Weekly Update Tuesday 23rd February

This week we have for you some fantastic news on the GB&NI team to compete in Torun, Poland and plenty of virtual endurance race results to round up too.

Results:

Over the weekend of Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st February were the invitation only British Athletics European Indoor Championships Selection Trials held at Sport City, Manchester. It was a case if deja vu where for the second week in a row both Joseph Brier and Verity Ockenden not only both won their races, but again achieved the selection standards for the European Indoor Athletics Championships to be held at Torun, Poland in March. The the following day both were duly selected for the Great Britain & Northern Ireland team! Their selections were very much deserved, everyone at the club wishes them the very best of luck! Josephs time at Sport City was also a personal best of 46.81 over 400m and Verity won the 3000m in a time of 8:56.27. It was fantastic to see them both in their club kit too, real role models the juniors (and seniors) can identify with! You can watch a video of Verity’s race here and Josephs race here. As we get closer to the championships we will confirm the exact times of their races, in the meantime you can view details about the championships here.

From Friday 19th to Sunday 21st February inclusive was the Welsh Athletics 1 mile virtual challenge. All age categories were combined, and there was a great turnout of 18 Swansea Harriers runners submitting performances. Well done to all those who took part, hopefully it will only be another 3 to 6 weeks before we can race and train again face to face, albeit in limited numbers. Quickest for the club was Ifan Lloyd M60 in 5:22 who was also fastest in his age group across all clubs, followed by Daniel Morgan SM 5:29; then Sweden based Matt Kinane M50 in 5:31 who just like Ifan was quickest in his age category; Owen Davies M45 5:37; our first junior was Chloe Hartley-Green U13G in 5:49; Libby Hale U13G 5:51; Sophie Hartley-Green U15G 5:59; Millie Pierce U13G 6:06; Rob Falconer M60 6:25; Heath Brett M50 6:28; Julie Hartley-Green W45 6:43; Martha Caldwell U13G 6:58; Jenny Mcadie W40; 7:07; Tina Gabb W45  7:53; Imogen Mcadie U13G 7:58; Tabitha Ventress-Brett U13G 8:26; Alice Caldwell U11G 8:56 and Jessica Arnold U13G 9:01. Click here for the full results.

From Monday 15th to Monday 22nd February inclusive were the U15 & U17/20 inter regional 2km virtual races. Congratulations to all those who took part from the club representing West Wales: U15B Joshua Pritchard 8:08; Steffan Higgins 8:29 who helped the West Wales squad to a 1st placed finish. U15G Sophie Hartley-Green 7:34; Kaitlyn Jones 7:54; Bethan Adams 8:50. U17M Aled Tumelty 6:06. U17W Ella Davies 7:06.

Click here for the full individual and team results.

Welsh Government guidance for sport & physical activity:

Amendments made to Welsh Government guidance for sport & physical activity on Friday 19th February were that 4 people from 2 different households can meet outdoors for socially distanced local exercise. Therefore club sessions are still on ice and the track at Swansea University remains closed to all users.