Cwmbran trio set the pace in Swansea

The Swansea Bay 10K series reached its climax on Sunday with the 25^th running of the world reknowned event. With a maximum field of 3,000 taking to the start line much was expected from the Kenyan male & female Internationals in attendance and they did not disappoint. Kenya’s Paul Langat easily won the event in an impressive 29 minutes 55 second time, but the outstanding performances of the day were set by 3 Cwmbran Harrier athletes, Afan Humphries and Gavin Hanrahan in the 10K and Ieuan Thomas in the 5K.

Afan was running this event for the second time and got the best possible start making sure that he stayed up with the leading pack in the first 2K ensuring that he stayed well clear of the main bunch of athletes giving him a clear run. This helped in the second half of the race where athletes running down hill and down wind picked up the pace considerably, and Afan stayed with the pace to finish a remarkable 12^th overall in a time of 32 mins 58 sec which was more than good enough to win the junior athlete title. Afan's performance was the spur that Gavin Hanrahan needed to also produce an outstanding run. Gavin was initially boxed at the start of the race and took time to work his way through the field and he came a highly respectable 26^th overall and 2^nd in the Junior athlete race in a time of 34 mins 44 sec.

As preparation for the forthcoming Cross Challenge cross-country series races run over the length and breadth of Britain, Ieuan Thomas elected to run the 5K race rather than the longer event. The 5K race was for those athletes under the age of 21. This seemed to spur on the 16 year old to a fantastic performance. Leading from the first gun Ieuan soon built up a massive lead coming away to win the race in 15 mins 32 sec, 59 seconds clear of the field and knocking some 45 seconds off the course record. This is the start to the winter season coaches can only dream of and if it continues throughout the winter there should be plenty more success for Cwmbran Harrier athletes.

GREAT EARLY SEASON FORM SHOWN BY CWMBRAN HARRIER ATHLETES

The start of the Cross Country season got underway in Cardiff on Sunday with the seasons first Gwent League fixture at Leckwith Stadium. Once again, many of the Cwmbran athletes showed they are likely to continue Cwmbran’s dominance of the Welsh junior Cross Country scene, by taming one of the more unusual courses; which included man-made mounds and small jumps, along with a variety of different terrain, from grass, wood-chip and mud!

There were quite a few first time runners, and Ellie Leek had the unenviable task of leading off the Cwmbran season in her first ever race for the club. Against athletes with far more experience Ellie performed superbly coming in a creditable 4th place in the Under 11 girls race. Another first time runner, Liam Hardee went in the Under 11 boys race showed that he is as good as his older brothers by coming in 13th. There is certainly good signs for the future from this age group.

The Under 13 girls are expected to produce some of the stronger finishers in the big races this year, and they are showing good early season form.>B> Natasha Cockram and Lora James both had extremely good runs, Natasha finished in 3rd place while Lora was not far behind in 10th. Following some good summer performances from these 2 girls much is expected this winter for them.

Cwmbran’s reputation for producing good cross-country stock has helped boost the boys Under 13 side. There were 5 runners in this age category alone and praise goes to Marcus Price (47th) and Ryan Lester (39th) who both made their debut for the club. Ross Ward beginning his 2nd winter season did well in finishing in 27th place. While James Hanrahan and Elliott Hardee both produced “above expectation” performances. James, who’s swimming prowess is keeping him near the top of the Welsh Swimming rankings ran well to finish 12th, but the outstanding performance was from Elliott who came home in 7th place. Elliott, James and Ross will be available to run this age group again next year, giving the side a very strong look.

The Under 15 girls were expected to have a season of consolidation with the girls running at the bottom of the age group, but someone forgot to tell Benytta Doman who galloped away with the leaders at the start and refused to give up producing a superb 4th place. Probably the most improved athlete over the last 2 months is Steffi Wright. Steffi has found her hard summer is now paying off and came an excellent 18th. Congratulations also go to Holly Millett for coming not too far behind in 34th.

