time they did it again after moving up to U17. Despite the absence of Mathew Willis (Wrexham), who was in Portugal training with the English triathlon squad, the team took gold, with Oliver Barbaresi (Menai) second and Joseph Crutchley (Maldwyn) third.

 Menai claimed another gold when Osian Perrin won the U13s' race, with Mike Spill 4th.

 The North Wales senior squad undoubtedly suffered from the decision not to incorporate the event with the Welsh Masters' championship, which will now be held with the Welsh championships in Swansea in February.

 Among North Wales top-10 placings were:- Girls U13: 2 Orla Davies 8.32, 6 Neisha Roberts 8.42, 9 Samia Jones 9.01. Girls under 15: 1 Mia Roberts 12.37, 4 Laura S harp 13.20, 5 Sophie Paxton 13.22, 9 Bethan Dowsett 13.48. Women under 17: 1 Cari Hughes 17.00, 7 Eabha Roberts 19.42. Ladies under 20: 5 Coral McShane 27.06, 7 Abbie Cheetham 27.19.
 Boys under 13: 1 Osian Perrin 7.29, 4 Michael Spill 7.44, 5 James Jones 7.45. Boys under 15: 8 Tomos Land 17.49, 10 Ethan Ackroyd 17.54. Men under 17: 2 Oliver Barbaresi 18.49, 3 Joseph Crutchley 18.52, 6 Christian Smith 19.15, 8 Cai Linton-Davies 19.45, 10 Mathew Pleavin 20.09. Senior men: 6 Richard Roberts 24.46.
 

Nathan No 1

NATHAN CATCHES THE EYE

Rhyl athlete Nathan Jones, one of several North Walians in the United States university system, is making a big impression.

 A student at McNeese University in Louisana, he has been named as 2015 Southland Conference Cross-Country Student of the Year after a series of high placings in the League.

 Jones, a former member of Colwyn Bay, Eryri and Liverpool Harriers clubs and a GB mountain-running international, is  on the second year of a four-year health education degree course.

Borders League (3)

GAP WIDENS AT THE TOP

With Philip Robertson and Phil Langan claiming a 1-2 in the third race at Caernarfon Wirral men extended their lead at the top of Division 1 in the Borders Road-Running League.

 Despite fears about the weather the wind dropped and conditions were ideal for the 10k which was held over the reversed route, with the  runners returning alongside the Straits.

 Robertson finished in 32.02, four seconds ahead of his clubmate, with Wrexham's Daniel Weston third in 33.15.

 Veteran Gill Mead was once again first woman home, consolidating Chester Tri's lead in Division 1, with new Welsh Masters international and reigning champion Sarah Kearney (Wirral) second.

 With four races still to go a great deal can change, especially in Division 2 of both the men's and women's competition.

 Deestriders and Wallasey are currently in pole position with Prestatyn's men and women lying second.

 Full results are on the Borders League website.

NW Junior CC League

PERRIN MAKES IT A "DOUBLE"

A week after their  tussle in the mud at Liverpool the Menai under-13 pair of Osian Perrin  and Mike Spill reviewed their fridndly rivalry in the final fixture of the North Wales Junior Cross-Country League in Wrexham, with the former again getting the better of things. This time his winning margin was just three seconds.

 Meanwhile sisters Mia and Neisha Roberts (Deeside) completed their whitewash with their fourth consecutive  victories in the Y15 and U13 categories.

 Full results are on the TDL Events website.

Message of hope

YOU'RE NEVER TOO OLD FOR A PB!

An encouraging message for Masters

Let’s start by saying that I was certainly no athlete at school. My PE report was along the lines of “weak – could try harder”! Roll on forty odd years later and here I am doing lung bursting runs and loving it! So what happened?

I had dabbled with cycle racing on and off over those intervening years starting with the Snowdonia CC in 1977 whilst at Bangor University before moving down to London. I used to do fairly average time trials but never quite broke the hour for 25 miles. I had reached my mid-forties, my interest in cycling had waned somewhat and my midriff was beginning to balloon. I had a stressful job, my health had deteriorated and I suffered bronchial pneumonia in 2000. I’d never felt so ill before and I guess I had that sudden realisation that I need to do something drastic to arrest this decline. It was then that I joined a gym and the competitive spirit in me began to surface. Along with a friend we entered the British Indoor Rowing championships and although we didn’t do anything spectacular at least it was a start.

