Regional 10 Miles Championship 2026 and Inter County Match

Regional 10 Miles Championship 2026 and Inter County Match

It’s Sunday 29th March, it’s spring and the previous week has seen sunny days and temperatures in the mid-teens, so the expectation of the opportunity to race 10 miles starting and finishing on the promenade at Llandudno seemed like a reasona-ble assumption to expect the same conditions. However, an early morning of cloud and a light breeze, soon turned to heavy and prolonged rain and strong winds. The event included both the Regional 10 miles championship and an Inter County match against Cheshire and Staffordshire, so plenty at stake for the runners.
Let’s start with the Inter County match:

MEN’S RACE: Staffs Team manager Craig Taylor had managed to field very strong teams and this was epitomised by Eamonn Clowes (Newcastle Tri) going straight into the lead and winning the race (both Inter County and Open) in 55:31, ahead of Cheshire’s Richard Coen (Wilmslow) in 56:48. Third place saw the North’s Steffan Sayer (Menai) —who had only been brought into the team four days before the race, after a late withdrawal— finish in 57:01.

The North’s other runners were: 6th David White (Buckley) , last year’s 10 miles champion, in 58:01; 10th Rhodri Williams (Cybi) in 58:49; 14th Chris Pownell (Cybi) in 59:48; 15th Jonathan Kettle (NWRRC) in 6101; 16th Dean Thomas (Maldwyn) in 61:05. Scores: 1. Staffs 20; Cheshire 30; N. Wales 32.
WOMEN’S RACE: I cannot remember a previous instance where a team featured a mother and daughter; previous races had included brothers, sisters and even a husband and wife (Hannah and Dean Thomas being a case in point).

Staffs did just that as Georgina Stanfield and mum Joanne (both Trentham) took the field. The former won convincingly in 61:56, while Joanne finished third in 65:46. In between, Jennifer Rambaldi (Buckley) finished second in 65:30. Diappointingly, Gemma Moore, women’s captain for the day, pulled up with an injury at 6km and didn’t finish. The North’s other runners were: 5th Hannah Thomas (Maldwyn) in 67:39; 9th Jane Doughton (Buckley) in 73:24 p.b.; 10th Margot Saher (Eryri) in 73:42 p.b. Scores: 1. Staffs 11: 2. N. Wales 26: 3. Cheshire 44.

North Wales 10 Miles Championships

Winning a Regional title in any championship is always going to be an honour that few achieve and one for any athlete to look back on with pride, especially if its your first. Here at Llandudno on such a rough day to so, Steffan Sayer (Menai) and Jennifer Rambaldi (Buckley), did just that; an even better result as both are now running in the 40-44 categories. Results: Men: JM: 1. Gruff Anderson (Eryri) 78:41. SM: 1. David White (Buckley) 58:01; 2. Carl Llewellyn (Hebog) 58:20; 3. Ben Rowlands (Deestriders) 58:20. M35: 1. Jack Jones (Hebog) 58:34; 2. Rhodri Williams (Hebog) 58:49; 3. Chris Pownell (Cybi) 59:48. M40: 1. Sayer; 2. Dean Thomas (Maldwyn) 61:05; 3. Adam Lemalle (NWRRC) 78:03. M45: 1. Stephen Bozier (NWRRC) 73:04; 2. Stephen Graham (Penyffordd) 82:43. M50: 1. Jonathan Kettle (NWRRC) 61:01; 2. Darren Blazier (Abergele) 66:56; 3. William Williams (NWRRC) 67:08. M55: 1. Gwyn Roberts (Wrexham) 74:42; 2. Geth Williams (Meirionnydd) 74:32. M60: 1. Rhys ab Elwyn (Eryri) 78:46; 2. Steven Roberts (NWRRC) 80:27. M65: 1. John Jones (Eryri) 83:44; 2. Len Jackson (NWRRC) 101:56. M70: 1. Robert Fryer (NWRRC) 92:24. Women: 1. SF: 1. Sophie Jones (Penyffordd) 116:31. F35: 1. Nia Lister (NWRRC) 93:33; 2. Gwennan Charlton (NWRRC) 94:07. F40: 1. Rambaldi; 2. Hannah Thomas (Maldwyn) 67:39; 3. Kerrie Morelle (Penyffordd) 105:38. F45: 1. No entries. F50: 1. Jane Doughton (Buckley) 73:24; 2. Margot Saher (Eryri) 73:42; 3. Carla Green (NWRRC) 74:58. F55: 1. Julia Beattie (Penyffordd) 124:57. F60: 1. Cheryl Frost (NWRRC) 77:33; 2. Kay Hatton (NWRRC) 83:48: 3. Deb Pugh (Wrexham) 86:40. F65: 1. Christine Wyn-Jones (Deeside) 90:21; 2. Jean Hughes (Deeside) 106:25.

Report by Paul Brookes