Following a day-long battle where the leading two crews were closely matched throughout, it was Damian Cole/Ian Davis who won the opening round of the J D Competition Tyres Welsh Tarmacadam Championship, the Tour of Caerwent Rally in their Get Connected Škoda Fabia R5. They opened up a 10-second lead on the first stage ahead of Dave Willett/John Davies, driving a Ford Escort Mk2, only for Willett to reduce Cole’s advantage to just one second after the second of six special stages at the MOD site at Caerwent. Over the next three stages, the pair were never more than three seconds apart, with Cole setting fastest times on two of the three tests, before wrapping up victory with fastest time on the final stage to end the day 11 seconds ahead of Willett.

By Tom Prosser Glamorgan head coach Matthew Maynard says Sam Northeast has the potential to be the county’s best ever domestic signing. Northeast is regarded as one of the most consistent players in the county game and arrives in Wales after spells at both Kent and Hampshire. “Sam is a phenomenal batsman and could potentially be one of Glamorgan’s best ever domestic signings,” said Maynard.

By Carl Field Rio Olympian Brinn Bevan was among the medal winners at the 2022 Artistic British Championships in Liverpool over the weekend. His bronze in the senior men’s parallel bars competition on Sunday was one of 20 medals won by Welsh gymnasts in the various categories across four action-packed days of competition at the M&S Bank Arena.

By Paul Evans  A clean sweep of four stage wins on the repeat runs through the Pantperthog, Dyfi, Big Ray and Gartheiniog forest tests was enough to give Matthew Hirst and co-driver Declan Dear victory on the WKD Trained Dogs Rally North Wales. Hirst made changes to his Delta Salvage-backed Ford Fiesta R5+ at the midday service halt in Dolgellau which transformed the car – enabling him to stretch his one second mid-distance advantage to a 24 second winning margin.

By Paul Jones Lee Selby is contemplating retirement after his latest loss, to Argentine Gustavo Lemos in Buenos Aires on Saturday night. Wales’ former world featherweight champion Selby was bidding for a shot at another world title at lightweight but suffered the first stoppage of his long career. The 35-year-old has now been beaten in […]

Natasha Cockram hopes her stunning victory at the Cardiff Half Marathon has put her on the road to running for Wales at the Commonwealth Games. Cockram produced the run of her career over 13.1 miles on Sunday to clinch the Cardiff University Cardiff Half Marathon title in style on home soil. The reigning British Marathon champion slashed two minutes off her previous personal best to become the first Welsh woman to win the event since Helen Yule 18 years ago.

By Hannah Blackwell Wales wing Lisa Neumann is confident Wales Women can be very competitive in the TikTok Women’s Six Nations which kicks off on Saturday. Ioan Cunningham’s side start with a tough assignment in Dublin against a strong Ireland side. This is the first Six Nations tournament since the Welsh Rugby Union’s historic decision […]

By Paul Evans Rallying is thriving in Wales. That’s the encouraging post-pandemic prognosis based on the quality and quantity of competitors for this weekend’s two big rallies, with a total of almost 140 cars entered for the opening rounds of Welsh forest and asphalt championships. And that’s in addition to the 86 cars that contested […]

By Graham Thomas The Bulls insist the Dragons will not be lambs to the slaughter when they become the last of the four Welsh teams to test themselves in South Africa this weekend. Taken at face value, it looks like a home banker in Pretoria with a sizeable winning margin, given that both the Scarlets […]

By Paul Evans Roger Thomas will return to the Motorsport UK British Rallycross Championship 5 Nations Trophy for a selected programme of events in 2022, driving his HT Installations-backed Ford Fiesta Supercar. The Llandysul driver began using the Fiesta in 2019, and whilst he is yet to claim an outright victory in the M-Sport built […]

By Paul Jones Welsh boxing star Lee Selby says he is “hungrier than ever” as he heads to Argentina to face Gustavo Lemos in a world title final eliminator. The 35-year- old from Barry is targeting a world title shot against unified lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr and he is desperate to gain revenge on the Australian after losing to him via split decision in October 2020.

By Gregory Harrand The weekend of the 19th/20th of March saw a welcome return of the Mervyn Hughes memorial Rali Llyn to the rallying calendar, with Arwel Hughes-Jones and Dafydd Sion-Lloyd emerging as winners. Organised by Harlech and district motor club, this popular event, sponsored by Motorsport-tools, saw a 110 mile route on OS map […]

Emil Barber is looking to take the momentum gained from his performances at the Welsh Artistic Championships into the upcoming British Championships in Liverpool. The 21-year-old Swansea artistic gymnast finished third in the men’s senior all-around event at the Welsh event in Cardiff at the end of last month, as well as retaining his Welsh titles on floor and vault. To cap the weekend, Barber also bagged bronze on parallel bars and the pommel horse. Next up is the M&S Bank Arena, where he won silver on vault in the U18 British event in March 2018 – a month before he travelled to Australia’s Gold Coast with Team Wales as a men’s reserve for the Commonwealth Games.

By Adam Cleary The Cardiff Half Marathon returns on Sunday for the first time since October 2019 after a pandemic enforced break. Race director and former marathon olympian, Steve Brace, was delighted that the famous event was making a long awaited return after seeing the 2020 and 2021 races cancelled. “Cardiff Half Marathon is such […]

Five Welsh women’s artistic gymnasts and Birmingham 2022 hopefuls will make their senior bows at the British Championships in Liverpool this week. For Jea Maracha and Poppy Stickler, it comes just four months after proudly standing on the all-around podium as juniors at the 2021 Women’s Artistic British Championships. Maracha, 16, placed second in the junior all-around in Guildford back in November, as well as taking gold on uneven bars.

European Tour star Bradley Dredge is helping to develop future golfers in and around Cardiff by becoming an ambassador for the annual Junior Open at Radyr Golf Club.

Academic Dr Val Franklin is to become the new President of Wales Golf, the next stage on a journey that started with and still includes helping junior golfers in West and Mid Wales.

By Carl Field Welsh acrobat Dylan Howells flew home from Baku, Azerbaijan, yesterday with FOUR World Championship medals safely tucked in his luggage. The 21-year-old former Ysgol Gyfun Cwm Rhymni pupil, who hails from Risca, returned with the rest of the Great Britain delegation after a week to remember at the 2022 Acrobatic World Championships.

By Owen Morgan Welsh marathon runner Josh Griffiths has been selected to represent Great Britain at a second World Athletics Championships. The Swansea Harrier, who competed at the London games five years ago, is now on his way to this summer’s championships in Oregon. Griffiths famously emerged from the ranks of the club runners at the 2017 London Marathon to qualify for the World Championships on the capital’s streets later that year.

Anyone looking for inspirational figures in Welsh sport in the week of International Women’s Day would be advised to check out the incredible efforts of Menna Fitzpatrick. Urdd Gobaith Cymru recently held their #FelMerch (translation: Like a Girl) conference in Cardiff to tie in with the annual global diary marker on March 8. FelMerch is aiming to inspire and support young women and girls to get involved in sport at all levels and Fitzpatrick would take some beating as a role model.