Athlete's Profile (9)

ATHLETE'S PROFILE (9)

Martin Cortvriend

CLUB: Denbigh Harriers (plus Prestatyn RC, second-claim)

ANY PREVIOUS CLOUBS: Stockport Harriers, Buxton AC, Bollington Harriers, Macclesfield Harriers, Clwydian Range Runners

AGE: 61

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN COMPETING: Since I stopped playing football 30 years ago - did race no 1,114 last week.

 ANY OTHER SPORTS PLAYED: Pool

 OTHER HOBBIES OR INTERESTS: Growing potatoes, organising fell-races, quaffing pints of ale at the Goldie, Llangynhafal

FAVOURITE RACING DISTANCE: Fell-races that take me about an hour to complete. The worse the weather the better.

 FAVOURITE RACE AND WHY: Caw Fell Race in the Lake District. I competed in this for 7 consecutive years and always did well as I was one of the few runners who could see over the tops of the bracken. Unfortunately they moved the race to earlier in the year before the bracken grew and I lost my advantage

 FAVOURITE TRAINING SESSION: Up to Moel Famau and back

PROUDEST MOMENT: Being selected for Gareth's athlete's questionnaire. There are many clichés in running - "No pain, no gain" and "pride comes before a fall", and I don't fancy falling again. But I am quite proud of our club's endeavours in team events, for a small club we have done very well in cross-country, British Fell Relays and the Castles Relay

 WHOM DO YOU MOST ADMIRE (INSIDE ATHLETICS AND OUT) and WHY: Eddie Naisby (Prestatyn RC) for looking so good running in his late 80s.

 ANY PERSONAL AMBITIONS:  Keeping on running by finding new ways to motivate myself

ANY REGRETS: Je ne regrette rien

ANY EMBARRASSING EXPERIENCES: As a race referee, disqualifying two African runners for going the wrong way in the Commonwealth Mountain Running Championships at Llanberis and then finding out later that I'd been nominated to take them back to their hotel in Llandudno with ther team manager. They were very amiable anout it, though.

WHAT CHANGES (IF ANY) WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE IN THE SPORT: Not many please. A bit worried about these very expensive mud and rat races with obstacles (e.g. over £100 for a run up Snowdon). I think people are getting ripped off with some of these.

Elidir Race

ROWLANDS MAKES WINNING RETURN

New mum Andrea Rowlands made a winning return to mountain-running in the Elidir race.

 She finished 22nd overall, just over a minute ahead of Eryri clubmate Ali Thomas.

 Results (all Eryri unless stated): 1 C Near (M40) 62.48, 2 H O'Donnell 63.40, 3 M Fortes 63.59, 4 S Smith 65.48, 5 P Jones (M40) 68.38, 6 J Brown (Buckley, M40) 70.34. M50: 1 G Owen 72.01, 2 S Toogood (ua) 72.30, 3 J Williams 77.35. M60: 1 D Whiteside-Thomas 82.38.
 Ladies: 1 A Rowlands 80.13, 2 A Thomas (L40) 81.47, 3 S Farrar (L50) 87.10. L60: M Oliver 1-41.00.

Race The Train 5k

CLOWES WINS WITH EASE

Course record-holder Matt Clowes (Stone MM) was a comfortable winner of the Race The Train 5k in Caernarfon, and although he was never under pressure he still came within a few seconds of his own record.

 With his partner and fellow record-holder Gina Paletta resting after her Snowdon run the women's race was won by Menai's Debbie Williams in a fast 17.36.

 Results: 1 M Clowes (Stone MM) 13.54, 2 C Evans (Eryri) 15.46, 3 J Parkinson (Eryri, M40) 16.18, 4 S Sayer (Menai) 16.22, 5 H Wharton (Cybi) 16.26, 6 A Connell (Eryri) 16.30.
 U14: 1 O Gibbard (Ysg Brynrefail) 20.54, 2 I Williams (ua) 22.57
 U16: 1 R Cain (Menai) 18.24, 2 J Godfrey (Tryfan) 22.43
 U18: 1 J Griffith (Colwyn Bay) 16.41, 2 M Llyr (Eryri) 18.19, 3
 M40: 2 C Yorke (NWRR) 16.36, 3 I Griffiths (Cybi) 16.54
 M50: 1 A Lewis (Eryri) 18.07, 2 M Williams (Cybi) 18.21, 3 P Cain (ua) 19.12
 M60: 1 J Woodcock (Menai) 17.45, 2 T Hill (Cybi) 20.42, 3 S Longman (ua) 22.35
 M65: 1 G Hughes (Prestatyn) 20.58, 2 B Robbins (Eryri) 21.08, 3 J Hatton (NWRR) 26.21
 M70: E Davies (Eryri) 19.18 (new record)

