Cardiff's Christian Malcolm will serve a four year term on the British Olympic Association's Athletes’ Commission after being elected from a group of 21 candidates voted for by Olympians who have competed at a summer or winter Games since Sydney 2000.
Upon hearing of his election, Christian said, “It’s an honour to be a part of the BOA Athletes' Commission and I believe that we have a fantastic opportunity to help shape the way that the BOA looks following the most amazing year of Sport Great Britain has ever seen. I’m excited about meeting with the other members of the Commission and helping to make a positive difference to something that I am very passionate about, which includes ensuring that the interest of the athletes remains at the forefront of the organisation's aims and objectives.”
Cardiff athletes produced excellent performances at the England Athletics multi event championships held in Sheffield on 5th and 6th January.
Contesting the indoors heptathlon, new recruit David Omoregie won the under 20 gold medal with a score of 4,791 points.
In the senior event, Francis Baker (pictured) came sixth with 5,112 whilst David Guest who competes for Cardiff as a higher performance athlete showed a welcome return to form to take third place with 5,258 points.
David's younger brother Stephen came seventh in the under 20 contest with 4,275 points.
Cardiff athletes featured strongly at the 2012 edition of the popular Nos Galan road races in Mountain Ash.
Clean sweeps were achieved in the senior men's elite race (Ieuan Thomas, Adam Bitchell and Tom Marshall) and in the girls 10/11 age group (Sofia Vella, Alisha Hayes and Annwen Gammon - pictured with their awards)
There can be little doubt that 2012 was a good year for athletics – and Cardiff AAC did pretty well too.
The highlight was the London Olympic Games and Cardiff was proud to provide four Olympians (Christian Malcolm, Rhys Williams, Gareth Warburton and Ava Hutchinson) as well as the captain of the British Paralympic athletics team, Tracey Hinton.
And, at the European Championships in Helsinki, Rhys Williams (pictured) struck gold to become European 400m hurdles champion.
All club teams performed well and numerous Cardiff athletes featured in the top twenty UK rankings.
Cardiff AAC hopes that all our members and friends will have a very happy Christmas and we wish you a successful 2013.
Normal club nights will resume on Monday, 7th January.
Would you like to help us next year? If so, read on.
Welsh Athletics has announced the qualification standards required of athletes to be eligible for selection to the Welsh team to participate in the Commonwealth Games to be held in Glasgow in 2014.
In order to be considered for selection, athletes must have achieved either one A standard performance or two B standard performances in the qualifying period. Each athlete must also take part in the official trials; in the event that he/she wishes to contest at the Games.
Cardiff AAC life member Lynn Davies received the prestigious Lifetime Award at the recent BBC Wales sports personality of the year ceremony.
Lynn (70), who took the gold medal in the long jump at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, is a previous double winner (in 1964 and 1966) of the individual personality of the year award and has contribiuted a lifetime of service to athletics and is a worthy recipient of this latest honour.
Although starting as a triple jumper, Lynn was Britain's leading long jumper for a decade, setting a British record in 1968 that was not beaten until 2002. Naturally, he remains the Welsh and club record holder. He was European champion in 1966 and Commonwealth champion in 1966 and 1970. (There were no world championships in those days.)
Everyone in Cardiff AAC offers congratulations and good wishes to James Williams and Imogen Miles on their engagement.
James proposed to Imogen during a romantic weekend in Paris but says that they have not yet fixed a date for the wedding (after all, it has to be fitted into their athletic schedules).
Cardiff's middle distance runner/ steeplechaser Emily Brown (who was third in Saturday's Welsh Inter Regional Championships) is one of eight women chosen by UK Athletics to take part in the first Female Coach Legacy Programme.
The FCLP is a coach development initiative designed to assist already committed, qualified and experienced female coaches in bridging the gap to the elite level by providing them with the extra knowledge, skills and confidence to work at the highest level.
The programme is a led by the UKA Women in Coaching Advisory Group (WCAG) who have identified a need to increase the number of female coaches working with elite athletes.
Cardiff's Irish international Ava Hutchinson struck gold at the European Cross Country Championship held today on a snowbound course in Budapest, Hungary.
Finishing in a fine 20th place, Ava was the third finishing member of the gold medal winning Irish team, with 2011 winner Fionnuala Britton leading the team home with a successful defence of her title.
Congratulations Ava.