Charity Cherop and Kenneth Kiprop win the senior race as Britain’s Kate Axford, Kerry Hughes, Zach Mohamed and Innes Fitzgerald impress ahead of the Euro trials.
Uganda’s Charity Cherop and Kenneth Kiprop won the senior titles at the Cardiff Cross Challenge on Saturday (November 9), but it was a match full of many subplots and storylines.
British athletes Kate Axford, Kerry Hughes, Izzy Fry and Zach Mohamed have all been in good form ahead of European trials in Liverpool two weeks ago.
Innes Fitzgerald showed he is in good form ahead of defending his European Under-20 title in Turkey in December.
Olympic 1500m finalists Nils Laros and Stefan Nilessen showed that cross-country is an important part of their winter plans as the Dutch duo flew to Britain to get stuck into the senior men’s race.
With elite runners on the World Athletics Tour and young athletes chasing British Athletics Cross Challenge points, grassroots club runners abounded within the Gwent Cross Country League.
Top four women (l to r): Sheila Jebbett, Charity Cherop, Kate Axford, Kari Hughes
Kiprop protects the crown of men
Kiprop edged out Vincent Muta to win the men’s race in 2023, with the Ugandan teenager repeating the trick again to claim his second straight win under gray skies at Llandaff Fields.
After winning last year, he went on to win bronze in the 5,000m at the U20 World Championships in Lima, and the 19-year-old will no doubt be aiming to make his mark at the senior track and field championships in 2025.
A group of eight runners left early on the 9,600m course. Such was the pace, Laros, who was sixth in the Olympic 1,500m final with a sub-3:30 performance, broke away in the chasing pack.
The lead pack gradually dropped, however, as Kiprop pulled away from Kenya’s Muta and Uganda’s Dan Kibet to win by two seconds in 27:06.
Burundi runners Celestine Ndikumana and Emile Hafashimana were fourth and fourth, with Ireland’s Ephrem Gidey enjoying a great run in sixth and Great Britain’s Zac Mohamed seventh. “I’m happy with that run,” said Mahamed, “because it was a very strong field.”
Eighth was Younes Kniyya of Morocco, while Logan Rees of Fife enjoyed a great run in ninth as he finished just ahead of Laros, with Dutch runners Robin van Riel and Nielesen in 16th and 18th.
Mahamed recently ran a half-marathon PB and, like many of the top Brits in Cardiff, he is aiming for the European trials in Liverpool later this month. He reached the podium at the Under-23 Euro Cross in 2022, but is now in the senior age group.
As for Laros, he said he was happy with his result, saying: “I’m happy with my run here after a tough training period. For me, cross country is preparation for the track season.”
Charity Cherope (Paul Stillman)
No charity from Cherop
Similar to the men’s race, Cherope edged out Kenya’s Sheila Jebet to win by a second in 20:15 in the women’s 6400m.
Cherope, just 17, won a bronze medal in the 5,000m at this year’s U20 World Championships, while Jebbett was fourth in the U20 race at the World Cross Country Championships.
Just five seconds back in Cardiff, Kate Axford was the first Briton home as she set the bar ahead of the Euro trials in Liverpool.
The former hockey international has clearly returned from altitude training at Font Romeu in good form and the Belgrave athlete is hoping for further improvements when she soon moves from London to Leeds to be closer to her coach Andy Henderson, who was A. Cardiff to watch the action unfold.
“I thought I had a little more to go,” said Axford, misjudging the run to the end, “so there are things to learn going into Liverpool in a couple of weeks.” The field here was really strong, which gives me good confidence.”
In fourth place was Kari Hughes. Like Oxford, he has recently trained at altitude and was one of the Welsh success stories of the day, as he hails from Anglesey in the north of the country.
Izzy Fry and Poppy Tank were fifth and sixth with talented junior Sofia Togersen from Denmark, Emmi van den Berg of the Netherlands seventh, and Britain’s Amelia Quirk and Meg Gadsby rounded out the top 10.
Innes Fitzgerald (Paul Stillman)
FitzGerald wins in style
Innes Fitzgerald’s margin of victory was not as large as last year, but the Exeter athlete still looked impressive as she finished half a minute ahead of Lizzie Welstead and Zoe Gilbody.
Fitzgerald, 18, won the European Under-20 Championship in style in Brussels 12 months ago and is set to defend in Turkey next month. He has now also started studying at Exeter University, a wise choice which means he is not far from his family home in south Devon, as well as Gavin Pavey’s study group in Devon, which has served him so well.
It was Fitzgerald’s first race in the 3000m since finishing fourth at the World Under-20 Championships, which disappointed him at the time as he would have liked a podium finish.
He showed no signs of race rust at Cardiff despite this being his third visit to the race. “I haven’t done any small or local races before, like always,” Fitzgerald said, “so it was literally my first race since the worlds in Lima.”
Innes Fitzgerald with Lizzie Wellstead, Zoe Gilbody and Tani Gray-Thompson
Wellstead and Gilbody also ran strongly in second and third, followed by Isabelle Holt, Isla McGowan and Libby Hale.
William Rabjohns won the under-20 men’s race as the Poole runner beat Matthew Clarke, Mark Ruby and Quinn Miele-Ingram in the sprint.
William Rabjohns is the lead
Like Fitzgerald, Rabjohns is new to university but has made it to Loughborough’s traditional athletics powerhouse.
Cara Gorman was an impressive winner of the Under 15 girls race. Cheered on by her parents and pet Maltese, the Windsor, Slough, Eton and Hounslow runner finished 10 seconds ahead of Maddison Welby, with Phoebe Langlands in third.
Cara Gorman with Madison Welby and Phoebe Langlands
A relatively flat course in dry conditions produced a number of close finishes and Euan Winnall was involved in one of them as the Burton AC runner held off Louis Muir, Ossian Parry and George Watkins to win the under 15 boys race.
Radley AC’s Sam Cousins ​​won the Under-13 boys’ event from Osian Phillips and Lewis Durston, while Maddison Kindler was an emphatic winner in the Under-13 girls’ race for Brentwood Beagles as Elizabeth Hutchings and Ellie Blackhurst took silver and bronze.
Madison Kindler with Elizabeth Hutchings and Ellie Blackhurst
The next stop on the British Athletics Cross Challenge series is the highly anticipated Euro Trials at Sefton Park.
Full results from Cardiff here.
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