Tom Trotman
Athlete of the month - January
On 21st January, in the Welsh indoor championships at NIAC, Tom (14) cleared 1.86m in the high jump to take the gold medal, to improve his own personal best by no less than 10cms and to lead the UK under 15 rankings in 2012. A week later he cleared 5.80m in the long jump, to place him second in the UK at that event.
Tom is coached by Stephen Bailey and John Penny and is also an accomplished basketball player.
Michelle Allen
Athlete of the month - December
Michelle Allen is December's athlete of the month for her performance in the Welsh Inter Regional Cross Country Championships held in Builth Wells on 10th December. Running in the combined senior and under 23 race, Michelle was the winner of the under 23 championship and was 5th in the overall race.
Michelle, 21, is in her final year at Loughborough University where she is studying sports science.
Charlotte Arter
Athlete of the month - November
Charlotte is November's athlete of the month for two particularly good performances. On 13th November, she was the second runner home in the under 23 category at the McCain Cross Country Challenge in Bristol and, a couple of weeks later, was eighth in the under 23 category at the Liverpool challenge, which counted as the UK trial for the European Cross Country Championship.
Charlotte is a member of James Thie's rapidly improving coaching group and is one of our most promising female athletes.
Jake Heyward
Athlete of the month - October
In the first Gwent League of this season, at Bridgend on 9th October, Jake won the under 13 boys' race and then went on to win the under 14 race of the South Wales Regional Schools championship.
Jake has been a promising member of Tim Fry's and Diane Hains' training group for some time and has shown great promise.
Nat Lane
Athlete of the month - September
There could only be one athlete of the month in September after Nat's fine run in the Commonwealth Trail Running Championship where he took the bronze medal and helped the Welsh team to a 1-2-3 placing and the team title.
Held over a multi terrain course of some 55k, including a stretch along the beach, to come third in a field of approximately 100 runners from the Commonwealth was a fine achievement.
Matthew Field
Athlete of the month - July 2011
Matthew Field (16) is July's athlete of the month for his performances on behalf of Welsh Schools in the SIAB international, held in Cardiff on 16th July. Not content with winning the discus, he also took second place in the shot put, with a personal best performance of 16.24m. On 28th July he improved his shot put best to set a new Welsh under 17 record of 17.26m, a distance that ranks him second in the UK.
He is also ranked first in the UK in his age group with the senior shot (7.26kg) which he has thrown 12.48m and second with the junior implement (6kg) at 14.59m. He is ranked third in the UK in his age group with the under 17 discus with 51.12m and second with the heavier junior implement at 44.34m.
Matthew is coached by Nigel Bevan and is one of Wales' most promising young throwers.
Elliot Slade
Athlete of the month - June 2011
Elliot set an excellent new personal for 800m best of 1:51.82 on 15th June which put him top of the UK rankings in his age group and earned him selection for the Great Britain team at the World Youth Championships in Lille, France. He is pictured in the World Youth Championships.
Still only 16, Elliot, who is coached by Arwyn Davies, has improved his best 800m time this year by nearly 5 seconds and, in the process, has taken one of the club's oldest records.
Chris Discombe
Athlete of the month - May 2011
On 2 May, at Bedford, Chris won the British Universities Championship 3000m steeplechase in a time of 9:10.19. Three weeks later, on 22 May, he won the 3000m steeplechase at the Loughborough International. Chris, aged 31, is coached by James Thie and set a personal best time of 9:03.24 in 2010.
George Griffiths
Athlete of the month - April 2011
George is May's athlete of the month for his performance in the National Sporthall Athletics finals, held in Birmingham. Representing the Cardiff and Vale team, George (14) was the third best athlete overall in the finals, equalled the Welsh standing long jump record and helped the team to third place overall, its best ever performance. George, coached by Dave Hawthorn, is currently ranked eighth in the UK in the under 15 long jump with 5.79m.
