News Report 26th February 2007

A long awaited trip to the Netherlands finally took place last weekend as five members of Bro Dysynni headed to the north of the country to take part in the various affiliated races associated with the 20th anniversary of the Mulder-Polderloop running festival in the the town of Obdam.

The five perfromed admirably with a trio placed in the top 4 of their respective categories.

In the senior male 10k event, Dewi Roberts of Blaenau Ffestiniog produced a personal best time of 35.49mins to claim a superb 3rd place podium finish.

In the 5k event, Jos Jones of Tywyn went one better, claiming runners up spot in the senior male category in a time of 20.51mins. Next home was a delighted Hugh Harrison of Dolgellau in 25.02mins, whilst Andy Unwin of Harlech came home beaming in a conservative time of 31.48mins, which may have been as a result of the previous days visit to Amsterdam.

The final Dysynni runner was youngster Aron Roberts of Blaenau Ffestiniog who emulated his fathers performance, as he claimed 4th place out of 19 runners in the under-11's 3k event, this despite being only 9 years of age and younger than most of his fellow competitors in the section.

Closer to home, a quartet of local athletes were also recently in action at the 12th running of the Village Bakery Half Marathon in Wrexham. In a race won by Tarus Elly (Salford Harriers) in a time of 1hr 09.11mins, the local quartet were led home by Meirionnydd Running Club athlete, Tony Hodgson of Llanelltyd in a time of 1hr 26.33mins. Dolgellau athlete, Frankie Vaughan continued his build up to the London Marathon in April by finishing in 1hr 37.06mins with Malcolm Taylor of Criccieth following in 1hr 46.25mins. The quartet was completed by another athlete in hard training for the London event as Rob Thomas of Llanelltyd completed the 13.1 mile course in a time of 1hr 51.44mins.

'The Dysynni Dutch Masters from left to right, Jos Jones, Dewi Roberts, Aron Roberts, Hugh Harrison and Andy Unwin'

A.Unwin