CARDIFF 5km and CAERPHILLY 10km

CARDIFF 5km and CAERPHILLY 10km

Two major events on successive Sundays in South Wales, saw some fine performanc-es by our athletes as both races were held in clear skies and in temperatures in the low twenties. The first race, on the 4th of June, was the Cardiff 5km, and included both an Inter Area match and the Welsh championships for the distance. This is very much the biggest 5km in the country in terms of numbers (1,704 finishers) and proba-bly the fastest as well (winning times: James Hennegan of Pontypridd Roadents (14:20), and Chelsea Baker of UK Armed Forces (16:02). For our men, Dion Griffith (Meirionnydd) ran a p.b. as he finished in 14th with 14:40. Connor Rogers (Wrexham) was 25th in 14:52, Tomos Roberts (Meirionnydd) was 18th in 14:55 and John Davies (Meirionnydd) was 76th in 15:49. In the Inter Area match, our men finished 3rd. Scores: 1. Midlands 33; 2. N. of England 46; 3. N. Wales 67; 4. UKAF 137. Our women’s team included two running on the roads in the green and orange vest for the first time. Our first lady home was Deeside’s Eden O’Dea in 18:05 for 256th, followed by our two debutants: Eleanor Ashcroft (Denbigh) in 18:48 for 309th , and Hannah Thomas (Maldwyn) p.b.’d in 18:48 for 354th. Our fourth lady was Rachel Shipley (Abergele) in 19:42 for 411th. Both the men and the women finished in 3rd in the I.C. match.
Photos.

The following Sunday, May 11th, it was the Caerphilly 10km which included the Welsh Inter Region championships. A plethora of late withdrawals and many athletes still recovering from marathons, meant that Darren Blazier (Abergele) and Nick Houghton (Cybi) were last-minute additions to the men’s team to ensure that we would have the requisite number of athletes for a scoring team. Team Captain For the day Daniel Kashi (Meirionnydd) -who had a superb run for the North at the Telford 10km last December, fin-ishing in 30:55– again had an outstanding run finishing 4th of 1,796 in a fine 31:30. Next in was Ted Flynn (Wallasey); Ted who is back competing after a two years break from the sport, was next home in 34:12. Scott Nixon (Wrexham) had been out with injury for a long period of time, but is slowly finding fitness again, and continued his recovery with 35:35. Behind then were Darren and Nick in 40:08 and 40:38 respectively.

Photos: l to r: Daniel Kashi, Ted Flynn and Scott Nixon

Caerphilly 10km (ctd.): Our ladies team was harder hit with withdrawals and unavailability than the men’s, with only 3 brave women on the start line. First home was Emma Alofs (Cybi); Emma had run a 3 minutes p.b. of 2:58:00 at the London marathon, but ran strongly to finish in 39:48, less than 30 seconds outside her best. Team captain Rachel Shipley (Abergele) has struggled lately with her breathing, but battled her way around in 40:54. Siwan Elenid (Meirionnydd) also had a marathon in her legs from London, where she recorded 3:49:06. She finished, watched by her children, in 43:19.

Team: Siwan, Nick, Darren, Daniel. Emma, Scott, Rachel and Ted.
L to r: Rachel; Siwan; Nick, Siwan, Rachel and Emma.