The Under 15 boys have a strong looking team. Once again Jamie Bussell continues to perform at the very top level. Having started very cautiously Jamie finished with an incredible burst passing 5 runners in the final 400m to finish 5th only 20 seconds behind the winner. Gareth Lewis running his first race for Cwmbran also started cautiously and picked up very well in the closing stages to finish 20th. Grant Evans makes improvement each and every year. Last year in the first race Grant was 40th, this year he’s up to 27th, now he has to maintain that improvement throughout the winter. Hard on the heels of Grant Evans is another fast improving runner, Ryan Cockram. Ryan looked as though he might be coming into some form finishing in 38th.

For the last few years the Under 17 boys age has produced the clubs best performances and now they might have opposition from the girls. Recent recruit from Brecon AC, Bethan Woods led the Cwmbran runner’s home in 29th place while under-the-weather Aysha Doman finished for her a disappointing 40th. With more runners still to compete in this age group there is an outside chance these girls could win a team medal at the Welsh Championships.

The Under 17 Boys continue to amaze. In the combined Under 17 and Under 20 race, Ieuan Thomas, following a guest runner, broke away to finish 20 seconds clear of the 3rd athlete, Ieuan who is only 16 beat UWIC and Bath University students and all other Welsh Under 20 runners to continue his rise in the sport.Gavin Hanrahan once again came through late to finish in 9th place in the race but 2nd over all behind Ieuan in the Under 17 championship, while Nicky Cornock who recently returned from the World Mountain running Championship (finishing 18th and first UK runner home) produced a fine run in finishing 15th. Afan Humphries must wonder what he’s done to deserve the luck he’s having. He battled injury all summer and had just started to come back to form when he developed a bout of tonsillitis just before the race and had to settle for 16th. Nathan Hardee completed a great day for these boys. Running as a first year Under 17 finished in an impressive 20th place. As Nathan will be the only one of this group in the Under 17’s next year it is hoped he might challenge for this title.

CWMBRAN SHOW SUCCESS IN RELAY CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Welsh National Junior Relay Championships in Tredegar Park, Newport last weekend produced one of the best set of results possible for Cwmbran Harriers. Entering the Under 13, Under 15 and Under 17 Boys and Under 15 and Under 17 girls, Cwmbran came away with medals in every age group.

The Under 13 boys had a very inexperienced team and as is normally the case, the most inexperienced runner is asked to lead the team off. For Cwmbran Marcus Price did this remarkably well, against a far more experienced squad from Carmarthen. Marcus kept the gap close and only handed over to Ryan Lester some 15 seconds behind the leaders. Ryan did all the right things not allowing the chasing teams to catch up while loosing nothing to the leader ahead. When James Hanrahan started his leg it was expected from how the field was spread that silver was safe and there was an outside chance of gold. James turned everything on its head by running a remarkable leg. From 20 seconds down this was turned into a 6 second lead going into the last leg. Unfortunately for Cwmbran, Carmarthen had saved their strongest and most experienced runner till last. This paid off and despite running the fastest leg of all the Cwmbran runners Elliott Hardee could not hold off the Carmarthen attack and the boys had to settle for second place only 5 seconds off the pace. For a team just going for the experience this was a superb performance.

The Under 15 girls did not disappoint. For the first time in many years the Under 15 girl’s side is looking very strong. Jessica Hinwood, a track sprint runner, showed why running cross-country in the winter will pay off for her. Leading off the Cwmbran team she ran really well to bring Cwmbran to the change over in second behind Cardiff. Holly Millett then began her leg very fast and closed the distance Cardiff had built up quickly. With the strong Camarthen squad closing on Holly fast there was a mad scramble to the line coming to the next change over with Holly coming out the worse for it. Carmarthen handed over first Cardiff second and Cwmbran relegated to third. By the end of the third leg the rolls had been reversed again with Cardiff back in the lead, Cwmbran second and Carmarthen third, thanks to an outstanding run by Steffie Wright. Steffie is making great improvements this winter and this was illustrated by her running some 46 seconds faster than the Carmarthen athlete. Going in to the final leg Cardiff had a 17 second lead and despite a great effort from Benytta Doman she could not close the entire gap. At the end she was only 12 seconds behind. She did even better to hold off the experienced Carmarthen side who were 30 seconds behind going into the last leg. At one point they appeared to close the entire gap before Benytta drew away again to take the silver medal.

