ATHLETICS
THE Bridgend duo of Evan Jones and Joe Kimpton were in superb form last Saturday at the Welsh Athletics Junior Open Championships that were staged at the National Indoor Athletics Centre in Cardiff, writes Tony Poole.
The event embraced separate competitions for South Wales competitors and their East Wales counterparts.
Young Jones took the South Wales Boys U15 gold medal in the 60 metres race via a time of 7.45 seconds while Kimpton won the silver medal in recording 7.72 to also bring delight to Porthcawl Comprehensive School PE Department.
There were other outstanding performances from other young Bridgend runners in the event. They were as follows: Girls U15 60m: Emily Penny runner up in 8.42 to winner Gabby Dickinson (Cardiff) 8.20.
Boys U13 60m: Lewis Stephens third to winner Josh Beecher (Cardiff) 8.42.
Boys U13 800m: Jack O’Brien third in 2 minutes 38.91 seconds to winner Elis Finlayson (Cardiff) 2:27.97.
Girls U13 1500m: Mali Macduff runner-up in 5 minutes 59.92 seconds to winner Alice Davies (Cardiff) 5:45.81.
Men’s U17 1500m: Devin Coombes runnerup in 4:27.96 to winner Dafydd Jay (Swansea Harriers) 4:20.87.
The next big event for young runners is the Welsh Junior Indoor Championships in Cardiff on February 10/11.
ANTRIM INTERNATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY
JAMES Hunt (Welsh Celtic Team) drove into second spot in the U23 section of the Antrim International Cross Country event last Saturday that was staged at Cafre Greenmount Campus.
The Cardiff runner, who trains with the Bridgend club, was 12th overall in a time of 25 minutes 4 seconds.
The winner was Timothy Cheruiyot (Kenya) in a time of 23:12 while Bridgend runner Ffion Higginson was 41st in the Women’s U20 run.
She clocked 16:16 and this event was taken by Ella Brown (Conliffe Harriers) in 17:29.
PORTHCAWL 5K PARKRUN
CHRISTOPHER Jeynes last Saturday won the 248th staging of Porthcawl 5k Parkrun at the 50th attempt.
The Brackla Harriers runner had carded four runner-up finishes in the event, but he went one better with a winning time of 18 minutes 7 seconds.
And it was a mere 11 seconds outside the personal best (pb) that he recorded in Porthcawl race 233 back in July.
Jeynes had 26 seconds in hand over runner-up Jordan Groves (unattached) with Dave Bennett of the Porthcawl Runners club taking third spot in a time of 18:57.
They were followed home by Daniel Johnson (Aberystwyth) pb 19:01, top female Llinos Jones pb 19:02, Rachel Davies (both Amman Valley Harriers) first-time competitor 19:20, Jeffrey Thomas (Bridgend) 19:26, Adam Morton (unattached) 19:54, Dave Murray (Bridgend) 19:58, Dave Cascarina (Cornelly Striders) 19:59 and Ian Ogilvie (Brackla Harriers) 20:00.
Other top female runs came from Leticia Thomas (Amman Valley Harriers) first-time competitor 20:20 (19th overall), Deborah Goule (Porthcawl Runners) 21:12 (29th) and Charlotte Johns (Brackla Harriers) 21:43 (35th).
PRINCE OF WALES 5K RUN
ANDREW Reynolds (Neath Harriers) was the winner of the annual Prince of Wales 5k Run that was staged on New Year’s Day at Kenfig.
Another huge turnout of runners – the event was once more organised by Cornelly Striders and hosted by the Prince of Wales public house – was given added prestige by the presence of St Marys golf star Mark Hiddlestone.
Though the mud fest wasn’t particularly to the liking of Hiddlestone (Port Talbot Harriers), as he deals mainly in pace, he nevertheless finished 10th in 24 minutes 27 seconds
The winning time for Reynolds was 21:09; Christopher Jeynes (Brackla Harriers) finished second in 22:15 and James Griffiths (Neath Harriers) clocked 22:27 to secure third-place honours.
