Carmarthen and District Harriers Athletics Club win Junior Club award at Welsh Athletics National Celebration Awards 2019

MORE than 200 people from all four corners of the country headed to the Vale Resort Hotel in Hensol, Vale of Glamorgan on Saturday Evening (Oct 19), to attend the annual Welsh Athletics National Celebration Awards Dinner for 2019.

The evening celebrated all the successes and achievements that happened across the sport of athletics in Wales over the last 12 months with a large number of athletes, coaches, officials, volunteers, and club & group representatives in attendance.

There were twenty-eight awards up for grabs with an expert panel deciding on who the worthy winners were for each one. The awards were across a variety of categories…from clubs, groups and volunteers to officials, coaches, and athletes.

Altogether, 22 individuals, 5 clubs and 1 group shared the awards on offer and were welcomed to the stage to be recognised for their contributions.

Hosts for the evening were ever-present Rob Cole and joining him on the stage this year was Mica Moore. Sam Gordon, Jeremiah Azu, Steve Perks, Matt Newman, James Williams, David Rhidian and Kelly Southerton were others who spoke throughout the evening.

It was fantastic to receive confirmation a fortnight ago from the new Chair of Welsh Athletics, Steve Perks that Carmarthen & District Harriers Athletics Club had been nominated to receive the Welsh Athletics Junior Off-Track Club of the Year award at this year’s awards dinner in the Vale Resort Hotel.

Present from the athletics club on the evening and joining other deserving winners from across Wales were Jake Morgan (Club Chairman), Cressy Morgan (Club Secretary), Richard Jones (Club Treasurer), Alison Thomas (Officials Secretary), Neil Thomas, David Toogood, Carol Jones and Delyth Brown (Club Endurance Coaches), Dafydd Jones and Frank Morgan (Club under 15/17 Endurance Athletes) and Nathan Jones (Club Media Officer).

Cross Country and Road Running successes in 2018 and the start of 2019 from endurance young members contributed to the club winning this award in 2019.

The Welsh Athletics Clubs Cross Country Championships came to Pembrey Country Park in Carmarthenshire for the first year back in February and saw the under 11 boys, under 13 boys, under 15 boys and the Female Master 40 teams come away with gold medals on home turf whilst there were bronze medals for the under 11 girls.

The under 13 boys and under 15 boys were victorious at the 2018 Welsh Athletics Road Relay Championships to match their cross-country championships titles. Back in September, the under 11 boys and under 13 boys came away with comfortably victories at the recent 2019 edition of the Road Relays Championships and have got off a great start to the 2019 winter season in October.

In addition, the under 11 boys and under 13 boys became John H Collins Gwent Cross Country League team champions backed up by second place for under 13 girls and third for the novice girls.

Two of Carmarthen Harriers’ endurance athletes Dafydd Jones and Frank Morgan, both pupils at Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Bro Myrddin, were there to go up and collect the award on behalf of the whole club.

Another to be recognised locally in West Wales was coach Kevin Evans who continues to coach athletes at the track in Carmarthen and a great supporter of the club. After collecting the Endurance Performance Coach of the Year in 2018, Evans was the recipient of the “International Performance Coach of the Year” this time around.

President the award on stage was local Carmarthenshire athlete and one of Kevin’s own training group, Dewi Griffiths who hopes to be back to full fitness in the near future.

International athletes in Wales voted for their “Athletes’ Athlete of the Year” and announced as the winner was Pembrokeshire Harriers’ Heather Lewis, who enjoyed a great season on the race-walking circuit. Elsewhere, James Tomlinson was the “Junior Track & Field Athlete of the Year.” It was a double success here with his coach Paul Jensen, the “Track & Field Performance Coach of the Year”.

Swansea Harriers picked up both the “Off Track Club of the Year” in the older categories whilst the juniors enjoyed success too and as a result, won the “Junior Track & Field Club of the Year”.

Along with the Celebration Awards Dinner, Welsh Athletics also welcomed back the Welsh Athletics & Run Wales Clubs Conference on Saturday daytime which was then followed by the Welsh Athletics Coaching Conference on Sunday. Attended by representatives of clubs, they were two great days of learning and the opportunity to pick up valuable advice to take back to their clubs from various speakers confirmed in the line-up.

Images courtesy of Nathan Jones.