Athlete's Profile (10)

ATHLETE'S PROFILE (10)

Darren Blazier (Abergele)

NAME: Darren Blazier

CLUB: Abergele Harriers

ANY PREVIOUS CLUBS: Ran 2nd Claim for Prestatyn RC in the Border League in the early 2000s 

AGE AND DATE OF BIRTH: 41    29/05/1972 

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN COMPETING: 14 years 

ANY OTHER SPORTS PLAYED: Darts. Used to play regular before I got into running. 

OTHER HOBBIES OR INTERESTS: Love most sports whether watching or competing. Enjoy going out to pubs/clubs and watching live music. 

FAVOURITE RACE DISTANCE: 10K 

FAVOURITE RACE AND WHY: Vaynol Park 10k in Felinheli. It has a great atmosphere as a carnival race and has an enjoyable and interesting course. 

FAVOURITE TRAINING SESSION: 6 x 800m on a 4 minute loop 

PROUDEST MOMENT: Winning my first race, the Oswestry 10 mile race in 2000. 

WHOM DO I MOST ADMIRE (INSIDE ATHLETICS AND OUT) AND WHY: Sebastian Coe - For his desire and determination both in his running career and bringing the Olympic games to London.  Sir Alex Ferguson - A born winner. 

ANY PERSONAL AMBITIONS: To improve all my running PBs from 5k to the Marathon. 

ANY REGRETS: Not taking up running as a teenager. 

ANY EMBARRASSING EXPERIENCES: Yes 

WHAT CHANGES (IF ANY) WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE IN THE SPORT: I believe running should be the main focus of sport in schools from an early age, with minimum standards to be encouraged for all. Every child should be able to run (on grass) for a certain length of time by the time they become a teenager. Basic fitness needs to take priority with team sports being an extra. The country needs to tackle growing obesity problem in general.

 

Ellesmere 10k

DAVIES BEATS BIG FIELD

 The Ellesmere 10k course may be heralded as being a "pb course" but it has quite a few undulations. Nevertheless Maldwyn's Andy Davies clocked a fast 31.16 in winning this year's race, coming home over two minutes clear of fellow Welsh mountain-running international Richard Roberts.

 Results: 1 A Davies (Mald) 31.16, 2 R Roberts (Eryri) 33.10, 3 I Howarth (Shrews) 33.31, 4 P Jones (Oswestry, M40) 33.35, 5 M Hadley (Halesowen, M45) 33.53, 6 N Vangdasalem (Liv H, M45) 34.13.
 M40: 2 D Potter (ua) 35.13, 3 I Lowe (Osw) 35.38
 M45: C Hollinshead (Stafford) 34.45
 M50: 1 J Latham (ua) 38.06, 2 A Lewis (Eryri) 38.57, 3 H Jones (Shrews) 39.36
 M55: 1 G Jones (Prestatyn) 37.24, 2 K Burke (Stourbridge) 38.34, 3 B Freeman (West Chesh) 40.34
 M60: 1 P Savill (Shrews) 40.46, 2 DA Jones (Denbigh) 46.34, 3 N Passmore (Market Drayton) 50.35
 M65: 2 M Whiteside (Tattenhall) 44.56, 3 P Allen (Halesowen) 45.47
 M70: 1 D Bish (West Chesh) 51.09,  2 J Thomas (Buckley) 52.49, 3 J Hateley (Stafford) 62.39
 M75: 1 P Norman (Wrex) 61.59, 2 R Billington (Wrex) 66.12, 3 P Killeen (Midland Masters) 96.37

Ladies

1 C Martin (Telford, L35) 36.38, 2 E Crowe (Wrex, L40) 38.00, 3 H Davies (Wrecsam Tri, L45) 38.56, 4 S Gray (Cannock and Staffs, L35) 39.33, 5 R Harrison (Cheadle) 40.05, 6 A Bartlett (Shrews, L40) 40.07.
 SL: 2 N Davies (Sh Shufflers) 40.35, 3 M Owen (Cybi) 41.52
 L35: 3 C Jones (Osw) 41.36
 L40: 3 SA Morris (ua) 45.01
 L45: 2 D Sanders (Telford) 41.57, 3 H Carter (ua) 45.22
 L50: 1 M Taverner (Vale Royal) 45.55, 2 C Roach (Chester Tri) 46.14, 3 J Grandfield (Market Drayton) 48.25
 L55: 1 J Thorn (Vale R) 47.13, 2 D Richards (ua) 50.27,  3 A Wilson (SY Tri) 52.55
 L60: P Newton (Market Drayton) 49.52, 2 B Ward (Osw) 50.46, 3 M Oldacre (SY Tri) 59.57
 L65: 1 C Birch (Abergele) 48.07, 2 A Jones (ua) 59.44, 3 M Radford (West Chesh) 62.32

Capenhurst 5k

CHALLINOR GETS NARROW WIN

Welsh international Ricky Challinor led Liverpool Harriers to a team win in the Urenco 5k at Capenhurst, beating his clubmate James McNally by two seconds.

