As Merthyr held the event for the first time, perfect conditions greeted runners for the Welsh 10km Championships yesterday.
The Taff Trail proved to be an ideal venue for personal bests for many runners, despite having a few slight undulations; the narrow path limited the race to 300 and most enjoyed the challenge of this course.
Dewi Griffiths had an outstanding race, running solo from gun to tape in a personal best time of 30:13 and taking a minute off the course record in the process. There is plenty more to come from the 20-year-old who has a bright future ahead of him, whether it be road, track or country. The time has now moved him up to 2nd on the 2011 Welsh 10k Road Rankings.
Griffiths was followed home by Carwyn Jones of Cardiff, who only made the decision to race on the morning to test his injury. Also running the race alone, he finished in a solid 31:25 to prove he is on his way back.
3rd place went to Nat Lane, who is in heavy training for the Commonwealth Mountain and Ultra Championships 55k race in September. Lane pulled away from Phil Matthews and Hywel Care in the later stages. 20 year old David Mountford went off hard from the start and was in 3rd place until the trio caught and passed him in the last 2k.
Christopher Williams of Neath was first master 40 in a time of 33:18.
Making it a Swansea double and also setting a course record by over 2 minutes, Andrea Whitcombe ran a superb race which saw the 40-year-old run 34:52, her fastest time for 3 years, following a break after the birth of her first child last year. Andrea has been in good form all summer, running 4.34/9:38 for 1500m/3000m at the British League last weekend.
Behind Andrea was her Swansea team-mate Alaw Beynon-Thomas who recorded a 2 minute personal best of 36:10, a time which considerably moves her up the Welsh rankings. Also running a personal best was 3rd placed Gina Paletta, better known as a fell runner, who finished in 36:25.
This will be Gina's last race in the UK for some time as she departs for Oregon State University on Tuesday.
Les Croupiers won the mens team while Swansea won the womens team. Well done to race organiser John Diffey who put on an excellent race.