Cardiff one two in Welsh 5k

Thursday 1 October 2009

Cardiff's Tom Marshall and Mike Johnson (pictured in the Cardiff 10k) took first and second places in the Welsh 5k road race championship held in Swansea last Sunday, 27th September.

Richie Gardiner, running in the Swansea 10k held on the same day, put behind him a disappointing run in the Berlin Marathon, only a week before, to take second place behind Cardiff 10k winner Jean Ndaysinga of Burundi.

Tom Marshall ran convincingly in the 5k to win by 9 seconds from club mate Mike Johnson. His time of 14:39 was a personal best performance on the road and follows a season of PBs by the promising youngster.

For Richie Gardiner, it was a gamble that paid off and he was pleased with his time of 30:51. After the race he said that, "I wanted to run today to help me decide on running in Dublin (the Dublin marathon in four weeks time) and now, hopefully I will".

Cardiff based Adam Bitchell was 5th in the 10k in 31:50 with club runner Matt Collins 10th in 32:31.

In the ladies' race, Cardiff's new signing Ava Hutchinson more than proved her worth with an excellent 3rd place, just behind Olympian Andrea Whitcombe. This was her debut over the distance for the Irish international cross country runner who has recently joined the club, having been persuaded by her boy friend, clubman Alex Haines.

It was a successful day for Cardiff with four athletes finishing in top three places at one of the UK's most established road races.

To view the full results of the 5k race click on 5k results.

To view the full results of the 10k race click on 10k results.