Also to the fore were fourth-placed Richard Dando (Bridgend) 22:34 from Alan Davies (Llanelli) 23:15, Niki Puleio (Ogmore Phoenix Runners) 23:29, Dave Moore (Brackla Harriers) 23:46, Jeffrey Thomas (Bridgend) 24:03, Christopher Francis (3M Gorseinon) 24:12, Mark Hiddlestone (Port Talbot Harriers) 24:27, Dave Bennett (Porthcawl Runners) 24:29, Alex Lewis (Neath Harriers) 24:34, Ian Ogilvie (Brackla Harriers) 24:40 and Geraint Williams (Run4AllNeath) 24:58.
Top female in 20th place was Melanie Williams (Brackla Harriers) 25:15, and she was followed across the finishing-line by Georgina Jayne Dando (Bridgend) 26:09 (30th), Catherine Stephens (Bridgend) 26:42 (35th), Charlotte Johns (Brackla Harriers) 27:24 (39th) and Deborah Goule (Porthcawl Runners) 27:59 (41st).
NOS GALAN
ONCE again the Nos Galan Races in Mountain Ash on New Year’s Eve led to a superb gathering of both competitors and supporters.
The 59th dash around the streets of Mountain Ash attracted 1,700 competitors, and they were enthusiastically supported by a 10,000-strong crowd.
The race perpetuates legendary runner Guto Nyth Bran – who myth has it could run from St Gwynno Church in Llanwonno to Mountain Ash in the time it took a kettle to boil on a fire.
Two guest runners follow in his path, and this time around they were former Swansea, Wales and British & Irish Lions flanker Colin Charvis and former world champion boxer Nathan Cleverly.
Ieuan Thomas (Cardiff) was the winner in a time of 14 minutes 29 seconds from Matt Clowes (Cardiff) 14:33 and Kristian Jones (Swansea Harriers) 14:34.
The top three females were Alaw Beynon-Thomas (Swansea Harriers) 16:46, Sian Edwards 17:46 and Clara Evans (both Cardiff) 18:11.
Top runs from Bridgend area runners came from Neil Jones (Ogmore Phoenix Runners) 16:41 (26th), Donovan Williams-Hale (Bridgend) 17:08 (37th), Christopher Jeynes (Brackla Harriers) 17:59 (60th), Richard Dando 18:06 (62nd), Liam Osbourne (both Bridgend) 18:27 (71st), Dave Bennett (Porthcawl Runners) 18:42 (80th) and Jeffrey Thomas (Bridgend) 18:54 (87th).
Top female from the Bridgend area clubs was Georgina Jayne Dando (Bridgend) in a time of 19:47.
BRIDGEND JUNIOR PARKRUN
KIAN Wilson was the winner last Sunday of the 119th Bridgend Junior 2k Parkrun that was once more contested in Newbridge Fields.
In parky conditions in the heart of Bridgend parkland, 90 gallant young competitors faced the starter.
In a sprint finish with Bridgend colleague Dafydd Pratchett, young Wilson took the honours in a personal best time of 7 minutes 45 seconds.
This clipped three seconds off the personal best time that he achieved in the 111th Bridgend run back in November.
His previous victory came back February 2016 when he took the 26th event in a time of 8:21.
Pratchett was just four seconds behind Wilson with Ioan James taking third spot in 8:16.
Top female was once more young Bridgend runner Anna-Rose Merchant in 8:22 from Lewis Morgan pb 8:29, Jonathan Morgan 8:43, Iwan Froley (both Bridgend) 9:24, Matthew Bridges 9:41 and Ronan Adams (Pencoed Tri Club) 9:44.
Second female home was Georgie Wilson in 9:46, and also inside 10 minutes were Jessica Crawley (Bridgend) 9:51 and Benjamin Davies 9:58.
Six other personal best times were set, and they came from Haydn Lockwood, Joseph McDowell, Evan Lewis, Tomos Battle, Nathan Lewis and Eleri Morgan.
Young runners are reminded that as from next Sunday, Bridgend Junior Parkrun will commence half an hour earlier at 9am.