Niels Laros leads entries for Cardiff Cross Challenge

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Young Dutch runner and fellow Olympic 1500m finalist Stefan Nillessen face last year’s one-two in the Welsh capital, Keneth Kiprop and Vincent Mutai

Niels Laros, the Dutch teenager who was sixth in the Olympic 1500m final this year, will enjoy an early-winter endurance test at the Cardiff Cross Challenge on Saturday (Nov 9).

It promises to be a true test as well as the 19-year-old is set to face the top two men from the Cardiff Cross Challenge last year – Keneth Kiprop of Uganda and Vincent Mutai of Kenya – plus fellow Dutchman, training partner and Olympic 1500m finalist Stefan Nillessen.

Laros clocked a European under-20 1500m record of 3:29.54 in Paris in August as he finished behind Cole Hocker, Josh Kerr, Yared Nuguse, Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Hobbs Kessler. Nillessen, meanwhile, was ninth in Paris in 3:30.75 and is the reigning European under-23 champion.

It promises to be a great race with the going on the Llandaff Fields course set to be firm and fast following recent dry weather and unseasonably warm temperatures. The event’s status as a World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold Label continues to attract quality line-ups. The event is also the first of this winter’s British Athletics Cross Challenge series.

Age-group races and the inclusion of the John H Collins Gwent Cross Country League mean there will be a strong turn-out from club runners. Not surprisingly, Brits are also using the event as a warm-up for the Euro Trials in Liverpool two weeks later.

Laros clearly enjoys tackling cross-country as part of his preparation for the summer track season. Last winter, for example, he was narrowly beaten by Axel Vang Christensen in the under-20 race at the European Cross Country Championships in Brussels.

Kiprop, who is still only 19, set a fierce pace from the front in Cardiff last year. Since then he has gone on to win 5000m bronze in the World Under-20 Championships in Lima this year.

Mutai will be looking for revenge this year and is familiar with the Welsh capital as he is a former winner of the Cardiff Half Marathon.

Other contenders include Célestin Ndikumana and Emile Hafashimana of Burundi, Daniel Kibet of Uganda, former Dutch 1500m champion Robin van Riel and Younes Kniya of Morocco. Kibet should be especially dangerous as he was 11th in the World Cross earlier this year.

The British challenge is led by Zak Mahamed, who is fresh from a half-marathon PB of 62:07 in Valencia and who was top Brit in Cardiff 12 months ago in fourth place, plus Charlie and George Wheeler, who impressed 12 months ago when placing in the top 10. Ireland’s Efrem Gidey, meanwhile, is also set to compete.

Welshman Osian Perrin is also due to race with Dafydd Jones and James Heneghan adding to the local interest.

Sheila Jebet of Kenya, who was fourth in the under-20 race at the World Cross Country Championships this year, leads the women’s entries along with Charity Cherop, who took 5000m bronze for Uganda at the World Under-20 Championships in Lima this summer.

READ MORE: Cardiff Cross Challenge 2023 coverage

Look out as well for rising Ethiopian star Tsige Teshome, Veerle Baaker, Emmy Van Den Berg and Femke Rosbergen of the Netherlands, plus Sofia Thøgersen of Denmark, the European under-20 cross-country runner-up behind Innes FitzGerald in Brussels last year.

Brits in action include Izzy Fry, Amelia Quirk, Jess Gibbon, Charlotte Alexander, Sara Axford, Sarah Astin, Alex Bell, Cari Hughes and the evergreen Gemma Steel, the latter of whom won the European cross-country title 10 years ago.

FitzGerald, meanwhile, runs the under-20 women’s race and will be a strong favourite to win again following her 57-second clear victory in 2023.

Timetable
11:02 – U11 girls – 1250m
11:12 – U11 boys – 1250m
11:25 – U13 girls – 2780m
11:45 – U13 boys – 2780m
12:00 – U15 girls – 3200m
12:15 – U15 boys – 3200m
12:30 – U17/20 women – 4450m
12:55 – Senior women and masters – 6400m
13:40 – U17/20 men – 5560m
14:05 – Senior men and masters – 9600m

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