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Welsh team show good form in the Manchester International

16/08/2019 00:00, I Mewn Blog / Track & Field /

Another wet Manchester International last night but that did not scare off the team of Welsh athletes that made the trek to compete both for individual medals and team points on Wednesday 14th August at the Manchester Regional Arena. 

Elinor Kirk (Steve Vernon) set Wales off to a great start, showing her experience by running a controlled 3000m to take the first win of the evening for wales in 9:28.30.

In the Ambulant 100m races, T44 athlete Kirsty Taylor (Christian Malcolm) came 3rd in 14.44 with teammate T37 athlete Rhys Jones (Kevin Williams) also finishing 3rd in the men’s race with the quick time of 11.79

The second gold medal of the evening came in the Long Jump by Sarah Abrams (John Shepherd) who fought a close battle with Jasmine Sawyers. Both ladies jumped 6.25m with their 2nd furthest jumps being 6.18m but with Abrams third furthest jump being higher, she secured maximum points for Wales.

The Welsh throwers had another fantastic evening. In the shot Adele Nicoll (Ryan Spencer-Jones) won the women’s competition, comfortably, in 15.65m and Patrick Swan (Mo Pearson) took the bronze in the men’s competition with a throw of 15.70m. In the Hammer, both Jac Palmer (Adrian Palmer) and Osian Jones (Carys Parry) went up against each other again with Jac representing the Welsh team and Osian representing the BML team. Osian took gold throwing 73.09m and Jac took bronze with a throw of 66.84m

The relays gave the Welsh sprinters a chance to shine as a team. In the 4x100m the men finished in 2nd place while in a very chaotic women’s race, the Welsh team remained calm to take the gold. The women’s 4x400m quartet made up of Laura Turley (Ian Broadhurst), Melissa Roberts (Matt Elias), Rhiannon Linnington-Payne (Matt Elias) and Lauren Williams (Wynford Leyshon) finished 3rd in 3:40.52 which is the second-fastest time run in over a decade by the welsh quartet.

Other standout performances come in the sprints where both Sam Gordon and Owain Lloyd Highes showing what great form they are in by running new legal pb’s. Sam Gordon won the 100m guest race in 10.31 into a headwind and Owain Lloyd Hughes placed 2nd in 10.41 in Race 2 of the 100m guest race.  

The combined effort of the team allowed a respectable 5th place overall finish for the Welsh team.

Full results can be found here