Dewi Griffiths, Charlotte Arter and Lily Partridge will head the fields for an Elite Only 10,000m event at Newport Stadium this Saturday.
The Elite Only Winter 10k will feature 10,000m races for some of the top Welsh Athletes looking to test themselves ahead of the British Olympic Marathon Team Trials in Kew Gardens on the 26th March. Others will be chasing qualifying times for major Championships and will be joined by a small cohort of the Uk’s top non-Welsh Athletes.
High quality men’s field in action
Marathoners Dewi Griffiths and Josh Griffiths will both race in Newport as part of their ongoing preparations for the Trial event at the end of March.
Dewi has a P.B. of 28:16.07 dating back to the Payton Jordan Invitational in 2017. His last race was a solid 13:43 clocking at the Podium 5k in August. Josh was the 2017 British Marathon Champion and his last competitive outing was over the marathon distance in October when he set a P.B. of 2:13.11.
Kristian Jones is a third Swansea Harrier in action and will make a track debut over 10,000m. Jones will be looking to see how close he can get to the Commonwealth Games qualification mark of 28:30 but with plenty of other chances to get the mark ahead of the games in 2022.
Cardiff AC club mates James Hunt and Mike Ward will also be looking to test themselves with Commonwealth Games aspirations on their mind. Ward is no stranger to the distance and clocked 29:16.20 in Raleigh, North Carolina in 2019.
Leeds Harrier Emile Cairess will be looking to crash the party and has a 28:48.15 best from two years ago but also has a sub eight-minute clocking over 3,000m from February to his name.
Cardiff man Ieuan Thomas will be on pace-making duty, looking to lead the field through 14:10/ 14:15 at the half-way point.
Arter and Partridge to test form ahead of marathon trials
The women’s race should be equally as exciting with both Charlotte Arter and Clara Evans looking to test their fitness ahead of the marathon trials.
Arter is the fastest on paper with a best of 32:15.71. The 29 year old Cardiff athlete will use the race as part of her preparations for her eagerly anticipated marathon debut at the end of March. She has proved her competence over the half distance completed in 69:41 which also makes her the eighth fastest Briton of all time.
Partridge of Birchfield Harriers has a best for the distance of 32:20.77 which will see her start as the second fastest on paper. The Surrey County Cross Country Champion recorded wins in 2020 at the Vitality Big Half Marathon and the Antrim Coast Half Marathon.
Clara Evans will compete over the distance for the first time since making large improvements that include a 72:21 best for the Half Marathon and will also use the race to test fitness ahead of a marathon test alongside club mate Arter.
Jenny Nesbitt who also competes for Cardiff and trains with Arter and Evans and will also be in action. The Commonwealth Games standard for Wales here is 32:30 with Nesbitt having run 32:38.45 at Highgate in 2018.
Isobel Fry and Sarah Astin will be chasing qualifying times for the European U23 Championships in Bergen this July.
Walkers also in action
The event will also feature 10,00om race walks where Tom Bosworth will face off with close rival Callum Wilkinson in the men’s race. Bosworth is the current National Record Holder with 39:10 and Wilkinson holds the U20 National Record at 40:30 and has since improved to 39:52.
Cameron Corbishley of Medway & Maidstone will be the third athlete competing and is also a multiple Great Britain & Northern Ireland International with a P.B. of 41:37.44.
There will be further Welsh rivalry in the women’s race walk where the ever-improving Pembrokeshire Harrier Heather Lewis will face Cardiff AC’s Bethan Davies. Lewis is the current Welsh Champion over 5,000m and Commonwealth Games Bronze medallist Davies was the 2019 British Champion over 5,000m. Abigail Jennings and Pagen Spooner complete the women’s line-up.
The on-track action will be preceded by a Discus competition where Pembrokeshire Harrier James Tomlinson will be chasing qualification marks for Bergen and with Harrison Walsh and Zachary Tandy representing Disability Sport Wales. Kirsty Law of Cardiff AC and Samantha of Newham and Essex Beagles will also be in action.