Round 1 Borders League

Prestatyn, 24/10/2004. 

There was an excellent turnout of thirteen Abergele Harriers for the first round of the North Wales Borders Road Running League producing a very good team score of 603 points. Simon Shiels, running his first race for several months, ran superbly leading the race from start to finish, ending nearly a minute ahead of his nearest rival in an excellent 33 minutes 2 seconds. Second Harrier, also just back from injury, was John Earlston in 36mins 13secs, for a very creditable 15^th overall. Not far behind was Darren Blazier in 36.58, with Ed Reid next in 37mins 59secs, for 35^th overall, his best league position for 2 years. Richie Lee was next in 39mins 19secs (54^th) with Grahame Shone hot on his heels in 39mins 42secs for 64^th. Ever improving Matthew Ashton came home in 41mins 31secs, with one of two Border League debutants, Chris Arnold, just behind in 41mins 51secs. Second debutante Paul Thomas, also ran superbly, finishing in 42mins 24secs for 103^rd, with Terry Miles clocking an outstanding 44mins 8secs for 124^th and 10^th Harrier home. Ever-present John Essery was next in 47mins 53secs (158^th) with Steve McCarten completing the team in 53mins 39secs for 194^th.

Men’s Results;  

Total points;603

Individual Results
Team Results
Photos

Round 2 Borders League

Capenhurst, 14/11/2004. 

With Simon Shiels injured in the Slaters 5 the previous week, it was a weakened Abergele Harriers team that travelled to Capenhurst for the second round of the Borders Road Running League. Over a very fast 5.4 mile course, John Earlston continued his remarkable recovery from injury with a superb 30 minutes 20 seconds for 14^th position overall. Less than a minute behind was Darren Blazier in 31.08 for 23^rd position with Sean McCormack next in 31.51. Hot on Sean’s heels, continuing his recent excellent run of form was Ed Reid in a brilliant 32mins 14secs for 43^rd overall. Grahame Shone also ran excellently, just one week after winning his age group in the Slaters 5, finishing in 33mins 44secs for 74^th. Matthew Ashton, also ran brilliantly to finish in 34.38 with Paul Thomas close behind in 34.56. Roy Evans, in his first race back since breaking his toe, did very well to finish in 39mins 25secs, with John Essary only 7 seconds behind. Ever reliable team runner, Alan Lucas was next in 40mins 19secs with Stevie McCarten completing the team in 41mins 13secs.

Men’s Results;

Total points;910

Individual Results
Team Results
Photos

Round 3 Borders League

Caernarfon, 28/11/2004. 

Ten Abergele Harriers travelled to Caernarfon for the third round of the Borders Road Running League, but although the team had just the minimum number of runners, the results were excellent and a huge improvement on the previous round. First Harrier home was John Earlston, with an excellent time of 35mins 32secs for 12^th position, over a very tough 10k course run in bitterly cold conditions. Second Harrier, was Darren Blazier who ran one of his best races for several months, coming home in 15^th position in 35mins 58secs. Third Harrier home, who like Darren was running his fourth race in as many weeks, was Sean McCormack in 37mins 12secs (31^st), with Ed Reid not far behind in 38.24 (49^th). The performance of the day came from Simon Jones, back after a 12 weeks lay off following a nasty hamstring injury, finishing in a superb time of 39mins 20secs for 63^rd position. Matthew Ashton continued his rise up the ranks with a performance that earned him his highest position to date, 81^st, in a time of 40mins 36secs, with Paul Thomas (40.50), Chris Arnold (41.35) and Mike Powell (41.42) all bunched together just behind. The team was completed once again by ever-present John Essery in 46mins 23secs for an excellent 157^th, giving the team a respectable score of 706 points.

Men’s Results; 

Total points; 706

Individual Results
Team Results
Photos

Round 4 Borders League ~ Abergele, 6/2/2005. 

Abergele Harriers hosted a very successful 4th round of the Borders Road Running League on Sunday. The new 5 mile very fast course, designed by Border League Captain Darren Blazier, was run in perfect conditions. Taking advantage of his intimate knowledge of the course Darren ran a superb race finishing in 6^th position, his highest Border League position ever, in an outstanding 27 minutes and 32 seconds. Second Harrier home in 28mins and 8secs for 12^th position overall and 5^th in his age category was John Earlston, with Ed Reid returning to form, less than two minutes behind, in 29mins 59secs for 47^th position. Hot on Ed’s hells was Grahame Shone in 30mins 27secs for 53^rd position and a fabulous 4^th in his age category. Chris Arnold and Paul Thomas continued their rivalry coming home very close together in 32.20 and 32.36 respectively with Maurice Parry exactly one minute behind in 120^th position, and 3^rd MV60. Steve Jeffery, who like Maurice, was making his Borders League debut, ran an excellent 35mins 18secs for 13^th MV55 (141^st overall) with Roy Evans just behind in 35.23 for 144^th. Borders League ever-present John Essery ran another very solid race in 36mins 16secs with Stevie Ward completing the team in a very satisfactory 40 minutes and 10 seconds. Huge thanks goes to Darren Blazier for organising the event, lead cyclist Steven McCormack and race referee John Humphries, as well as all those who marshalled and helped in any way on the day. 

