Weekly round up 02.04.18

Posted on 2nd April 2018 by admindh

Martin Cortvriend leads UK National Rankings for 5k in a weekend of personal achievements for Harriers

Martin Cortvriend leads our report this week after running his best 5K time in years at the Wirral Seaside 5K Series on Wednesday. Martin finished the race 49th and 2nd M60 in 19:41. Only beaten in his category by a man 5 years younger, Martin’s run puts him top of the 2018 M65 UK rankings and the only M65 this year to get under 20 minutes over the 5k distance.

It wasn’t just Martin achieving great personal records. Closer to home at the Llandudno Prom Easter 5K, there were some great runs in wet and windy conditions with some of the runners even getting an unexpected shower from the waves crashing over the sea wall. This did not stop Craig Jones from achieving a spectacular personal best in 18:50 and first time for Craig under 19 minutes he continues his running development. Elen Baugh 23:03 also got a personal best taking 35 seconds off her 5K as she shows great signs of improvement too. David Baugh 21:23 was the 1st M55 just ahead of Katy Baugh 22:38 who is now tapering her training in readiness for her first Marathon at London later this month.

On the hills it was the Black Mountains South Wales 38th Llanbedr to Blaenavon Fell Race and first Counter in this year’s Welsh Fell Championships. Participants in the series have to do one “long” category race as a Counter and with this the only one Vic Belshaw and Emma Collins are able to race in this season, despite the harsh conditions, they had to turn out.  The cold conditions – both during and after the race – meant the tough 15.8 miles / 4500 feet ascent race didn’t deliver personal results as in previous years but the series is still in sight with both Vic and Emma achieving what they set out to do and more or less did their anticipated times. In a field of 121, Vic came in 42nd in 2hr59, Emma 83rd in 3hr31.

Elsewhere on the hills, the Joe Brown Midweek Fell Series kicked off this week with Jon Fleming racing for the first time in (his words) a long time. It was flat out, 2 miles up and around hills in Llanberis with Jon delighted to come 32nd in a field of 90+ in 16:35.

It was a quiet weekend at Parkrun for the Harriers with Chris Baldwin the sole runner in a packed field and very wet Penrhyn finishing 77th in 24:34..

 

Results

Wirral Seaside 5k Martin Cortvriend 49th & 2nd M60 19:41

Llandudno Promenade Easter 5k Craig Jones 17th 18.50 PB, David Baugh 1st M55 38th 21.23, Katy Baugh 54th 22.38 12th Female, Elen Baugh 60th 23.03 PB 17th Female

Black Mountains South Wales 38th Llanbedr to Blaenavon Fell Race Vic Belshaw 42nd 2hr59, Emma Collins 83rd 3hr31

Joe Brown Midweek Fell Series Jon Fleming 32nd 16:35

Parkrun Penrhyn Chris Baldwin 77th 24:34

Posted in Uncategorised | Comments Off on Weekly round up 02.04.18

Weekly round up 26.03.18

Posted on 26th March 2018 by admindh

Run for Fun Graduation and medals and category wins off and on road in Llantysilio and Denbigh

A busy weekend for racing started early on Saturday morning with many Run Leaders and Harriers supporting our latest Run for Fun graduates around the Conwy Parkrun course for their first 5k. A clear morning at Conwy saw 8 graduates complete the course with all thrilled by their achievements afterwards and quite rightly so. Harrier Sarah Bayliss also ran a PB performance of 26:26 as she continues to return strongly from injury.

R4F 240318

So next to Llantysilio, Four hardy Harriers turned out for the hilly Llantysilio Fell Race. A 6.2 mile race with an eye-watering 2300 foot of ascent, climbing up Moel Morfudd and Moel y Gamelin. Conditions were good – dry, no wind, 4C –  and the views of the Dee Valley  were splendid. Tony Wood was first Harrier home in 17th position in a time of  1hr 5 mins, Ceri Belshaw was 37th in 1hr 16 and 4 th Lady, just missing out on a podium position at her first race of the weekend. Sioned Lloyd Griffiths  was 65th in a time of 1.29, followed by Menai Baugh finishing in 66th position in 1hr 32 and winning the F60 prize.

