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04/06/2026 00:00, In Blog /

Deeside Stadium in Connah’s Quay hosts this weekend’s Welsh Junior Track and Field Championships where more than 350 of Wales’ best young athletes will compete across two days.

Among the many names to look out for across the Under-14, Under-16 and Under-20 age groups, along with the para events, is Welsh Athletics National Development Programme sprinter Darcy Coslett (Llanelli AC).

Coslett is the fifth fastest Under-18 athlete in the United Kingdom this year over 400m – the distance she will be running on Saturday in the women’s Under-20 event. With a personal best of 54.29, Coslett will be the hot favourite to take gold.

The Bryngwyn School pupil, who broke the British Under-17 indoor 400m record at last year’s UK Indoor Championships, will also be eyeing the 200m title on Sunday, where she will be up against the likes of NDP multi-eventer Tiana Odugbesan (Cardiff Archers).

Odugbesan, who won pentathlon gold at the England Under-17 Combined Events Championships in Sheffield in March, also contests the Under-20 women’s long jump.

The competition promises to be a closely fought affair as it will also feature fellow NDP athlete Olivia Scrimshaw (Deeside AAC) whose PB is only five centimetres short of Odugbesan’s best of 6.01m. Scrimshaw also competes in the Under-20 women’s triple jump.

Saturday will see two of the most exiting young wheelchair racers in UK going head to head in the 100m and 200m wheelchair/frame running finals.

Both Owain Terrell (Newport Harriers) and Toby Richardson (Yate and District AC) are part of the National Development Programme.

The T54 racers have chalked up dozens of eye-catching victories between them across a wide range of distances.

In recent months, Richardson won the Under-15 T53/54 race at the TCS London Mini Marathon in April, while Terrell won the wheelchair race at the AJ Bell Great Bristol Run in May. Also competing will be Under-16 T34 racer Imogen Ashwell-Rice (Newport Harriers).

Another outstanding NDP competing in north Wales across the weekend is Owen Garrett (Yate and District AC), who is the number two ranked Under-20 discus thrower in the UK this year.

Garrett, who represented Great Britain at the European Under-18 Championships in 2024, will compete in both the discus and the shot put.

The Under-20 women’s discus features a duo of NDP throwers from Carmarthen Harriers in the shape of Dolly Evans and Storm Evans. While Ava John (Cardiff Athletics) and Annabelle Jones (Wrexham AAC), who represented Wales at last weekend’s Pickering Memorial Throws International are also competing.

The 100m Para Male and Female 100m will feature Transition Programme T11 sprinter James Ledger (Swansea Harriers), who represented Wales at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast. Also on the start line will be Fletcher Roberts (Brighton Phoenix), who won bronze at the TCS London Mini Marathon.

Meanwhile, the seated shot will be contested by F56 thrower Ellie Mai Bowen (Cardiff Archers) and F34 athlete Jac Sheehan (Aberystwyth AC). Bowen also lines up in the seated discus.

There are also a number of outstanding athletes to look out for throughout the younger age groups.

The Under-14 boys and girls middle distance events are littered with high quality entries.

Jacob Moss (Cardiff Athletics) is ranked number three in the UK over 800m this year thanks to his 2:06.83 performance in Street, but he will face competition in the two-lap time trials from the likes of Farley Pritchard (Cardiff Athletics), Zac Munn (Cardiff Athletics) and Rowan Carson (Bridgend Athletics).

In the 1500m time trials, Munn boasts comfortably the fastest time in Wales this year with 4:29.43, but Tomi Jones (Swansea Harriers) and Jacob Price (Menai Track and Field) have also gone under 4:40.

The girls races are similarly stacked, with Deeside AAC twins Gwen and Ella Hayes leading this year’s Welsh 800 rankings with bests of 2:22.92 and 2:22.92 respectively. However, seven other athletes have dipped under 2:30 this season including Betty Lancaster (Aberdare Valley AAC), Heidi Crabb (Newport Harriers) and Alesha Santos (Rhondda AAC).

In the 1500m, it’s Santos who leads the rankings with a best of 4:55.0, but once again the Hayes are likely to be firmly in contention along with Crabb and Lancaster.

Another set of twins will be hoping to shine in the Under-16 events where Olivia and Maddison Coote (Cardiff Athletics) go head to head over the 80m hurdles.

Olivia recorded the third fastest time in the UK at Chelmsford at the end of last month – 11.60. Maddison is the next fastest on paper in Wales with a best of 12.01, also recorded at Chelmsford.

The Under-16 girls 200m also features one of the UK’s top sprinters this season. Mia Johnson (West Cheshire AC) is third in the rankings with an outdoor best this season of 24.65.

While another 200m talent lines up in the Under-14 girls event, where Olivia Thomas (Cardiff Archers), who is ranked sixth in the UK, will be favourite.

The sprints will certainly be worth keeping an eye on across the board, with the likes of UK top 5 100m speedster Jacob Barnes (Cardiff Athletics) leading the line-up in the Under-16 boys race.

At the other end of the speed range, the race walking events will feature Spencer Jones (Wrexham AAC), who is the fastest Under-14 boys race walker in the UK and Cerys Fitzpatrick (Carmarthen Harriers), who is number two Under-16 girl.

Saturday’s action gets underway at noon with the Under-16 boys and Under-20 men’s hammer in the field and the Under-20 men’s and women’s 400m hurdles on the track.

Sunday’s timetable starts slightly earlier at 11am with the hammer and triple jump events.

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