The Under 15 boys are now showing real potential. Against much stronger opposition, Cwmbran were never out of their depth. Both Carmarthen and Newport Harriers put out runners who gained medals on both track and Welsh cross country championships earlier this year, but Cwmbran matched them all the way. On the first leg there was only 11 seconds between 1st and last thanks to a great lead off leg from Grant Evans. Grant was not expected to survive against much stronger runners, but a very determined effort brought Cwmbran home in third place. On the second leg, first year runner Gareth Lewis could not last with the experienced running of Geraint Mansfield of Carmarthen, but he pulled away from the chasing teams to give 3rd leg runner Jamie Bussell a 28 second cushion from the 3rd placed team Newport Harriers. Jamie the most experienced of the runners available in this age category knew exactly what to do, Jamie started steadily and with Welsh Champion Jonathan Morgan chasing him and closing the gap fast, Jamie showed a cool head to move away in the closing stages and giving Cwmbran a deserved silver medal.

As expected the Under 17 girls was dominated by Swansea Harriers who had Non Stanford a GB International running the 2nd leg for them. Swansea went on to win the race by over a minute, but 2nd placed Carmarthen also carrying Welsh International runner Kayleigh Brown and Rachel Marfleet in their side were pushed hard by Cwmbran. Claire Thompson led off for Cwmbran, and in a high speed first lap did well to run a very respectable time, coming in 3rd place. Claire handed over to Aysha Doman who did not gain on Swansea who went well away at this point, but she lost nothing to the strong Carmarthen team, easily holding on to third place. This left last runner Bethan Wood the formality of completing the third leg and gaining the bronze medal, but as with all the Cwmbran runners they were not happy to settle for a untroubled run and Bethan sped round the last leg, and in doing so ensured Cwmbran collected the bronze medal.

The Under 17 boys race was on paper an event that Cwmbran were expected to dominate. They did not disappoint. Cwmbran led from the start when Nathan Hardee ran a brilliant first leg giving a commanding lead of almost 30 seconds. Nathan handed over to Gavin Hanrahan one of Cwmbran’s international runners who showed he is on good form pulling well away from the second team, giving 3rd leg runner Ieuan Thomas a huge 1.33 second lead. Ieuan, also a Welsh International did not want to accept an easy run home and put in a very fast last leg to bring Cwmbran home first by a margin of 2.07 seconds. Ieuan had a double celebration picking up a second gold as the fastest leg runner from any team.

Overall Cwmbran had 1 gold (plus one individual gold), 3 silver and 1 bronze. Well done to all, a very successful day.

Cwmbran also had major success away from the relay weekend. Under 13 girl Natasha Cockram who ran in the South West England Cross Country Championships over in Bristol against some of the cream of England’s junior talent and did very well to gain 3rd place, and closer to home Afan Humphries running his first half marathon ran a beautifully judged race against senior athletes to gain a well deserved 3rd place.

Results:

U13 Boys 2nd :- Marcus Price 8.26 - Ryan Lester 8.26 - James Hanrahan 7.42 - Elliott Hardee 7.29

U15 Girls 2nd :- Jessica Hinwood 8.36 - Holly Millett 8.24 - Steffie Wright 8.15 - Benytta Doman 7.50

U15 Boys 2nd :- Grant Evans 11.15 - Gareth Lewis 11.24 - Jamie Bussell 10.55

U17 Girls 3rd :- Claire Thompson 13.14 - Aysha Doman 13.18 - Bethan Woods 12.45

U17 Boys 1st :- Nathan Hardee 10.29 - Gavin Hanrahan 10.27 - Ieuan Thomas 9.47

THE WINTER IS GOING WELL FOR CWMBRAN HARRIERS

While most people look out the window at this time of year and shudder at the rain, wind and hail, Cwmbran Harriers have been sending their athletes out onto the Cross Country courses throughout Britain and they are setting standards that most British Clubs would be very proud of.