Sunday started sunny with no wind after a hard frost overnight and the conditions boding well for fast times at the Denbighshire 5k & 10k races. But make no mistake these are hilly tough road races.  The 10K must be one of the hardest races in the calendar, and the 5K goes spectacularly off-road in the final mile.

In her second race of the weekend in the 10k Ceri Belshaw not only made the podium – she took it – as first lady home in 47:12 showing her speed and skill both on and off road. In the men’s race, new member Huw Williams the first male Harrier home in 18th and 43:14 with all Harriers, many of them new runners, posting very good times in this tough race.

Over the 5k race, Martin Cortvriend finished 3rd in an astonishing 21:57 as 1st M60, just 30 seconds and 40 years behind the overall winner. Ron Birch took 1st M70 in 39:26 with Chris Baldwin 2nd M60 in 26:08 with Clwyd & Catherine Owen showing continued improvement having recently graduated from our Run for Fun programme.

Denbigh 5k 250318 Denbigh 10k 250318

Results

Denbighshire 5k & 10k

10k 18th Huw Williams 43:14, 21st Phil Hayes 43:42, 28th Ceri Belshaw 1st Lady 47:12, 44th Ian Jones 50:12, 51st Bob Neale 51:43, 59th Sali Powell 52:42, 77th David Spencer 54:59, 91st Abigail Corfe 57:20, 100th Hannah McDonnell 58:40. 118th Helen Davies 61:48

5K 3rd Martin Cortvriend 1st M60 21:57, 12th Chris Baldwin 2nd M60 26:08, 22nd Clwyd Owen 30:56, 48th Ron Birch 1st M70 39:26, 49th Catherine Owen 40:28

Llantysilio Fell Race

Tony Wood 17th 1hr5, Ceri Belshaw 4th lady 1hr16, Sioned Griffiths 1hr29, Menai Baugh 1st F60 1hr32

Parkrun

Conwy

Run for Fun members Katie Sutherland 31:39, Sioned Roberts 33:13, Eurian Mitchelmore 34:00, Sharon Stubss 34:02, Sarah Thompson 35:43, Gwen Salusbury 35:44. Diane Lloyd 35:55, Janet Jenkins 36:23

Harriers: Philip Hayes 25:18, Paul Goffey 25:48, Sarah Bayliss 26:26 PB, Sali Powell 30:35, Julie Roberts 30:36, Anwen Brown 31:39, Diane Roberts 32:14, Ian Jones 33:14, Hywel Roberts 33:18, Roger Snaith 33:59, Andy Morris 35:45, Bob Neale 35:56, Robert Parry 36:23

Bushy Park Sian Pritchard 27.08

Posted in 10k, 5K, Fell running, Parkrun, Run for Fun, Weekly report | Comments Off on Weekly round up 26.03.18

Denbigh 10K and 5K races 25th March 2018

Posted on 25th March 2018 by Alf Tupper

A very hard frost overnight made a warm-up period essential for these early morning races, but sunny conditions with no wind boded well for fast times. Unfortunately the hilly terrain didn’t! The 10K must be one of the hardest races in the calendar, and the 5K goes spectacularly off-road in the final mile.
However, in the 10K Ceri Belshaw was first Senior Woman in 47m12; with new member Huw Williams the first male Harrier home in 18th (43m14). Meanwhile, Martin Cortvriend did an astonishing 21m57 in the 5K, being 3rd overall (and 1st M60), just 30 seconds and 40 years behind the overall winner.

Other Harriers in the 10K:
21st Phil Hayes 43m42
44th Ian Jones 50m12
51st Bob Neale 51m43
59th Sali Powell 52m42
77th David Spencer 54m59

91st Abigail Corfe  57m20
100th Hannah McDonnell 58m40
118th Helen Davies 61m48

Other Harriers in the 5K:
12th Chris Baldwin 26m08
22nd Clwyd Owen 30m56
48th Ron Birch 39m26 (1st M70)
49th Catherine Owen 40m28

Posted in 10k, 5K | Comments Off on Denbigh 10K and 5K races 25th March 2018

Weekend round up 12.03.18

Posted on 12th March 2018 by admindh

5k to 52 miles – a weekend with something for every Harrier.

