Charlotte selected for GB team at World Half Marathon

A Cardiff University staff member who supports students competing in high-level sport has been selected for Great Britain at the World Half Marathon Championships.

Charlotte Arter will compete against some of the best distance athletes in the world at the international race in Valencia, Spain, on Saturday 24 March.

The 26-year-old, who looks after the University’s High Performance Programme, is looking to continue the huge progress that she has made in recent months.

She has never focused on the half marathon previously, but is in the form of her life and finished third in London’s Big Half race on 4 March with a personal best of 71:31.

This led to her selection for the GB team in Valencia alongside four other female GB athletes and a male team.

“I’m really excited to be honest. It’s always an honour to represent Great Britain and this will be the first time I’ve represented GB on the road,” said Charlotte, who has previously represented GB at cross-country.

“It’s a team event and there are five Great Britain girls with three of us scoring. My aim is to be a scoring athlete for the GB team and place as high as possible.”

The previous World Half Marathon Championships took place in Cardiff in 2016 - sponsored by Cardiff University - and saw many University students, staff and alumni run in the mass race.

Charlotte ran the Cardiff event in 73:16, a quick time but some way behind her current personal best.

She puts her recent success down to the training regime, which must fit around her full time job as the University’s Performance Sports Officer.

She usually trains twice a day - early morning before work then in the evening after work - and clocks up around 80 to 85 miles a week of running. Her training is a mix of road running, track sessions and gym work.

Charlotte said she enjoyed the combination of competing at the highest level while helping students to fulfil their own sporting potential.

The University’s High Performance Programme offers a range of support services to help students excel in both their academic and sporting careers, with support such as strength and conditioning training, access to physiotherapy and sports psychologists, free membership of all University sports facilities and potential financial awards.

“We’ve got 50 athletes on the programme this year and they compete at national or international level. There are 20 different sports from the more conventional ones such as hockey and rugby to others such as rifle shooting and fencing,” said Charlotte.

“Five of them are going off to the Commonwealth Games in Australia in April.

“I’m in work nine to five and they’re in lectures nine to five, and they know the level I’m at so they can relate to me and I can relate to them.”

Charlotte, who is from Cumbria originally, has just qualified to represent Wales through residency and is looking forward to having the opportunity in future to run for her adopted country.

England’s loss is Wales’s gain and, although it is too late for her to compete at this year’s Commonwealth Games in April, Charlotte is looking forward to representing Wales in future.

For now her focus is on the GB team in Valencia, although she admits to ambitious plans for the summer when her attention will turn to the track.

“I think I will eventually do marathons, but this summer I’ll be concentrating on the 5,000m and 10,000m on the track, with some 10k and up to half marathon distances,” she said.

“I’m hoping to make the breakthrough on the track that I’ve made on the roads. I’m running in a trial event in London for the 2018 European Athletics Championships in Berlin so my aim is to qualify for that.”

If her form on the roads is anything to go by, she could soon be pulling on that GB vest once again.