A BIG DAY OUT FOR RUNNERS
WELSH Athletics have named their team of 36 who will head to the Virgin Money Giving London Mini Marathon races this weekend.
The Virgin Money Giving Mini London Marathon takes place on Sunday and is the official British Athletics three-mile road championships for young athletes aged between 11 and 17.
The race is open to entrants from the nine regions of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, and teams from all 33 London boroughs.
A new selection was in place this year as each of the four regions in Wales held time-trial events in January over 3000m. The winners from the South, East, West and
North were guaranteed a selection spot, while the final two spots were decided on the fastest times across the under-13, under-15 and under-17 age groups.
A total of five club athletes in the Dyfed district will join their Welsh team-mates for the trip along the M4. For two, they will look forward to picking up their first Welsh vest and making their debuts in the English capital. Three others are standing by as reserves.
The under-15 boys have plenty of experience in the team, which will include Carmarthen Harriers duo Liam Edwards and Dafydd Jones along with the 2019 Welsh Cross Country champion, Llanelli AAC’s Adam Beer.
Iori Humphreys (Pembrokeshire Harriers) has been named as one of the reserves should a space arise. All four have been in fantastic form over the country this winter and will aim to use the event experience to their advantage.
It has been a great cross-country season for the Carmarthen Harriers’ under-13s in the Gwent League and two of the group will be on the coach to London. Zach Elvy and Jack Thomas both ran quick enough times in the time trials earlier this year to be selected.
Ffion Ouseley (Pembrokeshire Harriers) and Frances Mackie (Carmarthen Harriers) are the first two reserves in the under 13 girls’ category and will be ready should
they be called up to the team.
For the majority of the squad it will be an opportunity to test themselves against the best in Great Britain & Northern Ireland.
The London Mini Marathon is over the last three miles of the main 26.2-mile course.
The route takes in one of the London Marathon’s most famous stretches before they run across the iconic finish line on the Mall, having started at Old Billingsgate.
In the team competition in 2018, Wales’s best-scoring team came from the under-17 boys, who came fourth. Other positions recorded in the other races included two sixths, two eighths and a ninth overall.