Following from the first Gwent League success in Cardiff back in October there have been a succession of fixtures, which have provided excellent results.

Novice Boys.
Liam Hardee looks as though he is going to be a force in the near future running strongly in Bridgend he finished an impressive 17th which left him lying 10th overall at that stage.

Under 13 Boys.
Liam’s older brother Elliott is leading the way in this age group. He had an excellent run in both Bridgend (10th) and Bath (6th) in the Gwent league and he currently lies 6th overall in this competition. He then produced his best 2 runs for the Inter Regional competitions where he managed an excellent 4th place in the Brecon club race and went even better in the Inter Schools competition taking the silver medal in his best race of the season so far.

James Hanrahan is certainly not far behind Elliott finishing 13th in Bridgend and 9th in Bath, and currently lies 8th overall in the Gwent League Standings. James then had a superb Inter Regional race finishing 5th against some much older boys.

Both Ryan Lester and Marcus Price running in their first year for the Club are progressing well. Ryan has managed a 43rd in the Bridgend Gwent league, 63rd in the Inter Schools and then a much- improved 33rd in the Inter Regionals. Marcus has also managed a 44th in the Bridgend race, 28th in the Inter Regionals and a very impressive 28th in the Bath Gwent league race.

Under 15 Boys.
This age group is likely to develop into Cwmbran’s strongest group within the next 2 years due to the strength in depth available. These boys currently lie 2nd in the Gwent League team competition only 18 points behind Carmarthen.

Jamie Bussell still holds the headlines with his ever-improving performances. Jamie began smoothly enough finishing 3rd in the Bridgend Gwent league, following this up with a 6th in the Inter Regionals and 7th in the Inter Schools. This is even more impressive knowing that he has not always been fully fit when training and it has taken a little time to recover for these races.

Both Michael Kershaw and Gareth Lewis the 2 new boys on the scene are performing well above expectation. Gareth finished 15th in the Bridgend and 19th in Bath Gwent League fixtures to lie 8th overall, well ahead of where anyone could have expected him to be. He followed this up with an impressive run in the Inter Regionals to come home 19th. Michael has also been equally impressive, finishing 20th in Bridgend and improving to 15th in Bath. He followed this up with an impressive 11th in the Inter Regional championship.

The biggest improvement in this age group this year easily falls to Grant Evans. Grant has kicked on well this year and hi s training is looking better each week. This has been reflected in his performances where he has achieved a 17th and 13th in the 2 Gwent League fixtures to lie 10th overall in the current standings. He then followed this up with a 20th in the Inter Regionals. Lets hope Grant can keep up this much-improved performance.

Ryan Cockram also has much to be pleased about. He finished 31st in both Bath and Bridgend. Whilst running 40th and 41st in both the Inter Regional and Inter Schools events. Ryan is also showing good signed of improvement. Keep it up!

Under 17 Boys.
Nathan Hardee is the runner likely to impress most in this age category next year. Nathan has been exceptionally impressive in all his races. With another year to go in this age group he is likely to be challenging for both school International and WAAA vests very soon. Nathan finished 5th in Bridgend and 7th in Bath to lie 2nd overall in the Gwent league standings, and following his 9th in the Inter regional race he went even better in the Inter Schools finishing strongly in 6th.

Nick Cornock an occasional runner for the club due to his hill mountain running has shown when he is around why he is highly thought of. In his only race he managed a very smooth 6th place in Bridgend, and still lies 6th overall in the standings.

