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Weekend Round-Up (5-7 July)
08/07/2024 00:00, In Blog /
NEWTOWN BBQ 5K & FUN RUN 2024 – NEWTOWN, JULY 5
Maldwyn Harriers held the Newtown BBQ 5K and Fun Run at Latham Park, the home of Newtown Football Club on Friday night.
The host club enjoyed a clean sweep of the podium positions in both the male and female races.
Carl Phillips was the first male runner home in 17:06, followed by Charlie Edwards in 17:37 and Ben Gethin in 17:59.
The first female runner across the line was Hannah Thomas, who clocked 19:33, ahead of Jenny Evans 20:27 and Catherine Bradley 21:12.
ACTIVITY ALLIANCE NATIONAL JUNIOR PARA ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS 2024 – UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK, JULY 6 AND 7
A large contingent of young Welsh para athletes excelled at the Activity Alliance National Junior Para Athletics Championships which were held at the University of Warwick Athletics Track over the weekend.
With more than 130 athletes from all over the UK competing, there was a large haul of outstanding gold medal-winning displays by the travelling Welsh athletes, including Jac Sheehan (DSW Para Athletics).
The F34 thrower produced a new 750g discus personal best of 28.43m to win under-16 gold in the seated discus and a new 3kg shot PB of 8.84m to win under-16 gold in the shot put.
The Welsh Athletics national development programme athlete’s performance brought him the outstanding male of the championships award.
The event also saw an award presented in honour of the late Anthony Hughes MBE – the hugely respected and pioneering Welsh paralympic coach who died in December 2022.
Hughes was National Performance Manager at Disability Sport Wales, and a leading force in Paralympic sport. He was named Sport Wales Coach of the Year in 2011, inducted into the UK Coaching Hall of Fame in 2012 and awarded an MBE for services to sport in 2013.
The Anthony Hughes Memorial Trophy is awarded to the outstanding under-12 competitor.
The presentation was made by the Para Athletics Co-ordinator at Welsh Athletics, Neil Taylor, who said:
I knew Ant for over 30 years and he was instrumental in my development within the world of para sport. He was a great friend and my mentor in this space. It was an absolute honour and privilege to be asked to present the trophy.
Welsh athletes’ results from Warwick:
Discus
Josh Grist F40 – U16 Gold 17.71m (1kg discus)
Joe Symons F37 – U16 Gold 19.01m (750g discus)
Michael Jenkins F38 – U23 Gold 55.47m (1.5kg discus) WA Transition Programme Athlete
Javelin
Josh Grist F40 – U16 Gold 20.92m (400g javelin)
Joe Symonds F37 – Gold 14.18m (500g javelin)
Shot Put
Josh Grist F40 – U16 Gold 6.14m (4kg shot)
Joe Symonds F37 - U16 Gold 6.81m (4kg shot)
Sienna Allen-Chaplin Unclassified – U12 Gold 4.23m (1.5kg shot)
100m
Will Bishop T35 – U20 Gold 14.31sec WA NDP Athlete
Tomi Roberts-Jones T37 – U20 Gold 13.93sec WA NDP Athlete
Michael Jenkins T38 – U23 Gold 14 sec WA Transition Programme Athlete
Amirah Peckham T37 – U23 Gold Women’s 100m 17.51sec WA NDP Athlete
Sienna Allen-Chaplin Unclassified 100m U12 Gold 19.80sec
100m Wheelchair
Imogen Ashwell-Rice Unclassified U14 Gold 25.28sec
200m
Will Bishop T35 – U20 Gold 30.50sec WA NDP Athlete
200m Wheelchair
Imogen Ashwell-Rice Unclassified U14 Gold 53.37sec
Long Jump
Sienna Allen-Chaplin Unclassified U12 Gold 1.79m
Seated Shot
Jac Sheehan F34 – U16 Gold 8.84m PB (3kg shot) WA NDP Athlete
Ellie Bowen F56 – U16 Gold 6.25m (2kg shot)
Seated Javelin
Ellie Bowen F56 – U16 Gold 11.91m (400g javelin)
Seated Discus
Jac Sheehan F34 – U16 Gold 28.43m PB (750g discus) WA NDP Athlete.
BMC GRAND PRIX – WORLD ATHLETICS CHALLENGER – BIRMINGHAM, JULY 6
Justin Davies (Team Bath) followed up his appearance at the UK Athletics Championships with an excellent win at the World Athletics Challenger.
The Welsh 800m champion ran a new two lap PB to win in 1:46.05 in the A race in Birmingham – taking 0.64 seconds off his previous best.
Davies said afterwards: “I’m so happy with that. Martin (Rush his coach) and I were hoping for a small PB but didn’t expect that at all. But the pace-making was perfect and I felt strong on the second lap.
“I mean, it was damn hard work but now I know there is definitely a 1:45 in me this season, maybe in Italy where I am racing in 10 days’ time. I’d also love to get a sub 3:40 before the end of the season so plenty still to go for.”
In the 3000m A race, Dafydd Jones (Swansea Harriers) ran a new PB of 8:05.87 as he finished eighth.
In the 3,000m B race, Lloyd Sheppard Brown (Cardiff Athletics) ran a season’s best of 8:24.06 as he finished 11th.
Iwan Thomas (Carmarthen Harriers) warmed up nicely for the European Under-18 Athletics Championships as he claimed a PB in the 3,000m C race, finishing third in 8:36.34.