I joined the Maidenhead & District CC and began cycling again. Naturally my fitness improved and I then took up triathlon. Now this is when I realised that my running needed some work. My 10k time was around 54 minutes and this would inevitably let me down in triathlon races. Now I know this is something that is generally undertaken when you’re young but I’m of the view that you’re never too old to learn so I got myself a coach. Mike Trees was and still is a great runner and he was to be my mentor. During those cold winter nights at the track in Maidenhead he would train a group of us and would help me with my technique. I entered more and more running events and my 10k times began to improve. Injuries, it seems, are part and parcel of running and I’ve had my fair share over the years. Each time I got injured I wasn’t able to train, sometimes for months, and all that hard work getting fit was going to waste. Sound familiar? This didn’t make sense to me. It was a frustrating cycle of events, training, racing, injury, rehab. Year after year it was the same old sorry tale until this year.

In 2015 I decided to have regular sports physio whether I felt I needed it or not. After all what did I have to lose except for the cost of treatment but I managed to get a good deal on that so felt it was worth it. I also got myself a smartphone and the Strava app so could see my pace throughout training and racing and gradually worked towards achieving negative splits. This meant doing the second half of both training and racing faster than the first half. Wow, what a difference that made. Not only did my times improve dramatically I also enjoyed the races more by finishing strongly. The Parkrun at Penrhyn has also helped with race tuning so thanks to those that set that event going.

Looking back, 2015 has seen me PB at every distance I’ve competed in from 400m to half marathon including beating my long held targets of sub 40 for 10k and sub 1h30 for the half marathon. You will have gathered that I’m no spring chicken at 57 so what next for this veteran who believes he hasn’t yet reached his peak? Next year I’m looking to improve at the shorter distances. I’d love to get under 5 mins for the 1500m and sub 2m30 for the 800. Watch this space!

Steve Taylor

Menai Track & Field

NW Junior CC League (3)