Men’s Results;

Total points; 893

Individual Results
Team Results
Photos

Round 5 Borders League ~ Christleton, 27^th February 2005.

 11 Harriers travelled to the 5^th round of the Borders League in Christleton which was run over a fast 3 lap 9.3k course. Sean McCormack, Ed Reid and Roy Evans proved their versatility both on and off the road by turning out again having raced in the cross-country league the previous day and despite this all three finished well with times of  32:07 (20^th), 36:09 (72^nd) and 39:32 (119^th) respectively. The highlights of Sunday however were Darren Blazier’s superb time of 31mins 14secs for 6^th position and Paul Thomas’s outstanding 36mins 15secs for 75^th, by far his best ever league finishing position. Hot on Darren’s heels was John Earlston in 31mins 34secs for a well deserved 9^th. Other finishing times were Chris Arnold 36.55 (85^th), Maurice Parry 37.21 (92^nd), John Essery 41.04 (148^th) and Steve McCarten 42/02 (174^th) while Simon Shiels unfortunately had to pull up with injury early on.

 Total points; 800

Individual Results
Team Results
Photos

Round 6 Borders League

Mold 3^rd April 2005. (Buckley Runners) 

Eleven Abergele Harriers travelled to Mold for the penultimate round of this seasons Borders Road Running league with a number of memorable performances. First home, running superbly at present, was Darren Blazier in a fabulous time of 28 minutes and 6 seconds for the 5 mile undulating course. Darren’s seventh position on the day moved him into joint second place overall in the individual competition with the final race in three weeks time. John Earlston, still carrying an injury, was 23^rd in 29mins 14secs, with Sean McCormack, still feeling the effects of the previous weekends racing, not far behind in 29mins 33secs for 28^th. Ed Reid was next in 41^st, his second best position of the season, in a very steady 30mins 28secs, while Grahame Shone had one of his best performances for a number of seasons with an outstanding 31mins 16secs for 55^th overall. Ever improving Chris Arnold also ran superbly, finishing particularly well to come home in 74^th position in a time of 32mins 24secs. Back to form Roy Evans continued his excellent year finishing in 33mins 24secs for 85^th while Maurice Parry was just behind in 33mins 45secs for 95^th, a superb time in the MV60 category. Matthew Ashton made a welcome return to racing after an ankle injury and ran very well to finish in a time of 34mins 36secs for 114^th overall, while Alan Lucas and ever-present John Essary had a very close race finishing in 37.12 and 37.25 respectively for 153^rd and 156^th positions. The teams overall score of  675 was a big improvement on the previous four rounds and their second best of the season.

Total points; 675

Individual Results
Team Results
Photos

Round 7 Borders League.

Wrexham, 22/4/2005.

Nine Abergele Harriers travelled to Wrexham to the final round of the Borders Road Running League, already in the knowledge that the club had been relegated into the second division. Despite this, there were some excellent performances, none more so than team captain Darren Blazier, who capped off a superb individual season by running one of the greatest races of his already glittering career, only 5 days after completing the London Marathon. Darren finished the 4 mile course in a phenomenal 22 minutes and 6 seconds for 11th position on the day, a result that clinched him the runners-up position overall in the senior male section, his highest finishing position ever. John Earlston was 26^th on the day in an excellent time of 22mins 41secs resulting in him winning 5^th position in the MV40 category. Sean McCormack ran well finishing just 5 seconds and one position behind John. Tim Cahill, running his first Borders League race for the club, ran superbly, finishing in 24mins 9secs for 66^th overall, with Roy Evans finishing the season with an excellent 25mins 3 seconds for 89^th. Chris Arnold also ran very well, finishing in 25mins 26secs for 100^th position, while Matthew Ashton continued his return from injury with a very good 27mins 16secs. John Essary, who has now completed 4 seasons in the League without missing a single race, finished in 29mins and 7secs, with Steven McCarten completing the team in 31mins and 20secs.

Men’s Results;

Total points; 1161 (includes 300 point penalty for only fielding 9 runners)

Team Results
Photos