*Pictured above - Welsh Master Mark Davies made a dramatic and emotional return to running at Conwy following his partial recovery from serious injury.
An emotional return to running at Conwy for international mountain racer Mark Davies following a life-changing hit and run accident...plus results and parkrun summary...
Exclusive report by Don Hale. Photos by John Hatton and Bill Scriven.
It was an emotional moment at Conwy parkrun last Saturday morning as about three-hundred athletes, volunteers, and marshalls welcomed a surprise and a quite remarkable return to action by Mark Davies, an award-winning international fell and mountain race runner, who miraculously survived a life-changing hit and run accident in January last year.
Mark, who won a special achievement award just two months before this horrific incident, following his previous success at the Swiss Peaks 360 Mountain Race, has spent a considerable amount of time during the past nineteen-months in specialist hospitals, and rehab, trying to rebuild his mind and body, with the dream of eventually being able to work, walk, and hopefully run normally again!
On Saturday (28th September) at the RSPB Nature Reserve, and supported by friends, relatives, and club colleagues from North Wales Road Runners, he eventually realised his ambition to at least jog again, and finally made his parkrun debut on a very heavy and puddle-filled 5k course.
John Hatton from NWRRC, who is also the parkrun MC, together with run director Bethan Wyn Roberts, introduced Mark to the crowd, and confirmed some brief details about the accident that's devastated his life ever since.
Although Mark still has a long way to go in his determined bid to rebuild his world, his unexpected and incredible performance at Conwy was an important step in the right direction, and he so was pleased to finally complete his run at a steady pace, which he eventually finished in 246th place overall in 36 minutes and 35 seconds as a highly respected VM45 athlete.
John Hatton (above left), introduces Mark Davies to the crowd at Conwy and (*above right), Mark celebrates completing his first ever 5k parkrun.
After the parkrun, Mark bravely confirmed details of his ongoing fitness battle: “Where do I start. I had my knee rebuilt at the back and side when I came home from Heywood hospital after eight months in Stoke hospital. I thought a new knee would be fine once it was heeled. How wrong was I?
“I thought I would just start up again. Little did I realise that I was going to be like a child learning to walk again. I thought it was just a lifting my foot problem at first, but it’s still a problem now, with not being fit enough to run.
“Parkrun was a great help as a first run-out and I have been running around the block about four or five times a day since May when my brace came off my leg. As for the future. I just plan to keep trying to run again, and hopefully being able to run the Dragons Back race again in two-year’s time.
“I can't work anymore as my right arm hardly moves, and that is my main arm, so all I have left is my running. Switzerland is a thing of the past for me now!”
*These are some of my memorable blog links that confirm part of the difficult journey that Mark Davies has had to endure:
27/3/23: Don Hale Blog: Positive news about award winning mountain racer M... https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/positive-news-about-award-winning.html?spref=tw
18/8/23: Don Hale Blog: MARK DAVIES UPDATE: Drunk woman drove off after th... https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2023/08/mark-davies-update-drunk-woman-drove.html?spref=tw
6/2/23: Don Hale Blog: Mountain runner Mark Davies continues his battle f... https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2023/02/mark-continues-his-battle-for-life-at.html?spref=tw
31/1/23: Don Hale Blog: Special fundraising page for hit and run victim Ma... https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2023/01/special-fundraising-page-for-hit-and.html?spref=tw
30/11/22: Don Hale Blog: Welsh fell runner Mark Davies wins ‘Special Achiev... https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2022/11/welsh-fell-runner-mark-davies-wins.html?spref=tw
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