 Ladies
1 D Williams (Menai) 17.36, 2 L Grantham (Chester Tri, L35) 18.40, 3 L Purrick (Abingdon) 18.45, 4 A Darlington (Sheffield Uni) 18.52
 U16: 1 M Davies (Menai) 18.54, 2 L H Jones (Ysg Brynrefail) 20.55
 U18: 1 A Cheetham (Prestatyn) 23.34
 L35: 2 H Griffith (NWRR) 20.34, 3 C Pollock (ua) 21.28
 L45: 1 E Salisbury (Eryri) 21.47, 2 J Korn (ua) 22.47, 3 C Frost (NWRR) 23.20
 L55: 1 V Edwards (Menai) 26.04, 2 A Darlington (ua) 27.10
 L60: 1 A Hill (ua) 31.45, 2 S Longman (ua) 32.52
 L65: C Birch (Abergele) 21.32

Green Green Grass of Home

"NEARLY MAN" STEINEGGER CLAIMS VICTORY

Karl Steinegger, who regularly turns in quality performances without chalking up many wins, finally claimed the glory in the third and final race in the Clwydian Hills series, the Green, Green Grass of Home race at Llangynhafal.

 With several of the regular women competitors missing it was also good that the consistent Sandra Rowlands was also able to grab some of the spotlight.

 Results. 1 K Steinegger (Ambleside) 44.17, 2 P Smith (Clwydian) 45.48, 3 D Boothby (Wrecsam Tri) 45.51, 4 J Brown (Buckley, M40) 46.03, 5 J O'Hara (Helsby) 46.26, 6 A Broughton (Helsby, M40) 47.52.
 U23: T Snowden (Deeside) 48.03
 M40: 3 G Porter Jones (Eryri) 48.36
 M50: 1 V Belshaw (Denbigh) 48.40, 2 N Holmes (Tattenhall) 52.12, 3 K Rowlands (Clwydian) 53.24
 M60: 1 A French (Wrex) 54.20, 2 J Morris (Buckley) 58.55, 3 R Fisher (Pensby) 61.28
M70: MH Edwards (Wrex) 72.13

Ladies
1 S Rowlands (Clwydian, L40) 58.01, 2 V Whitehead (Denbigh, L40) 59.04, 3 A Lewis (Pensby, L40) 59.06.
 L50: 1 P Peers (Pensby) 60.57, 2 D Rutherford (Pensby) 61.04, 3 J Penrhyn-Jones (Prestatyn) 67.03.

Weston's ultra win

WESTON'S "EXTRA-ULTRA" WIN

North Wales 10-mile champion Daniel Weston made his "ultra" debut at the weekend - and it proved even more of a challenge than expected.

 The Wrexham athlete competed in the Wenlock Olympian Walk, involving 6,000 feet of ascent over 52 miles.

 Like a few others, he chose to run the course, but went astray and so covered a total of 57 miles. Despite the substantial diversion he still came home first.

SIAB champs

NICOLL LEADS BY EXAMPLE

Welshpool's Adele Nicoll played a true captain's role with double gold in the SIAB Schools' International (U17) in Dublin.

 The skipper of the girls' team, she won the shot with a new pb of 13.75 and then won the discus by another comfortable margin.

 There were pbs galore by North Wales squad members, including the prolific Cari Hughes, who finished third in the U17 1,500m in a brilliant 4-33.33.

 Matthew Williams (Wrexham) won the discus and his rival Nathan Thomson (Colwyn Bay) picked up bronze in the shot.

 The North Wales placings were:-
Women: 800m 8 Abi Backshall (CB) 2-20.80; 1,500m 3 Cari Hughes (Menai) 4-33.33 (pb); 3,000m 8 Lily Davis (Deeside) 11-15.84; 300H 7 Vicky Gittins (Mald) 45.34 (pb); LJ 6 Chloe Hughes (Dee) 5.26; TJ 6 Sarah Williams (Mald) 10.34 (pb); SP 1 Adele Nicoll (Birchfield) 13.75 (pb, 5 Sabrina Fortune (Dee) 10.37; DT 1 Nicoll 42.19, 6 Fortune 33.77; HT 6 Amber Rimmington (Dee) 40.76 (pb).

Men: 400m 5 Ryan Pike (CB) 50.77 (pb); HJ 8 Ioan Parry (Menai) 1.75; SP 3 Nathan Thomason (CB) 15.01; DT 1 Matthew Williams (Wrex) 41.84; HT 3 James Williams (CB) 59.93, 4 Thomason 57.20 (pb), 8 Shaun Livett (Menai) 47.76.