Gavin Hanrahan has had his winter ruined by illness. Gavin, who has been a regular runner for Wales over the last 2 years, has found that illness really does hold you back! Gavin managed a 4th in Bath and a 5th in the Inter Regionals and still lies 8th overall in the Gwent League standings. He has also managed a 22nd and 32nd in both the UK challenge series races in Birmingham and Liverpool, and then running in Brussels in the World Lotto Cross cup Gavin managed a much-improved 17th and 4th UK runner home. But, without illness this would undoubtedly have been much better. We all look forward to Gavin’s return to the top very soon.

Ieuan Thomas stands on the threshold of a major breakthrough this year. Ieuan has run sparingly in Wales this year. In his only “local” race he won the Inter Regional race after falling near to the finish. Ieuan has missed to Gwent League fixtures to race the Cross Challenge series, which pits the best runners in the UK against each other. In the first race of the series, by his own standards he finished a disappointing 7th, after once again falling in a stream and loosing vital ground to his opponents. Since then Ieuan has gone from strength to strength. He finished 2nd in London (after falling again!), 2nd in Liverpool (while representing Wales), and then won in Belfast last weekend. This is the first time that any Welsh male athlete has won one of these races outside Wales. Ieuan goes to Cardiff this weekend knowing no matter what the result he will lead the UK standings going to the Finals in Nottingham in March (Ieuan is currently 19 points clear in the standings). All those not running on March 11th should be tuned in to SKY SPORTS to hopefully cheer a Cwmbran Harrier to a UK national title. For good measure Ieuan also won bronze in Brussels in the World Lotto Cross Cup (again running for Wales), being the first UK runner home. By his own admission he started much too fast and this may have cost him overall victory.

Under 20 men.
Afan Humphries runs alone in this age group this year. but, he does so with much distinction. Afan also effected badly by illness, has managed a very impressive 1st in the Inter Schools event and followed this up with an ever more impressive 1st in the Inter Regionals. His finishing position of 145th in the Birmingham Cross Challenge might not have looked that good, but when you know this was in a senior men’s field of over 800 runners it then takes on impressive proportions. Afan also ran for Wales in the Liverpool Cross Challenge finishing strongly in 35th and was also the 1st Welsh athlete home in the Lotto Cross. He also had time over Christmas to win the Boxing Day run in Cwmbran. Afan has also been picked for Wales in the up-coming Celtic International in Dublin at the end of the month. Not bad for someone still on the comeback trail from illness!!

Novice Girls.
Ellie Leek might be a new name on the Cwmbran team sheet this year, but already she is making people sit up and take note of a girl who is getting better and better. Ellie has managed 6th place in both Gwent League fixtures at Bath & Bridgend to lie 4th overall. For a girl only with the club for 6 months this is very impressive.

Under 13 Girls.
Natasha Cockram has been running impressively on both the track and cross country for the last 18 months, but this winter seems to be making a real breakthrough and breaking up the dominance of the West Wales athletes in this age group. Natasha finished 6th in Bridgend and then followed this up with a very impressive 3rd in Bath to lie 3rd overall in the Gwent League series. She finished 7th in the Inter Schools running against much older athletes, and then in her most impressive run of the winter so far, out-powered her nearest rivals in the inter regionals to take 3rd place.

Lora James was closing the gap quickly between herself and Natasha until severe illness slowed her to a standstill just before Christmas. Lora was 29th in Bridgend and 22nd in Bath, but things looked even better going to the Inter Schools in November when she was very good finishing 14th against older girls. Then illness struck and this effected her run in Brecon at the Inter regionals and 23rd was as good as she could have hoped for. Lets hope she can get back to full fitness quickly.

Under 15 Girls.
Benytta Doman who started showed promise over the summer is now showing real talent during this winter season. She was 6th in Bridgend in a race where she never got going, but then pulled it all together in Bath finishing comfortably in 3rd place to lie 8th overall in the standings. Benytta then followed this up with fine runs in the Inter schools 5th and 6th in the Inter Regionals to give herself a good opportunity to finish in the qualifying positions for Welsh honours in March.

