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February 25, 2008

North Wales Athletes Shine at Championships


It was really encouraging for North Wales Sport to see some of the regions rising stars perform so well at the weekends Welsh Cross Country Championships down in Swansea.
Ricky Challinor of Deeside had a superb race in the Under 20 Men’s Competition, picking up a Silver medal in a time of 24:58 over the 6585m course. He was followed by Colwyn Bay’s Harry Jones who was rewarded with a Bronze medal for a gutsy performance. It will be very interesting to see what these two talented distance runners do in the next few years, but hopefully these sorts of performances will give them the confidence they need to compete well in the high profile National and International races. Teammates Michael Pierce and Gethin Edwards battled it out all the way to occupy 12th and 13th position of this high standard race.
There were also some great results for North Wales in the Under 13 Men’s event. Tom Earley had a superb run to secure a Silver medal for Colwyn Bay in a time of 10:44. He was just pipped to the post by Matthew Antoniazzi of Cwmbran. Although having a great race, I’m sure David Blower will be slightly disappointed after missing out on a medal by just one second. He finished 4th in a time of 10:48.
In the Under 17 Men’s event, despite a brave effort, Phil Edge (Deeside) just missed out on a medal after completing the 5720m race in a time of 22:27, which left him in 5th. Menai’s Steve Pierce (8th),Huw Jones (10th) and Andrew Woodcock (14th) were not far behind.
Wrexham’s Gina Paletta will be very pleased with her 4th placed finish in the Under 20 Women’s race as she usually competes over Multi Terrain, where she is a Welsh International. Bethan Till (Menai) finished 11th in the Under 17 Women’s race, with club mate Victoria Taylor coming home in 15th. In the Under 15 Girl’s competition, Sarah Livett and Lisa Peters, both of Menai Athletics Club ran well to finish 10th and 11th respectively on the tough Swansea course.
Overall it was a successful day for the North Wales runners who made the journey down to Singleton Park, with Challinor’s and Earley’s Silver medal’s standing out as great performances.


 

February 5, 2008

GOOD PERFORMANCES BUT POOR TURN OUT BY NORTH WALES IN CHAMPIONSHIPS


North Wales athletes got the chance to compete against the big names of Welsh Athletics at the annual Indoor Welsh Senior Championships…but it was only a handful of athletes from North Wales who made the trip.
There were some very good results for the region, but it was disappointing that more of North Wales’ finest did not make the journey down to Cardiff to represent the area. North Wales has a superb reputation for Athletics, and with some excellent clubs and facilities there should be more of our athletes taking part in major Championships such as this one. Over the next few weeks I would like to examine why this is and would be very interested to here your views on this matter.
With all the Welsh Team selectors present, this event could be the springboard many athletes need into achieving International Representation.
Bradley Williams of Deeside really made a name for himself by picking up a silver medal in the Senior Men's 60m. After cruising through his heat, he ran a superb time of 6.99s in the final, only to miss out on being crowned Welsh Champion by 0.02 of a second. That honour went to Ben Simons of UWIC in a time of 6.97.
In the 1500m, Wrexham's James Mills will be pleased with his performance in the 1500m. He just missed out on a medal after finishing 4th, in 4 minutes and 4 seconds. This very close race was won by the experienced Chris Moss (Cardiff) in 4 minutes and 2 seconds.
Gary Wyn-Jones of Deeside didn't quite make the final of the 400m after coming home in 3rd place in his heat. Moving onto the Field events, Daniel Hodgson of Wrexham claimed a respectable 9th in the Pole Vault. Wrexham’s Hannah Thomas cleared 1.60m in the Senior Women’s High Jump to claim Silver, in a competition that was won by Lucy Hodgins (Vale Aylesbury) in 1.65m. This is great news for Wrexham Athletics Club, who themselves have a good tradition of producing quality High Jumpers.
Deesides’s top Pole Vaulters, Christina Hughes and Rebecca Davies battled it out for a medal. Unfortunately at the conclusion of the event, having both cleared 3.30m, they both were lying outside of medal positions. Hughes finished in 4th, with Davies in 7th.
Overall, it was a decent effort from the North Wales Athletes who made the journey down to the impressive Indoor Arena in Cardiff, with some eye-catching performances on the day, but as I have already stated, we need more of our athletes to compete in these events to keep North Wales’ Athletics at a high standard.


 

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