Great Wales Run

Scorching conditions greeted the runners in the Great Wales Run 10k on Sunday but, despite this there were so many personal bests for Wales top road runners.
Probably the fastest ever 10k on Welsh soil, Eshetu Wondimu of Qutar was first man home in 27:45 while the first woman was Rita Jeptoo of Ethopia who ran 31:36, a course record by 46 seconds.  A good run out before she heads to Bejing for the Olympic Marathon.

Michael Johnson broke the 30 minute barrier for the first time and finished full of running while Alex Hains made a welcome return to the Welsh road racing scene and was pleased with his time although he has run much faster for 10,000m on the track  16 year old Dewi Griffiths ran an excellent debut 10k of 31:54, despite finding the heat very hard to run in.
There was a very disappointing turnout for the womens race.  Shan Morgan broke 37 mins for the first time while Marilyn Kitching suffered in the heat.
Former World Marathon Record Holder Steve Jones  was happy to run around with  James Thie (running for Cystic Fibrosis) and Nick Rose.
The world record attempt of Martin Rees saw Martin go off at a fast pace and well on schedule at halfway but then was forced to drop out with a bad stitch.  He will have another attempt later in the year.  Chris Davies who was hoping to run close to 29 minutes  dropped out while Cath Dugdale did not make the start line.