By Alex Donald
Charlotte Arter, Jake Heyward and Cari Hughes powered to a hat-trick of wins on an incredible day for Welsh athletics at the European Cross Country Trials in Liverpool.
Cardiff’s Arter won the senior women’s race with Heyward and Hughes triumphing in their respective under 20’s races at Sefton Park.
The event took place within the Liverpool Cross Challenge with several other Welsh athletes also booking their places at the European Championships in Tilburg, Holland, on December 9.
Hughes was the first Welsh victor of the day, taking to the front of the U20 women’s race with around 300m to go and finishing just a second ahead of runner-up, Berkshire Champion Amelia Quirke.
The Swansea Harrier will now look to lead the GB team team as they bid to retain their team gold medals from 12 months ago and to improve on her individual ninth place from last time.
‘I felt really good today,” said Hughes. “It was really fast so I dug in’.
‘I’m really looking forward to the European Championships. I’m going to train hard for two weeks. I will see what happens because once you’re there, anything can happen.”
Heyward was a pre-race favourite for the U20 men’s race and didn’t disappoint with an emphatic victory as the Cardiff AAC man accelerated away from Isaac Akers to claim victory by the largest winning margin of the day, crossing the line in 19:41 and 12 seconds ahead of the chasing pack.
Further Welsh success here came with Wrexham AAC’s Matt Willis finishing fourth and also securing an automatic qualifying spot for the European Championships.
Heyward is already a current European 1,500m Champion so has shown that he doesn’t fear anyone in the continent. He now looks poised for a serious assault on a European Cross Country title.
He said: “I was surprised how fast Tom Mortimer took the race out. The pace started to ease and I knew I had a really good chance.
“I enjoyed the course and was happy to win. I’m really looking forward to the European’s, I can’t wait to see what I can do’.
The senior women’s race was incredibly competitive and included a former European Cross Country Championship silver medallist, a former European U23 champion, several British Champions and a number of Olympians.
It also featured Welsh duo After, who had previously finished second at Sefton Park and Melissa Courtney who was the 1,500m bronze medallist from the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in April.
With a lap left to run, Courtney was right at the front but as soon as the leading group turned back in to the main field, Arter took to the front.
As soon as the leaders turned on to the finish straight, Arter seemed to find another gear, moving away from Jess Piasecki to record a third Welsh win of the afternoon in 26:10 over 8.1kms.
Courtney was the next Welsh Athlete home in fourth just eight seconds adrift but with English Swansea Harrier Verity Ockenden finishing second, just ahead of her. Wales’ Jenny Nesbitt gave a gutsy performance but struggled to 12th place.
“It was a really quick pace, everyone was in it really until the last lap,” said Arter. “I felt really strong, I knew it would come down to endurance rather than speed in the end.
“I thought Jess [Piasecki] would go earlier, then she came back on my shoulder and gave it my all in the final turn.
“It was a tough race but I turned the last corner and just went for it.
“I missed last year’s Euro Cross because I had an Achilles injury and I wasn’t in shape but I made the team in 2016 and it’s a real joy to be back in the British team and earn another British vest.
“It means everything given I had an injury prior to the European Championships in Berlin and I’m really happy to finish 2018 on a high by making the European Cross team. I love it and I’m excited to see what I can do in two weeks.
“The aim was to qualify and now I can set my sights high. As a team, we’ve had great success in the past and hopefully I can play a part in that this year and finish as high as I can individually.”
Charlie Hulson reacts after all but securing his place on the plane for the European Cross Country Championships with a 4th placed finish at the #LiverpoolCrossChallenge pic.twitter.com/UjrHkXPrw3
— Welsh Athletics (@WelshAthletics) November 24, 2018
Dewi Griffiths and Charlie Hulson had both started amongst the favourites in the 9.8km senior men’s race with Griffiths a previous Inter-Counties Champion and Hulson having won the English National Championships as a guest in 2015.
The former is known for his strength on the country and hoped to go better than his third place from last year. The latter had opened his Cross Challenge campaign with victory in Cardiff and was returning to shape.
Griffiths took a share of the lead in the early stages and along with Hulson, was never far from the front.
A trio of rival athletes got away from the pair in the final stages but Hulson hung on for a credible fourth place, with Griffiths fifth, also securing an automatic team place.
Swansea Harrier Kris Jones was sixth so will now have to wait to hear if he will board the plane for the Netherlands.