Steffie Wright might be the racer who has made the biggest improvement by all athletes this winter. She was 24th in Bridgend and 14th in Bath. She then produced 2 fine performances in the Inter Regional Schools and Inter Regional clubs events finishing 12th and 10th. There is real promise expected from Steffie for the rest of this winter.

Holly Millett has only had one race over this winter finishing 13th in Bridgend. When available Holley is a fine addition to this talented squad.

Under 17 Girls.
Aysha Doman has impressed her coach and herself with the improvements she is making. Aysha who suffers badly with nerves certainly didn’t show them in finishing 20th in Bridgend and 14th in Bath, but improved again in the Inter Regional to finish in 13th place.

Fellow team mate Bethan Woods a new recruit from Brecon showed her undoubted quality in the Inter schools match finishing 13th, but improved dramatically in the Inter regional championships, and on her home course powered home to an impressive 4th place. Much is expected from Bethan in the coming months and fingers are crossed that this will lead to International honours.

Under 20 Women.
Ceri Hanrahan’s running nowadays is becoming very sporadic due to work commitments, but she still shows there is fight there when available. She ran well in the Inter regionals finishing an impressive 12th. While fellow team mate Emma Williams running her first race for the club managed a good 16th place in the Bridgend Gwent League.

Great Medal haul for Cwmbran at Welsh Championships.

The Welsh Cross Country Championships were for the first time held at the very sunny, but windy, setting of Pembray National Park, in Llanelli, last weekend, and once again, Cwmbran Harriers came away pleased with their medal haul.

Due to illness, injury and school holidays, there was a much smaller turn out than could have been expected across all age groups. But this didn’t seem to upset the Under 13 girl’s who produced the performance of the day. Coach David Lewis made a bold move in moving Ellie Leek and Nicole Davies up to this age group, even though they would not normally have run this until next year, and he was rewarded by excellent performances by all the girls. Natasha Cockram ran after the older girls from the start and paid in the middle of the race for such a fast pace, and she looked as though her 6th place would be about where she would be expected to finish this year. But in the final 600m Natasha found a new lease of life to power home in finishing 4th. The surprise of the day was Ellie Leek who was hoping to pick up a team medal in joining the team, but produced a quite incredible run to finish 10th, and this must have spurred her team mates on because close behind came Lora James in 12th and Nicole Davies in 13th to ensure that Cwmbran took the team title by a massive 23 points from Pembroke and a further 8 points back were Camarthen.

The performance by the Under 13 girls gave the lift that the team needed to boost all the other age groups and soon after the Under 13 boys breezed to team bronze. James Hanrahan had an almighty battle with Andrew Drakeley of Camarthen throughout the race, and when the Camarthen runner built a 70-80m gap with only a quarter of the race to go it seemed James’s chance of a medal had gone. But in an incredible finish James clawed all of that gap back, only to get pipped on the line and missing a medal by a mere 4 seconds. Elliott Hardee continued his impressive winter work with a fine 7th place. One should always remember in team events that it’s not always the runners at the front that count but those down the field also play a big part, and in first year runners Ryan Lester 24th and Marcus Price 27th, their results were vital in ensuring the team picked up the bronze team title only 6 points behind Cardiff.

The Under 15 girl’s race was all about breakthrough girl Steffie Wright. In the last 6 weeks Steffie has made massive strides and is now a runner talked about as a possible Welsh schools medallist. Steffie full of confidence took this race too the other runners and in an incredible opening burst opened up a 50m gap on her nearest rivals very early in the race. But this start was hard on her and as the race progressed Steffie was eventually caught and overtaken by 2 other runners and a further 4 closed fast on her. But this is a new and much improved Steffie and she wasn’t going to be denied, and in the final 200m showed her true improvement to move away from these chasing girls to take a well deserved bronze medal, in her first Welsh Championships.

