Spirited win for Dando in Halloween parkrun
RICHARD Dando gained an excellent victory last Saturday in the Halloween themed 238th staging of Porthcawl 5k Parkrun, writes Tony Poole.
It turned out to be a 10th event win from 46 starts for the Bridgend runner, and his winning time was 17 minutes 40 seconds.
His victory was by just four seconds over Matthew Reynolds (Port Talbot Harriers) with Josh Moorland (unattached) third in 19:03.
The other top-10 places went to Dave Bennett (Porthcawl Runners) 19:25, Jamie Howells (Parc Bryn Bach Running Club) personal best (pb) 19:41, Adrian Phillips (unattached) 19:58, top female Georgina Jayne Dando (Bridgend) 20:22, Michael Furness (Porthcawl Runners) 20:23, David G Carrington (Bridgend) 20:25 and first-time competitor Jacob Griffiths (Brackla Harriers) 20:48.
Second female home and 14th overall was Deborah Goule (Porthcawl Runners) 21:13 from Katie Robinson (Team Bath) 21:52 (30th), Fleur Jones (Cornelly Striders) 22:12 (39th) and Jody Parker (unattached) pb 22:21 (42nd).
MAESTEG 5K PARKRUN:
CHRISTOPHER Jeynes won the 15th staging of Maesteg 5k Parkrun in a tight finish with Brackla Harriers team-mate Rowan Hobbs.
The event also adopted a Halloween fancy dress code with Jeynes – on only a third appearance in the Welfare Park – winning in a pb time of 18:24.
It replaced a previous best 18:48 that he recorded when finishing third in 18:48 back in August.
Three-time Maesteg winner Hobbs chased him all the way to the finishing line and carded a time of 18:38.
The remaining top-10 places were all filled by unattached runners – Grant Medcraft 18:48, Paul Kearns pb 21:31, Corey Butler first-timer 21:35, Wiremu Hopkins 22:33, Graham Hillman 23:25, Bradley Hulme 23:25, Wayne Preece 23:28 and Tomas Stephens 23:43.
Top female was 13thplaced Juliet Amner (Ogmore Phoenix Runners) from Cathy Bastian 26:20 (15th), Laurie Williams (both unattached) pb 26:21 (16th), Victoria Hillman (Ogmore Phoenix Runners) 26:38 (17th) and Melissa Kostic (Brackla Harriers) 26:: 50 (18th).
BRIDGEND JUNIOR 2K PARKRUN:
JACK O’Brien last Sunday won Bridgend Junior 2k Parkrun for a 24th time in Newbridge Fields, triumphing in a time of seven minutes 38 seconds.
But he was pushed all the way by Bridgend colleague Anna-Rose Merchant, who finished just eight seconds behind and became top female for a 22nd time.
Third-placed Tristyn James clocked 7:56 with the other top-10 places going to Ioan Phillips pb 7:59, Alice Davies (Cardiff) 8:03, Ioan James 8:13, Aled James pb 8:19, Henry Davies pb 8:22, Joshua Morgan (Bridgend) 8:23 and Lily Stephens 8:43.
A further 22 young runners beat the 10-minute barrier – Carys GriffithsCole 8:52, Angelica Davies first-timer 9:02, Reggie Hyde-Jones pb 9:04, Megan Foley (Bridgend) 9:15, Jessica Crawley (Bridgend) 9:21, Ethan Wyatt 9:21, Ronan Adams (Pencoed Tri Club) pb 9:22, Niamh O’Brien (Bridgend) 9:23, Adam Davies (Bridgend) 9:26, Ioan Powell first-timer 9:31, William Watkins pb 9:32, Gruffydd James pb 9:35, Mia Amerein pb 9:40, Imogen John 9:41, Joseph Winstone pb 9:42, Iwan Froley (Bridgend) 9:42, Katie Blower 9:43, Daisy Evans (Bridgend) 9:50, Zaine Colley pb 9:52, Elin Vigus 9:54, Luke Woodhouse (Cardiff Archers) 9:57 and Cai Williams 10:00.
And there were another 22 personal times, coming from Edward Jeynes, Atharva Kotwal, Ingrid Groom Tofteroo, Tommy Evans, Sam Gates, Maia Staveley (Cornelly Striders), Crystal Jacobs (Rhondda), Ewan Gill, Theo Windibank, Abigail Fisher, Ava Hyde-Jones, Osian Williams, Ben Bailey, Arabella Morgan, Bethan Hopkins, Seb John, Grace Wingar (Cornelly Straiders), Ruby Winstone, Rhys Howard, Maya Parry, Osian Williams and Elin Powell.
BROOKS SNOWDONIA MARATHON:
NIKI Puleio was first home among local club competitors last Saturday in the Brooks Snowdonia Marathon that was staged at Llanberis.
The Ogmore Phoenix runner encircled Snowdon in a time of 3 hours, 15 minutes while the time for winner Daniel Jones (Team Bath) was 2:36:54.
Other fine runs from competitors that are members of local clubs came from Ian Ogilvie (Brackla Harriers) 3:34:25, Daniel Nicholas (Cornelly Striders) 3:33:19, Neil Price (Ogmore Phoenix Runners) 3:46:41, Melanie Williams 3:46:52, Matthew Bourne (both Brackla Harriers) and Gareth Richards (Ogmore Phoenix Runners) 3:49:12.