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Weekend Round-Up (27 - 28 September)
29/09/2025 00:00, In Blog /
WORLD MOUNTAIN AND TRAIL RUNNING CHAMPIONSHIPS – CANFRANC, SPAIN, SEPTEMBER 25-28
Three Welsh athletes – Eden O’Dea (Deeside AAC), Lizzie Richardson (Highland Hill Harriers) and Kris Jones (Swansea Harriers) were part of the Great Britain team in Spain.
O’Dea, who has been enjoying an excellent season across a number of disciplines was the first of the Welsh athletes in action.
The Under-23 runner was competing in the women’s uphill race, which was contested over 6.5km and 986m of vertical gain, finishing 39th out of 107 finishers.
The GB team finished seventh in a world class field of uphill mountain runners from across the globe, with Italy taking gold.
Meanwhile, Richardson was the only GB starter in the women’s long trail event run over 81.2km with 5,413 elevation having won the trial race in Snowdonia this summer.
On her team debut, Richardson ran a time of 12:20:41 to return to Canfranc in 37th place out of 88 finishers, crossing the line with a strong kick to hold off Barbara Ruiz, of Spain.
The race was won by Katie Schide, of USA, while Italy won the team event.
Unfortunately, Jones, who has also been in excellent form this year, did not finish in the men’s 45Km short trail race, where Spain were victorious in the team event.
WORLD PARA ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS – NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 27
Hollie Arnold returned to the global stage with a brilliatn bronze medal at the World Athletics Championships in India on Saturday morning.
The six-time F46 javelin world champion had competed only once since winning bronze at last year’s Paris Paralympics having taken a break from the sport.
But Arnold returned to claim an eighth world podium place with a throw of 41.94m at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi.
Apart from the 41.37m she threw at the UK Championships in August, this was the longest throw the 31-year-old had produced since 2019.
Before the championships, Arnold had spoken openly about taking a nine-month break from competition having been on the world stage since making her Great Britain debut at the Beijing Paralympics when she was just 14.
After claiming bronze on Saturday, the Blackheath and Bromley athlete said:
It's a real weird mix of emotions. I'm proud, there's upset, there's a million and one things.
After Paris mental health came first for me and I just needed to take that time for myself and really understand myself.
I didn't know if I was going to be here, this was not on my cards this year whatsoever, so to be able have very little training out here, throw pretty consistently well - I'm really proud of myself.
Arnold added:
It's just been a really messy year, but I've found magic in chaos and I think that's something to very proud of.
I'm not the same person I was in Paris, I'm a very different Hollie and I'm a happy Hollie. To come out here and compete, yeah, I loved it.
Arnold’s longest throw came in the first round, which saw her lead the field in the early stages.
However, Noelle Roerda of the Netherlands won the event, with a personal best of 43.74m putting her clear of Uzbekistan's Shahinakhon Yigitalieva.
BOSWORTH MILE RACE WALK AND RUNNING CHAMPIONSHIPS – LEEDS, SEPTEMBER 27
A number of Welsh athletes travelled to Leeds for the inaugural Bosworth Mile Race Walk and Running Championships on Saturday.
Leading the way was Wales Commonwealth Games representative Bethan Davies (Cardiff Athletics) who continues her successful return to competition following the birth of her daughter.
The multiple UK champion and Great Britain international won the under-17 and senior mile race walk in 7:24.64.
Ellis Jones (Wrexham AAC) won the boys under-11 800m race walk in 5:05.04. Jones was also fourth in the under-11 boys 800m run in a new PB of 3:07.51.
The under-13 and under-15 mixed mile race walk saw Spencer Jones (Wrexham AAC) finish second overall but he was the first under-13 athlete to finish in 8:26.33.
Cerys Fitzpatrick (Carmarthen Harriers) finished sixth overall in a new personal best 9:19.16, while Nia Vale (Aberdare Valley AAC) was ninth in a PB of 9:28.46 and Gwen Fitzpatrick (Carmarthen Harriers) was 12th in a PB of 11:52.56.
Spencer Jones also competed in the under-13 and under-15 mixed one mile run, where he was fourth overall but the first under-13 athlete to finish, clocking a PB of 5:16.67.
WORLD PARA ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS – NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 28
Olivia Breen missed out on a place in the T38 100m final at the World Para Athletics Championships in India on Sunday morning.
The 2022 Commonwealth Games 100m champion finished fifth in her heat in 13.21, which wasn’t enough to see her progress.
The championships are not over for the City of Portsmouth athlete however as she will also be competing in the T38 long jump on Wednesday and the universal relay on Saturday.
PEMBROKESHIRE 10K/HALF MARATHON – HAVERFORDWEST, SEPTEMBER 28
The 10k and half marathon both start and finish in the beautiful village of Dale and follow undulating courses with spectacular views.
The 10k men’s race was won by Martin Petersen who returned to Dale in 35:25, ahead of Martin Jones (Pembrokeshire Harriers) in 38:46 and Jason Cole (Pembrokeshire Tri) in 39:43.
The first female finisher was Giedre Augustauskaite (MRP), who was also 12th overall in 48:14. Dunya Fourie was second in 48:32 with Joanne Davies third in 48:54.
More than 130 runners took part in the half marathon and the first finisher overall was Sian Jones (TROTS), who completed the course in 1:25.58.
The second female finisher was Catherine Marks (Pembrokeshire Tri) who clocked 1:37.39 ahead of Jenny Tanner (TROTS) in 1:48.18.
The winner in the men’s race was Ben Dare (Pembrokeshire Tri) in 1:27.26 ahead of Joseph Cooke, who crossed the line just three seconds later. Andy Holcroft (Pembrokeshire Harriers) was third in 1:30.22.
LLANDUDNO RNLI 5K – LLANDUDNO, SEPTEMBER 28
The event was the first of its kind hosted by RNLI Llandudno to raise money to save lives and keep people safe along the beautiful north Wales coast.
Samuel Conkie (Vale Royal AC) was the first male finisher in 16:38, ahead of Harry Woodford in 17:31, with Mark Jones (Cybi Striders) third in 17:50.
Emma Alofs (Cybi Striders) was sixth overall and the first female athlete home in 19:06. Llio Jones (Cybi Striders) was second in 19:36. Jessica Bibby made it a clean sweep for the Striders finishing third in 20:57.
WORLD PARA ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS – NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 29
Funmi Oduwaiye competed in the early morning on the 29 September in the F44 Women's Discus where she placed 4th with a throw of 37.91.
Funmi said:
I am content, not pleased but content. The aim was to go out there, win and get medals. But me and Bree both did really well, especially Bree on her first major comp to come fifth that is an achievement in itself.
It was really warm and to cope with that heat, we had all our equipment out and still performed, which is good.
Every competition I am hoping to get a PB. I am not a 40m thrower yet, in competition, but hopefully by the time I finish my career, I will be well over that.
Alongside Funmi in the F44 Discus fellow Welsh athlete, Bree Cronin also competed. Making her debut in the competition Bree placed 5th just behind her teammate with another imrpessive throw of 37.69.
It wasn’t too bad for my first international – I’m pretty content with that. I’ve learned a lot – it’s a big stage. I’m only used to national level so this is a lot bigger than normal.
I was okay going into it but when I stepped into the circle my legs were like jelly!
It was a different vibe in the circle – I left it a bit too late but after a few throws it was okay, I enjoyed it and I wasn’t so nervous.
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