By Owen Morgan
Following the torrential rain that ended day one of the UK Athletics Championships, there was a flood of medals from Welsh athletes at the start of day two.
The opening track action saw a Welsh one-two in the 5000m race walk thanks to Pembrokeshire Harrier Heather Warner and Cardiff’s Bethan Davies.
Warner dominated from the start to claim gold in a time of 22:22.50 ahead of her great friend and rival Davies, who clocked 22:58.85.
Warner said afterwards: “It feels amazing to come back here (Manchester) and be British Champion again. I had a tough race last year with being disqualified, so it felt good to walk a good race today.
“The cards were shown quite early on, so it was a hard race to manage with being careful not to foul and achieving a good time. I would have loved to have pushed even more, but I had to play it tactically which I did.”
Asked about the rest of the season, Warner added: “I’m looking more towards the winter season at the moment. It feels good to finish on a high before we get the blocks back out for the winter.”
Silver medallist Davies added: “It was a really good race, and to medal with my great friend Heather is a great feeling. It’s great to come here (British Champs) especially for race walking as usually we are on the roads for longer distances. It’s a great opportunity to showcase our sport.
“It was a good crowd today, they got behind all us athletes. I did set my PB in the rain actually, but I’m very glad the weather wasn’t like yesterday, it looked horrible.
“I’m happy with where I’m at currently. I would love to get back to under 21 minutes. I’m aiming to do some 20ks in the winter.”
Adele Nicoll on her way to gold in Manchester. Pic: Owen Morgan.
It was almost a Welsh clean sweep of the medals, but Gracie Griffiths missed out on a podium place after serving a time penalty in the “sin bin” during the second half of the race.
The Pembrokeshire Harrier had been in third place behind Warner, who also coaches her, and Davies before she fell foul of the judges.
When she emerged from the sin bin, Griffiths had fallen to fifth place and was unable to claw her way back into the medal placings.
The medals kept coming in one of the first field events of the day as shot-putter Adele Nicoll defended the title she won at the same venue 12 months ago.
Nicoll obviously feels at home at the Manchester Regional Arena as she pretty much picked up from where she left off last year producing what turned out to be the winning effort of 17.26m in the second round.
Heather Warner and Bethan Davies celebrate their gold and silver medals in the 5000m walk with bronze medallist Abigail Jennings. Pic: Owen Morgan.
The Birchfield Harrier, who aims to represent Great Britain in bobsleigh at the next winter Olympics, finished well ahead of second placed Ameila Strickler, who produced a best distance of 16.83m
A delighted Nicoll said afterwards: “I feel amazing as today means a lot after I made the decision to change my technique last year.
“I train for bobsleigh through the winter so then training starts in April for me. I have a lot to take away from today as this was my best throw with the new technique.
“I like to prove I can do whatever I put my mind to. I recently did a TV show “Go hard or Go home” and I was very committed to it.”
Heather Warner on her way to gold in Manchester with Bethan Davies in pursuit. Pic: Owen Morgan.
The fourth Welsh athlete to step onto the medal podium was middle distance star Melissa Courtney Bryant.
The Poole AC runner was up against Olympic medallist Laura Muir in the 1500m final, but it was Herne Hill Harrier Katie Snowden who claimed gold ahead of the Scot, with Courtney-Bryant picking up bronze in 4:11.91.
All three athletes have the qualifying standard for the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, but only the top two on Sunday earned automatic places on the Great Britain team.
Courtney-Bryant must now wait to find out whether she will earn a third place on the team for the 1500m.
Tom Wilcock came within a hair’s breadth of claiming a fifth Welsh medal in the 110m hurdles.
The Northampton AC athlete ran a new personal best of 13.69 as he finished third in his heat to earn a fastest losers spot in the final.
Lining up in lane one, Wilcock ran a brilliant race to take another chunk off his PB to cross the line in 13.48, just 0.02 off the bronze medal time as Tade Ojora took gold.
Full results can be found on the British Athletics website.
Melissa Courtney-Bryant celebrates her bronze medal with Laura Muir and champion Katie Snowden. Pic: Owen Morgan.]