Longest run of the weekend honour goes to Brett Jones who completed the gruelling 52 mile Chester Ultra 50 in 9 hours 9 mins to finish in 13th place. The race takes place on beautiful trails around Chester with the recent snow and rain making the course particularly boggy and tough, which made Brett’s pace incredible, holding a pace in conditions many would be pleased to hold in a 10k trail race.

Not even half as long but tough nonetheless saw the Wrexham Running Festival 20 mile race with 6 Harriers on the start line. Shaun Hughes, continued with his excellent form and with his London marathon training going to plan to finish 4th, just 40 seconds outside of 3rd place, in 2 hours 2 minutes and 9 secs. Also running their last long race before London were Katy Baugh 3:03:19 finishing just ahead of Melina Morris 3:03:59 and Hawys Roberts 3:24:58, all proving the 26.2 marathon course will be conquered. Also on the start line were Alaw Evans 3:14:26 taking 1st place in the FU20 category with an excellent run and Gareth Edwards finishing in 3:11:41.

2 Harriers also took part in 2 10k races. First up new Harrier Steve Gadd with an impressive 40:38 10th and 2nd VM45 at Tatton Park 10k. Steve is also London marathon training and coming back from an injury-hit 2017 so was rightly very pleased with his time, though secretly he’s looking forward to getting back under 40 mins again. No less impressive was David Spencer at the tough Loggerheads trail 10k made all the harder by the seemingly never-ending steps on the course. David finished his first 10k race of the weekend in 66:32.

The Denbigh Harriers Johnson’s Monument 2017 Cross-Country Handicap 10k race was eventually run this weekend after the race was called off due to snow pre-Christmas. The race is handicapped with each participant starting on a different gun time based on their recent performances. The runners then compete against each other, themselves and the handicapper and it makes for an exciting finish as it really is anyone’s race. Winning the 2017 trophy was Glen Price in 44:20, whilst the ladies race was won by Emma Collins 52:40 setting a VF55 course record in the process. Amongst the 17 participants were David Spencer 62:30, Iain McGibbon 59:33, Sali Powell 61:01 and Paul Jones 74:06 all delivering excellent first runs in this event in very muddy energy-sapping conditions.

As always we round up the week with parkrun. Philip Hayes 26:19 and Angela Beedles 33:35 completed Conwy, Sarah Bayliss 29:38 was at Wepre and Elen Baugh 24:13 in Woodhouse Park, Leeds.

 

Results

Chester Ultra 50 mile

Brett Jones 13th 9hr 09 min

Wrexham Running Festival 20 Mile

Shaun Hughes 4th 2:02:09, Katy Baugh 3:03:19, Melina Morris 3:03:59, Gareth Edwards 3:11:41, Alaw Evans 1st FU20 3:14:26, Hawys Roberts 3:24:58

Tatton Hall 10k

Steve Gadd 10th & 2nd VM45 40:38

Loggerheads 5k & 10k

10k David Spencer 66:32

Johnson’s Monument Club Handicap 10k rescheduled race

1st Glen Price 44m20, 2nd Tony Wood 42m42, 3rd Ieuan Belshaw (guest) 53m53, 4th Vic Belshaw 46m02, 5th Fred Jones 55m17, 6th David Spencer 62m30, 7th Iain McGibbon 59m33, 8th Emma Collins 52m40, 9th Llyr Jones 58m08, 10th Tony Benton 53m31, 11th Ceri Belshaw 55m09, 12th Ian Jones 58m16, 13th Bob Neale 60m22, 14th Sali Powell 61m01, 15th Chris Baldwin 60m27, 16th Paul Jones 74m06, 17th Dan Schraibman 58m45

Posted in 10k, 20 Mile, Cross-country, Johnson's Handicap, Parkrun, Trail Running, Weekly report | Comments Off on Weekend round up 12.03.18

Noel Morris 2018 Handicap April Start List

Posted on 12th March 2018 by Alf Tupper

The races this year will be on the first Tuesday evening of each month starting on 3rd April. This change to the first Tuesday is to try to accommodate the Fell runners and not clash with their midweek fell series. Not sure if I have captured all the new people (and some older ones) who might want to do this, but turn up on the night if you’ve been missed. If anybody who is injured would like to help officiate, that would be great and might allow me to run.

