By: Robert Hofmann

Race Date: 09/03/2025

So there is this, it all started with my wife and myself sitting-down one early November day last year and planning a holiday for our first wedding anniversary. One would think of going to Rome, Venice or even New York (it was a pre-Trump & Musk America at that time), but no, we settled for a long weekend in Conwy, Wales, and even missing our real anniversary day to attend an out-and-back race at Colwyn Bay!

The race was on a beautiful sunny Sunday morning and as out-and-back seafront races go, the conditions were perfect. The sun was out, the sea was still, temperatures were if anything a bit on the warm side, and the wind was nowhere to be found.

The race itself was on tarmac undulating with only one steep slope at the 2.5 / 7.5 mile mark.

It was a bit of a slow start initially, as the 5, 10 and 20 mile races all started at the same time. But once we got going it was all pretty straightforward apart from dodging a few bikers and dog walkers. Myself, I wasn’t really prepared for a fast race as I mainly trained for ultra races over the last six months and neglected speed work sessions on a regular basis. So I decided to stick to my half marathon PB pace and see how long I could keep going until I hit that invisible wall. Turned out I managed fairly well. Although I have to thank Steve Marklew for this. He’s a blind 60-64 runner racing without a guide. For about four miles I managed to keep up with him, shouting out all the obstacles, like walkers or oncoming bicycles… on the course. Then I lost him because he was just too fast for me. Saying that, I caught up with him at the later stage of the race.

The race was excellently organised with plenty of friendly and chatty volunteers and marshals. For myself, I am probably one minute behind my best race times, but finishing 14th out of 206 people made me extremely happy.
My lovely wife ran the 5 mile race and was also very pleased with her own race results.

The (10 Miler) race was won by David White (Buckley Runners) in 00:55:19 and Elliw Haf Roberts (Eryri Harriers) in 01:04:46 .

Strider’s Result: