IT may only be November, but things have already started to feel a little festive for athletes.
Wilmslow staged the Festive 10k and a strong contingent of Wrexham AAC members were out in force. Leading the charge was Matthew Clowes, who clocked 30.38 for fifth position.
He was followed by James Nicholls (97th in 35.16), Gwyn Roberts (629th in 42.27), Amanda Bailey (737th in 43.31) and David Millington (995th in 46.11).
Other results: Anna Moccia 53.27; Karl Moore 57.26; Simon Williams 55.47; Charles Ashley 57.05.
Andy Billington (43.10) was the first Deestrider across the line and there were personal bests from Marc Dixon (45.36), Steph Salusbury (48.43) and Hannah Price (49.46).
Other times: Graham Bryan 46.40; Donna Griffiths 49.37; Mike Salusbury 51.24; Darren Low 53.41.
Wrexham athletes of various ages competed in the North Wales indoor open at Deeside.
Sophie Davies’ effort of 8.56 seconds saw he finish sixth in the U17 women’s 60-metres, while Daniel Williams achieved a personal best of 7.36 seconds to claim the runner-up spot in the senior men’s 60-metres. Over in the M45 class, Neil Edwards triumphed in the 60-metre hurdles (12.11), shot put (10.39m) and pole vault (2.60m) and adding to the winning theme in the M75 shot put was Paul Brooks (6.91m).
Oulton Park was a popular setting for Wrexham athletes. In the marathon, Immy Jones was the first senior woman and 15th overall in 3-26.43, while Colin Jones was 93rd in 4-41.05. In the 10k, Steve Jones’ time of 42.34 saw him cross the line in 25th place and Matty Williams was 85th in 49.59.
Deestrider Max Dowell competed in the quagmire that was the Liverpool Cross Challenge, running a time of 38.19, while Joey Davies (1-25) and Paul Lyth (1-45) took on the Benidorm half-marathon.
Christine Cammillare and Reedus the Fromeranian ran amazingly at the snowy and flooded two-day Rhug canicross, clocking 23.10 and 17.17.
Anthony Barron, at the Silverstone half-marathon, had to contend with 60mph winds and heavy rain, but he still managed a good time of 1-39:16.
Llangollen’s Old Railway Trail was scheduled to headline the final round of Deestriders’ parkrun blitz on Saturday, but Storm Bert put pay to that and other venues also had to cancel.
This resulted in a smaller than usual turnout of members, participating in awful conditions.
At Greenfield, Fred Aird (25.35) led the way and he was followed by Darren Low (26.53) and Paul Lewtey (29.42), while Tomas Kuzmicius (26.13), Stuart Brown (27.56), Martin Witty (28.15) and Jo Houghton-Davies (28.17) were the leading Deestriders at Wepre.
Other times: David Temple 29.31; Andy Wainwright 30.07; Debbie Parry 32.22; Claire Harper 33.53; Jane Blackwell 37.04; Sue Witty 37.05.
The overall winner of the competition was Tony Woodall, with Paul Lyth and Max Dowell joint second.
At the Wythenshawe parkrun, a time of 22.00 saw Wrexham’s Tony Forster in 30th place.
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