News Report 8^th June 2008

A Friday night race in Newtown attracted the attention of 9 local athletes last weekend as they headed south to take part in the Newtown Carnival 5k Race. Of the 9 competing, 8 wore the red & green of Bro Dysynni whilst 1 wore the blue of Meirionnydd Running Club. However, it was the sole Meirionnydd Running Club athlete, namely Frankie Vaughan of Corris, who led home the local contingent as he crossed the finishing line in a pleasing time of 21.37mins. The first of the Dysynni contingent home was Richard Griffiths of Tywyn, whose time of 22.24mins also achieved age category success in the Male Over-55 section. Malcolm Taylor of Criccieth followed in a time of 25.33mins just ahead of Huw Harrison of Fairboune, delighted to finish in a time of 25.38mins in his 1st competitive outing of 2008. There was further age category success for Brenda Jones of Llanelltyd, as a time of 26.06mins ensured victory in the Female Over-65 section with Marj Griffiths of Aberystwyth following in a time of 28.58mins. Next home was a beaming Andy Unwin of Harlech in a weight-induced finishing time of 32.03mins whilst the remaining 2 local athletes came home together in a time of 42.19mins as Eirlys Griffiths of Tywyn and Sheila Symonds of Dolgellau could not be seperated, the latter however having the added satisfaction of age category success in the Female Over-70 section.

Much further afield, one ex-local athlete was in action, on this occasion on the South Island of New Zealand. The athlete in question was Alun Llyr Williams, formerly of Barmouth, but now based in Queenstown on the South Island. His chosen event was the SBS Christchurch Half-Marathon and a finishing time of 1hr 14.02mins achieved an excellent 16th place finish out of the 1,867 athletes who completed the 13.1 mile event.

Finally, one local athlete, namely Nich Bradley of Dolgellau, chose to take part in the 6th race of the Eryri Harriers Great Arete Tuesday Night Series, the location on this occasion being Cefn Drum near Llanberis. A finishing time of 44.38mins achieved a more that satisfactory outcome for the Meirionnydd Running Club athlete in the tough midweek series.

A.Unwin