 Results: 1 R Challinor (Liv H) 15.40, 2 J McNally (Liv H) 15.42, 3 J Horman (Liv H) 15.59, 4 P Langan (ua) 16.11, 5 J Toohey (Liv RC) 16.13, 6 G Tomlinson (Trafford) 16.17. U20: I Burthem (war) 16.36. M40: 1 X Desse (Wirral) 16.18, 2 C Barnes (Blackburn) 16.41, 3 I Lowe (Oswestry) 16.51. M45: 1 R Tudor (Salford) 16.25, 2 R Alsop (Salford) 16.46, 3 G Nlackwell (Deeside) 18.01. M50: 1 G McNeil (Wilmslow) 16.48, 2 C Bishop (Helsby) 17.22, 3 A Starkey (West Chesh) 17.43. M60: 1 R Fisher (Pensby) 20.53, 2 M Roberts (Pensby) 21.41. M65: 1 P Roberts (Buckley) 21.23, 2 M Ollier (Wrex) 21.32.
 Ladies: 1 R Burns (Liv H) 17.11, 2 S Jarvis (Liv H) 18.21, 3 A Pettit (Vale Royal, U20) 18.24, 4 E Kearney (Wirral, U20) 18.27, 5 R Donohue (Liv H, U20) 18.36. L35: L Grantham (Chester Tri) 19.26. L40: C Hale (Vale R) 20.14. L45: S Atkinson (Tattenhall) 20.02. L50: K Forster (Spectrum) 21.06.

Helena Tipping 10k

NEW DATE

The Helena Tipping 10k in Wrexham, which has traditionally been held in December, has been switched to a new provisional date of March 30, 2014.

Tryfan Downill

ROBINSON MAKES IT TWO OUT OF TWO

Dark Peak's Mike Robinson claimed his second successive win in the hair-raising Tryfan downhill race, where the low cloud and wet conditions made things even more difficult than usual for the brave competitors.

 Only a handful of runners took on the challenge this year and there were no women entrants.

 Results: 1 M Robinson (Dark Peak, M40) 11.19, 2 P Lambert (Wharfedale, M40) 11.28, 3 G Porter-Jones (Eryri, M40) 13.21. M50: C Atherton (Maldwyn) 14.30. M50: G Gunner (Croft Ambrey) 15.08.

Rockies challenge

DENBIGH DUO HIT THE HILLS - BIG TIME!

Denbigh Harriers Ashley Gauton and Emma Collins, who have both been in good form over the past year, took on a mighty new challenge when they entered the Trans-Rockies event.

 The 120-mile event through the spectacular mountains involved 20,000 feet of climbs.

 Calling themselves The Ancient Britons, the pair entered the category for couples with a combined age of over 80, and out of over 80 teams they came a brilliant fourth with a time of 23 hours 4 minutes 44 seconds.

 ......AND WATHAN ALSO TAKES ON THE ROCKIES

Meanwhile Eryri Harrier Paul Wathan, now living in Canada, also competed in a very tough ultra- race in the Rockies, the TNF Canadian Death Race. The 125k race involved several severe ascents as well as river crossings, and Wathan finished a highly creditable 30th in 18h 34m 19s.

Athlete's Profile (10)

ATHLETE'S PROFILE (10)

Gina Paletta

CLUB: Wrexham AC/ University of Portland (Oregon)

AGE AND D.O.B.: 22 (30.8.1990)

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN COMPETING: Since I was eight years old, but am new to roads and track as my focus was on the mountains

ANY OTHER SPORTS PLAYED: I used to surf

OTHER HOBBIES OR INTERESTS: Travel, blogging and writing

FAVOURITE RACING DISTANCE: 10k but am looking to move up distances soon and eventually to run marathons

FAVOURITE RACE AND WHY: I love going to the Snowdon race each year when home to catch up with other runners and see competitors support each other

FAVOURITE TRAINING SESSION: The long run

PROUDEST MOMENT: Winning the Welsh trial after two fractures to the spine to qualify for the world champs in 2008 (I came 5th eventually), and seeing Mum soaked at the finish.

ANER PERSONAL AMBITIONS: To start on the elite start line at some big-city marathons

ANY REGRETS: No regrets, just lessons that I can learn from

ANY EMBARRASSING EXPERIENCES: Probably, but can't think of anything specific

WHAT CHANGES (IF ANY) WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE IN THE SPORT: I would like the sport not to be so 'elitist'.