At the Birmingham Games British champion Sally Peake (Birchfield) from Hawarden won with a modest clearance of 4.00 and former Colwyn Bay sprinter Rachel Johncock (Swansea), who won gold with the GB relay team last week, finished fourth in the 200m in 24.28.

Snowdon race

ANDI MAKES IT SIX WINS

Schoolteacher Andi Jones made it "six of the best" in winning the Ty'n Lon Volvo Snowdon race - and he did it in his usual front-running style.

 The Stockport athlete was determined to get his revenge on Scotsman Murray Strain, who won the event last year, and he made his intentions clear from the start.

 He reached the summit in first place and though Strain closed the gap, overtaking local favourite Alun Vaughan, who had been second on the climb, Jones moved further clear in the closing stages to record his sixth win. His time was 68.48.

 Strain was second, and he was followed by three-times English champion Rob Hope third and Vaughan fourth.

 Sarah Mulligan won the ladies' title in the same style as Jones, leading all the way to become the first Irish champion. Scotland's Jill Mykura was second and Jackie Lee (Wales) an excellent third.

 The inaugural Super Cup - uphill to the summit only with no descent - was won by Ethiopian-born Wagene Tafese (Scotland), who pulled away from England's Steve Vernon on the final climb. The 21-year-old won the inter-counties' mountain running championships in Settle Hills in May.

 The Welsh runners grouped well just a little further back, with Andrew Davies (Mercia) fourth, Rob Samuel (Eryri) fifth and Nathan Jones (Eryri) ninth.

 The first lady to the summit was England's Olivia Walwyn, with Wrexham's Gina Paletta second and the rapidly improving Siobhan Evans (Eryri) third,

 RESULTS OF SUPER CUP

1 W Tabese (Ethiopia, Scotland) 40.53, 2 S Vernon (Eng) 41.09, 3 B McMahon (Ire) 42.28, 4 A Davies (Wales) 43.27, 5 R Samuel (Wales) 44.07, 9 N Jones (Wales) 46.31, 13 G Griffin (Wales) 50.10, 14 R Challinor (Wales) 50.13. Ladies: 1 O Walwyn (Eng) 50.45, 2 G Paletta (Wales) 52.15, 3 S Evans (Wales) 55.04, 4 A Bartlett (Wales) 55.51, 9 T Lewis-Jones (Wales) 61.27.

 SNOWDON INTERNATIONAL RACE

1 A Jones (Stockport) 68.50, 2 M Strain (Scot) 70.14, 3 R Hope (Eng) 70.54, 4 A Vaughan (Wales) 71.25, 5 L Taggart (Isle of Man) 71.37, 6 P Burney (Eng) 71.49. Others: 11 F Jones (Aberystwyth) 74.08, 12 M Roberts (Wales) 74.20, 14 P Ryder (Wales) 74.44, 19 R Roberts (Wales) 76.01.
 M40: 1 P Jones (Mercia) 80.56, 2 G Heeney (ua) 81.21, 3 M Cliffe (Eryri) 82.26
 M45: 1 J Moore (ua) 85.43, 2 N Craine (Eryri) 88.49, 3 I Rowlands (Cybi) 90.20
 M50: 1 A Smith (Deeside) 83.41, 2 A Lewis (Eryri) 88.53, 3 C Dixon (Cambridge) 93.27
 M55: 1 C Davies (Saddleworth) 90.12, 2 I Edgar (Eryri) 91.40, 3 G Earlam (Ell Port) 96.07
 M60: 1 G Owen (ua) 94.23, 2 A French (Wrexham) 1-40.43, 3 N Owen (Prestatyn) 1-46.12
 M65: 1 B Robbins (Eryri) 1-55.06, 2 J Morris (Buckley) 1-56.24, 3 P Walsh (Bowland) 2-01.36
 M70: 1 MH Edwards (Wrex) 2-26.16, 2 M Briggs (ua) 2-53.26

Ladies
1 S Mulligan (Ire) 86.25, 2 J Mykura (Scot) 87.14, 3 J Lee (Wales) 87.51, 4 S Adkin (Scot) 88.34, 5 P Maddams (Eng) 90.10, 6 C Morgan (Scot) 90.47
 L40: 1 J Holmes-Thomson (ua) 99.36, 2 J Moore (Eryri) 1-48.48, 3 R Probert (ua) 1-49.20
 L45: 1 L Mardall (Deeside) 1-45.25, 2 L Summers (Chepstow) 1-46.12, 3 A Hunter (Dunshaughton) 1-51.15
 L50: 1 J Edwards (Meirionnydd) 1-52.03, 2 T Scotland (Eryri) 2-08.09, 3 N Horsfield (Clayton le Moors) 2-08.40