News Report 28th January 2007

Wrexham recently played host to the penultimate fixture of the Majestic Travel North Wales Cross Country League with the fixture attracting the interest of six Bro Dysynni athletes, with a four to two split in favour of the male team.

In the mens event, a rare cross country appearance saw Steve Gilliland of Tywyn lead home the Dysynni contingent in a time of 32.42mins. He was followed by Mike Palmer, also of Tywyn, stepping up his preparations for the London Marathon in April as he finished in 34.11mins. The Tywyn trio were completed by Richard Griffiths, home in 40.28mins, whilst Barrie Jackson of Bala completed the Dysynni quartet, finishing in 42.51mins to claim 2nd place in the male over-65 category.

The ladies duo both picked up age category victories as Brenda Jones and Marj Griffiths won the female over-65 and over-60 categories in respective times of 23.50mins and 26.39mins.

Another trio of athletes, this time affiliated to Meirionnydd Running Club, also stepped up their preparations for the London event in April by heading to Helsby on the Wirral to take part in the Shell Four Villages Half Marathon. The trio performed admirably as Tony Hodgson of Llanelltyd led them home in 1hr 31.13mins with Frankie Vaughan of Dolgellau following in 1hr 42.47mins and Rob Thomas of Llanelltyd claiming 2nd place in the male under-20 category, as he crossed the line in 1hr 55.53mins.

Bro Dysynni athlete Walter Marsh continued his quest for competing in long distance fell races as he headed to the Staffordshire village of Brocton to take part in the 15 mile Cannock Chase Trig Point Fell Race, a race which also included 1500 feet of climbing. A time of 2hrs 00.04mins was enough to see the Tywyn based athlete finish the race in 42nd position out of the 174 who completed the challenge.

There was further 'Adventure Racing' success for the Rhyd-based father and son team of Adam & William Haynes as they claimed victory in the 'male pairs' section at the Open 5 Adventure Race in Hebden Bridge in the South Pennines. The event, the first in a series of five, consisted of 5 hours continuous running and mountain biking in some of the worst of the Winter weather possible. Running under the name 'Team Accelerate' the duo led home the other 29 teams in the 'male pairs' section by securing an impressive 490 points during the 5 hours of competitive action. The next event in the series is at Sutton Banks on the Yorkshire Moors on March 11th.

There is local action this Saturday as Abergynolwyn plays host to the Tarren Hendre Fell Race. The six mile event, which includes 2,000 feet of climbing is also the 2nd fixture in the Meirionnydd Winter Race Series. The main race is due off from outside the Railway Inn in Abergynolwyn at 12.00 Noon with a Junior Race following at 12.05p.m. Further details regarding the race are available on www.run-meirionnydd.co.uk.

A.Unwin