Cari Hughes

Last updated

Cari Hughes
2025 UK Athletics Championships 20250802 184403 Cari Hughes.jpg
Cari Hughes at the 2025 UK Athletics Championships
Personal information
NationalityBritish (Welsh)
Born (1999-03-15) 15 March 1999 (age 26)
Sport
Sport Athletics
Event Long distance running
Club Cardiff AAC
Achievements and titles
Personal bests
  • 1500m: 4:06.17 (2024)
  • 3000m: 8:48.95 (2024)
  • 5000m: 15:05.05 (2025)
  • 3000m s'chase: 9:41.66 (2025)
Medal record
Representing Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain
European Cross Country Championships
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2024 Antalya Team
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2021 Dublin U23 Team

Cari Hughes (born 15 March 1999) is a Welsh distance and cross country runner. [1]

Contents

Career

A member of the Swansea Harriers, in 2017 she won the Welsh Schools title, Welsh Junior title and represented Great Britain in the junior races at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships and European Cross-Country Championships. In 2018, she broke the Welsh Junior 1500m record in the summer of 2018, running a new lifetime best of 4:17.51 at the BMC Stretford Grand Prix. That year she became the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) 1500m champion, running for Loughborough University. She won Junior Female Endurance Athlete of the Year at the 2018 Welsh Athletics Awards. [2]

She won a bronze medal with the British U23 team at the 2021 European Cross Country Championships in Dublin. [3] She was a member of the British senior team at the 2022 European Cross Country Championships in Turin, placing 22nd individually. [4]

She won the 800 metres and finished second in the 1500 metres representing Ynys Môn at the 2023 Island Games in Guernsey. [5] [6]

She finished behind Megan Davies but ahead of 2020 Olympic Games finalist Alexandra Bell at the Armagh 5km road race in February 2024. [7] In November 2024, she was the second British woman to finish the Cardiff Cross Challenge, part of the World Athletics Cross Country Tour, behind Kate Axford. [8] She finished as runner-up to Axford at the Liverpool Cross Challenge on 23 November 2024, an event which doubled-up as the British trials for the Euro Cross Championships. [9] [10] She was subsequently selected for the British team for the 2024 European Cross Country Championships in Antalya, Turkey. [11]

On 2 August, she set a new Welsh record to finish third behind Elise Thorner and Sarah Tait in the 3000 metres steeplechase at the 2025 UK Athletics Championships in Birmingham in 9:41.66. [12]

Personal life

From Welshpool, her brother Iolo Hughes is also a runner. [13]

References

  1. "Cari Hughes". World Athletics. Retrieved 24 November 2024.
  2. "Cari Hughes looking forward to cross country season opener". Fast Running. 11 October 2018. Retrieved 24 November 2024.
  3. "HICKS AND KEITH SEAL INDIVIDUAL GOLDS AS BRITISH TEAM SEAL 8 MEDALS IN DUBLIN". British Athletics. 12 December 2021. Retrieved 24 November 2024.
  4. Harber, Tony (13 December 2022). "Wakefield Harriers' Amy-Eloise Markovc earns silver medal with GB cross country team". Wakefield Express. Retrieved 24 November 2024.
  5. "Franklin smashes records to win double gold". BBC News. 13 July 2023. Retrieved 24 November 2024.
  6. "Eighteen-medal haul makes 2023 Island Games most successful ever for Ynys Môn". nwsport. 15 July 2023. Retrieved 24 November 2024.
  7. "Topi Raitanen: European steeplechase champion earns triumph at Armagh Road races". bbc sport. 8 February 2024. Retrieved 24 November 2024.
  8. "Kiprop retains title, Cherop holds off late challenge at Cardiff Cross". World Athletics. 9 November 2024. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
  9. Collett, Jasmine (23 November 2024). "Kate Axford and Tomer Tarragano take Euro trials victory in Liverpool". Athletics Weekly. Retrieved 24 November 2024.
  10. "EUROPEAN CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPS SPOTS BOOKED AT UKA CROSS CHALLENGE IN LIVERPOOL". British Athletics. 23 November 2024. Retrieved 24 November 2024.
  11. "GB & NI TEAM ANNOUNCED FOR EUROPEAN CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS IN ANTALYA". British Athletics. 26 November 2024. Retrieved 26 November 2024.
  12. "Amy Hunt takes dramatic 100m gold at UK Champs". Athletics Weekly. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
  13. Bicknell, Gareth (1 February 2016). "ATHLETICS: Iolo and Cari Hughes win North Wales Cross-Country Championships". Daily Post. Retrieved 24 November 2024.