Celtic Nations Championships - NIAC,UWIC,Cardiff - February 2008

The indoor athletics centre at Cyncoed was the venue for the annual Celtic Nations Championships at the weekend, which included competition from Under 16 and U20 through to Senior. International teams from Scotland and Ireland plus a small guest team from England contested the Celtic Cup with Wales achieving runner up to a very talented Irish contingent. In the under 16 group the teams consisted of the most talented athletes drawn from the secondary Schools of the three Countries.

There were many fine performances, but the under 16 highlight of the day for Wales came from Cwmbran Harriers Natasha Cockram with a new personal best in the 1500 metres of 4 mins 45.5 seconds. Natasha ran near perfectly tactically, tracking the early leaders in the first three of the 7.5 circuits, then gradually moving into second with 2 laps to go. She powered into the lead in the penultimate lap and finished 20 metres clear at the finish providing Wales with one of it's rare successes of the day against the impressive Irish.

The Welsh Junior teams were captained by Ieuan Thomas, another talented Cwmbran Squad International.

Ieuan finished a good second in the under 20 race at 800 metres with junior training partner Freddy Naseriyan in his first International finishing a close third at the same distance.

Most of Cwmbran's large middle distance squad will now be concentrating on preparation for the prestigious Welsh Cross Country Championships in Swansea on 24th February, where several will be hoping for success.