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Weekend Round Up (1-2nd October)
03/10/2022 00:00, In Blog / Road / School News /
Cardiff Half Marahon
On what started out as a wet Sunday morning, by the time the gun went for the start of the 2022 Wizz Air Cardiff Half Marathon, the famous Cardiff Castle basked in beautiful sunshine as the 27,500 runners took to the streets of the capital city.
At the front end of the race, it was a double Kenyan victory as race favourite’s Geoffrey Koech and Beatrice Cheserek stormed to victory in fast times. For Koech, he finished agonisingly just outside the hour mark in a time of 60:01, but he was happy with his performance. It was Ethiopian Gizealaw Ayana, who crossed in second, and Chimdessa Gudeta in third running times of 60:17 and 60:18.
“The course is good. it feels good to win here and I pushed really hard. This is my fastest performance in Cardiff”.
Running 66:48 in her debut for the distance, Cheserek moved away from fellow Kenyan Viola Chepngeno and Zewditu Aderaw of Ethiopia over the last few kilometres to win by 4 seconds ahead of Chepngeno’s 66:52 and Aderaw’s 69:16.
“This was my first time in Cardiff. The support was fantastic and helped me to work hard.”
Having both represented Wales over the marathon at this years Commonwealth Games, Welsh superstars Natasha Cockram (Micky Morris Racing Team) and Dewi Griffiths (Swansea) claimed domestic victories in the Welsh capital.
Retuning from a bout of COVID, Cockram, who holds the Welsh record over the marathon ran a time of 73:12 to finish 7th overall in a race she only decided to run on Friday.
“I love returning here – it’s home and the crowds are amazing. It was all a bit of rush, I only decided on Friday to come but I am so glad I came.”
For 2:09 marathon man, Griffiths, it was a another step back towards his best self, running a time of 64:15 to finish 8th overall.
“After the first 400m, I realised, “this is why I love this race”. You get so much support as a Welshman all the way around and the crowds really kept me going when it got tough.”
Rounding out the domestic podium in the Women’s race was Anna Bracegirdle (Salford Harriers) running 73:47 and English Woman Naomi Mitchell in third with a time of 74:19.
On the men’s side it was English man Zakaryai Mohamad in second with a time of 65:04, just out leaning Dylan Evans who ran 65:05 for third.
Full results can be found here.
London Mini Marathon
In a race that has seen the likes of Keely Hodgkinson and Jake Wightman take part in, this years mini marathon was an opportunity to see who might feature in future years.
Having qualified earlier in the season to compete for Wales at this years race, which covers the last 2.6km of the iconic London Marathon course, the team performed inspiringly.
Bryony Boyce had an outstanding race in the U13 girls event, finishing in 4th place, but recording the same time as 2nd and 3rd. Covering the 2.6km distance in 9:04, very little separated the top 6 girls as they all crossed the line within a few seconds of each other. Next back for Wales was Heather Watson, who finished in 38th place in a time of 9:48, with Georgie-Bo Davies making the top 50, in 50th place with a time of 10:03.
In the U15 girls race, Millie Gold had the race of her life to finish in 5th place in a time of 8:37. Mackenzie McCourt was next across the line in a time of 9:06 and in 25th place, whilst Mabli Phillips just sneaked inside the top 30, to finish in a time of 9:11 in 30th place.
In the U17 girls race, it wads Beca Bown home first for the Welsh team, finishing in 29th overall, in a time of 8:53. Next across the line was Ceri Griffiths, who placed 57th, clocking a time of 9:25 over the 2.6km distance. Rounding out the top three Welsh athletes was Maddison Griffiths, just behind Ceri, in a time of 9:30 and 61st place.
The U13 boys race saw a fine finish for Finlay Burns who finished in 6th in a time of 8:34. In another very close race, there was only a matter of seconds separating him from a place on the podium. Lucas Howard Machado ran 8:54 to finish 25th, whilst Lewis Davies was inside the top 40th with a time of 9:12 in 39th place.
Joshua Sanders was first home in the U15 boys race, in 20th place in a time of 8:08, with Miguel Jenkins just one second behind in 21st. Iwan Froley, running a time of 8:13 was not far behind in 28th position.
In the U17 boys race, Iwan Thomas put in a strong showing, placing 14th with a time of 7:34. With a time of 7:45, Henry Evans was next back for Wales, finishing in 29th place, with Tristan Tena Cumberland crossing the line in 34th in a time of 7:47.
Full results can be found here.
London Marathon
The London Marathon took place this weekend, which also incorporated the Welsh Marathon Championships. Taking place in October for the last time due to COVID, it returns to its original month of April in 2023.
On the Women’s side, Alaw Beynon Thomas (Les Croupiers) was the first Welsh lady home in a time of 2:45:36, which was also a personal best, meaning she took the Welsh Marathon Champion title. Sioned Howells (Swansea) was next across the line, also in a personal best, stopping the clock in 2:48:09, whilst Emily Marchant (Swansea) ran the race of her life too, running 2:50:16 for a new personal best also.
In the Men’s race, Russell Bentley (Kent) ran a time of 2:23:51 to take the Welsh Marathon title, with Tomos Roberts (Meirionnydd) taking second place running a time of 02:29:33 in the Welsh Marthon Championships, whilst Nick Tulp (Lliswerry) in his debut ran a time of 2:33:31 to take third place.
The ballot for the 2023 London Marathon is NOW OPEN and the ballot closes on Friday, click here.