West Wales Indoor Athletics Championships 2020 attracts big crowds to Swansea University Sports Village

Following a busy start to the New Year, it was the turn of the West Wales and North Wales athletes to shine over the weekend (January 11-12) following last week’s South and East Wales Regional Championships in Cardiff.

Using the fantastic facilities at Swansea University Sports Campus and the North Wales Indoor Athletic Centre within Coleg Cambria in Deeside, it was a great opportunity for experienced and new athletes to try out Indoor competition at two annual friendly fixtures.

In Swansea, a total of 265 athletes entered the 2020 West Wales Indoor Athletics Championships 2020 held at the University Indoor Athletics Track. Held over two days on Saturday 11th January and Sunday 12th January, athletes battled it out alongside their local friends from the Swansea Harriers, Carmarthen Harriers, Pembrokeshire Harriers, Neath Harriers, Llanelli AC and Run4All Neath clubs.

The championship was open to all age groups from the young under 11’s perhaps making their debuts in an indoor competition to the experienced and elite under 17/20 and seniors, looking to impress ahead of upcoming major races which are on the way before the winter months comes to an end.

Because of the growth and popular turnout in competitors over the past few years, the championships had again been split into a two-day weekend to fit in all the disciplines on offer. The majority of the field events (jumps) were held on Saturday which included the Long Jump, Triple Jump, High Jump and Pole Vault. For all those Shot putters, their chance to compete came 24 hours later alongside the track events on day 2.

Sunday in particular attracted a large number of spectators to the venue to enjoy the sprint and hurdles races, with plenty of noise created on the side-lines. The 60m Hurdles heats and finals were the first to go at lunchtime, and this was followed for the remainder of the afternoon by a series of 60m sprint races.

For the second season in succession, the Welsh Athletics Junior Indoor Open Meeting incorporated the West Wales championships in the 200m to 1500m events in December and the recent, last weekend at the National Indoor Athletics Centre at Cyncoed.

Back in Swansea, all the other remaining disciplines were contested and medals up for grabs. For the sixty-seven participants who competed in the Open element just a week earlier in Cardiff (60m, 60m Hurdles, Long Jump, Pole Vault, Shot), this was great preparation ahead of Swansea seven days later.

Gold, Silver and Bronze regional medals were presented to the top three in each event across all age groups.

The West Wales Indoor Athletics Championships could not have run without the help of the volunteers in front of and behind the scenes.

The West Wales Outdoor Track and Field Athletics Championships returns (venue TBC) on Sunday 10th May. There’s plenty of other indoor and cross-country fixture on the way between now and the beginning of the track and field season.