A Barry teen is racing in the US National Cross-Country Championships

19-year-old Gwenno Goode has always been a talented athlete and is due to compete in the US National Cross-Country Championships at the University of Wisconsin.

Her love for running began at a young age, the former Ysgol Bro Morgannwg student has represented Wales in both cross country and road races competing in Dublin, Stirling and Milton Keynes. She’s even run the London Mini Marathon twice.

Gwenno biting a medal post race (Image: Michael Goode) Gwenno who is a member of Cardiff Athletics is now studying abroad on a sports scholarship as a sophomore (second year student) at La Salle University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Alongside her love of athletics, she is majoring in Communications and was awarded a full athletics scholarship by the university back in August 2023.

Gwenno is also the Welsh 3K Steeplechase record and broke the record in April at her very first Steeplechase race at the Larry Ellis Invitational held by Princeton University.

Gwenno competing on track (Image: Rafael Suanes/Atlantic 10) Gwenno trains daily and runs around 100 kilometres per week training in the streets and parks in Philadelphia.

Gwenno’s father Michael Goode said: “We are so proud, I remember the first time we noticed is when we went down to Ogmore and we were walking and we’d forgotten the football which was half a mile away and she just ran back picked it up and wasn’t out of breath so we saw then there was potential.

“She’s always enjoyed cross country and likes the challenge of running across different courses.”

At the beginning of November, she was also successful in winning the Pennsylvania A-10 6K race in a time of 20:10s and was awarded the ‘Outstanding Female Performer’ title at the championships.

Gwenno competing on track (Image: Rafael Suanes) Then on Saturday November 16th the team travelled to Penn State University for the Mid-Atlantic XC championships, one of nine regional university of cross-country races taking place across the United States on the same day.

This time, Gwenno was successful in finishing in 7th place out of 241 female runners, securing the team 10th place overall, and qualifying as one of only 38 athletes & 31 teams.

Her team-mate MacCallum Rowe from New Zealand also won the men’s race, in a record-breaking time and is also competing in the US National Cross-Country Championships.

Her coach Tyler Jakubek said: “We are so proud of Mac & Gwen qualifying for the NCAA Cross Country Championships! They work extremely hard and are committed to the get the most out of themselves each race.

“We are excited to see them race against NCAAs best and look forward to both of them turning in yet another strong performance.”