DAWN’S NOT IN TWILIGHT YET
The Johnstown Under-16s trio of (from left) Emily Thomas, Kate Searle and Anwen Thomas played for Swansea City Under-16s against South Gloucester at Penyrheol, with Swansea emerging 5-2 winners. Emily captained the Swansea side. DAWN Kenwright of Sarn Helen Running Club gained her 21st Welsh cross country vest when she represented Wales in the British and Irish Masters International Cross Country Championships at Singleton Park in Swansea.
This brought her total of Welsh vests in fell running, road and cross country to 36, dating back to 1988.
In her youth she was a formidable opponent but in her veteran years she has really come into her own. In 2006 as a veteran 50+ she was ranked third-fastest female in that class over 10 miles on the road, and that same year she ran the fourth-fastest marathon for her category in the UK.
More recently she has won some major titles in the female 60 class, with a first place in the well-attended Lake Vyrnwy Half Marathon as well as first place in an even bigger field, the Cardiff Half Marathon.
Running strongly on the trails in 2018 she scored a hat-trick in the woods at Coed-y-Brenin, a quicklygrowing hub of popular running trails and races, where she placed first F60 in the Salomon Trail Half Marathon, 1st F60 in the Trail 10k Wales and first F60 in the Goldrush 8.5.
Another iconic event was staged, this time a half marathon held in the beautiful seaside town of Conwy. Two of Sarn Helen’s members made their way up to Conwy to take part in the race’s 10th anniversary.
Both Martin Darby and George Eadon needed this event to complete their three castles series 2018 which incorporates three half marathons in North Wales, starting with the Snowdonia race back in May, Bangor in October and finishing off with Conwy.
It was a beautiful crisp morning in Conwy as the runners stood on the side of the quay in the shadow cast by the iconic castle.
The route takes runners from the castle, over the bridge towards Llandudno and another iconic landmark, the Great Orme headland.
Fortunately, the brisk easterly wind was behind the runners as they climbed the Orme to the halfway mark before descending back down the other side.
Some 4,000 runners took part and the first to cross the line was Gwyn Owen (unattached) in a time of 1:15:28. Not too far behind was Eadon, flying the flag for Sarn Helen, completing the scenic course in 1:30:41 (142nd overall) and Darby in a very respectable 2:02:17 (1,662nd overall), despite having done very little training.
The second ever Royal Welsh Run was held along the paths and through the scenic grounds of the National Botanic Gardens of Wales.
Three events were held on the day, which led to a whole mass of runners of all abilities and standards attending.
Among the 119 people who took part in the 10k event was Sarn Helen’s David Thomas.
He placed 19th overall in a time of 47:39 and won the super veteran male class.