By Owen Morgan
Cardiff AAC women’s team will compete in the UK Women’s Athletics League Premier Division next season after clinching promotion in their final division one match of the season.
Their promotion means that both Cardiff’s male and female sections will be competing in the premier division of their respective leagues next year after the men retained their British Athletics League top-flight status.
Cardiff’s women sealed their promotion by finishing second in the final league match of the season in Leigh at the weekend. The result means they win the first division title ahead of Notts AC.
Leading the way for Cardiff were their vertical and horizontal jumpers. Sara Buggy won the A string triple jump with a leap of 12.33m and finished second in the women’s long jump A event with 5.98m.
Meanwhile Rebecca Chapman won the B string long jump with 5.89m and Eliza Durnall won the B triple jump with 10.63m.
There was a double win for Cardiff in the high jump where Hannah Tapley took the A competition with 1.70m, while Deana Kealey won the B event with 1.65m.
On the track Cardiff enjoyed some valuable points in the 3000m where Ffion Price finished third in the A race in 10:13.96, while Kate Seary won the B string event in 10.20.59.
Seary was victorious in B string 3000m
It was a busy afternoon for Price who also finished second in the 1500m A race with a time of 4:32.16. Naomi Reid picked up a second place in the 800m B race clocking 2:13.53.
Cardiff’s local rivals Swansea Harriers will be heading in the opposite direction as they were relegated from the UKWAL Premier Division following their league match at Southampton on Saturday.
There were strong sprint performances from the Swansea team, but it wasn’t enough to stop them finishing last in the match and bottom of the league overall.
Swansea’s Hannah Brier won the 100m A race in a time of 11.53, while Risqat
Fabunmi-Alade was also first in the B race with a season’s best performance of 11.77. She also finished second in the 200m A race with a time of 24.00.