News Report 26th November 2007

Bro Dysynni athlete, Brenda Jones of Llanelltyd, continued her remarkable recent run of success as she headed to Stormont in Belfast, Northern Ireland recently to represent Wales in her age category at the 2007 British & Irish Masters Cross Country Championships. The event, open to athletes nominated by their host nation, was open to those over the age of 35 and subsequently broken down into 5 year age categories. As such, the Llanelltyd veteran was chosen to run for Wales in the highly competitive 'Female Over-65' category as part of the team of 3 chosen from within the Principality. Indeed, it was this section which provided Wales with their only overall team gold medal from within the 15 age group categories competed for on the day. Playing her part in the success, the Dysynni athlete came home in a time of 33.27mins to finish an overall 3rd place within the section as well as being the 2nd of the victorious Welsh Female Over-65 trio to cross the line and subsequently claiming top spot on the presentation podium.

Another duo making the headlines recently were Adam & William Haynes of Rhyd whose achievements in the world of adventure racing are really making waves within the sport. Their latest success came in the 'Male Pairs' section at the 'Mountain Hardwear Open-5' race in Coniston in the Lake District. The 5 hour race required the competitors to navigate their way through as many control points as possible both on foot and through mountain biking pedal power. Showing navigational prowess as well as the stamina required over the long distance event, the duo led home the 62 teams making up the 'Male Pairs' section as well as finishing in an outstanding 3rd place out of the 208 individuals/teams in action on the day. As this race was the final event in the 5 race series, the father & son team also had the added satisfaction of claiming overall series victory for their aptly named 'Team Accelerate' in the 'Male Pairs' section, gaining a victory by the narrowest of margins over the Keith Honeysett/Rob Smith duo.

Meanwhile, closer to home, two athletes affiliated to local clubs were in action recently at the 11-mile Penmaenmawr Fell Race, an event which also included an overall 1,500 feet of climbing. Leading home the duo was Bob Chilton of Hermon, the Dysynni athlete crossing the line in 1hr 52.04mins with Victor Gretton of the Meirionnydd Running Club following in 2hrs 17.28mins.

Finally back to cross country as Bangor hosted the 3rd fixture of the season of the 'Majestic Travel North Wales Cross Country League'. As ever, Bro Dysynni were well represented with 5 competitors in action on the day, a split of 4:1 in favour of the ladies. The female quartet were led home by a rejuvanated Debbie Evans of Tywyn, home in 21.33mins, with Sheila Jones of Pwllheli following in 22.19mins. Having returned home from Northern Ireland, Brenda Jones followed in 23.27mins with the ever-green Marj Griffiths of Aberystwyth completing the quartet in a time of 25.48mins. Continuing to plough a lonely furrow for Dysynni in the mens race was Richard Griffiths of Tywyn, the sole male Dysynni representative finishing in a time of 33.11mins.

A.Unwin