6.30 Ron

6.32 Angharad, Kath S, Bronwen, Sharon

6.33 Ruth, Kelley, Wendy, Dawn, Vicky

6.35 Jeff, John W

6.36 Helen D, Colin, Jill, Littlekath, Hannah, Claire Sp, Nicola

6.37 Andy M, Rhian WJ, Rob P, Paul J, Tracey

6.38 Llinos, Sarah, Gwenan, Anwen

6.38.30 Menai, Mei

6.39 Wayne, Peter E, Roger, Bethan, Kate W, Ed

6.39.30 David Sp, Jon, Ruari, Ivie, Abigail

6.40  Sioned,  Shaun J, Sali, Katherine E, Rhian P

6.40.30 Elen, Llyr, Bob, Chris, David S, Adam, Iain, Mel

6.41 Mike Hb, Rhian GJ, Gerwyn, Rob G

6.41.30  Dan S, Mike Hu, Rich, Ian J

6.42 Fred, Paul G, Duncan, Alaw, Katy B

6.42.30 David D, Tony B, Emma, Victoria, Ceri B

6.43 Ceri D, Joe C

6.43.30 Jon F, Mat, Phil, Martin C

6.44 David B

6.44.30 Owen, Brett

6.45 Tom, Vic, Craig

6.45.30 Dan J, Steve

6.46 Joe W, Glen

6.47 Tony W

6.47.30 Shaun H

Posted in Summer Handicap Series | Comments Off on Noel Morris 2018 Handicap April Start List

The official 2017 Johnson’s Results. (March 2018)

Posted on 11th March 2018 by Alf Tupper

Every bit as energy-sappingly muddy underfoot as expected, but otherwise no wind and not cold at nearly 10C. Would have been much tougher if it had been raining! Possibly everybody was aware that it would be tough and only the better club runners turned out resulting in one of the lowest number of finishers for years. Also nobody told me it was Mothers’ Day. An excellent run by Glen won him the Shield and his name goes down on that venerable icon for posterity. He also takes 4th spot on the all-time M40 list. Emma takes the ‘battered cup’ and top spot on the W55 list.

…………………………..Finishing time………….Actual time

1st Glen ……………….11.20.20 am……………….44m20

2nd Tony W………….11.20.42……………………..42m42

3rd Ieuan (guest)…..11.20.53……………………..53m53

4th Vic………………….11.21.02……………………..46m02

5th Fred………………..11.22.17………………………55m17

6th David Sp………….11.22.30……………………..62m30

7th Iain………………….11.22.33……………………..59m33

8th Emma………………11.22.40……………………..52m40

9th Llyr………………….11.23.08……………………..58m08

10th Tony B…………….11.23.31……………………..53m31

11th Ceri B………………11.25.09……………………..55m09

12th Ian J………………..11.25.16……………………..58m16

13th Bob………………….11.26.22……………………..60m22

14th Sali…………………..11.27.01……………………..61m01

15th Chris…………………11.27.27……………………..60m27

16th Paul J………………..11.31.06…………………….74m06

17th Dan S…………………11.33.45…………………….58m45

Posted in Johnson's Handicap | Comments Off on The official 2017 Johnson’s Results. (March 2018)

Weekly Round Up 5-03-18

Posted on 5th March 2018 by admindh

With the Beast from the East and Storm Emma causing chaos up and down the country and the county, it was a quiet weekend for the Harriers, with only the Anglesey Half Marathon on the race calendar.