Rowan Axe
Athlete of the month - March 2011
Rowan produced the best Welsh performance at the home countries cross country international held in Antrim, Northern Ireland on Saturday, 26th March. Competing in the junior men's race, Rowan rose to the occasion finishing in 7th place after a desperate sprint for the line with Englishman Jamie Roden, both crossing the line together with Roden just getting the nod for 6th place.
Joe Thomas
Athlete of the month - February 2011
Joe Thomas set two outsanding personal best time in February. On 13th February he clocked 1:47.87 for his number one event, the 800m, in the UK trials at Sheffield, thus gaining selection for the European Championships in Paris. On 26th he set a new personal standard in the 400m with a time of 47.94, running for the Cardiff Dragons team at Cardiff's NIAC.
Tracey Hinton
Athlete of the month - January 2011
Tracey became the automatic choice as February's athlete of the month with her outstanding performances in the recent Paralympic World Championships in New Zealand where she won two medals, a silver in the 400m (T11) and a bronze in the 200m (T11).
These exploits follow her Olympic achievements; in 1992 she won two silver medals and a bronze and, in 2000, she won one silver and two bronze medals.
Snowman
Athlete of the month - December 2010
As the bad weather disrupted so much of the competition programme in December, the award has gone to the snowman.
We hope to be back to normal in 2011.
Adam Bitchell
Athlete of the month - November 2010
Adam is November's athlete of the month for his excellent run in the McCain Liverpool Cross challenge on Sunday 28th November when he narrowly missed selection for the Great Britain team to compete in the European Cross Country Championships.
Adam is a student at UWIC in Cardiff and is coached by GB international James Thie.
Ava Hutchinson
Athlete of the month - October 2010
Ava Hutchinson has been selected as October's athlete of the month for her fine run in the National four stage road relay championship held in Birmingham on 16th October. Irish international Ava ran the first leg for the Cardiff ladies' team and handed over in first place, recording the fifth fastest time of all the runners who competed.
Michael Johnson
Athlete of the month - September 2010
Cardiff's Michael Johnson clinched his second Welsh title in a month, finishing in a personal best time for the 10k distance of 29:50 in the Cardiff 10k on 12th September. This followed his capture of the Welsh 5k title on 22nd August. A couple of weeks later, he was the first British athlete home in the Swansea 10k with another fast time.
Ffion Bodilly
Athlete of the month - August 2010
Cardiff's Ffion Bodilly took the high jump Gold Medal at the England Athletics Under 17 Championships in Bedford on 21 August with a leap of 1.73m.
She had been the only Welsh winner at the Schools international held in Glasgow in July and, a few days into September, has set a new personal best in winning the high jump at the UK Schools Games held in Gateshead.
Ffion, still only 15, has improved her personal best this year from 1.67m to 1.74m. and is ranked second in the UK.
Christian & Rhys
Athletes of the month - July 2010
This month there were two clear candidates and it was impossible to separate them as each won a silver medal in the European Championships in Barcelona.
Christian Malcolm made a superb comeback to miss the gold medal by the thickness of his vest after leading the favourite for almost the whole of the 200m final.
Rhys Williams likewise put behind him three years of injury to take the silver medal in the 400m hurdles in a personal best time, breaking 49 secs for the first time.
Two worthy athletes of the month.
Rhiannon Yates
Athlete of the month - June 2010
Rhiannon (19) has become an important member of the UK Women's League team, usually competing in at least two events. In the first round match in Cardiff on 5th June, she won the Long Jump A and took second place in the 100m B. For her contributions she was chosen as athlete of the match.
In the Welsh championships on 12 June, she won silver medals in the Long Jump and 100m; in the process establishing a personal best time of 11.98 for the latter.
Rhiannon is studying at UWIC and is coached by Sean Power.
Gareth Warburton
Athlete of the month - May 2010
On 19th May, Gareth won an 800m race at Watford in a personal best time of 1:47.38 which is also well within Wales' qualifying time (1:48.00) for selection for this year's Commonwealth Games in Delhi and took him to second place in this year's UK rankings.
