A popular runner who was left fighting for his life after a hit and run in Llandudno has made an emotional return to racing. Mark Davies was critically injured after being hit by a black Volkswagen Polo in the Crogfryn Lane area near his home, at about 11.30pm on Saturday, January 28 last year.
But on Saturday morning, at Conwy parkrun, about three hundred athletes and volunteers welcomed a surprise and remarkable return to action by Mark, an award-winning international fell and mountain race runner. Mark also spoke after the race about the huge impact the crash has had on his life. Reporting on Mark's return on his blog , Don Hale said: "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 considerable time over the past nineteen months in specialist hospitals, and rehab, trying to build his life back, with the dream of eventually being able to work, walk, and hopefully run normally again.
READ MORE: Holidaymaker's Range Rover 'written off' after he used meet and greet at Manchester Airport READ MORE: Llandudno seafront hotel snapped up by hospitality group "On Saturday 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 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 his accident and the injury problems that have 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 was pleased to finally complete his run at a steady pace.
He eventually finished 246th overall in 36 minutes and 35 seconds, as a highly respected VM45 athlete. Speaking to Don about his ordeal after the race, Mark said: “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 healed. 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 any more 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!” In October last year, North Wales Live reported how registered nurse Charlotte Brown was jailed for the hit and run.
A court heard how she got behind the wheel of her black Volkswagen Polo less than an hour after being thrown out of a club due to her behaviour. The 34-year-old, of Cysgod Y Castell in Llandudno Junction, crashed her car into Mark as he walked home from a night out in the town, leaving him with "life-changing injuries". She briefly stopped at the scene, but then drove off, before crashing her car onto its roof.
She was jailed for 16 months after pleading guilty to drink driving, causing serious injury by careless driving and failing to stop after a road accident. You can sign up for all the latest court stories here See the news in your area:.
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The emotional return to racing for runner left for dead in Llandudno hit and run
Mark Davies suffered critical injuries after crash and was 'like a child learning to walk again'