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Weekend Round-Up (23-24 November 2024)
25/11/2024 00:00, In Blog /
UK ATHLETICS CROSS CHALLENGE – LIVERPOOL, NOVEMBER 23
Cari Hughes booked an automatic place in the Great Britain team for next month’s European Cross Country Championships in Türkiye.
The Cardiff Athletics runner finished second in the senior women’s race at the UK Athletics Cross Challenge fixture in Liverpool on Saturday which doubled as the GB European trials.
The race was won by Kate Axford (Belgrave Harriers) in 28:05 with Hughes following her home in 28:21, to claim one of the four automatic qualification places for the European Championships in Antalya on December 8.
Axton and Hughes will be joined in the British women’s team by Poppy Tank and Abbie Donnelly, who also claimed automatic spots. The remaining two places in the six strong senior women’s team will be announced following Monday’s selection meeting.
Hughes’ selection is a fitting end to a highly successful season having claimed track PBs across a number of distances this season while competing on the continent with OAC Europe.
This will be Hughes’ sixth appearance at the European Cross Country Championships, one of the highlights being winning under-20 team gold for Great Britain back in 2018.
Hoping to join Hughes in Turkey will be Dafydd Jones (Swansea Harriers/Cardiff University)) who just missed out on sealing an automatic place in Liverpool.
Jones finished fifth in the Under-23 men’s race in a time of 17:31 and must now wait to see who the selectors add to the first four finishers when they name the remainder of the six-man team.
The Welshman continued to prove his form already having finished 11th overall in an international field at the recent Cardiff Cross Challenge and will be hopeful of a place on the plane to Turkey.
Other stand out Welsh performances in challenging conditions created by Storm Bert in Liverpool included an eighth place finish in 4:44 for James Heneghan (Cardiff Athletics) in the senior men’s short course European Trial. Oliver Barbaresi (Thames Valley Harriers) was 12th in 4:50.
The under-20 races saw a 30th place finish for Noa Vaughan (Eryri) and 32nd for Beca Bown (Menai Track and Field).
There was a fine top 10 finish in the women’s under-17 race for Millie Gold (Swansea Harriers) as she finished ninth with club mate Holly Humphreys crossing the line in 12th. Other Welsh finishers were Libby Hale (Swansea Harriers) 18th, Abigail Doherty (Deeside) 21st and Sioned John (Swansea Harriers) 24th.
There was a brilliant run in the boys under-15 race where Osian Parry (Menai Track and Field) finished a highly creditable third place. Meanwhile, Heather Watson was 11th and Sali Owen (Carmarthen Harriers) was 18th in the Under-15 girls race.
The under-13 boys race saw Lewis Durtson (Bridgend Athletics) produce an excellent run to claim seventh place. In the girls race, Deeside team-mates Ella Hayes and Gwen Hayes finished 11th and 12th respectively.
The only Welsh victory of the day came in the Under-11 race where Rowan Carson (Bridgend Athletics) took the honours winning in a time of 6:55.
ELAN VALLEY 10 MILE ROAD RACE – NOVEMBER 23
This scenic race once again took in the challenging 10 mile loop around the Elan Valley and surrounding area.
The men’s race was won by Paul Jones (Shrewsbury AC), who broke the tape comfortably ahead of the field in 1:00.02. Matt Yelland (Clwb Run Wales) was second in 1:00.59 with Ryan Lawrence (Hereford Couriers) third in 1:03.12.
The winner of the women’s race was Hannah Thomas (Maldwyn Harriers) who claimed the honours in 1:14.27.
Liz Richards (Caerleon RC) was second in 1:18.06, while Caryl Davies (Aberystwyth AC) was third in 1:18.41.
NORTH WALES INDOOR OPEN – DEESIDE, NOVEMBER 23
The North Wales Indoor Open took place at Deeside Stadium on Saturday where a number of athletes of all ages opened their indoor season.
The event which attracted the most entries – 44 in total was the 60m, which was contested by male and female athletes ranging from Under-13 to over 65.
The fastest time of the day was clocked by senior male Connor Rhys Fallorina Dean (Colwyn Bay) who registered 7.12.
The fastest female time of the day went to under-17 athlete Cari Roberts (Colwyn Bay), who celebrated a new personal best of 8.09.
There were a number of other PBs in the various heats including those registered by Daniel Williams (Wrexham) 7.36, Dylan Byram (Menai Track and Field) 7.46 and Tomos Rigby (Menai Track and Field) 7.46.
Under-17 athlete Rigby also had a successful day in the long jump, which he won with a best of 5.13m ahead of Hari Rigby (Menai Track and Field) who recorded the same best distance.
The longest distance recorded by a female in the long jump came from Under-13 athlete Caitlin Hurworth (Wirral AC), who claimed a best of 4:13m.
The shot put was also well contested with under-15 athlete Gil Fook (Deeside AC) registering the longest distance by a male with 9.42. The best throw by a female athlete came from Rebecca Smith (Deeside AC) with 8.47m.
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