4 Harriers made the trip to race on a cold day with athletes best performances unlikely due to the conditions making the achievements by the intrepid 4 all the more special. Philip Hayes (SM) continued his great form with a PB in 1:36:49, following on from his 10k PB last weekend. David Jones (M50) in his 2nd half marathon in 8 days, improved on his Wrexham time by 1 min 43 with a time of 1:46:58 in this considerably hillier half.

Daniel Schraibman (M45), rediscovering his form and completing his first half in 8 months, was delighted to finish in 1:48:43. Alaw Evans (SF) completed the quartet with a considerable PB of 1:51:25, knocking 11 mins 21 secs off her previous PB achieved at Abersoch last September.

Full results

Anglesey Half Marathon Philip Hayes 1:36:49 PB, David Jones 1:46:58, Daniel Schraibman 1:48:43, Alaw Evans 1:51:25

Posted in Half Marathon, Weekly report | Comments Off on Weekly Round Up 5-03-18

Weekend round up 26.02.18

Posted on 26th February 2018 by admindh

Another weekend of PBs, 1st time at half marathon distance for Run for Fun graduates and category wins at Denbigh Harriers with 36 Harriers competing in 6 events.

Shaun Hughes training hard for his London Marathon Elite place led the field at Wrexham Village Bakery Half Marathon, coming 30th in a race he placed 85th in last year. Shaun also took another 1 minutes 33 seconds off his personal best, bringing his time for a half marathon down to 76:26. Not to be outdone was Craig Jones completing the course in 1:27:28 at his first time over the distance. Other notable performances include Hywel Roberts 1:44:18 and Hannah McDonnell 2:10:11 with Run for Fun graduates Sali Powell 1:56:42 and Rhian Wyn Jones 2:10:22 all in their first half marathon’s and Melina Morris 1:47:06 with Katy Baugh 1:49:32, Hawys Roberts 2:05:43 and Ffion Jones 2:09:08 all completing their first half’s as they continue their training for the London Marathon. David Jones 1:48:41, Ian Jones 2:10:22 and Lisa Dafydd 2:17:28 completed the Harriers on the course.

Wrexham half

Hywel and Hawys Hannah

This weekend saw the Clwydian Range inaugural 17 mile Sheep tracks fell race with 16 checkpoints to navigate with a route of the competitors choice. Like elsewhere the skies were blue but wind cutting with terrain frozen underfoot. First home for the club was Tony Wood 8th (Open); Vic Belshaw (M50) 21st; Glen Price 31st (M40); Emma Collins 38th (F50); Ceri Belshaw 40th (Open); Owen Conry 45th (M40) and David Say 65th (M60). All the proceeds from the race go to our local Mountain Rescue Team who staged a very professionally run event.

Glen Tony

A little closer to home were the Ruthin 5k and 10k races. The very cold conditions made fast times much harder to achieve so PBs and category wins here were worth a lot. Winners included 10k: 15th & 1st Male 60 Martin Cortvriend 42:39. 5k: 15th & 1st Male 60 Chris Baldwin 24:21, 28th & 3rd Female 40 Abigail Corfe 26:36, 3rd Male 60 Jeff Jones 31:25, 3rd Female 60 Vicky Cortvriend 33:38. PBs were also achieved in the 10k for Phil Hayes 12th 42:14, Huw Williams 16th 43:18 and Nicola Field 1:01:48. Angharad Gilbert finished in the 10k in 1:04:41, Dawn Marshall 1:10:38.

Abi

Much further afield were Caroline and Rob Parry competing in the sunnier 18℃ Malta half marathon. Caroline showed great form as she trains for her first half ironman this summer completing the course in 2:19:23 with Rob just behind in 2:22:44.

Caroline & Rob Malta

The weekend was rounded off with Parkrun with 3 runners completing the Conwy course in icy conditions. Phil Hayes was 12th 20:45 in his first run of the weekend, followed closely by Tony Benton (27th) 22:20 and Sarah Bayliss returning strongly from injury as 18th Lady in 27:13. Elen Baugh completed the Woodhouse course in 23:59 whilst Sian Pritchard ran Bushy in 28:27.

