Amelia Quirk and Emile Cairess impress behind the flying Kenyans at an event that saw athletes chasing World Athletics Tour, British Cross Challenge and Gwent League honours

Pamela Kosgei is only 18 but the young Kenyan cruised to victory in the senior womens race at the Cardiff Cross Challenge on Saturday (Oct 15). Clearly super talented, you dont have to look far to find where she gets her running ability from. Her sister is none other than world marathon record-holder Brigid Kosgei.

Before Cardiff her only race outside Kenya had been at the World Under-20 Championships in Colombia a couple of months ago where she finished fifth in the steeplechase. Yet she looked at home on the damp turf of Llandaff Fields and as even offered mid-race words of encouragement to rival runner Amelia Quirk, before breaking clear in the closing stages for an emphatic win.

It was a bit scary to start with but I managed to win and enjoyed it, said Kosgei, who that added she only began running seriously last year.

On having a world record-breaking sister, the teenager smiled: I sometimes train with her but its quite hard to keep up!

The Cardiff event is part of the relatively new World Athletics Cross Country Tour. But it is best-known for being the opening fixture of the British Athletics Cross Challenge series. Runner-up Quirk was therefore the first athlete home in the Cross Challenge section, a few seconds ahead of Jess Gibbon.

I cant say the same kind of talent runs in my family, Quirk quipped. Although I do have a sister who plays football and shes played for England as a youth.

Today was good but Im still finding my feet in cross-country (this season) so far, added Quirk, who is coming into great form after an ankle injury scuppered her summer plans.

Runners of all ages and abilities rubbed shoulders as the event was not only part of the global governing bodys international circuit and British Athletics Cross Challenge series but it included the grassroots Gwent Cross Country League. This meant quite a few club runners got lapped in the closing stages of the senior mens race, but Edward Zakayo negotiated the traffic as the Kenyan weaved past the back-markers to sprint to victory.

On the final lap Zakayo had Joel Akayo and Rogers Kibet of Uganda for company but he had the better kick on the long and slightly downhill home straight.

Zakayo is used to racing on British soil as he was fourth in the Commonwealth Games 10,000m in Birmingham in August. His big target this winter involves racing on the other side of the world, though, as he wants to make the Kenyan team for the World Cross Country Championships in Australia in February.

The race was good today but I felt I wasnt in shape as this year has been so busy for me, said Zakayo. I tried to make the team for the World Championships (in Eugene) and then I did the Commonwealth Games, so I was doubting myself here today. But on the last lap I began to push and got a lead and realised I could make it.

Edward Zakayo won the mens race at the Cardiff Cross Challenge today and is keen to make the Kenyan team for the World Cross in Australia in February. pic.twitter.com/qrYh6rotxe

AW (@AthleticsWeekly) October 15, 2022

Emile Cairess lost touch with the leaders with about 3km to go and found himself in no mans land for a short while. Approaching the finish he was caught by Gizealaw Abeje Ayana but the Brit managed to hold off the Ethiopian in a frantic sprint to the line for fourth place.

Cairess says cross-country running isnt his forte but the Yorkshireman was attracted to the Cardiff course due to its flat and firm terrain. Next weekend he is hoping to improve his half-marathon PB of 61:16 in Lisbon. After that he wants to target the British trials in Liverpool for the European Cross Country Champs in Turin in December before potentially tackling a marathon in 2023 under the guidance of his new coach Renato Canova.

Id like to try to qualify for the Euros, said Cairess. Its in Italy so should be firm and fast. I was 59^th in the last Euro Cross so I need to have a good race and put that to bed!

Many of the young athletes who ran well in Cardiff have similar ambitions of making the team for the European Championships in Turin. These include Innes Fitzgerald, who, despite still being an under-17, made light work of the combined under-17 and under-20 womens race to win in style.

Earlier this month the Exeter Harrier won the Mini London Marathon impressively too and she took the transition from the road to grass in her stride on Saturday as Zoe Gilbody finished runner-up and Jess Bailey third. Both Gilbody and Bailey are still under-17, too, which meant the first under-20 home was Alice Bates.