The Under 15 boy’s team, which on paper would have expected to do well in the team event, was decimated before the start with illness withdraws. This meant only 3 runners started for Cwmbran and therefore were out of the team race. This did not stop Jamie Bussell having an outstanding run in finishing 5th. Jamie was in a really hard position for most of the race. Detached from the leading runners, but some 19 seconds ahead of the chasing group Jamie virtually ran the last lap alone and did very well to close on the leaders, but not enough to gain an individual medal. Michael Kershaw ran although not 100% and must have been pleased to finish 12th, and Ryan Cockram can be pleased with his run in finishing 23rd, one of his best finishes of the winter season.

The Under 17 girl’s race turned into a 1 woman procession as Non Stanford of Swansea Harriers won the combined U17/U20 race by over 1 and half minutes. This did not deter Aysha Doman, who running her own race with her own individual battles can be pleased with her 13th place in the Under 17 race.

The Under 17 women’s race was virtually copied in the boy’s race when Ieuan Thomas decided that he would test everyone from the start. As no one wanted too, or could, last with his incredible start, Ieuan ran the race on his own from the front to win very easily by nearly 30 seconds. But as mentioned earlier in team events it’s not just the ones at the front that count and a great run from first year U17 Nathan Hardee (7th), Gavin Hanrahan (9th) and especially Dan Lester (13th) ensured that Cwmbran easily won the team title by a massive 29 points from Brecon.

To round off the day nicely, everyone was really pleased to see Afan Humphries return to the form we know he is capable of. In a very small field Afan showed his real class on the last lap of a very demanding course to break local runners, Lee Ladd and Mark Davies and then in the final quarter mile move away from English based runner Andrew Danno, to win the Under 20 boys race by 8 seconds.

Well done everyone!!

uk:a Cross Challenge 2006

In a quite amazing turn of events, Ieuan Thomas of Cwmbran Harriers became the first Welshman ever to take the Cross Challenge Cross Country title in Nottingham last weekend.

Running for East Wales, in the highest ranked and highest quality race of the winter, Ieuan finished a very creditable 10^th overall in Under 17 men’s race at the UK Inter Counties Championships, shown live on Sky Sports. This is remarkable in the fact that only 3 weeks ago it looked highly unlikely that Ieuan would even be fit too run, having suffered both a calf injury and a very bad cold. But knowing the UK title was on the line was enough to push Ieuan around the course in an amazing battling performance. In condition that were ideal, Ieuan got off to a great start and sat in with the leaders through the first 2,500m of the 6,000m race, but as the pace increased Ieuan through lack of proper preparation couldn’t stay with the pace and slipped at one time back to 17^th. But on a very demanding course others were also finding it tough, and with a final burst, Ieuan pulled himself up into 10^th place.

Ieuan had all winter been chasing the very talented Greg Billington of Suffolk, who had won every race he had competed in this year, but crucially had decided to miss some of the races. When Billington streaked away to win in style everyone was quick not only to praise Billington on his performance, but also congratulate Ieuan on finishing second. But this was quickly turned on it’s head by UK cross challenge organisers who informed both runners that only athletes that had run 3 qualifying races over the winter could collect points in the final race which meant that although finishing 10^th Ieuan was 2^nd for Cross Challenge points in this race and as such took the overall UK title by 2 points.

This has turned out to be a quite remarkable winter for the up and coming Cwmbran athlete. In the last few weeks he has won the Welsh Cross country title, finished 3^rd running for Wales in Belgium and also represented Wales in the Celtic games in Dublin, all while admitting that he has not been running well!

But, there has also been recognition for his achievements, as Ieuan has recently been offered financial help from both the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund and Sports Aid Wales. The Ron Pickering Memorial fund was established to aide young talented athletes in their pursuit to reach the top of their sport and hopefully help Britain bring back medals in 2012. This fund has been instrumental in helping many of today’s top young athletes supplement their ever-spiralling costs in getting to the top. Let’s hope this is the case for Ieuan. And a special thank you should be passed on to this organisation from everyone in Welsh Athletics, because without the very generous £50,000 donation to Welsh Schools athletics, there would not have been a Welsh Schools Track and field championships or Schools Cross country championships this year.