The Welsh Diamond Jubilee Championships took place over an unprecedented three days (June 2-4) and provided some convincing performances for both high-aiming established athletes and young guns alike.
In this crucial all-or-nothing season, Commonwealth Games Silver Medallist Carys Parry and Olympic hopeful Lee Doran seized the occasion to crash through their season best performances. Rhondda hammer thrower Parry, who won her sixth national title on Saturday, threw 64.73m; Doran, who is competing again this coming weekend in Bedford, improved his 2012 benchmark to 77.99m, getting closer to the European Championships qualifying standard. Worthy of mention was also a great sprint finish in the 1500m between Cardiff's Adam Bitchell and Belgrave's Steve Davies, the Cardiff athlete winning in the dying moments.
Almost 800 competitors took to the track and field over the weekend, with competition including all age groups from Under 13 to Seniors, Masters and Parallel Success disability events.
Three Welsh Records were broken and an amazing 18 new Championship Best Peformances were set over the three days. Under 20s led the way in the Welsh Record department, with Osian Jones (Liverpool Harriers) setting a new one in the Hammer (66.97m), while Brecon's Rhianwedd Price's 6:57.08 in the 2000m steeplechase and race walking star Heather Lewis's 13:56.87 in the 3000m walk were also unprecedented results.
Among the new Championship Best Performances, a special mention goes to Swansea's Hannah Brier, who set new benchmarks in both the 100m (11.81s) and the 200m (24.87) in the Under 15 age group, putting together a true masterclass of domination over the sprints.
Swansea also did well in the long distance events, with Caryl Jones shaving a stunning 56 seconds off the previous Best Championship Performance in the 5000m, 15:44.84 her time, made even more impressive by the fact that the Swansea Harrier was running solo.
The full list of Championship Best Performances is as follows:
| U13 |
Discus Throw |
Cliff Schwabauer |
Menai T&F |
29.19m |
| U13 |
High Jump |
Sarah Omoregie |
Pembrokeshire Harriers |
1.52m |
| U13 |
Javelin Throw |
Bethan Rees |
Cannock & Staffs |
30.73m |
| U15 |
800m |
Tyler Pritchard |
Cwmbran Harriers |
2:02.04 |
| U15 |
High Jump |
Miles Keller-Jenkins |
Swansea Harriers |
1.87m |
| U15 |
Discus Throw |
Nathan Thomason |
Colwyn Bay AC |
43.20m |
| U15 |
100m |
Hannah Brier |
Swansea Harriers |
11.81s |
| U15 |
200m |
Hannah Brier |
Swansea Harriers |
24.87s |
| U15 |
Long Jump |
Emily Wright |
Yate & District |
5.43m |
| U17 |
Hammer Throw |
Jac Palmer |
Cardiff AAC |
58.37m |
| U17 |
Shot Put |
Adele Nicoll |
Birchfield Harriers |
12.99m |
| U20 |
Shot Put |
Matthew Field |
Cardiff AAC |
16.09m |
| U20 |
Javelin Throw |
Aidan Reynolds |
Telford AC |
64.98m |
| U20 |
1500m |
Ffion Price |
Brecon AC |
4:37.12 |
| U20 |
Hammer Throw |
Toni Wells |
Swansea Harriers |
52.22m |
| SM |
Javelin Throw |
Lee Doran |
City of Sheffield |
77.99m |
| SW |
5000m |
Caryl Jones |
Swansea Harriers |
15:44.84 |
| SW |
2000m SC |
Emily Brown |
Cardiff AAC |
6:57.52 |
Full results of the Welsh Diamond Jubilee Championships are available here.
The Welsh Athletics International, the next major competition to take place in Cardiff, will be staged on July 18th and will see athletes from top Olympic teams, including the USA, Trinidad & Tobago, New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, Botswana, Estonia, Sweden, Denmark, British Virgin Islands and Costa Rica, competing at the Leckwith Road venue just nine days before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games (tickets available here).
Photos of the event by GlennSports - DE Photo