Im glad it was a flat course to ease me into the cross-country season, said Fitzgerald, who front-ran her way to victory. There was a log jump too which I wasnt sure whether to hurdle it or step on it but it turned out okay in the end. I was over-thinking it!

On coming weeks, she added: I dont think Ill run the Milton Keynes Challenge but want to concentrate on Liverpool so that I can run well there.

Edward Bird once again lived up to his name by flying to victory in the under-20 mens race. The tall Poole AC athlete has impressed lately on the track and country and says he loves the latter and is looking forward to getting stuck into hillier and muddier courses this winter.

I felt a bit fatigued during the race, said Bird, but my mentality was if Im hurting then theyre hurting. I felt I could hurt more than them, so I kept pushing on.

Cross country is the purest form of running. Its just you and the elements so I really get on well with it. Its my first love too.

Isaac Morris of Cambridge & Coleridge is another athlete to get his cross-country campaign off to a fine start as he stormed to the win in the under-17 mens race. He aims to pace his way through the season, though, as his main goal is the English National near Chester in February.

Like lots of athletes in Cardiff he was wearing modern track spikes as opposed to cross-country spikes in the firm underfoot conditions and said: I sat in most of the way and felt decent the whole way around.

As for his big target? The National under-17 race, he declared. Everything else is just training building up for that although I will do more races like the national cross country races in Mansfield and Liverpool Cross Challenge.

Isaac Morris of Cambridge & Coleridge on his U17 mens win at the Cardiff Cross Challenge.

His big winter goal? The National! pic.twitter.com/CDQvYj0YcQ

AW (@AthleticsWeekly) October 15, 2022

Libby Hale and Matthew Clark won the under-15 races to get their British Cross Challenge series off to a great start. Swansea Harrier Hale had a short trip of about one hour to compete, but Clarks journey was much longer as he competes for Preston Harriers in north-west England.

My race plan wasnt to run from the front but when the gun went I thought why not go for it, said Clark. My goal this winter is to try to win the overall Cross Challenge.

Perhaps the most exciting race of the day came in the under-13 boys race with Ewan Sparey of Bristol & West sprinting past Rhuairdh Laing of Victoria Park City of Glasgow AC in the final metres. Bryony Boyce of Cardiff, meanwhile, won the under-13 girls race.

Bryony Boyce takes U13 girls victory at the Cardiff Cross Challenge. pic.twitter.com/n987oKA0x1

AW (@AthleticsWeekly) October 15, 2022

Former 800m runner Gareth Balch explains how the marketing strategies of his company, Two Circles, are aiming to revitalise major athletics events in the UK

The days of seeing half-empty stands at British Athletics major events could be numbered if one of Jack Buckners early moves as the new chief executive of the governing body pays off.

One of the first things the former European 5000m champion has done is to sign up the sports marketing company Two Circles to help sell tickets and promote the sport.

During its 11-year history, Two Circles has built up an impressive resume, having worked with UEFA, Wimbledon, The Premier League and The Hundred. Buckner has also worked with them before in his previous roles in charge of swimming and triathlon.

There is a strong athletics link with Two Circles, too. The name is derived from the 800m event and one of its founders, Gareth Balch, ran 1:46.75 in 2008.

The 39-year-old was on the cusp of being selected for teams for major championships but felt he was in no mans land as an 800m runner and decided to hang up his spikes in order to pursue a career in sports marketing.

I gave it everything I had for seven or eight years until I was in my mid-20s and realised I was in diminishing returns at that point, he says.

Initially he worked for Manchester City before setting up the Two Circles business. I thought if I could work in sport for the rest of my life Id be happy, he says. Manchester City was a really dynamic football club at the time and I learnt a lot there. Then, in 2011, I saw an opportunity to start a business and weve been doing it ever since.