FAST5000 – MAISONS-LAFFITTE, JULY 6
Commonwealth Games athlete Piers Copeland (Pontypridd Roadents) ran a new 1000m personal best in France on Saturday night when he clocked 2:19.27 as he finished third in the A race.
At the same meeting, James Heneghan (Cardiff Athletics) ran a 5,000m PB of 13:55.97 finishing fifth in his race.
In the women’s 5,000m A race, another Commonwealth Games representative Jenny Nesbitt (Pontypridd Roadents) was eighth in 15:24.39.
CAMPEONATO DE ESPANA DE FEDERACIONES AUTONOMICAS – LA NUCIA, JULY 6
Running into a 2.4m/s headwind, Dewi Hammond (Cardiff Athletics) ran 10.65 as he narrowly finished second over 100m in Spain.
FBK GAMES – HENGELO, JULY 7
Melissa Courtney-Bryant bounced back from the disappointment of missing out on Olympic selection last weekend by claiming a famous win over 1500m in the Netherlands.
The Welsh 1500m record holder produced a brilliant run to beat a high class field which included legendary Dutch athlete Sifan Hassan.
Former 1500m world champion and Tokyo Olympics 5,000 and 10,000m gold medallist Hassan was leading as the field approached the final bend in what had been a relatively slow race.
But Courtney-Bryant hit the front on the bend and never looked back as she pulled away from the main pack along with American Danielle Jones on the home straight to take the victory in 4:03.58 ahead of Jones, who clocked 4:03.78. Hassan finished fifth in 4:04.83.
After the race, Courtney-Bryant, who finished just outside the qualifying spots for Paris at the Olympic trials in Manchester, said: “It's my fourth or fifth time here and I've never won before so I really wanted to win.
“I was hoping to run under four today, I wanted a really fast race. The pacers slowed a bit and I just thought: focus on racing, don't look at the clock. I held back a bit until 200 to go.
“Unfortunately I didn't make the Olympics, I was gutted to miss out, but I'll hopefully have another race next week then get back into training and hopefully come out after the Olympics and race the girls who were there.
“There's definitely a fast time there. I want a 3:56, 3:57.”
OGI PORTHCAWL 10K & JUNIOR RACES 2024 – JULY 7
It was a record breaking 2024 Ogi Porthcawl with new course times set and the highest number of entrants ever.
Over 5,000 runners signed up to take part across the 10K and Ogi Jogi Junior Races.
For the first time, due to so much interest from young athletes in the Future Challengers event, two waves of the race were held, and there was even a Red Arrows flyover, providing more excitement on the day.
Omar Ahmed (Birchfield Harriers) took the title in the men’s race setting a new course time of 29:08 – shaving 47 seconds of the previous record set by Josh Griffiths in 2019 and securing his third win in as many races in the Run 4 Wales 10K Series.
Dewi Griffiths (Swansea Harriers) was hot on his heels securing second place with a time of 29:15 and previous course record holder Josh Griffiths (Swansea Harriers) took third with 29:48.
Griffiths said afterwards: “I’ve had a turbulent week and have been on antibiotics most of the time but I decided to run on Friday, to give it a go and see what happens.
“I felt alright out there until Omar kicked in at about 8K and that was it then. But I’ve finished over a minute quicker than I did last year, so I’m happy with that and now looking forward to finishing off the series strong.”
In the women’s race it was Alaw Evans (Les Croupiers) who claimed the top spot in 34:50, followed by Louise Small (Aldershot Farnham and District) 35:26 and Eden O’Dea (Deeside AAC) 36:18 in third.
Evans said: “It was really windy and I forgot how many hills there were so I just ran my own race. I got to 7K and saw the leader so thought I’d just keep doing my own thing and I managed to catch up with her.
“There was really good support all around the course and I had a few local guys in the group around me who were encouraging with all the cheers – it was great all round.”
NATIONAL ATHLETICS LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP WEST ROUND THREE – YEOVIL, JULY 7
Swansea Harriers gained a third league win of the season at Yeovil on Sunday.
The Welsh club took the honours with 499 points, ahead of their neighbours Cardiff Athletics, who claimed 487 points and hosts Yeovil Olympic AC with 462.
Among the standout performances for Swansea was Stanislav Kovalenko’s win in the men’s 100m in a time of 10.57. Sam Gordon (Cardiff Athletics) was second in 10.68.
Meanwhile, Commonwealth Games athlete Rebecca Chapman claimed full points for Cardiff by claiming the win in the women’s long jump with a leap of 5.52m. Club mate Sarah McCarthy was third with a distance of 5.30m.
VIADUCT 5K 2024 – NEWPORT, JULY 7
Steve Lane (Islwyn Harriers) won the Viaduct 5k on Sunday in 21:04. The first female runner home was Avisa Talemi (Caerleon), who clocked 25:27.
FAIRY FRECKLED COW TRAIL RACE 2024 – DENBIGH, JULY 7
The colourfully named 10.7k Fairy Freckled Cow Trail Race took place at the Alwyn Reservoir on Sunday.
The first male finisher was Ian Edwards (Eryri Harriers), who crossed the line in 39:41, with Tony Wood (Denbigh Harriers) following him home in 41:05 and Alun Williams (Meirionnydd RC) completing the podium places with 41:08.
The first female finisher was Amie Smith (Cheshire Dragons) who clocked 47:41 ahead of Emma Alofs (Cybi Striders) in 48:18 and Lucy Bennett in 59:05.
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