Full results

Wrexham Village Bakery Half Marathon

Shaun Hughes (30th) 1:16:26 PB, Craig Jones 1:27:18, Hywel Roberts 1:44:18, Melina Morris 1:47:06, David Jones 1:48:41, Katy Baugh 1:49:32, Sali Powell 1:56:42, Hawys Roberts 2:05:43, Ffion Jones 2:09:08, Hannah McDonnell 2:10:11, Ian Jones 2:10:22, Rhian Wyn Jones 2:10:22, Lisa Dafydd 2:17:28

Ruthin

10k – Philip Hayes (12th) 42:14 PB, Martin Cortvriend (15th & 1st Male 60) 42:39, Huw Williams (16th) 43:18 PB, Nicola Field 1:01:48 PB, Angharad Gilbert 1:04:41, Dawn Marshall 1:10:38

5k – Chris Baldwin (15th & 1st Male 60) 24:21, Abigail Corfe (28th & 3rd Female 40) 26:36, Jeff Jones (3rd Male 60) 31:25, Vicky Cortvriend (3rd Female 60) 33:38

Sheep Tracks Fell Race

Tony Wood 8th (Open); Vic Belshaw (M50) 21st; Glen Price 31st (M40); Emma Collins 38th (F50); Ceri Belshaw 40th (Open); Owen Conry 45th (M40) David Say 65th (M60).

Malta Half Marathon

Caroline Parry 2:19:23, Rob Parry 2:22:44

Parkrun

Conwy – Phil Hayes (12th) 20:45, Tony Benton (27th) 22:20, Sarah Bayliss (18th Lady) 27:13. Woodhouse – Elen Baugh (22nd Lady) 23:59. Bushy Sian Pritchard (178th Lady) 28:27

Posted in 10k, 5K, Fell running, Half Marathon, Parkrun, Road running, Run for Fun | Comments Off on Weekend round up 26.02.18

Denbigh harriers Weekend 10th Feb 18

Posted on 16th February 2018 by admindh

A very impressive turnout of 29 hardy Denbigh Harriers completed the 26th Nick Beer 10k which runs a hilly route round the Great Orme in Llandudno on Sunday 11th February. The race was also the Welsh National 10k Championships and the club picked up three national age category prizes with Emma Collins winning gold in the F55 category, Victoria Whitehead silver in the F45 category and Menai baugh bronze in the F55 category. The conditions for this race were severe with very strong winds and freezing temperatures making fast times on the course difficult.  It was impressive therefore that two runners, Shaun Hughes and Tony Wood  managed to get under the 40 minute mark with Daniel Jones and Craig Jones just over. Emma Collins and Victoria Whitehead ran a close race with one place separating them in the end. There were similar club finishes between Hywel Roberts and Daniel Schraibman along with Melina Morris and Elen Baugh.

19th Shaun Wyn Hughes 38:08, 31st, Tony Wood 39:19, 43rd  Daniel Jones 40:47, 46th Craig Jones 40:59, 113th David Baugh 45:22, 153rd Tony Benton 47:09, 158th Emma Collins 47:36, 159th Victoria Whitehead 47:27, 168th Ceri Belshaw 48:07, 183rd Hywel Roberts 48:28, 184th Daniel Schraibman 48:52, 195th Katy Baugh 48:58, 222nd Gerwyn Lloyd 49:56, 227th Ian Jones 50:35, 237th Melina Morris 50:55, 238th Elen Baugh 50:59, 244th Arwyn Jones 50:4, 260th Sali Powell 51:37, 292nd Llyr Jones 53:08, 299th Jon Whitehead 53:43, 301st Kate Wilson 53:55, 319th Menai Baugh 54:41, 381st David Spencer 57:05, 413th Ruari Benton 58:41, 443rd Robert Parry 59:41, 466th Adam Smith 1:00:42, 477th Helen Davies 1:01:37, 514th Hannah Mcdonnell 1:03:37, 580th Anwen Brown 1:10:33

Denbigh Harriers Nick Beer 10K

Five Denbigh Harriers ran Parkruns on Saturday with Sian Pritchard running 25.39 in the Bushey Parkrun (London) , Martin Cortvriend 21.05 and Vicky Cortvriend 36.21 in the Rising Sun Parkrun (Newcastle), Gwennan Johnson 30.33 in the Conwy Parkrun and Ceri Belshaw who doubled up for the weekend running the Wepre Parkrun in 25.39.

