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High quality Native fields for the Welsh 5km Championships
03/05/2024 00:00, In Blog / Road /
Clara Evans, Jenny Nesbitt, Dewi Griffiths and Jonathan Hopkins are amongst the top Welsh athletes entered for the Cardiff 5k - Race For Victory on Sunday 5th of May.
The ever popular Whitchurch based event incorporates the 2024 Welsh 5km Championships and will host teams from the Midland’s, North, South and South West of England, along with a team from North Wales and one representing the UK Armed Forces.
Welsh Athletes are likely to dominate the Womens race with Innes Fitzgerald the main non-Welsh contender.
Welsh Marathon Record Holder Clara Evans (15:49) is the defending Champion here and is in great shape, recently proven with a 70:11 clocking on a windy day at the Berlin Half Marathon and a 31:53 P.B. in third place at the Trafford 10k.
Evans is joined by training partner and clubmate 2019 UK Inter-Counties Cross Country Champion Jenny Nesbitt (15:41) who set her P.B. at the recent Podium 5k Festival in Leicester, proving current fitness.
Further Welsh interest sits with Emily Kearney-Haggard (15:44) who finished second at the Mid-Cheshire 5k last weekend in a new best of 15:44 and 2023 Cardiff 10k Champion Alaw Evans (16:33).
Molli Lyons (16:47) is a promising young local athlete in action here, finishing 15th last year but since making her Great Britain & Northern Ireland team debut at the Spar European Cross Country Championships in Brussels.
European U20 Cross Country Champion Innes Fitzgerald (16:02) overcame Nesbitt at the Cardiff Met Open Meeting over 3,000m in January and convincingly won the European U20 Cross Country Championships in December. The Exeter Harrier will make a 5km road race debut in Cardiff but has a Parkrun best of 16:02 from January.
Dewi Grifiths (13:43) last raced a week ago, finishing third at the ABP Newport 10k in 29:52 and earlier this year with a 2:12 clocking at the Seville Marathon whilst Jonathan Hopkins (13:54) returns as a previous winner here, claiming the Welsh title on that occasion in 2018.
James Heneghan (14:35) and the 2023 Nos Galan 5k Victor, Ben Reynolds (14:05) will also be looking to make their presence known in the Championships and will be targeting open race victory.
Looking further afield, Jake Smith (13:59) dipped under 14 minutes with victory here in 2022 and has competed three times so far in 2024 with his best performance a 29:25 clocking at the 10k Valencia Ibercaja in January.
Richard Allen (13:51) is a former World Duathlon Champion and a former record holder at the popular Podium 5k in Barrowford. More recently the Leeds man won the 2023 Trafford 10k.
Kadar Omar (14:02) overcame Griffiths a week ago to claim second place in Newport with a time of 29:38 and has won several races in South Wales previously including the 2022 Cardiff University Cardiff Half Marathon.