A librarian at UWIC, Gareth (27) also clocked an impressive 1:48.53 in winning at Loughborough on 23 May.
Having competed in the last Commonwealth Games, his ambition is to achieve the double selection.
After stepping up from the 400m a few years' ago (Gareth's best time was 46.45 and he was a member of Great Britain's silver medal winning 4x400m relay at the 2005 European Indoor Championships), Gareth has made steady progress at the two lap race.
James Wiltshire
Athlete of the month - April 2010
With a fine early season race over 400m, James, only 17, heads the Welsh under 20 rankings with an excellent 49.00 secs which he ran in Bath on 10th April.
A student at St Cyres School, Penarth, James is coached by Helen James and narrowly missed selection for the Youth Olympic trials to be held in Moscow.
Alex Coomber
Athlete of the month - March 2010
Alex has been selected as athlete of the month as a result of his improvement during the winter season. He is a determined athlete and, in only his first season of cross country, made the Welsh schools's team for the home countries international in March and finished as the second placed Welsh team member.
He had also won the Welsh indoor under 17 800m title in a championship record time which placed him 15th in the UK rankings.
His solid winter's training should pay dividends for Alex in the forthcoming track season.
Alex Hains
Athlete of the month - February 2010
Alex Hains is February's athlete of the month for his winning performance in the Welsh Cross Country Championships in Swansea on 20th February.
Alex took the senior men's individual title in emphatic style, running away from the field from the start, and, with Nat Lane second, led the club's team to regain its Welsh title.
This performance capped an excellent run in January's Cardiff Cross Challenge when he had finished in fourth place.
Gareth Hopkins
Athlete of the month - January 2010
Gareth's performances in the Welsh indoor championships have earned for him the title of athlete of the month.
In the Under 20 championships, held on 31 January, he won the 200m (22.13) and 400m (50.00) and took third place in the 60m (7.10). In the 400m heats he had set a championship best performance of 49.46.
Gareth competed in the senior championships on 23 January, winning the 200m in a new championship record of 22.16 and taking fifth in the 60m.
Gareh is coached by Helen James who was herself an international sprinter.
Mike Ward
Athlete of the month - December 2009
Besides winning the Welsh Inter Regional title at Builth Wells in December, Mike was selected after the race for the Welsh U17 team to take part in the Celtic International in Belfast on the 23rd January.
Mike also won the October (Bridgend) and November (Bath) Gwent League Under 15 races and was 3rd in Taunton.
Only training twice weekly and playing rugby so far, Mike has excellent future potential.
Ava Hutchinson
Athlete of the month - November 2009
Cardiff member and Irish international Ava Hutchinson' selection to represent her native country in the European Cross Country Championships which will be held in Dublin on 13th December has earned for her the title of athlete of the month.
Competing for her Irish club Dundrum South Dublin AC, Ava (pictured during the race) was sixth in the Irish Inter County championships at the Kilbeggan Racecourse, near Dublin, to gain selection.
Ava lives and works in Loughborough and competes regularly for Cardiff. She will be very much at home in the European Championships as Dublin is her home town.
Tom Marshall
Athlete of the month - October 2009
Tom Marshall has been selected as October's athlete of the month for his fine run in the National 6 stage road relays held on 17th October in Birmingham.
Tom ran the first leg, finishing in 6th place in 17:17, the second fastest time ever recorded by a Cardiff athlete in this race. The fastest time is held by Olympian Christian Stevenson.
Tom had also won the Welsh 5k road race championship held on 27th September.
Lewis Newton
Athlete of the month - September 2009
Lewis is selected as the athlete of the month for his performance in the UK Schools Games where he was one of only 8 Welsh athletes to finish in a medal position. His pole vault of 3.85m earned him the bronze medal.
Lewis was also a member of the triumphant Young Athletes' League team being chosen as the athlete of the match at the fourth round fixture. He was also the club's under 17 athlete of the year and is seen with his award at the presentation evening.
He ended the year ranked third in the UK under 17 pole vault with his best performance of 4.40m set in Carmarthen on 1st August.
