World Half Marathon places up for grabs at the Cardiff Half
The 2015 Cardiff Half Marathon, that takes place today, will see a host of Britain’s finest road runners competing for the British Half Marathon Championship title, a place in the GB & NI team for the 2016 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships, on 26 March next year, and top points in the runbritain Grand Prix.
Newly crowned World Mountain Running Championship silver medallist Emily Collinge (handicap 1.6) will compete to the women’s race as she returns to Wales for the first time since her medal winning exploits in Betws-y-Coed last month. She was also part of the gold medal winning senior women’s team and will be seeking similar success on the road this weekend.
There will be a fascinating encounter with three debutants taking on the half marathon distance and aiming for domestic glory on the South Wales coast. 2012 European U23 cross country champion Jess Coulson (handicap -1.6) will line-up alongside Lauren Deadman (handicap -0.8), who has set personal bests over 3000m and 5000m on the track as well as 10km on the road in 2015. Faye Fullerton (handicap -1.0) will also make her maiden appearance over the distance with the experienced Michelle Ross-Cope (handicap -0.9) another one to watch out for.
The men’s race includes Ian Kimpton (handicap -5.1) who has been in fine form in 2015, lowering his PB in the half marathon to 64.30 in Reading, at the first race in the Grand Prix, earlier this year. He will be one of the favourites to take the British title alongside Welshman Dewi Griffiths (handicap -5.5) who will be well supported by the home crowd.
2014 British half marathon champion Ryan McLeod (handicap -5.2) will return to Cardiff looking to defend his title. Others to watch out for include Jonny Hay (handicap -4.3) and Paul Martelleti (handicap -4.5).
The first two placed eligible athletes in this race will be selected for the team representing GB &NI at the 2016 World Half Marathon Championships, subject to fitness and provided they have achieved the relevant time during the qualification period (1 January 2015 - 6 March 2016). For the selection policy follow the link:
http://www.britishathletics.org.uk/world-class/2016-selection-policies/
The 13.1 mile route will also play host to the fifth leg in the six-stage runbritain Grand Prix series with important points up for grabs in the race. With current leaders John Beattie (handicap -4.8) and Liz Hartney (handicap 3.9) not running this weekend, a handful of athletes will be aiming to shorten their leads in the standings ahead of the final event at the Leeds Abbey Dash 10km on November 15.
For more details about the Cardiff half marathon, follow the link: http://www.cardiffhalfmarathon.co.uk/
For the current standings in the runbritain Grand Prix, visit the website here: http://www.runbritainrankings.com/grandprix/standings.aspx