Dewi Griffiths Denied By Injury And Will Seek Tests Ahead Of Gold Coast Countdown

By Rob Cole

Dewi Griffiths will undergo tests on his right hamstring after another attack of cramp ruined his chances of capping a wonderful year with the European Cross Country title.

The Swansea Harrier led the field through 2,000 metres in Samorin, Slovakia, and was still in the mix at 4,110m sharing the lead with British team mate Andrew Butchart. But then cramp struck in his right hamstring and he was forced to pull out 400 metres later.

“It is the same hamstring in my right leg that caused me a few problems on my marathon debut in Frankfurt,” explained Griffiths, who is hoping to double up over 5,000 and 10,000 at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in April.

“On that occasion I was able to push on through the final six miles, but this time I simply wasn’t able to run. I’ll get myself checked out when I return and hopefully it won’t be an on-going issue.

“It was a shame because once again I was in the race for the title and felt in pretty good shape. It was great the British team managed to win the team bronze, but that is small consolation given I felt I could have had a shot at winning the race.”

Butchart went on to finish third and he was backed up by Ben Connor (6^th), Tom Lancashire (26^th), Alex Teuten (38^th) and Sam Stabler (45^th). The team bronze was just one of a number won by Welsh athletes on another great weekend for British athletics.

Cardiff AAC’s Tom Marshall made the most of his late call-up to the Mixed Relay squad as he brought home the British quartet in the gold medal position as a replacement for Charlie Grice. Marshall was forced to hold off the Czech Republic’s Jakub Holusa, the 2015 European indoor 1500 metre champion, in the closing stages.

Marshall went into the final leg with a four second lead on Houlsa, but with 300 metres left to run Marshall began to tire as the Czech athlete put in a brilliant final burst that took him past the Spaniards to claim the silver medal. All the pressure was on Marshall but he stayed strong to ensure the British team took the inaugural title from the other 10 competing nations.

“I wanted to win this so badly. Coming back up that home straight, there was no way I was going to let anyone past me,” said Marshall, who took the tape one second ahead of Houlsa.

“By the time it got to Sarah (McDonald) I knew we had this as we were so far away ahead and the team had done a phenomenal job. The nerves had calmed down by that point.”

Another Welsh athlete, Melissa Courtney, led off the British team and Cameron Boyek and Sarah McDonald ensured Marshall had a lead on the final leg. The Spaniards took bronze a further second behind the Czech team.

There was another gold medal for a Welsh athlete as Swansea Harrier Cari Hughes came home as the second scorer for Britain in the Under 20 women’s race. Harriet Knowles-Jones took the title with a convincing winning margin of 11 seconds in 13 min, 48 sec, with Hughes back in ninth place in 14:15 and Khahisa Mhlanga 11^th in 14:16 completing the gold medal scoring.

North Walian Matt Willis was first Brit home in the Junior Men’s race in 14^th, with European Junior 1500 metre champion Jake Heywood fifth scorer in 30^th. The British team finished sixth.