News

04/03/2021 00:00, In Blog / Track & Field /

11:00 Elite Winter Discus
13:00 Elite Winter 10k
14:25 Elite Winter Walks

Some of the top Welsh Athletes will take their chance to compete in an elite-only event in Newport on Saturday.

The Elite Only Winter 10k will feature 10,000m races for some of the top Welsh Athletes looking to test themselves ahead of the British Olympic Marathon Team Trials in Kew Gardens on the 26^th March.

Others will be chasing qualifying times for major Championships and will be joined by a small cohort of the Uk’s top non-Welsh Athletes.

Start List:

Marathoners Dewi Griffiths and Josh Griffiths will both race in Newport as part of their ongoing preparations for the Trial event at the end of March.

Dewi has a P.B. of 28:16.07 dating back to the Payton Jordan Invitational in 2017. His last race was a solid 13:43 clocking at the Podium 5k in August.

Josh was the 2017 British Marathon Champion and his last competitive outing was over the marathon distance in October when he set a P.B. of 2:13.11.

Kristian Jones is a third Swansea Harrier in action and will make a track debut over 10,000m. Jones will be looking to see how close he can get to the Commonwealth Games qualification mark of 28:30 but with plenty of other chances to get the mark ahead of the games in 2022.

Cardiff AC club mates James Hunt and Mike Ward will also be looking to test themselves with Commonwealth Games aspirations on their mind. Ward is no stranger to the distance and clocked 29:16.20 in Raleigh, North Carolina in 2019.

Leeds Harrier Emile Cairess will be looking to crash the party and has a 28:48.15 best from two years ago but also has a sub eight minute clocking over 3,000m from February to his name.

Cardiff man Ieuan Thomas will be on pace-making duty, looking to lead the field through 14:10/ 14:15 at the half-way point.

The women’s race should be equally as exciting with both Charlotte Arter and Clara Evans looking to test their fitness ahead of the marathon trials.

Arter is the fastest on paper with a best of 32:15.71. the Cardiff athlete will use the race as part of her preparations for her eagerly anticipated marathon debut at the end of March. She has proved her competence over the half distance competed in 69:41 which also makes her the eighth fastest Briton of all time.

Jenny Nesbitt trains with Arter and Evans and will also be in action. The Commonwealth Games standard for Wales here is 32:30 with Nesbitt having run 32:38.45 at Highgate in 2018.

Lily Partridge of Birchfield Harriers will be racing with the trials at Kew Gardens as the ultimate goal for the first half of 2021. Her best for the distance of 32:20.77 will see her start as the second fastest on paper.

Sarah Astin will be chasing qualifying times for the European U23 Championships in Bergen this July.

The event will also feature 10,00om race walks where Tom Bosworth will face off with close rival Callum Wilkinson in the men’s race. Bosworth is the current National Record Holder with 39:10 and Wilkinson holds the U20 Natonal Record at 40:30 and has since improved to 39:52.

Cameron Corbishley of Medway & Maidstone will be the third athlete competing and is also a multiple Great Britain & Northern Ireland International with a P.B. of 41:37.44.

There will be further Welsh rivalry in the women’s race walk where the ever-improving Pembrokeshire Harrier Heather Lewis will face Cardiff AC’s Bethan Davies. Lewis is the current Welsh Champion over 5,000m and Commonwealth Games Bronze medalist Davies was the 2019 Brrtish Champion over 5,000m.

Abigail Jennings and Pagen Spooner complete the women’s line-up.

The on-track action will be preceded by a Discus competition where Pembrokeshire Harrier James Tomlinson will be chasing qualification marks for Bergen following a P.B. of 53.30 at the Loughborough Winter Throws Meeting last weekend.

Harrison Walsh and Zachary Tandy will be in action representing Disability Sport Wales, joined by Kirsty Law of Cardiff AC and Samantha of Newham & Essex Beagles.