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By Owen Morgan
Four Welsh international athletes will be hoping to celebrate St David’s Day with standout performances on the streets of London next month.
Dewi Griffiths, Josh Griffiths, Charlie Hulson and Clara Evans feature in the star-studded elite field at the Vitality London Big Half on March 1.
The men’s line-up includes the likes of Kenyan distance superstars Lawrence Cherono and Kenenisa Bekele.
Cherono has already been selected by Kenya for the Tokyo Olympics and is the current champion at both the Boston and Chicago marathons.
Bekele is the world record holder over 5000m and 10,000m and is the second-fastest marathon runner in history behind the legendary Eilud Kipchoge.
Dewi Griffiths is the second fastest British athlete in the elite field with a personal best of 61.33.
The Swansea Harrier, who finished fourth in this event last March, is on his way back from a balance issue which blighted the remainder of 2019 and is targeting a place on the Great Britain marathon team for Tokyo.
His Swansea clubmate Josh Griffiths finished 11th at last year’s race and has further fond memories of running in the capital after his breakthrough performance at the 2017 London Marathon and subsequent selection for Great Britain at the World Athletics Championships in the city later that year.
Griffiths will be hoping to catch the eye of the British selectors again and improve on the half marathon personal best of 64.23, which he registered in the Czech Republic last September.
The trio of Welsh internationals in the elite men’s field is completed by Wrexham AC’s Charlie Hulson, who clocked a half marathon personal best last year when he finished 13th at the Cardiff Half Marathon in 64.28.
Also toeing the line will be Cardiff Metropolitan University athlete Jake Smith, who is the third-fastest Briton in the field.
The women’s elite race features a strong field of British athletes including Lily Partridge and Hayley Carruthers.
Joining them of the start line will be Cardiff Athletics’ Clara Evans, who finished sixth in last year’s race in a time of 73.33.
Evans will also be representing Wales at this weekend’s Barcelona Half Marathon, where she last year clocked her personal best of 72.49.
