Race Report

Abergele Harriers held their 19^th annual 5mile road race on Sunday, which also incorporated the North Wales Championships.

The race was run in fair conditions with 256 runners completing the undulating course. Despite many of the Harriers marshalling the race, the club proved its strength in depth by fielding eighteen runners, four of whom won prizes, with the male team also winning the overall team prize.

Race winner was Peter Lambert from Deeside AAC in an excellent time of 26minutes and 13 seconds, just ahead of Luke Northall from Tipton Harriers in 26mins 34secs.

First lady home was Ruth Hethenngton of Wrexham AC in 31mins 41secs, with Isabel Redfern, of Colwyn Bay AC second in 32mins 49secs. First Harrier on the day was Darren Blazier in 28mins 48secs for 9^th overall, pushed closely by Race Director, Sean McCormack in 29mins 7secs for 12^th overall and 2^nd MV40.

Third Harrier, again running excellently was Geran Hughes in 29mins 33secs (16^th), while the male team was completed by Grahame Shone in 24th position in a superb time of 30mins 58secs for 2^nd MV55, and first in the North Wales Championships.

Roy Evans was fifth Harrier home in a personal best time for the distance of 31mins 58secs, over 1 minute faster than his previous best, with Justin McIlveen (running his first race for the club) just two seconds behind and Simon Grant hot on his heels in 32mins 7secs.

First female Harrier was Kristy Stephenson in 35mins 10secs, for 2^nd position in the FV40 category, while Melanie Williams in 41mins 27secs was 3^rd in that same category.

Other outstanding times for Harriers were;

Matthew Ashton 32mins 43secs (49^th)

 Robert Spotswood (second race in 2 days having performed outstandingly well in the Langley 7 on Saturday) 34mins 55secs (93^rd)

Stephen Salt 38mins 57secs (153^rd)

Angie Davidson 39mins 6secs (157^th)

Susan Calvert 41mins 34secs (190^th)

David Edwards 41mins 39secs (193^rd)

Stephen Ward 42mins 16secs (200^th)

Shelegh Jones 44mins 12secs (222^nd)

and

Jamie Smith 61mins 47secs (254^th)

A special thanks goes to Slaters of Abergele who once again were the main race sponsors, and Abergele Town Council who also helped financially as well as several other of the small businesses within the town who support the race year after year.