AW spoke with Balch at Hayward Field towards the end of the World Championships in Eugene (this article first appeared in our September magazine) and it was clear that he has a huge passion for athletics. After struggling to make a true impact on the track himself, he now has an opportunity to help turn around the fortunes of major athletics events in the UK due to his companys data technology solutions.

What does that mean, though? We aggregate large amounts of data to understand what audiences most want, he explains. We help sports understand audiences and help relay that to the biggest investors in that sport which are often sponsors or media partners to help them get more value out of them.

During his early days at UK Athletics, Buckner has described the sport as a sleeping giant domestically. Balch agrees and feels there is huge potential to get the athletics arenas buzzing again.

Athletics delivers massive audiences on a really infrequent basis, he says. Every four years the audiences are bigger than any Olympic sport and as big as youd get for any sport around the world but the rest of the Olympic cycle its really small.

Track and field is my favourite sport but I spend a lot of time in other sports and athletics is enormously underperforming. Its seen far too much as a recreational pursuit instead of a business.

The current era of sports marketing is going to be defined by a whole bunch of sports continuing to grow faster and those who dont innovate will fall away. If you look at the audiences for the Diamond League in London from 2012 to 2019, they were in sharp decline and this is in an era when we saw a 22 per cent growth in attendance in sports events in the UK.

Youve got to think were missing a trick, especially when we had London 2017 which showed athletics in all its beauty and its pomp.

On the UK Championships, which once again featured disappointing attendances this summer in Manchester, he says: There are friends and family in the stands and nothing more than that and thats a crying shame.

The quality of the athletics is amazing and arguably better than in the past. But we cant even get hardcore track and field fans to come and enjoy it let alone the more transient sports fans.

There is nothing there for them and athletics has to wake up and recognise it needs to compete in that space otherwise it is on a road to irrelevance.

Balchs warning is worrying but, overall, he is optimistic. There continues to be huge appeal for the sport so were many, many Olympic cycles away from athletics not being the No.1 Olympic sport by viewing hours.

The heartland of people having a basic appeal for athletics is true, but the ability to create events that the average sports fan wants to come and watch were a long way away from that.

At Two Circles we want to get to customers quickly and begin to understand what they want.

While there were many podium moments for British athletes to celebrate at the European Champs in Munich, Jacob Fincham-Dukes had his taken away

As he made his way around the track on his lap of honour in the Munich Olympic Stadium in August, Jacob Fincham-Dukes allowed his mind to wander. I was already thinking about what it could mean in terms of getting on some funding, getting into better meets next year and even ideas of sponsorship, he says of the fringe benefits which accompany podium success.

The it in question was the European silver medal he appeared to have won. An opening round 8.06m in the mens long jump final had given the Briton an early lead and, though Olympic champion Militadis Tentoglou ultimately won gold, the Greek was the only athlete to jump further.

Fincham-Dukes was still thrilled at the thought of winning the first major senior medal of his career and he was allowed to take the applause of the substantial crowd, even to conduct some media interviews, before he heard the news.

I was heading into the media tunnel and there was a random person who asked me: Do you have any comment about the jumps not counting? I was like, What do you mean? and he replied: Well on the result, theyve changed it. Theyre removed your 8.06m.

At this point, it was all hands on deck panic because we had no idea what was happening.

A protest had been lodged by the French team that Fincham-Dukes foot had been marginally over the line for that 8.06m leap, a distance which had been matched in later rounds by Swedens Thobias Montler and Frenchman Jules Pommery. The Briton had remained in second place due to his second-best effort of 7.97m until the protest showed he had, in fact, committed a foul by the tiniest of margins.

Under the old system of using plasticine on the board, it would have been a legal jump but the new and seemingly constantly controversial system of using technology to determine if any part of the athletes foot has broken the vertical plane determined his attempt could not stand. He would be demoted to fifth.

The British team launched a counter protest and it wasnt until gone midnight hours after the competition when it all became official. Many have questioned why so much time was allowed to elapse between Fincham-Dukes jump and the protest being made.

