News

This is Clive Williams obituary of Tony Clemo.

Tony (a Birchgrove Harrier) was a highly competent 800m runner, with a pb of 1.54 gaining serveral Welsh vests.

He was a regular attendee at the Welsh Hall of Fame dinners, including the last such celebration, last autumn.

Photo of Tony No 6, RAF v Wales Indoor International at St Athan 1962.

Tony was known in the wider community as a former owner and chairman of Cardiff City AFC 1989 - 1992. 

See full obituary below:-

Yesterday, Welsh Athletics under their News column they omitted to include two former members of our club.

Nigel Walker 0BE. Nigel was honoured for his service to Elite Sport. Nigel born in Cardiff 15th June 1963. Nigel was a member of our club for many years, and team captain of our BAL team. Nigel had a great athletic career, he started in Llanrumney HS. He combined Rugby in winter & Athletics in summer. Nigels main events was 110mH & 60mH, and Sprinting. A regular in GB international teams appearing in Los Angeles Olympic Games 1984 SF 110mH. European Indoor Championships in Greece 1985 5th 60mH. European Championships 1986 West Germany 110mH 4th 13.52. 1987 his peak year winning Bronze medal in 60H at the 1987 European Indoor Championships in France 60mH 7.65. World Indoor Championships Indianapolis USA with Bronze medal in 60mH 7.66. Nigel continued at international level up to 1992. Nigel then returned to rugby, Cardiff RFC first then went on to gaining 17 International caps for Wales, where his sprinting ability helped him to score trys. Nigel worked first in Welsh Office, then moved into UK Sport Bodies, now he is National Director at the English Institute of Sport.    

Cardiff senior ladies team in Match 1 of the 2019 season, was held in Leigh, Manchester, yesterday. On the team's debut in the Premier League for the first time, finished in a creditable 4th place of the 8 competing teams. A new club record 3.40.94 was set by the 4x400m relay team (2nd) taking nearly 5secs off the old record set in 2013. Team manager Sharon Thor Heveran was full of praise for the teams performance in Manchester. Rhiannon Linnington-Payne after missing the whole of last summer with injury, in the 400m (2nd) achieved 54.53 pb. Sara Omoregie 2nd in SP with 14.81 that gave her 4th place in match top 10 best  performances. 

There has been two League meeting this season. First meeting was at Swansea where a depleted team, managed to finish third. The second meeting at Exeter, again with a depleted team still finished third. All teams in these age are affected by U20 athletes not being available due to being away at University. Debbie Bull Team Manager, managed the team in getting good team results.  The star of the first 2 meetings has been U17W Bree Cronin, who improved her 2018 best Discus throw of 33.09 to 40.45 breaking a long standing club record. Bree also moved to 2nd place in Pof10 UK ranking list.

At Exeter Bree improved her Discus throw to 41.79 breaking her own club record, and keeping 2nd place in UK ranking list. Photo Bree Cronin winner of Gold medal at 2019 Welsh Indoor Championships in U17W Shot Putt.  

Match 2 of the Welsh JL took place at Aberdare, with Cardiff team coming out in top place. This due to great results from the Boys and girl athletes, many athletes doubling up on events to gain team points. Team was ably supported by Team Managers, and coaches, with some parents volunteering in helping to official in events. There was a huge support by parents of athletes, many located ona  grass bank (that was crowded by parents) near our club tent and flags, taken to meeting and erected by Mark Gold our club Manager. Indeed at these events, especialy in such nice weather, a huge following of parents attend these competitions, giving a great atmosphere at matches. Team scores are on next page.  

The London 10k race held last Sunday was a British Championship for senior men and women. Cardiff's Clara Evans 33.20, Charlotte Arter 33.25 and Jennifer Nesbitt 34.02 won the British Championship 10k Womens team race.

In a class field of women runners, Clara led team home 5th woman with a pb time. Charlotte was 6th woman, and Jennifer was 13th. This was a great achievement for our club team of top class senior lady runners.

There was more success on the road over the weekend, see below.

The first in the summer series of SSAFA 5km road races took place last Wednesday 22nd May. Held in sunny and warm conditions at Bute Park, Cardiff. There was a very good turn out of Cardiff Athletics runners, in a field of 191 finishers. First Cardiff runner was Alex Jackson U20 10th (first Junior) in 16.28. Cardiff's Lucy Marland was 2nd SW in 17.39. Ben Hughes Cardiff U15M was 42nd in 18.03. Laura Wright Cardiff U20W was 63rd in 19.09 and Bethany Gold U17W was 84th (first Junior) in 19.51. Photo by Mark Gold shows 23 Cardiff runners. Next SSAFA 5km 19th June. See Links for SSAFA results. 

Catching up on track and road results in terms of teams and club individual performances. On the track the first match of the YDL upper age group U17/20, was held at Swansea on the 5th May. Team Manager Debbie Bull struggled to get a team out on day for a number of reasons. However there was a good response from athletes that took part, who gained good points M&F on track, Field and in Relay team events.

Clearly the outstanding performance was by U17W Bree Cronin (Discus) with a throw of 40.45m breaking the existing club record that has stood for 37yrs by Jackie Grey with 38.75. Bree's throw is second place on Pof10 UK ranking list for U17W Discus, and Bree leads Welsh U17W Discus list.    

The club, coaches, athletes and the committee, would like to say a massive thank you to "Enfys Hawthorn"  for all the years of selfless commitment she has given to the club, in managing the club shop and kit sales. Enfys was only asked to cover the shop for a few weeks, but that turned into over 20yrs. Enfys passion for the club, and joy in watching young athletes progress and grow, was truly inspirational. We thank Enfys for everything she and her family have done for the club, over many years, and she will truly missed.

Enfys, enjoy your rest and retirement , you have truly earned it.

Last Sunday Match 1 of the BAL Premier Men's League took place at Swansea, inconjunction with BAL Division 1 match was held at same time, with Swansea Harriers as host club. Cardiff Athletics team finished 6th, with a weak team, and some events having no Cardiff athletes competing. The outstanding performance in the Cardiff team, came from Jeremiah Azu winning the 100m A race in 10.39 secs achieving the GB U20M team standard for the European U20 Championships. Jeremiah came 2nd in the 200m A in 21.09 secs a pb performance. A promising start to his 2019 track season.

There were good results in sprints events, and 4x100 relay 2nd. In the Steeple Chase, Joseph Turner A 2nd, with Owain Edwards B 2nd. In Field, Discus, Curtis Mathews A ( 3 events) 2nd, and Jay Morse B 3rd. Hammer A & B no competitions, and 4x400m no competetors. Late withdrawals meant reserves being contacted, doubling up, or team spaces not filled. Certainly Cardiff cannot afford to field a weak team in the next match. Full results are on Powerof10 that can be reached through Links in left column.