News Report 31^st August 2008

Having moved from his native North Wales to New Zealand almost five years ago, there has been continued recent success for Adrian Bailey, erstwhile of Barmouth, but now based in Queenstown on the South Island of New Zealand.

The latest success for the former member of Bro Dysynni A.C. came at the 50k (31 mile) event held as part of the Great Naseby Water Race Ultramarathon. The race was held at altitude, as Naseby, a town within the Central Otago region of the South Island, is the highest town within New Zealand at 2,000 feet above sea level.

The altitude posed little or no problem to the North Walian who covered the 5 lap event, held on a mixture of gravel road and forest track, in a time of 3hrs 41.26mins to claim a comfortable victory as well as establishing a new course record for this particular event.

Much closer to home, a quartet of Meirionnydd Running Club athletes headed to Croesor to take part in the 4.5 mile Ras Y Cnicht fell race, an event which included a total ascent of 1,800 feet.

In a race won by Eryri Harrier' Richard Roberts in a time of 36.30mins, the first of the Meirionnydd quartet home was Dave Whittey of Llanelltyd in a time of 49.40mins. He in turn was followed by team-mate, Amanda Wilde, claiming an outstanding victory within the female section of the race in a time of 52.30mins whilst Nich Bradley of Dolgellau & Kevin Evans of Brithdir completed the local quartet, coming home in respective times of 54.26mins and 57.21mins.

A trio of Bro Dysynni athletes also headed to Montgomery recently to take part in the 4.5mile Neil Howells Memorial Race, an event held over a multi-terrain surface. The trio were led home by Malcolm Taylor of Criccieth in a time of 40.29mins, with team-mates Marj Griffiths of Aberystwyth and Sheila Symonds of Dolgellau following in respective times of 50.49mins & 61.54mins.

Also recently, two local athletes took part in an event held totally on sand. The race was the Borth 10k Beach Run and battling the elements on this occasion were Frankie Vaughan of Corris, the Meirionnydd Running Club member leading home the Male Over-50 competitors in a time of 46.13mins, whilst a busy Marj Griffiths followed in a time of 63.34mins.

Finally, Meirionnydd Running Club athlete, Kate Bailey, headed south to take part in the arduous Brecon Beacons Fell Race. In a race measuring 18 miles in distance and taking in a total of 4,500 feet of climbing, an outstanding finishing time of 3hrs 14.58mins ensured a terrific 2nd place finish within the female section of the event for the athlete formerly based in Dolgellau.

A.Unwin