The British Athletics Cross Challenge returns for 2022/23 on Saturday 15 October at Llandaff Fields in Cardiff at an event which incorporates the World Athletics Cross Country Tour (Gold).

2021/22 Cross Challenge senior winners, Zakariya Mahamed (coach: Idris Hamud, club: Southampton) and Jess Gibbon (Reading) will both return for the Series opener in South Wales.

Mahamed won the men’s competition last year, but only finished fourth in Cardiff last October, so he will be seeking a strong start to the Autumn / Winter campaign. He will line up alongside his brother Mahamed Mahamed (coach: Idris Hamud, club: Southampton) who won the overall series back in 2019/20.

Another athlete to keep an eye on in the senior men’s race is Emile Cairess (Alan Storey, Leeds) who moved to second on the UK all-time list over 10km in January this year when he clocked a time of 27:43 in Valencia.

In the women’s contest, Gibbon enjoyed a consistent series last year on her way to overall victory. She will face a strong line-up in South Wales which includes Amelia Quirk (Mick Woods, Bracknell) who is fresh from setting the fastest senior women’s leg at last week’s 4-stage Road Relays at Sutton Park.

Last year’s U20 European cross country champion, Megan Keith (Ross Cairns, Inverness) steps up in age group as she competes in the senior race, while Jenny Nesbitt (Chris Jones, Pontypridd), Philippa Bowden (Helen Clitheroe, Aldershot, Farnham and District) and Kate Avery (Shildon) will all be aiming for strong performances over the terrain on Saturday.

There is a full programme of age group races as well from U11s up to the U20s. Also, as the event is a World Athletics Cross Country tour (Gold) event, there will be a number of overseas athletes competing in the senior races. The first event gets underway at 11:30am on Saturday 15 October.

The event will be streamed on Welsh Athletics’ YouTube page. It can be found here.

Start lists and a timetable can be found here.