Weekly Update Tuesday 23rd March

This week we have details for you on the Olympic Games Marathon Trials, virtual road race results, an update on the track reopening, athlete voice applications and a fundraising milestone.

Dewi & Josh in the Olympic Marathon Trial:

Make sure you all set your alarm clocks very early this Friday 26th March to watch our very own Dewi Griffiths and Joshua Griffiths competing in an invitation only race at Kew Gardens, London, in the British Marathon trial for this years Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan! Their race starts at 8am and will be live streamed by British Athletics here. To be considered for selection they need to break the very tough qualifying standard of 2:11.30, of which they both are more than capable of doing, and we are sure that they will! There is a sub plot to all this too, the race also provides the opportunity to achieve the 2022 Commonwealth Games Marathon qualifying standard of 2:15.30, which should be a “walk in the park” for them or gardens in this case! The very best of luck to you both from everyone at the club.

Virtual Results Round Up:

From Friday 12th to Monday 15th March inclusive was the Welsh Athletics Virtual 3 mile race where we had 12 of our members representing the club. Very well done to them all on such a great set of results. In ascending order we had

Thomas Guest M55 17:37 and 1st in his age group! Michael Gleeson M45 17:47; Daniel Morgan SM 18:01; our first junior home was Millie Pierce U13G  19:03; Chloe Hartley-Green 19:49; Heath Brett M50 21:00; Matthew Lewis U15B 21:35; Julie Hartley-Green W45 21:53; Jenny Mcadie W40 22:49; Tina Gabb W45 25:04; Tony Clements M70 26:03 and Natalie Coughlan U15G 26:37.

The following weekend of Friday 19th to Monday 22nd March inclusive was the Welsh Athletics virtual road race for 5km juniors & 10km seniors. In the 5km we had four finishers; U13G Millie Pierce in 19:33; followed by U15G Sophie Hartley-Green 19:52 who was also quickest across all clubs in her age group; U13G Chloe Hartley-Green 20:00 and U15B Matthew Lewis 23:29. Over the 10km distance we had six finishers, quickest was M60 Ifan Lloyd in 35:46 who was also quickest in his age category, followed by M45 Owen Davies 39:14; W45 Julie Hartley-Green 45:48; W40 Jenny Mcadie 49:39; W45 Tina Gabb 53:19 and M70 Anthony Clements 55:59. Very well done to all eleven, click here for the full results.

Outdoor Track Reopening:

Welsh Government will be clarifying with Sports Governing Bodies e.g. Welsh Athletics and Facility providers e.g. Swansea University of exactly what they can and can’t do in terms of gatherings for organised sport on Thursday 25th March. With such a challenging and tight turnaround for WA, SU and SH before our club sessions resume on Monday 29th March, we will endeavour to update and disseminate our Covid plan to our coaches and members as soon as is humanly possible before the 29th. Keep checking this website for details.

Welsh Athletics Junior Athlete Voice Panel Vacancy:

West Wales has a vacancy on the Junior Athlete Voice which is a panel Welsh Athletics established to give young people in our sport the opportunity to share their thoughts and experiences. Its made up of 7 athletes aged between 15-19 from across Wales. It is an opportunity for young athletes to shape our sport and opens up a much-needed line of communication between athletes and Welsh Athletics, particularly those that make decisions. It allows them to listen to the needs of young athletes, to ensure that they have the best experience possible in our sport, which hopefully will encourage them to stay active in the sport either in an athlete, official, or coaching capacity. For more detail and to apply click here.

Fundraising Thanks:

Its taken nearly 10 years, but we’ve finally broken the £5,000 barrier on our EasyFundraising page. Our sincere thanks to the 25 people who’ve made this possible, imagine what we could raise if all our members were signed up! What do we do with all that money we hear you ask? Pre covid it would help subsidize all our buses and hotels for away matches and will again soon we hope! Ongoing the money helps us to keep membership & training fees as cheap as possible for our athletes, we can also use the funds to buy equipment, kit, coach education courses, help fund this new website, the new Izettle and Ipad for contactless payments we now use on club nights and what ever else we need when things arise! In fact it’s not the only way to fundraise for the club, if you’d like to donate, we are also signed up with Amazon Smile and Local Giving, to find out more on how to raise much needed funds for the whole club click here.