RESULTS OF THIRD FIXTURE IN NORTH WALES CROSS-COUNTRY LEAGUE AT MOLD. FINAL FIXTURE IS ON DECEMBER 5TH IN WREXHAM.
U11 Girls
1	Neisha Roberts	Deeside	6.32
2	Maria Smallwood	Deeside	7.15
3	Macie Crowe	Deeside	7.36
4	Iona Sloan Lewis	Menai	7.43
5	Eden Edwards	Deeside	8.02
6	Megan Hughes	Colwyn Bay	8.07
7	Grace Meredith	Wrexham	8.08
8	Demi Williams	Oswestry Olympians	8.12
9	Non Redvers Jones	Menai	8.15
10	Kaelyn Williams	Clawdd Offa	8.17
11	Angelina Meehn	Menai	8.25
12	Georgina Molloy	Deeside	8.29
13	Ammie Vaughan	Colwyn Bay	8.37
14	Emily Jones	Sandycroft	8.42
15	Emily Brooks	Ysgol Bryn Coch	8.43
16	Bethany Morgan	Ysgol Pen Y Bryn	8.58
17	Hannah Bithell	Penmorfa	9.06
18	Kacey Alderson	Penmorfa	9.07
19	Celeste Wilson	Menai	9.21
20	Emily Wilcock	Hawarden	9.36
21	Ruby Hampshire	Penmorfa	9.45
22	Charlotte Blackstone	Deeside	10.22
23	Grace Lane	Clawdd Offa	10.23
24	Elise Quinn	Sandycroft	10.32
25	Lucy Edgeley	Sandycroft	10.33
26	Lauren Boon	Ysgol Bryn Coch	10.45
27	Milly Hedges	Sandycroft	12.37
	Molly Wilcock	Hawarden	DNF
Teams
1	Deeside	11
2	Menai	43
3	Sandycroft	90
U11 Boys
1	Math Thomas	Menai	9.45
2	Harri Morgan	Menai	10.17
3	Ioan Oldfield	Wrexham	10.21
4	Ted Bolton	Wrexham	10.34
5	Fin Thompson	Wrexham	10.42
6	Owen Boden-Williams	Colwyn Bay	10.47
7	Guy Soley	Menai	10.58
8	Tudor Harper Lloyd	Menai	11.01
9	Kieran Bushell	Deeside	11.18
10	Ben Higham	Hawarden	11.24
11	Lenny Grugel	Hawarden	11.37
12	Owain Wilkinson	Hawarden	11.39
13	Jack Scott	Menai	11.46
14	Ewan Millington	Bryn Coch	11.49
15	William Orbine	Clawdd Offa	12.01
16	Joshua Grubbe	Sandycroft	12.13
17	Cameron Morris	Colwyn Bay	12.21
18	Daniel Frith	Penmorfa	12.41
19	Jamie Cosgrove	Ysgol Pen Y Bryn	12.45
20	Jac Roscoe	Menai	12.48
21	Cian Woodford	Menai	12.50
22	Joe Collins	Wrexham	12.54
23	Lincoln Roberts	Sandycroft	12.55
24	Morgan Jones	Bryn Coch	12.56
25	Thomas Hoolin	Clawdd Offa	12.57
26	Will Flint	Bryn Coch	14.10
27	Liam Astley	Penmorfa	14.23
28	Luke Blanchard	Bryn Coch	15.04
29	Jack Henderson	Sandycroft	15.17
30	Archie Rhys Albison	Bryn Coch	15.42
31	Jamie Morris	Hawarden	15.45
32	Callum Scott	Hawarden	16.04
33	Josh Wilbraham	Sandycroft	16.46
34	Cory Robinson	Sandycroft	20.52
	Joseff Morgan	Menai	DNF
Teams
1	Menai	18
2	Wrexham	34
3	Hawarden	83
U13 Girls
1	Rheagan Edwards	Deeside	10.27
2	Eve Scott	Colwyn Bay	10.35
3	Hannah Smith	Deeside	10.38
4	Imogen Owen	Deeside	10.57
5	Georgia Parkinson	Menai	11.00
6	Ellie Small	Deeside	11.06
7	Carys Watchorn	Deeside	11.22
8	Fion Maddie Rhys Jones	Menai	11.27
9	Abbie Parkinson	Menai	11.30
10	Lucy Thomson	Wrexham	11.33
11	Alys Dion Rees Jones	Menai	12.22
12	Chloe Griffiths	Menai	12.37
13	Olivia Davies	Wrexham	12.49
14	Amiee House Goodwin	Colwyn Bay	12.55
15	Nia Curphey	Wrexham	13.46
	Beth Mc Eachern	Menai	DNF
	Orla Davies	Deeside	DNF
Teams
1	Deeside	14
2	Menai	33
3	Wrexham	88
U13 Boys
1	James Jones	Deeside	10.29
2	Jamie Swann	Deeside	11.19
3	Benjamin Bright	Deeside	11.22
4	Huw Jones	Deeside	11.35
5	Jack Cain	Menai	12.42
6	Ben Winn	Rhyl High School	15.30
Teams
1	Desside	10
2	Menai	155
3	Rhyl High School	156
U15 Girls
1	Mia Roberts	Deeside	11.04
2	Bethan Dowsett	Deeside	11.26
3	Sophie Paxton	Wrexham	11.37
4	Kate Pugh	Oswestry Olympians	12.05
5	Gwyneth Parry	Wrexham	12.09
6	Lauren Watchorn	Deeside	12.25
7	Bethan Davies	Colwyn Bay	12.27
8	Yasmine Baker	Wrexham	12.28
9	Ella Oldfield	Wrexham	12.32
10	Fflur Davies	Menai	13.05
11	Catrin Donnelly	Menai	13.17
12	Ceri Jones	Ysgol Bryn Hyffryd	13.55
13	Jody Cain	Menai	14.57
Teams
1	Wrexham	25
2	Deeside	59
3	Menai	84
U15 Boys
1	Ethan Ackroyd	Deeside	14.55
2	Roland Finnie	Menai	15.24
3	Tom Wilde	Oswestry Olympians	15.40
4	Luke Sussex	Wrexham	16.06
5	Cai Morgan Roberts	Menai	16.22
6	William Harding	Deeside	16.42
7	Rhys Lloyd Roberts	Deeside	25.10
Teams
1	Deeside	64
2	Menai	107
3	Oswestry	153