Posted in 10k, Road running | Comments Off on Denbigh harriers Weekend 10th Feb 18

Oswestry Results and Round-up of 2017/18 Season

Posted on 3rd February 2018 by Alf Tupper

Those of you who have seen the facebook pictures will realise that we had more than one amazing result this year. Possibly a factor in our success was the gruelling nature of the courses, requiring lots of  grit and determination. In this whole winter season of cross country races we have seen quite the most consistently harsh weather for many years. It started mildly enough with the flat, four lap, dry, not-to-say-boring, course at Wrexham, but the much tougher Llandudno fixture landed us in the middle of Storm Brian with 50 mph winds and moderate mud. Bangor was also cold, wet and muddier, but nothing unusual in that, while the river crossings and icy standing water at  Baschurch made it a real endurance experience. In my memory Baschurch is up with the mud of the British Universities at Guildford in ’73, or the English National at Luton in ’88. But I was more resilient then.

And so to Oswestry. Not to delay the good news, our Senior Men achieved promotion to the 1st Division for the first time ever by beating Wrexham on the day by more than the required 9 points. Great consistent team effort in closing the huge gap which Wrexham had established after their brilliant performance in their own race in October. Equally good (appropriately so in this gender-neutral age) was the collective performance of our Women’s team in hanging on to their 1st Division place. Again, this was a season-long endeavour after a relatively low turn-out in October which put us last in the Division, and candidates for ‘the drop’. Very good to see all four counters at Oswestry, the youngest being 35 years younger than the oldest, packing in together.

North Wales League Individual Gold Medallists: W55 – Emma Collins; M65 – Martin Cortvriend. It should be noted that Emma was first in her category for all five races.

Individual Bronze Medallists: W60 – Vicky Cortvriend; M55 – David Baugh; M60 – Chris Baldwin. It should be noted that Chris was in danger of not qualifying by not finishing this final race due to exhaustion, and is grateful for the team support in getting him moving again – especially from Tony Wood.

Team Silver: Division 2: Shaun Hughes, Joe Welch, Tony Wood, Glen Price, Dan Jones, David Baugh, Martin Cortvriend.

IMG_2153

Oswestry Results:

Women (final positions will be about 5 places better than these after subtracting the male youths):

36th Victoria; 37th Emma; 40th Alaw; 42nd Katy; 60th Sioned; 72nd Menai; 78th Katherine E; 91st Dawn; 95th Vicky.

Men:

12th Shaun; 30th Joe; 39th Tony W; 50th Dan; 56th Glen; 89th Martin; 91st David B; 102nd Duncan; 116th Tony B; 127th Gerwyn; 138th Chris.

It is often said that those outside the counters contribute to the team if they can push the other team(s) scorers back by being in front of them. The point of wearing team colours is that it is possible to see ‘who is where’ and target them appropriately. I gather that Glen and Martin did exactly this by being in front of the Wrexham 4th counter. For the women, on this occasion  Shrewsbury vests were not so obvious as ours but Sioned and Menai showed the merit of a sensible start by catching up with one of their counters – I thought it was the third one – which meant that even with two of them well in front of Victoria, they weren’t going to repeat their big victory they had scored over us at Baschurch. Katherine did not appreciate the difficult surface, but this is only her second cross country and she will get the hang of it next year, I’m sure. On the other hand, Dawn and Vicky looked much more at home and they weren’t just using smiles for performance-enhancement!

P.S.  The official results show that Shrewsbury, in their own backyard, didn’t even finish a full women’s team. In which case they didn’t really deserve to stay up in Division One.

 

Posted in Cross-country | Comments Off on Oswestry Results and Round-up of 2017/18 Season