Handy Andy Finds Silver At End Of The Trail In Portugal

By Owen Morgan

Multi-talented Welsh distance athlete Andy Davies added a world championship silver medal to his growing and varied collection at the weekend.

The mid-Wales runner was part of the Great Britain team which finished second at the IAU/ITRA Trail World Championships in Portugal.

Davies, who has competed for Wales and Britain over the marathon distance at the Commonwealth Games and World Athletics Championships, finished 16th overall on a challenging and technical course.

The Forden runner’s time of 3:49.57 over the 44KM trail meant he was the third scoring runner home for Great Britain, securing the silver medal behind winners France and ahead of Spain in third place.

That was a tough cookie! But too technical and steep in places for me, but got through that and delighted to finish 16th overall. I was third British counter (3 to count) so we think we may have got silver! Awesome… https://t.co/Jeh41zVUyx

— Andrew Davies (@fellrunningandy) June 8, 2019

The first British runner home was Jon Albon, who clinched the individual world title after overhauling Swiss athlete Christian Mathys after the halfway point.

Davies’ latest success adds to the individual gold he won in the Masters category at the World Masters Mountain Running Championships in Slovenia last year, when he also helped the Great Britain team top the podium.

The Stockport AC athlete and Newtown College lecturer has twice finished second in the WMRA Long Distance Mountain Running Challenge, the Commonwealth Trail Championships and Three Peaks Fell Race.

In March of this year he finished 26th in the Virgin London Marathon in 2:15.37. The previous month he ran a half marathon personal best of 64:57 finishing 25th at the Barcelona Half Marathon.