Joe Thomas
Athlete of the month - August 2009
After setting a personal best time of 1:46.20 for 800m in 2008, Joe could expect to look forward to 2009 as an important year in his career; until he was struck by illness which severely disrupted his season.
He has finished 2009 with a bang, clocking a near pb of 1:46.36 on 6th August and following this with a fine third place in the British Grand Prix at Gateshead on 31 August, beating British No. 1 Michael Rimmer.
Joe is ranked third on the UK table for 2009.
Simon Lawson
Athlete of the month - July 2009
There could be only one candidate for July's athlete of the month after Simon Lawson crowned a fabulous season by taking the silver medal in the 10,000m at the European Junior Championships in Novi Sad, Serbia. His time of 30.35.62 was outside his best but this is not significant in such an important race.
Simon's was the first British medal in these Championships.
Earlier this season, Simon set a new Welsh Junior 10,000m record of 30.03.90 before becoming UK National champion over the same distance and qualifying for Novi Sad.
After the race Simon said “Coming here and taking a medal is great. I think more athletes should run 10k, but I know they can be discouraged from doing it. I’m running about 100 miles a week and yes I may burn out but you don’t know unless you try. What’s the point of running 1500s until you’re 26 or 27, by then it could be too late. Just get out there and do it – that’s what I’m about!”
Well, he has certainly gone out and done it - in style.
Jamaul Whyte
Athlete of the month - June 2009
Jamaul Whyte completed a successful June's competition programme by winning the Welsh Schools Championship middle boys' titles in both the 100m and 200m and by being selected in both events for the Welsh Schools teams for the schools international to be held in Antrim on 18th July and for the UK Schools Games in Cardiff on 5/6 September.
Still only 15, and at St Teilo's school, Jamaul had already established himself as an important and inspirational member of the club's successful Young Athletes' League team, regularly winning the 100m and 200m and, as a multi eventer, competing in other events as well.
A talented athlete and a character, Jamaul can be recognised by his trademark long stripey socks and pink hoodie.
Well done Jamaul.
Sam Cogan
Athlete of the Month - May 2009
Sam Cogan has had an extraordinary May competing for Cardiff AAC. Primarily a 100m/200m runner, she was asked to fill in the 300m at the first National Young Athletes' League meeting at Plymouth and, after a little persuasion on the coach journey to the venue, agreed. She went out to clock a staggering 42.0sec, looking the part and winning by a considerable margin. She has since been undefeated at this event and has improved her best time to 40.7sec (a grade 1 performance), ranking her 1st in Wales and 15th in the UK. She is also ranked 3rd in Wales over 200m with 26.1sec.
Sam was a wonderful team captain in Plymouth and, when she concentrates her training on her new event, will surely run well below 40sec. She is and will continue to be an asset to the club and a role model on the track, exemplified by her determination to maintain her form in the final 100m of a difficult event.
Sam has got off to a flying start in June by becoming Welsh champion with a personal best time. Congratulations Sam.
Richie Gardiner
Athlete of the Month - April 2009.
It was not difficult to select April's athlete of the month after Richie's performance in the 2009 Flora London Marathon on 26 April. His UK third place in 2h 19.48 was his second fastest marathon time but an agonising 8 seconds short of the qualification time needed for next year's Commonwealth Games. A month earlier Richie had finished in 8th place in the Bath Half Marathon, two places behind March's athlete of the month Simon Lawson.
Simon Lawson
Athlete of the Month - March 2009.
Club member Simon Lawson (only 18) set a new UK Junior record when coming 6th in the Bath Half Marathon on 15th March. Naturally this is also a new Welsh and club record. This was a world class run by Simon who broke the old record (set in 1988) by almost a minute, finishing in 1:05:49.46. Simon is one of the club’s most promising runners and this break through offers much for his future athletic career. Well done Simon and good luck.
8th in the same race was club colleague and distinguished marathoner Richard Gardiner and the club team came first in the team race.