Tributes paid to veteran Eryri Harrier Iorwerth
IT’S sad to report the loss this week of a popular award-winning Welsh Master veteran athlete and event volunteer Iorwerth Roberts from Glan Conwy, who has been a familiar face for decades at a host of local sporting and community events.
Iorwerth was a regular member of the Conwy parkrun family, both as a runner and as a volunteer, dedicated to his marshalling duties, who always cheered on, and encouraged, hundreds of runners every week from his usual spot at the Castle turn on the parkrun course.He remained a member of
Eryri Harriers and always wore his club vest with pride at both parkruns, and at all major races. He passed away on Wednesday 29th
March following a long period of ill health.
Iorwerth was previously honoured with a prestigious ‘Special Recognition’ prize in 2017 at the Conwy Sport Awards where his services to running and volunteering were justifiably recognised.
A keen marathon runner, Iorwerth quite remarkably competed in every Snowdonia Marathon from 1982 until 2018, when he was then in his 70s, and he became the only man to have run the first 30 Snowdonia Marathon race, which is recognised as one of the UK’s toughest, and hilliest marathons, and in addition he also took part in several other tough marathons at Jungfrau in Switzerland, and the Swiss Alpine Marathon.
His friend Russell Owen confirmed: “He had been unwell and in hospital for the past five months. He was a well-known character within the North Wales running community. He was a familiar face at road, fell, and mountain races, both as a competitor and/or a marshal.
“He was also a volunteer on the Ffestiniog railway for many years and he was a very active member of his community in Glan Conwy. He was a gentleman in every sense of the word.”