If he had known during the competition, there would have been time to adjust and try again. On this occasion, there were no second chances.

It changes everything and not just for me, he says. I knew I wasnt going to touch Tentoglou so it was a case of Im defending this from the other competitors. Your mindsets different and, for the others theyll think Jacobs jumped 8.06m so I now need to do this.

It sets the precedent throughout the entire competition. People have different mindsets, they approach jumps differently. Even subconsciously, you need to put in more effort on something going down the runway. Being allowed all of that time was an absolute joke.

Theres a massive, massive problem with the time period for sure and that really shouldnt have been allowed to happen, in my opinion. I was over the moon about [winning the medal] and to have it stripped away like that, it cuts deep.

As for the change of methods for judging no jumps, Fincham-Dukes believes it is a case of athletics creating a problem where previously there was none.

I see no problem with the plasticine at all, he says. Its been used forever. I guess theyre bringing in this camera technology with the laser to remove any ambiguity but then you end up with the exact situation that this was supposed to prevent. Sometimes technology isnt the better way to do it.

You can look at the pictures 100 times over and its just such small margins in terms of what theyre dealing with. If the technology didnt pick it up, I think thats fair game at that point. And, honestly, mine wasnt even the only instance at the championships where there were things like that.

I think plasticine has worked and if you asked the athletes about it they would say the same. However, ask them about this technology after one year of using it and weve got a huge issue.

Theres been a tonne of external support from other athletes, which is where it means the most to me because those are the people with the knowledge. Those are the people with the expertise and theyre just like this is a joke.

With each passing day the pain eases a little and despite the lack of silver in his pocket Fincham-Dukes is actually better set for next year due to a rise in the world rankings.

He has also just moved from Oklahoma to Dallas, Texas, to begin a new job as a Business Development Associate with a tech company.

When it comes to training, however, he wont have to look far to find motivation.

Having the medal taken away from me is definitely going to fuel that fire, he says.

On those cold, cold days when youre doing the running that you dont want to do, or theres that extra rep in your lifts that youre trying to push out I think that will just be there in the back of my mind to get me through things.

Ethiopias world record-breaking duo step into the unknown by tackling 26.2 miles in Amsterdam on Sunday

Genzebe Dibaba and Almaz Ayana have earned their reputation on the track as world record-breaking endurance runners but on Sunday the Ethiopian duo make their marathon debut in Amsterdam.

Dibaba, 31, holds the world record for 1500m with 3:50.07 set in Monaco in 2015 but has also broken world records indoors at the mile, two miles, 2000m, 3000m and 5000m.

The furthest she has ever raced in 13.1 miles but she clocked a fast 65:18 when winning in Valencia in 2020. It was the fastest half-marathon debut by a woman in history at the time, but she has raced very sparingly since.

Ayana has also not raced much lately but at her peak in 2016 she won the Olympic 10,000m title in a world record of 29:17.45. The 30-year-olds half-marathon best is 67:10 when placing third at the Great North Run last month.

Speaking at the pre-event press conference at the citys Vondelpark this week, Dibaba said: I am going for a good time and a good position, whereas Ayana looked similarly confident, saying simply: Im going to do well.

The flat and fast course that winds around the Dutch city is known for producing fast times with the course records held by Tamirat Tola with 2:03:39 and Angela Tanui with 2:17:57 both of which were set last year.

This years leading athletes in the mens field are Cybrian Kotut and Lemi Berhanu. The former has won marathons in Hamburg, Paris and Florence and has a best of 2:04:47, whereas Berhanu run a best of 2:04:33 from Dubai in 2016 and he won the Boston Marathon in the same year.

The race for the Dutch title will be competitive, meanwhile, between Khalid Choukoud and Richard Douma in the mens race and Jacelyn Gruppen and Eva van Zoonen for the womens title.

The event is streamed on the event website and for UK viewers is being shown on Eurosport and Discovery+ channels.