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The Weekend Round Up - A weekend of Records
25/10/2021 00:00, In Blog /
British Grand Prix of Race Walking
Commonwealth Bronze medallist Bethan Davies (Andi Drake) set a new 35km British record of 3.00.24 in her first race at the distance. Despite having to battle tough conditions Davies made a very impressive step up from the 20km distance.
Leeds Abbey Dash
At the Leeds Abbey Dash, recent winner of the 2021 Cardiff Cross Challenge Charlotte Arter (Chris Jones) broke the Welsh record by a huge margin running 31:32 for 2nd at the Leeds Abbey Dash. Then Jenny Nesbitt (Chris Jones), also with a new PB helped the Welsh team to 4th overall in the inter-area match, the next Welsh athlete was Beth Kidger (Joel Kidger) in 33:39, Lauren Cooper (Nicola Haines-Jones) and Sophie Harris followed in a time of 34:46 and 35:54. The women’s Team placed 3rd in the inter-area match.
In the men’s match, Abed Tewelderhan’s bold early running and 10th place in 29:29 also secured the team a 3rd place finish with Daniel Hamilton coming in with 30:17 PB and Matthew Edwards in 30:43.
Rotterdam Marathon
Clara Evans (Chris Jones) finished in 4th place at the Rotterdam Marathon, running a season's best of 2:31.19 which is the 2nd fastest time ever by a Welsh athlete.
This performance puts Clara in reach of the Welsh Marathon record holder Natasha Cockram who ran 2:30.03 earlier this year in March.
Newport Wales Marathon & 10K
It was worth the wait after an 18-month covid delay as all four-course records were broken on a landmark day for distance running in Wales.
Around 8,000 runners registered for the marathon and 10K events, and hundreds more took part in the Family Mile in cool conditions ideal for fast times. The ‘breathable’ event was the largest mass participation event to take place in Wales since the beginning of the pandemic.
The flat, fast course lived up to its reputation of delivering personal bests as records were smashed in the 10K event after thousands of participants streamed across the start lines for both races.
Thames Valley athlete Paulos Surafel was on course to comfortably break the previous best time of 29:43 at the halfway mark, but after slowing in the final few kilometers, he managed to take the tape just a second ahead of Matt Clowes’ record time to add to his victories at the Kew Gardens 10K and Windsor Half Marathon. Cardiff AAC’s James Heneghan (James Thie) finished in a time of 29:54 and James Hunt with 30:00 took second and third while Dewi Griffiths (Kevin Evans) finished with 30:06 as he continues his return from injury with a sixth-place finish, and Jonathan Butler (Swansea Harriers) finishing 9th in 31:54
In the women's race, Carys Hughes (Cardiff AAC) finished a strong 4th place running a time of 36:26 and Chloe Dooley (Steve Mitchell) finished 5th in just shy of her lifetime best with 36:33.