RHAYADER athlete Tom Marshall is hoping his selection for the Commonwealth Games will form part of a winning run throughout 2018.

The 1500m runner, who fits his training in alongside a full-time job, was last week confirmed in the 21-strong Welsh Athletics team for the Gold Cost games.

He capped the week by claiming the Welsh 800m title, in one minute 55.19 seconds, at the Welsh Indoor Championships at the National Indoor Athletics Centre. He and his teammates, who are headed to Australia, were paraded before the crowd at the centre on the Cardiff Met campus – the university where Tom studied for his degree.

The Commonwealth Games are being held from April 4-15 and Tom, who has tasted success with the Great Britain cross country team this winter, is hoping the games could be his second global championship in a month.

Before heading to Australia Tom has his sights on winning a place in the Great Britain team for the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham that are taking place from Friday, March 2 to Sunday, March 4.

“I’ve competed twice for Great Britain in cross country. We won the mixed relay gold at the European Championships and we won gold at the Great Edinburgh XCountry in Scotland,” said Tom who anchored the British team’s gold medal run in Turkey after he was drafted in as a late replacement for the December championships.

“The next stage is the World Indoor Championships so I will have to try and get in the top two in the British Championships in February, which are also in Birmingham,” said Tom who is aiming for selection in his favoured 1500m event.

Tom is assured of his place on the starting line when the 1500m heats get under way at the 40,000 capacity Carrara Stadium when he will get that rare opportunity for track and field athletes to wear the red vest of Wales at major multi sport games.

“It’s always an honour to put on the Welsh vest and to do it at the very highest level. It’s something I’ve worked 10 or 12 years for and it will be a fantastic experience.

“I missed out on the games four years ago so I’ve been working for the last four years really. Wales released their qualifying standards last year and I hit the standard three times last year.”

That included running a personal best, of 3.37.45, at the London Olympic Stadium, which was well inside Welsh Athletics’ required time of 3.38.5. “My aim is to make the final and once you make a final anything can happen. I’m going there, obviously, to medal but it will be a tough one and we’ll see what happens.”

Though the games are early in the athletics season Tom isn’t making major changes to his training routine: “I’m not going to do anything differently other than a little more speed work then I would have done historically as I have to peak for the season but we have an indoor season, which runs virtually the same time as the Commonwealth Games, so I should be in peak shape.”

The highlight of the summer season will be the European Championships and with Tom currently ranked around fourth or fifth in Britain he is hoping success Down Under could put him in the mind of selectors for the Great Britain v United States international challenge at the start of the season.

The Commonwealth Games can present athletes with an unknown challenge, with some nations not always sending their very best athletes but Commonwealth countries include some African nations with the finest traditions in middle distance running, including Kenya. “Historically over the past 10 years or so they’ve not been the best championship racers but have been very good at time trials but the exception is at the World Championships last year (when Kenyans took gold and silver).”

Tom, who works as a sales manager for athletics supplier Sporttape in Treforest, is fortunate to share an office with his training partner Ieuan Thomas, who has been selected to run for Wales in the 3,000m steeplechase at the games.

“Going to the Commonwealth Games will be our holidays for the year,” said Tom, who is also sponsored by shoe company Saucony, and who praised the support the pair receive from their employer who he said is understanding over training commitments.

Tom and Ieuan fit training runs and weight sessions into their working routine and are coached by former Welsh 1500m runner James Thie, who is nurturing a crop of promising Welsh middle and long distance runners, in his Cardiff training group.

The 28-year-old, who grew up on parents Janet and Meyrick’s farm in Rhayader with sister Emma is currently a member of Cardiff Athletics Club having been a member of Brecon AC until some seven or eight years ago.

He joined Brecon after being recommended to Brecon AC stalwart Derek Osborne at 16 or 17, after being talent spotted at Llandrindod High School. “Derek, who is a fantastic guy and a lovely man, is a physics teacher at Llandrindod and he coached me from when I started when I was about 17. A teacher called Mr Allen saw me running in a PE lesson and he thought I could be good so he took me to Derek who coached me then until I went to university.”

After graduating in sports management in Cardiff Tom earned a scholarship to the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma.

Though he is working full time Tom believes his best years on the track are still ahead of him.

“I have worked full time for the last five years or so so you haven’t got as much chance to do as much as the pro athletes but as you’re not doing as much miles hopefully it will mean my peak still hasn’t come, that might come at 30/31, when I will see how quick I can run. At the moment it’s almost like being in the position of being a full time worker and a full time athlete but I enjoy it and I think I would get bored otherwise.”

Also in the team going to Australia is para 100m runner Morgan Jones, of Newbridge-on-Wye. His place in the team was confirmed before Christmas.

Brecon AC’s Owen Chesher finished fifth in the men’s high jump final at the Welsh Indoor Championships and sixth overall with a leap of 1.75m. Liverpool Harrier Joshua Hewitt took first place, clearing 2.05m, and Cardiff AAC’s Jonathon Bailey, who finished second overall, was able to take the Welsh title with a jump of 2.02m.